Super Wingstorm

A three-to-two nail-biter!

The day after the first round of matches, all the major media outlets in the Netherlands turned their attention to the season debut of the treble-winning Ajax.

After selling off several core, key players over the summer, Ajax’s strength was severely impacted. This was a well-known fact, and an inevitability for Eredivisie teams. Some had even mentally prepared for Ajax to lose their first match of the new season.

”The first thirty minutes of the match indeed went as many had predicted. Ajax’s attack was clumsy, dominating possession but failing to score. But that all changed in the thirtieth minute.”

”Yang Yang broke through Twente’s goal with a spectacular score.”

”It was a showcase of his individual skill. He was particularly calm and composed when he dribbled past the defender and broke into the penalty area, showing the potential of a cold-blooded killer.”

”After that, Ajax’s offense grew increasingly fluid. Yang Yang first assisted a goal for Wesley Sonck, then orchestrated the goal by Charisteas. It’s safe to say Yang Yang was inextricably linked to all three of Ajax’s first-half goals.”

The turning point of the match occurred in the second half.

”In the sixtieth minute, Ronald Koeman substituted Yang Yang for Demuer. This substitution became the turning point of the match.”

”According to Koman’s own post-match statements, he took into account Yang Yang’s long-distance travel and the fact that his physical condition hadn’t fully recovered. Coupled with his young age, he decided to only let him play for sixty minutes.”

”After Yang Yang was subbed off, Ajax’s right wing lost its threat. Just six minutes later, Twente’s left wing tore through Ajax’s right, and Maicon’s defensive instability was once again laid bare.”

”After that, Ajax gradually became passive on the field and, in the seventy-sixth minute, Nkuffo scored again.”

Although Ajax managed to hold on for the win in the end, everyone could now clearly see the Eredivisie giant’s defensive vulnerability.”

If Ajax’s defense against high balls was a long-standing problem, then Maicon replacing Talabesi had once again exposed issues with the team’s right-flank defense.

Of course, everyone agreed that a three-to-two narrow victory in the first round of the new season wasn’t an unacceptable result. But if Ronald Koeman’s team wanted to continue contending for the league title, they had to stabilize their defense as soon as possible.

As for Yang Yang, with one goal and one assist, he successfully convinced everyone that he was capable of playing an even more important role in the new season.

Both Ajax fans and the Dutch media were amazed by his performance.

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Also in the first round of the season, Eindhoven’s trajectory was the complete opposite of Ajax’s.

Ajax had been leading by three goals in the first half, only to have their opponent score two in a row in the second half, leaving them in a sorry state.

Eindhoven, on the other hand, conceded two goals in the first half but then scored five unanswered goals in the second. They ultimately crushed Rosendal five-to-two, thanks to a hat-trick from Heise Linke.

After two of their star generals, Robben and Kezman, transferred to Chelsea this summer, Eindhoven’s offense didn’t seem to have suffered at all, remaining as dangerous as ever.

Feyenoord had also lost players, with Van Persie transferring to Arsenal. But Kuyt stayed, and the Dutch native center-forward scored a hat-trick in the first round, helping Feyenoord demolish Graafschap six-to-one.

All three powerhouses defeated their opponents in the first round and secured three points, but the way they did it was completely different, and the problems revealed were equally distinct.

Whether it was the media or the fans, the overall assessment of Ajax was lower than that of Eindhoven and Feyenoord.

Only Yang Yang was unanimously recognized as one of the team’s few bright spots.

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Although their first Eredivisie match was a stumbling affair, they had ultimately secured three points. After a recovery training session the next morning, the team was given a one-day break starting in the afternoon.

It also happened to be the weekend with no classes, so Yang Yang had Vermaelen drive him to Almere.

After returning to the Netherlands, Yang Yang had been busy adjusting and preparing for matches, so he never had time to go back to Almere to visit his aunt. Now that he had a day off, he definitely had to go back to see her, and while he was at it, pay a visit to the Almere Club.

John Reep had called him before, saying the club would use his photo and name for promotion when recruiting youth players. Yang Yang had readily agreed, of course, but he had been busy with the Asian Cup at the time and couldn’t find a moment to participate.

Now that he was on break, he naturally had to come back for a visit.

There was a slight feeling of returning home in glory.

Even though it was the weekend, the club’s training facility was still bustling with activity because Almere also offered weekend classes and organized youth team matches on weekends.

When Yang Yang suddenly appeared, the atmosphere became even more electric. Many young Dutch children ran over to ask for his autograph and a photo, and Yang Yang happily granted all their wishes.

”Thanks to you, we recruited a lot of excellent new students this summer,” John Reep said with a delighted laugh.

Yang Yang, walking between John Reep and Dick Van Puer, shook his head and smiled. ”That was all your hard work. What does it have to do with me?”

”How could it not?” Dick Van Puer chuckled. ”Everyone knows now that you came from our Almere. The better you do at Ajax, the more we benefit from the reflected glory, and the bigger our reputation gets. Kids from all over the area want to come here to play now.”

”Dick is right. So, whether it’s for yourself or for us, you have to keep working hard,” John Reep encouraged with a broad smile.

Yang Yang nodded repeatedly, but a hint of worry flashed in his eyes.

”What’s wrong?” John Reep noticed.

”I just feel like the team is much weaker this season than last,” Yang Yang said.

”That’s normal.” John Reep nodded. ”You have to understand, five absolute starters left in one summer. How could the team not be weaker? Besides, even if the newly signed players were as skilled as the ones who left, who could guarantee they would integrate into the team quickly and perform at their best?”

”Furthermore, it’s hard to say how Ajax’s new signings will fare in the future, but based on their preseason and first-round performances, they’re not nearly as good as the players who left. So, your feeling is spot on.”

Yang Yang had guessed as much himself.

Whether it was Charisteas, Pinaar, Maicon, or Vermaelen, in terms of pure individual ability, they were indeed no match for their predecessors: Ibrahimovic, Van der Vaart, Talabesi, and Escude. Stekelenburg was also not as good as Robbent.

There are only eleven starters, but five of them were replaced, and the overall strength dropped a notch. It was inevitable that the team would be affected.

Yang Yang was mentally prepared for this. It was just that while playing Twente, sitting on the sidelines watching the team’s three-to-zero lead get whittled down to three-to-two—and almost equalized at the end—left a bad taste in his mouth.

”After Van Gaal’s reforms, Ajax has started on a business path of developing young players. You have to get used to this change. Believe me, in every season to come, even during the winter break, teammates will be leaving at any time. This is the current predicament of the Eredivisie, and no one can change it.”

Ajax lost five core pillars and several first-team players. Eindhoven also sent off two of their tiger generals, Kezman and Robben. Feyenoord had no choice but to sell Van Persie...

John Reep was absolutely right; the Eredivisie simply can’t hold on to its players.

This caused a strange thought to sprout in Yang Yang’s mind.

”Just work hard, improve your skills as quickly as possible, and do what you can. There’s no need to put too much pressure on yourself,” John Reep advised.

Yang Yang understood the principle, but he just hated losing.

The feeling of losing a match was truly awful.

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It was a rare trip back for Yang Yang. As it happened, his cousin Shen Yuzhu and Wei Zheng were both there. His uncle, Shen Ming, personally cooked a lavish dinner, specially catering to Yang Yang’s dietary habits. The family gathered around the table, eating happily together.

Wei Zheng and Shen Yuzhu were staying in Europe for a while longer and would likely leave in early September. Yang Yang would also be returning to China around that time to prepare for the AFC U-19 Championship, so it was quite possible they would be traveling together again.

After their family dinner was over, his former teammates from his Almere days, like Henk Demyer and Nick, all got word that Yang Yang was back and came to visit. The moment they saw Yang Yang, they couldn’t help but sigh with admiration.

Although they were already used to Yang Yang’s transformation, they still couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration every time they saw him.

Named the best player in the Asian Cup at seventeen, getting a goal and an assist in the first round of the new Eredivisie season, and then going on to play in the European Super Cup and the Toyota Cup—these were all top-tier stages that countless professional players could only dream of.

Just thinking about it was incredible to Henk Demyer and the others.

If this were last year, they wouldn’t have believed in a million years that Yang Yang could achieve what he had today. It was like something out of a dream.

Accompanying Henk Demyer, Nick, and the others were two or three players on loan from the Ajax Youth Academy. Most of them were from the Ajax Youth Team and were now on loan to Almere. They had come, drawn by his reputation, hoping to get to know Yang Yang.

From Henk Demyer and the others, Yang Yang learned that John Reep was very ambitious. He wanted to make a push for the Eerste Divisie in the new season, so he had personally gone to select the players on loan from Ajax, all of whom were quite skilled.

During the idle chatter, Yang Yang himself felt the shifting tides of fate.

Back then, his biggest dream was to stay at Almere, get into the first team, and help Almere fight for a spot in the Eerste Divisie. But who would have thought that he wouldn’t stay at Almere, but would instead go to Ajax, jump straight from the second team to the first team, play in the Champions League after starting in the Eredivisie, and ultimately even win the Champions League title.

Looking back on it now, he too felt as if it were all a dream.

But reflecting on it made him cherish it all the more. His journey to where he was today had not been easy; it was something he had fought for step by step, with his own blood and sweat. No matter how great the difficulty, no matter how strong the opponent, he would never let himself give up easily.

A lost match could be won back another time, but some things, once given up, can never be reclaimed.