Chapter 32 - He is red
Noordwijk, a coastal city located more than 40 kilometers southwest of Amsterdam.
There are beautiful North Sea beaches, far away from the hustle and bustle of big cities, beautiful scenery, is definitely a good place for summer vacation.
Van Gaal just liked the laid-back nature of that year. He bought a piece of land in the resort area and built an exquisite residence. After that, he spent most of the rest of the year except for winter vacations in Portugal.
Especially in the past six months, after returning to the Netherlands from Barcelona, he only stayed in Almere for a while.
Every night, the sea breeze from the west North Sea swept across the balcony, bringing a sense of coolness, lying on the beach chair, overlooking the quiet and magnificent night sky, the distant beach from time to time came the laughter of tourists, making him the whole person All seemed to be immersed in this quiet night.
I don’t know how long I sat, Van Gaal withdrew his gaze from the starlight in the night sky, only to find Trus sitting beside him somehow, she always accompanied him so quietly, but He always looks like a child in need of care.
Perhaps this is related to his being the oldest of the nine siblings in his family.
The youngest one is always taken care of.
“I just listened to Aaron Moi’s football online.” Truth smiled lightly.
“Well.” Van Gaal was undecided. This was one of his favorite radio shows before, but it hasn’t been heard in a long time.
“The show is introducing Ajax for more than half of the show tonight, and the situation is not good.”
Van Gaal nodded slightly and sighed deeply.
European professional football has changed too fast, especially in the years since the emergence of the Bosman Act, which can be said to be changing with each passing day.
The transfer of players has become more convenient. Those big and wealthy teams no longer attach importance to youth training, but blindly began to adopt a more rapid way to improve the strength of the team, that is, burning money.
This is understandable. All the major teams play like this. Van Gaal also played like this when he was coaching Barcelona. In fact, he knows that he is not good at it. What he is best at is training and promoting young players. The team was polished, just like he was in Ajax in the 1990s.
Unfortunately, today’s professional football simply cannot give him such patience.
All teams, whether it is Barcelona or Ajax, are becoming more and more eager for quick success. Whether it is the flow of players or the team ’s performance, the speed is getting faster and faster, almost to his second time. When coaching Barcelona, he only had half a year.
Of course, this has a lot to do with the resignation of club chairman Gaspard, but Van Gaal is also very clear that all of this is becoming more and more unfamiliar. He needs to adjust himself to adapt to this environment.
Earlier, the chairman of Ajax, Michael Van Prager, personally met him in Noordwijk, hoping that he would succeed Leo Ben Haak as the club ’s technical director. Interestingly, in the nineties of the last century In the 1980s, when Van Gaal took over the position of Ajax, his predecessor also happened to be Leo Ben Haak.
Van Gaal resisted this because the club’s head coach was Ronald Coman.
He knows Koeman very well and is definitely a very opinionated head coach, but he also understands himself. He is honest and direct when he says good things, but he doesn’t understand tactfulness if he doesn’t listen to things.
If he really takes over as the technical director of Ajax, will he be able to coexist peacefully with Coman?
If it can, can it solve the dilemmas facing Ajax?
Ajax is one of the biggest victims of the Bosman Act. The set of the lineup that won the Champions League in the 1990s is completely lost. I am afraid that Qi Wu and VanderMead will not be retained this summer. Ibrahimovic, Van der Vaart and Sneijder can’t live.
Even if Van Gaal and Ronald Coman can work together, what can change?
Thinking of this, Van Gaal sighed deeply. “It’s all bad news.”
“Neither.” Truth chuckled.
“Oh?”
“Aron Moi spent most of his time discussing a person.”
“Who?” Van Gaal was curious.
“Yang Yang.”
“It’s him.” Van Gaal immediately remembered the Chinese teenager who knew him in Almere, and his mind struggling against the wall in the skate park came to mind, and he couldn’t help but feel warm.
This is the most beautiful thing he has encountered in the past six months.
“He is red.” Truth smiled.
“Ok?”
“In the past four games, he represented Almere in the amateur competition. He won all four games. He performed very well. Aron Moi had heard of him before, but many fans have called the hotline and broke the news. What is even more exciting than the trio, the pendulum, the Ronaldo II, etc. “
After Van Gaal heard it, he couldn’t help smiling, which he didn’t expect.
“That kid was famous in this way.” He shook his head bitterly.
“Almere is not well-known, the fans are so excited that such a good shooter from the unpopular team is rare.”
Van Gaal can understand the feelings of the fans. If Almere is really a star, all citizens will be honored for this, even if Yang Yang is not a Dutch.
“Did he … have done well recently?” Van Gaal was interested.
Truss nodded, “I heard that it’s very good, but I don’t know the specifics, or … shall we go to watch him play?”
Van Gaal hesitated.
The last time he lost his bet with Truss, the bet was to do one thing. Truss hoped he could find a job as soon as possible and not stay at home all day, and there are currently several team invitations and Ajak Van Gaal’s solicitation was seriously considered.
Is it appropriate to go to the Yangyang game at this time?
But soon, Van Gaal laughed himself, whatever he wanted, he went.
“Okay, let’s go watch.”
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Volendam, a professional team in Volendam in the northeastern town of Amsterdam, won the sixth place in the Dutch League last season and was successfully promoted to the Dutch League through the play-offs.
This professional team, born in 1920, was once a strong player in the Dutch League, but was relegated in the late 1990s and struggled for five years in the Dutch League. It was not until this year that it returned to the Dutch League.
As a small team, Volendam and Ajax are inextricably linked. The two teams have very close cooperation with each other. Wim, who played for Ajax in the early 1990s Jonker is from the youth training of Volendam. He joined Inter Milan in 1993 with Bergkamp, and returned to the Netherlands two years later to join Eindhoven.
As a small town team, Volendam has limited financial resources, and the youth training is not outstanding, but it can’t stand people backing against the big tree of Ajax. As a newly promoted Dutchman, Volendam breathed away from Aja this summer. Kees loaned several young players.
In the summer amateur competition, there are four players, center-back Herard Afiyes, left-back Paul Questen, left-wing Sebastian Stur and forward Rowan Van Sahn. All come from Ajax youth training, plus the central defender Henney Schold and his right-winger Charles Diesel promoted by his own youth training. Volendam’s lineup is quite impressive.
It is also inextricably linked with Ajax. Almere is even a satellite club signed by the Dutch giants, but the gap at the league level makes Almere receive less support than Volendam.
At the very least, there is not even one Ajax youth training in the amateur lineup.
Different from the defender Frafranz who faced strong defense and weak attack in the previous round, this time Almere faced Volendam is the most typical Dutch team, attacking strong defense and weak, but also playing at home, from Almere launched an indiscriminate bombardment at the beginning of the game.
Rao is Almere who has been mentally prepared for this. The opening position showed a weak posture of defensive counterattack, but he was still suppressed by Volendan and was very embarrassed. He was attacked into the big penalty area again and again. .
Although Yang Yang is a right-winger and the core of the team’s offensive, when he sees his team’s situation is worrying, he also chooses to return to the defense, actively forcing the opponent’s defense line, and at any time retreat to the midfield and backcourt, but on the offensive end Did not perform well.
But even so, Almere was still in the twenty-ninth minute. Volendam’s right-winger Charles Diesel inserted into the penalty area and calmly scored a goal.
After opening the record for the first time, Almere was a little confused, and the scene became more passive.
Yang Yang also sees that his teammates’ mentality has changed, and each one has become a little restless, and his heart is also secretly anxious.
If this continues, it is needless to say that this game won, fearing that it will lose a fiasco.
Thinking of this, Yang Yang decisively returned to the 30-meter area and was stationed at the front of the penalty area. At the same time, he also constantly signaled his teammates to actively withdraw, temporarily giving up the offensive of the front court, and blocking Volendan’s attack first.
The home team fans on the sidelines shouted particularly hard.
Those who can enter the fifth round are basically strong teams. Volendam ’s luck is very good, and he has drawn the weaker Almere. This is equivalent to guaranting the sixth round. This pair is just promoted to the Dutch League. For Lundan, it is definitely a good opportunity.
Van Gaal and Truss also stood in the crowd on the sidelines, watching the two players on the court, he shook his head helplessly.
“The strength gap between the two sides is too great, Almere has no chance.” Truss shook his head.
“I don’t think it’s necessary. As long as he hasn’t given up, there must be a chance.” Van Gaal didn’t think so.
There is still the second half of the game, as long as the tactics are right, everything is possible.
In the end, football is a game of eleven people. It is difficult to change the trend of the game alone.
Besides, Yang Yang is not an extraordinary genius. How could he change the game alone?
Others may not know it, but Van Gaal is very clear that Yang Yang has the achievements today and everything comes from his hard work, not talent.
But Yang Yang on the court didn’t seem to care about the others, still running at all costs, defending every ball.
In the situation where the front court players are actively returning to the defense, Almere can withstand Volendan’s offensive.
At the end of the first half, the home team Volendam took a lead with a goal of 0-0 by Diels.