Football: The immortal legend on the green field

During the half-time break, five people quietly came to the south stand. It was a strange combination, with two Westerners and three Orientals. The TV broadcast camera quickly discovered them because one of the middle-aged Westerners was more familiar to the Dutch fans. He was Ali Haan, the backbone of the defense of the Uncrowned Kings team in the 1970s.

TV commentator Hancock looked at the broadcast and asked his companions, "How did Ari Haan have the time to watch this second division league game?"

"Could he be here to see his old friend Neeskens? Wasn't he fired by the Chinese team? He is still unemployed now. Could he be invited by Neeskens to join the coaching team of Haarlem Athletic?" His companions didn't understand the situation either, so they could only guess based on the existing information.

Hancock didn't say anything. He knew more about the grievances between the Dutch football giants than his companions. The relationship between Ali Han and Neeskens was not as good as the outside world imagined, but it could not be said to be too bad. He always remained neutral in the feud between Neeskens and Cruyff. With Neeskens's character, he would not pity a loser, and their relationship had not reached the point where they had to help each other.

The second half of the game started quickly. Herbert Bhutto and Jeans came off the field, and Neeskens replaced them with Shen Bin and Deng Zhuoxiang. The appearance of the two young people attracted cheers from the visiting fans. Fan Bingbing stood up from the VIP seat, completely disregarding her ladylike image, and clapped desperately. A middle-aged man wearing big sunglasses and standing up the collar of his windbreaker, who was sitting between Ali Han and Gao Haiyang, turned around and asked Gao Haiyang, "Is that Fan Bingbing? See if you can persuade Shen Bin when you meet her later. It's better not to provoke such a woman. Cut off the relationship if you can! Don't be like Gao Feng, whose competitive state has plummeted since he got entangled with Yehenaraying. If Gao Feng could be in his peak state, we wouldn't have been shaved bald in the 02 World Cup."

Gao Haiyang also frowned when he saw Fan Bingbing showing off himself in a high-profile manner.

Shen Bin returned to the defensive midfielder position, and Deng Zhuoxiang stood in front of Shen Bin.

Hallam Athletic also changed from 4321 to 4231.

The referee blew the whistle, the second half of the game began, and players from both sides immediately got involved in the game.

Shen Bin's running was not that intense, but his head was always kept up, which was in stark contrast to the situation where everyone else was looking down at the ball.

The first time Shen Bin touched the ball, he simply passed the ball to Gular on the right side without sticking to the ball.

However, the next second, he did not stay where he was, but ran forward.

"Pass the ball!"

Shen Bin saw the opponent's winger approaching Gular and immediately called for a pass.

Gular half turned and leaned back, then passed the ball.

It seems that the opponent did a lot of homework before the game and paid special attention to the midfield brain of Haarlem Athletic. The opponent's midfielder stepped forward in time to entangle Shen Bin.

Shen Bin saw all of this, took a slight step backward, and actually let the ball slip under his crotch.

The whole process was understated and very easy.

"Wow!"

Ali Han in the stands couldn't help but exclaim.

Gao Haiyang couldn't help but exclaim "beautiful".

When they turned their heads to look, Deng Zhuoxiang had already dribbled the ball between the two central defenders, quickly dribbled into the penalty area, and suddenly shot with his right foot.

However, the ball was not powerful enough and was blocked by the goalkeeper.

"what!"

Deng Zhuoxiang rubbed his head frantically, his face full of regret, then quickly turned around to defend. When he crossed paths with Shen Bin, he raised his hand and high-fived Shen Bin to express his apology.

Haarlem started to pass the ball frequently in the backcourt. At first, Ali Haan didn't care much. He had been temporarily relieved of his position as head coach of the Chinese national team, but his relationship was still with the Chinese Football Association. The contract he signed would not expire until the end of the 06 World Cup, but there was a hard requirement for results in the contract. If he could not appear in the 06 World Cup Asian qualifiers, he would only get half of the remaining salary from the day the team was eliminated. He was now waiting to get the remaining salary and then leave.

However, when his team was in contact with the Football Association, they got back news that there seemed to be some trouble. The Chinese Football Association did not want to pay him the remaining salary, but did not turn hostile directly. They just said that it was financially difficult. There was nothing Aly Haan could do about the Football Association's delaying tactic. After all, his team had not even qualified for the group stage, and he wanted to give it a try. If all else failed, he would have to appeal to FIFA.

But when the two sides were having a bit of an unpleasant argument, Gao Haiyang called and he decided to accompany Yan Shiduo to this remote town.

He knew too well the level of the Dutch second division. He was very pleased with the fact that the Football Association had come all the way to see two young Chinese kids playing football. At first, he kept complaining in his heart, thinking that Chinese football really had no talent. Even players like this were worth such a big fanfare?

Japanese and Korean players who play in Europe can form a complete national team, and the teams they play for are much stronger than Haarlem. From Shen Bin's wonderful missed ball, he began to pay attention to Shen Bin.

He found a strange scene. The five-man midfielder of Haarlem Athletic kept passing the ball frequently in the midfield and were not in a hurry to pass the ball to the frontcourt. Moreover, the other four always centered on Shen Bin. Almost one out of every three passes was to Shen Bin. The basic skills of the five players could be seen from their passing. The two Dutch players had the worst basic skills. Gular was better. Sterling almost lost the ball several times. If Shen Bin had not predicted in advance and stepped forward to receive the ball, the control of the ball would have changed hands long ago.

Shen Bin plays football differently from the other five players. While others focus their main attention on the direction of the ball's rolling, he doesn't pay attention to the ball at all. His eyes are always observing the running positions of the enemy and his own players. While observing, he keeps directing the running positions of his teammates. His attention is not on the ball rolling towards him, but he can always pass the ball in the most reasonable way. How does he do it?

"With such a player, why is he not in the Chinese national team's roster? The reason we failed to qualify from the group stage is entirely because the Football Association did not invite the best players into the national team?" Ali Han muttered.

"What did he say?" Yan Shiduo asked Gao Haiyang beside him.

On the court, Deng Zhuoxiang took the initiative to retreat.

After seeing this, Shen Bin immediately passed the ball over.

Then he cut back and came to an open space. The opponent had been exhausted physically and mentally by Haarlem's back-pass that lasted for more than three minutes. The fans in the stands were only obsessed with watching Haarlem's smooth cooperation. The midfielders and backcourt players of Helmond were in a terrible mood. At the beginning, they could still keep up with Haarlem's passing rhythm, but slowly loopholes began to appear in their defense. Until then, most of them began to breathe heavily on the field, their speed slowed down, and some even began to stroll around the field passively.

In this kind of passing and coordination, Haarlem Athletic moves the players and the ball together, and most of the journey is completed by the football, while Helmond's defense requires players to complete it with active and rigorous running, and their physical strength and concentration consume two to three times more than their opponents.

In just a few minutes, their physical strength and concentration obviously could not keep up with the rhythm. Deng Zhuoxiang passed the ball back, but the speed of the pass was not fast. Deng Zhuoxiang moved towards the penalty area and wanted to play a two-pass wall pass with Shen Bin.

This was the first reaction of everyone on the court, but Shen Bin cut sideways to stop the ball, turned sideways, and faced Deng Zhuoxiang with his back.

This is not intended to cooperate with him.

Deng Zhuoxiang frowned slightly.

But the next second, Shen Bin cut down and passed the ball fiercely.

The ball passed between center back Cobaro and full back Bastochi, accurately reaching the empty space on the wing, and was picked up by wing forward Gular who had made a forward run and immediately broke into the penalty area.

“Wow!…”

This quick pass made Ali Han exclaim again, and he couldn't help but stand up.

The expressions of the others were similar.

After all, this pass is very beautiful from any angle.

For Yan Shiduo, this pass was also a big shock.

It's not just the pass itself, the vision and overall view of this little guy on the court are the key.

Use yourself as bait and pass the ball to the more threatening side.

This is not a coincidence. Shen Bin's performance in the previous few minutes has laid a lot of groundwork. This is definitely the vision talent of a top midfielder.

"Number one!" Shen Bin shouted, and the five-man attacking team in the frontcourt quickly moved according to the tactics they had practiced in advance.

Howard and Sterling ignored the opponent's defense and advanced to the left and right flanks. Deng Zhuoxiang ran to the left flank, and Shen Bin moved to the middle penalty area line. The opponent's left central defender followed Howard all the time, but he realized it when he was almost at the bottom line. He turned around and sandwiched Gular with the left back from the front and back.

He realized that even if Gular passed the ball to Howard, Howard was in an offside position and posed no threat to the goal.

But it was too late. Shen Bin made a round trip and got rid of the opponent's midfielder. Gular passed the ball across the goal before being trapped. The ball was a little far from Shen Bin's body. Shen Bin threw his whole body out and shoveled the ball towards the goal. The goalkeeper fell to the ground and almost broke the ball. The ball rolled right in front of Howard who had turned around. Howard pushed the ball lightly and it crossed the goal line.

"GOOOOOOOOO..." Hancock's high-pitched voice echoed throughout the stadium.

The big screen at the scene began to replay the entire process of the goal. The director considerately used fast-forward shots to play Haarlem's 37 passes without losing the ball until the ball rolled into the goal.

"Haarlem used 37 passes to completely wear out Helmend's patience. Shen Bin accounted for 15 of these 37 passes. In the end, it was Shen Bin who planned this perfect goal. He is the real core of Haarlem..."

Ali Han began to put himself into the role of head coach of the Chinese team. If the Chinese team adopts this tactic and formation, will they be able to adapt? Or do the Chinese players have this ability?

Li Jinyu, the best striker of the Chinese team, cannot be the axis in this style of play. His attributes as a super low-end version of Inzaghi are not suitable for this tactic. Then use Han Peng. Han Peng plays a greater role than Howard, and Du Zhengyu will also be able to be used.

Deng Zhuoxiang and Shen Bin can be used as the central midfielder. Li Tie is a little less capable than Tiote, but he can be used. However, there are no suitable players on the left and right wingers. Xu Liang, Zhao Junzhe, Shao Jiayi and Zheng Zhi are not suitable to replace Gular and Sterling. Zheng Zhi, who has the most outstanding ability, has a position that overlaps with Deng Zhuoxiang and Shen Bin. There is nothing much to say about the back line. Li Weifeng, Sun Xiang, Sun Jihai and Wu Chengying are much more capable than the players in the Haarlem Arena.

Thinking of this, Ali Han sighed. How could he be satisfied coaching in China? Take the current national team members for example. Not counting the two outstanding young players Deng Zhuoxiang and Shen Bin, even the active players in their prime years, not even half of the good players in the national team he coached were isolated from the national team by Yang Yiming, vice chairman of the Football Association. Among the four best defenders in China, only Li Weifeng participated in the qualifiers. Sun Jihai and other three were not even on the roster specified by the Football Association. There were as many as 10 defenders on the roster given by the Football Association. Except for Du Wei, Zhang Yaokun, Li Weifeng, Ji Mingyi and Zhang Yonghai who were barely used, the abilities of the other five players were far behind those of the players in the Haarlem Arena.

There are no Zheng Zhi and Li Tie in the midfield, and no Li Jinyu and Du Zhengyu in the forward line. The list given by the Football Association is Dong Fangzhuo, Li Yi, Han Peng, Shi Jun...

I also raised objections to the roster at the time, but Yang Yiming was like a proud rooster, "Playing in the group stage requires this and that, the people I gave are not too bad, right? If you can't even get them through the group stage, then why did I spend so much money to hire you?"

I was too confident and didn't know enough about Asian football. If I had been tougher, I wouldn't have ruined myself. Everything is hindsight.

Thinking of this, Ali Han looked up at the field.

Ali Haan's attention returned to the field. Helmend only made three passes after kicking off from the center circle. Tiote's superb intercepting ability and Shen Bin's clever prediction of the opponent's passing line made it impossible for them to cooperate smoothly, and the ball soon returned to Haarlem Athletic's feet.

Haarlem used a ball control style of play, which was different from the opponent. As long as the ball came to them, it was difficult for the opponent to steal the ball. To say that the footwork of Helmond players was much worse than that of Haarlem, it was not really the case. Dutch players, who are famous for their skills, would not have bad footwork even if they played for a second-tier team. But the only difference between them and Haarlem is that they really lack a core player like Shen Bin whose skills were obviously superior to other players.

It’s not that Haarlem didn’t concede a goal, but Ali Haan estimated that the two sides’ ball possession rate should be 30% to 70%, which can be fully felt from the scene.

In the 70th minute of the game, when the Helmand players were tortured to the point of being demoralized and just showing signs of relaxation, Shen Bin launched another surprise attack. This time he passed the ball to Sterling who was on the left. Sterling got the ball and was about to pass it back due to inertia when he heard Shen Bin shouting, "Go for it."

Only then did Sterling realize that there was an open space in front of him and there were no opponent's players around. Even during this slight pause, the opponent had already realized that danger was coming again.

Using the same tactics as before, the other four players in the frontcourt of Haarlem Athletic began to frantically outflank their designated positions.

Shen Bin had already reached the front of the penalty area, but Sterling, disturbed by the defensive players, fell flat on his face in the penalty area.

"what……!"

Shen Bin stopped, put his hands on his hips, and looked helplessly at Sterling lying on the ground.

“Hahahaha…” The fans of both teams, who were originally either nervous or excited, were surprisingly united at this moment, and their laughter resounded throughout the stadium.

It’s right in front of your mouth, but you can’t eat it?

Sterling stood up awkwardly, and he didn't dare to look at his teammates.

This time, the pass that penetrated the defense line was perfect. Sterling only needed to gently guide the ball forward to successfully create a one-on-one situation.

But he blew it.