Football: The immortal legend on the green field

Howard's shot missed the post, but it was the best chance for Haarlem in the entire first half. In the remaining time, Groningen fully demonstrated the qualities of a strong first-class team and gradually took control of the situation on the field.

It was time for Elia to go crazy. He completed three shots in five minutes. If Sasa hadn't saved the goal twice, Haarlem Athletic would have fallen behind.

The away fans began to shout Elia's name in unison, hoping that their top scorer could bring victory to the team. Elia did live up to everyone's expectations and scored the leading goal at the end of the first half.

Facing Tiote's close defense, he chose to challenge him. He was no match for Tiote in terms of physical strength, but he was confident that he would not lose to Tiote in terms of footwork. After a wonderful fake move, he changed direction and accelerated. Tiote turned around to chase him, but his foot slipped and fell to the ground. He watched Elia easily pass the 31-year-old Weiss Rafael, who had obviously slowed down his turning speed, and then pushed him lightly before Aleister came up to block. The Finn Kasperud followed up and shot with a powerful kick. Sasa punched the ball out with both hands.

The ball flew right towards Elia, and Elia made a powerful shot 10 meters away from the goal, and the football flew into the goal over the body of Sasa who had already fallen to the ground!

1:0 lead! Groningen leads Haarlem away from home!

"GOOOOOOOOOOOAL! Elijah!"

"He really fulfilled his pre-match promise and scored a goal! I wonder if he can help the team win?"

Elia pointed to the sky, telling the whole audience that this was the first goal. This goal was very easy for him and there was no need to run wildly to celebrate.

When Elia scored the goal, Shen Bin was ten meters behind him and clearly saw Elia run in from behind his teammate Tsitsipas, then get the ball first before Tiote came up to intercept.

According to Shen Bin's judgment, this ball was obviously within Tiote's control, but unfortunately, Tiote had just returned from injury and was obviously not in the best condition. It would be unfair to say that this ball was Tiote's fault. Under normal circumstances, Tiote should have rested for another week before playing, but Neeskens needed results, so he conceded this goal.

Elia lifted his left foot and shot the ball, his calf swinging vigorously. The ball was so fast that Sasa, who fell to the ground, had no chance to react. He is indeed the top scorer in the Eredivisie.

Deng Zhuoxiang, who was sitting on the bench, clenched his fists. He always found a goal to surpass for himself, otherwise he didn't know if he could play game after game. He also found a target in this game - Elia, a Dutch fringe international who was one and a half years older than him and the best shooter in the Eredivisie, was his next target to surpass.

During the half-time break, Neeskens felt the pressure and made some adjustments to the formation. He replaced Herbert Buteau, who had done nothing in the offense in the first half, with substitute midfielder Fansico and pushed Shen Bin to the right winger position. Deng Zhuoxiang, who came on in the second half, was no longer a front midfielder. He was arranged to be a left winger. Junior was in the front position, and he and Howard formed a double center forward. Haarlem Athletic's formation also changed to a 4-4-2.

This move is aimed at strengthening the defensive depth of the midfield. At the same time, the double defensive midfielders can fully activate Shen Bin's offensive attributes. Neeskens finally made the right choice.

At the start of the second half, Groningen did not make any personnel adjustments, and the head coach was happy with the players' performance in the first half. In terms of the performance in the first half, it was not appropriate to describe Haarlem as a dark horse, as they did not perform as amazingly as they did against PSV.

But after the start of the second half, something unexpected happened. Shen Bin received a long pass from Tiote in a counterattack and faced Van Ningster's interception. He made a fake move and changed direction quickly, not only knocking down the opponent, but also causing Van Ningster to fall to the ground and hold his right foot in pain.

Slow motion showed that Van Ningster's right foot was exaggeratedly twisted and deformed when it landed. The audience was frightened by this scene. The referee stopped the game in time. The team doctor quickly ran to Van Ningster and after a preliminary examination, called for a stretcher to enter the field.

After the game, we learned that Van Ningster had torn the cruciate ligament of his left foot. Not only will he miss all the remaining games of this season, but whether he can return next season depends on whether God comes. It can be said that the healing rate of his injury is lower than that of Shen Bin's ligament tear.

Groningen seemed to be affected by Van Nistelrooy's serious injury, and most of the players on the field began to lose concentration.

The game came to the 73rd minute.

Tiote once again made an accurate long pass over the top to find Howard, who headed the ball to Shen Bin 5 meters away.

During this period, since Haarlem did not have a real attacking midfielder, the defenders and defensive midfielders used long passes to find Howard and Shen Bin, which became their powerful means of attack. Howard's explosive physical fitness and Shen Bin's accurate judgment of the ball's landing point and ability to handle long passes ensured the success rate of long pass attacks.

This time was the same. Facing the incoming ball, Shen Bin smoothly stopped the ball with a less-than-ideal flight trajectory with the instep of his feet, and then started dribbling the ball before the opposing defensive player came up.

Deng Zhuoxiang and Junior immediately ran towards the penalty area. Their running successfully attracted the attention of the Groningen defenders and created the time and space needed for Shen Bin to shoot.

This move is very effective, and it often makes defenders lose sight of one thing and lose sight of another, causing them to hesitate and fall into a passive position in the ever-changing offense and defense transition. Shen Bin shot the ball about 20 meters away from the goal, and the nearest defender was still five meters away.

The football flew out from under his feet like a cannonball, raising a cloud of grass.

Groningen's goalkeeper jumped out almost at the same time Shen Bin kicked the ball, punching the ball with both fists, trying to knock it out. But the ball rubbed against his fists and hit the bottom edge of the crossbar and bounced into the goal!

In the 73rd minute of the game, just five minutes after Vanningst left the field, Haarlem equalized the score! This was beyond everyone's expectations! Shen Bin once again proved his terrifying left-foot long-range shooting ability.

"Shen...Bin...! Beautiful goal! Haarlem Athletic equalized the score!"

"The computer is calculating the speed of the shot just now... the result is out! God! Unbelievable! Unbelievable! One hundred and twenty-three kilometers per hour! A world wave!" The two commentators were yelling like crazy in the live broadcast room.

After scoring the goal, Shen Bin stood there and yelled at the Groningen fans in the away stands.