Football: The immortal legend on the green field

At the Forteten bar in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, Christensen looks at Ajax U17 coach Stringer, who is already the second guest he has met here.

The previous one was Ajax's youth training director Seaman. When Chris recommended Shen Bin to him, Seaman directly refused as he expected, so he met Stringer.

"I'm sorry, I can't help you. You know, the Surinamese have the final say on youth training now. They won't accept an Oriental." Stringer apologized politely when he left.

However, he was very confused as to how Chris could admire a Chinese kid. "Chris, do you have any video of the Chinese kid's game training? I want to see it."

Chris was disappointed, but still gave Stringer a copy of Shen Bin's information.

"Damn office politics." Chris cursed after the guests left.

Originally, he wanted to rely on Shen Bin's outstanding performance to introduce this outstanding Chinese child through formal channels, but because he was a native of the Netherlands, he had a natural barrier with the Surinamese immigrants. The black and white infighting in the Dutch football world has a long history.

He was recruited into the club by the business director Terrence Bot, and the conflict between Terrence Bot and the youth training director has become public.

So Seaman refused without even looking at the information he had carefully prepared. After a lot of twists and turns, he finally had to find Terrence Bott, the club's head of commercial operations.

In fact, Chris didn't know that Terrence Bott had shown a keen interest in the matter.

This is not surprising. After the British second-tier league team Crystal Palace introduced two Chinese players, a large number of billboards of Chinese companies were filled around the stadium. The originally bare Crystal Palace home stadium suddenly became crowded.

Not to mention English Football League One, even most of the home advertising spaces in the Premier League are still empty!

This makes some European teams such as Ajax very jealous.

Therefore, Ajax has always been positive in introducing Asian players, especially Chinese players.

Due to their preference for the huge Chinese market, Ajax showed great interest in introducing Chinese international players at a high-level club meeting earlier this year.

But after some research, the club's head coach and business director rejected this unrealistic proposal. It was just that at this stage the strength of the Chinese internationals did not meet the requirements of the Ajax first team, and the head coach believed that they would have difficulty making the 18-man roster.

Business executives hold the same view that such an introduction will not achieve any publicity effect, let alone bring any economic benefits.

Ajax is not Crystal Palace in the English second-tier league, but a traditional European powerhouse.

What to do if this road doesn't work? Then find another way.

After careful consideration, the Commercial Operations Department decided that it would be better to introduce one or two promising young players, which would not affect the team's performance and would also attract the attention of the Chinese people.

As long as they hype it up in the media, attract Chinese companies and fans to identify with Ajax, and attract some Chinese companies to cooperate with the club to solve the club's financial crisis, Chris's trip to China was possible.

Ajax's commercial operations department has always had little say in the club's youth training and transfers, so Terrence and Chris had to invite their friend Rivera Lorenzen, the first-team head coach, to watch the video Chris brought.

His first impression of this Chinese boy was quite deep. He saw that this little guy, who was still a little immature on the court, showed a special understanding of football, outstanding dribbling skills, good long passes, excellent physical condition and awareness of scoring. Although his absolute speed was a little slower, his relative speed was not slow, but this was not a problem at all.

This is an evaluation that is neither too good nor too bad. There are many such young players in the Netherlands. For a young player like Shen Bin who comes from a distant country, to win the favor of the mainstream European leagues, he must have his own characteristics. This is also what U17 Stringer is interested in, but he was still rejected by the youth training director Seaman.

It was originally just such a small matter. Since the youth training director Seaman did not agree to accept Shen Bin, the matter ended here. Even if the lawsuit was brought to the club's top management, it would be meaningless because the club chairman has always been a supporter of Seaman.

But last Sunday, the British Sun revealed that a senior executive of Ajax club accepted bribes from Hasselbaink's agent when he transferred to Leeds United. This matter could be big or small.

However, it still caused a shock among the club's top management. During the struggle, the club made personnel adjustments. In this power struggle within the club, poor Mr. Seaman became a victim and was forced to resign from the position of head of youth training department.

Shen Bin's transfer obstacles were suddenly removed. At Stringer's suggestion, it would be best for the Chinese boy to come to Ajax for a trial.

What Stringer didn't expect was that the team's head coach mentioned this incident in an interview with the media the next day, and praised Shen Bin's abilities, as if this Chinese boy was the next generation of football king.

In fact, this is nothing more than a publicity strategy for Ajax's business operations. Real experts will only sneer at it, but it is more than enough to fool the officials of the Chinese Football Association and Chinese companies.

It was like turning a corner, when the light of hope was fading, I found that there was another window that quietly opened...

So, the invitation letter for the tryout was received by Shen Yuanchao, as well as the Liaoning Tianlun Club and the Chinese Football Association.

In the head coach's room of Liaoning Tianlun, the only sound left was the almost inaudible hum of the air conditioner.

Not far from the TV is a dark brown glass coffee table. On the coffee table is a large swan-shaped glass ashtray filled with cigarette butts and ashes. Even on the coffee table next to the ashtray there is a circle of ashes.

On the three sofas around the coffee table, four people were sitting, staring blankly at an A4 paper with the names of some young players scribbled on it like clay sculptures or wooden carvings.

Guo Jiangping half leaned forward, supported his chin with his crossed hands, and stared at the A4 paper intently, as if he wanted to drill two holes in the book with his eyes.

Gao Haiyang, who had been leaning against the armrest of the sofa, suddenly asked out of the blue: "Did the defensive midfielder of the Yanjing Guards get yellow cards in the first two games?"

Guo Jiangping nodded and said, "Yes, two. He will be suspended for the next round."

This number eight is the opponent's main midfielder, and his suspension may be a breakthrough.

He soon had to admit that this breakthrough was unlikely because his team's ability to break through the middle was not strong, and Yanjing Defenders U17 introduced Hao Junmin, the best attacking midfielder of this age group in the country, from Hubei.

Hao Junmin is not only excellent in organizing attacks, but also has the strongest intercepting ability in the middle.

The Yanjing Guards not only have a super midfielder like Hao Junmin, but are also the only team in the group that emphasizes tactics and game discipline. The Yanjing Guards have the ability to make up for possible dangers in the middle.

Personnel changes in individual positions have almost no impact on the overall strength of the team.

The most important thing at the moment is how to arrange your tactics and lineup according to the characteristics of your opponent.

Guo Jiangping lowered his head and thought for a long time, but still could not find an effective and reliable method. However, sitting here all the time was not a solution either. He could only ask everyone the question: "Is '442' better, or '532' more appropriate?"

The question seemed to be thrown to everyone in the room, but the old coach looked at Gao Haiyang.

The assistant coach glanced at Guo Jiangping in surprise.

As far as he could remember, this was probably the first time that Coach Guo consulted Gao Haiyang on such an important matter.

Gao Haiyang hesitated for a long time before he said with difficulty: "Let's go with '442'. Our players haven't practiced '532' much, and a draw means nothing to us.

Our big win over Sichuan Sanniu has already given an explanation to the higher-ups. The football is round, maybe!

It is not uncommon for the weak to defeat the strong in football matches, so let’s give it a try and see how our luck turns out.”

Guo Jiangping's eyes lit up, revealing a hopeful look. "If we move in this direction, how should we adjust the personnel appropriately?"

Gao Haiyang pointed to the attacking midfielder position on the A4 paper and said, "Since the opponent's main defensive midfielder can't play, their substitutes are always inferior to the main players. It's best for us to have a player with stronger personal ability as our attacking midfielder. Chi Junhai's personal ability is a bit weak. As long as the opponent's defense is strengthened, it will be difficult for Xiao Chi to even get the ball."

Guo Jiangping nodded, recalling the performances of the players who came on as substitutes in the last two games. "Then let's put Shen Bin on. He performed well in the last two games, so we should give him a starting position."

At this moment, the door was suddenly pushed open, and Wan Anlong's voice was trembling with excitement, "Have you arranged the players from the last game? Arrange Shen Bin as the starter, and arrange him in a position where he can best display his abilities."

The four people at the scene looked at this idiot with contempt, thinking, "When will the players be arranged to listen to your idiot's opinions?"

Wan Anlong saw everyone's gaze and said loudly: "Ajax of the Netherlands sent a fax requesting to introduce Shen Bin. They will send relevant personnel to negotiate the transfer.

The boss Sun Kesheng also called and said he was on his way to Jinling.

CCTV5 also sent a camera team to record our match with the Yanjing Guards.

The vice chairman of the Football Association who is in charge of youth training will also come to watch the game.

In response to an urgent notice from the Football Association, in order to give CCTV5 some preparation time, the match was postponed to tomorrow night and the venue was changed to Wutaishan Gymnasium.

In addition, the Jinling Municipal Government will mobilize some enterprises, institutions and students to watch the game on site.

Do you know? I received countless calls, all about Shen Bin's transfer, all from bigwigs in various fields, hahahaha... our Liaoning Tianlun U17 Youth Training Team is going to expand the satellite..."