Football: The immortal legend on the green field

Shen Bin was silent, sitting on the bench, watching the Brazilians running wildly on the field. He did not expect that the team would fall behind at the beginning. It was obvious that Utrecht's free kick was carefully designed. Haarlem Athletic was not mentally prepared at all. Their main energy was focused on Vanenberg's powerful shot. Zelos, who was ambushing behind the wall, was completely unguarded.

At the tactical analysis meeting before the game, Neeskens once again resorted to his outdated total attack and defense. Shen Bin looked at Neeskens who was madly cursing the players on the field. He was no longer the Neeskens who was full of confidence in the preparation meeting and talked endlessly about how great the total attack and defense tactic was.

However, Utrecht, the Dutch Eredivisie powerhouse two seasons ago, used a small free kick at the beginning of the game, and the 50-year-old middle-aged man, who usually did not pay attention to details in training and only knew how to go shirtless and mix with the players, was stabbed in the bloody body...

"This game is going to be difficult." Shen Bin heard assistant coach Brewer say somewhat frustratedly. Shen Bin foresaw that Haarlem might not have a good result in this game. He also did not expect that Utrecht, which was supposed to be in the upper middle of the Eredivisie, would have such strong offensive firepower. It would be much stronger than Solvay United, the Dutch third division team that Haarlem met in the FA Cup last week.

Haarlem was stunned by the goal they conceded at the start of the game. The players were not united on the field. Some wanted to attack and equalize the score as soon as possible, while others wanted to defend and were very afraid of Utrecht's powerful firepower...

As a result, the gap between Haarlem and Utrecht, which was already more than one level weaker, was magnified. For a moment, Utrecht's frontcourt players seemed to be practicing half-court offense and defense. Even Utrecht's central defender Okafor ran up to try his feet and made a long shot that flew high into the stands amid the boos of Haarlem fans...

"John, you should have shouted from the sidelines." Albert Martins frowned and reminded the panting Neeskens that at this moment, it was important to unify their thoughts as quickly as possible, otherwise, they would continue to lose goals sooner or later...

Obviously, Neeskens, the mascot of Dutch football, is best suited to travel around the Netherlands and preach the secrets of football in every village. Although being a football coach is a very promising job, at least, from the last FA Cup and the few minutes of this league match against Utrecht, Neeskens is far from qualified...

Perhaps Neeskens's roar just now consumed his excessive energy. He held his chin and remained silent on the sidelines. He seemed to be at a loss about the situation on the court, and seemed to be thinking about countermeasures...

However, time did not give him a chance... and Utrecht did not give him a chance to make up for it...

"Goal! The second goal of the 04-05 season at the University City Stadium was scored, and the scorer was... Zelos Cordoba, the Brazilian scored a wonderful long shot..." In the 16th minute of the game, the voice of Hancock, the football commentator of the Dutch TV II, seemed so weak..."

The reason for this is that he and Neeskens are of the same age and he is a loyal fan of Neeskens.

Amid the harsh boos at the University City Arena, Zelos hugged the veteran international player Vanenberg who assisted him... The Utrecht striker was laughing and talking about something...

At this time, almost no one doubted that a massacre was about to take place at the home stadium of Haarlem Athletic. After all, all the players who think they are from a strong team like to do this in other people's homes. Last season, the players of Utrecht had been holding back for the entire season, and now they needed a hearty game to release it.

For them, who were a semi-strong team in the Eredivisie two seasons ago, they have experience, are experienced in this field, and more importantly, have the strength... And today, the feet of the Brazilians seem to be burning...

…………

To make matters worse, in the 31st minute of the game, the left-back of Haarlem, who had just been promoted from the reserve team by Neeskens, the 19-year-old winger Bruno Sterling, dribbled the ball in his own penalty area. Facing the experienced Vanenberg's pressing, he unexpectedly showed off his footwork. Unexpectedly, his feet slipped and the ball was intercepted by Vanenberg. He immediately launched a fast break and pushed it forward lightly. The ball came to Zelos' feet. After the Brazilian took the ball with his back in the penalty area, he lightly knocked it horizontally. Utrecht midfielder Sham Medina, who rushed up, shot in the near corner and scored...

The score of 0:3 made Neeskens fall into a manic state. He yelled and waved his arms on the sidelines. However, in the eyes of the commentator Hancock of Dutch TV , Neeskens' idol halo in his heart began to break. Now seeing Neeskens' roar, it was more like the dying struggle of poor Haarlem...

His commentary partner, the recently retired former Dutch international Edgar Davids, didn't care. "Ha, look, our head coach is dancing on the sidelines..." Davids' words caused laughter in the stands. The fans of Haarlem seemed to have begun to despair. Some pessimistic fans had even seen the tragedy of the team being relegated to the third division after the season ended...

To be fair, at the beginning of this game, Zelos Cordova's goal in less than a minute dragged the game into an unfair situation. Haarlem Athletic, which was already at a disadvantage in strength, suffered a heavy blow!

After more than 10 minutes of panic, Neeskens' lack of on-the-spot command and failure to unify the players' offensive and defensive thinking in time gave Utrecht three chances. Newcomer Bruno Sterling's playing with fire in the backcourt gave the already dying Haarlem a final fatal throat lock...

At this time, the black football star Edgar Davids began to talk about football eloquently. The focus of the topic was that Utrecht could be promoted to the top league a few rounds ahead of the end of the season, and could win the Dutch Eredivisie championship a few rounds ahead of schedule... Well, and I can responsibly declare that as long as Neeskens is still the coach, Haarlem has already reserved a relegation spot...

Shen Bin saw that Neeskens had some struggles at first when he was teasing Davis, but now he was almost numbly sitting in the coaching booth, his eyes full of gray expressions...

The old assistant coach Albert Martins was also watching Neeskens. He realized that these three consecutive goals had torn the remaining fighting spirit of the Haarlem players into pieces, and also pushed Neeskens into the abyss...

The third goal conceded caused Neeskens to collapse. At the 35th minute of the first half, Albert Martins forced all the players on the bench to warm up on the sidelines...

Davis, who was delighted by the humiliating performance of Hallam Athletic, joked happily, "Look, the garbage time of the game has arrived."