Chapter 99: Chapter 98: Winter Has Come (Fifth Update, Please Subscribe)
"Ah!!"
After scoring, Van der Vaart rushed toward the corner flag for a frantic celebration.
He had every reason to be so agitated.
That’s because he had been bullied terribly by Veloso in this game.
He could swear that there were more than two or three bruises on his body.
Three-nil!
Ajax had killed the game!
Remember, it’s only the first half.
A three-nil scoreline at halftime, it’s too hard not to win.
After all, it’s only 1999, the Istanbul miracle is yet to come.
Many Lisbon Sporting fans were already feeling dead inside.
Even Ferguson lost interest and turned off the TV, calling everyone to go for an early dinner.
Quite a few Manchester United fans were secretly laughing.
The boss previously said he had no bias regarding this game, just purely wanted to watch the youngsters play and see if there were any outstanding talents.
Now the outstanding young talent has emerged.
Is Van der Vaart outstanding or not?
What does it mean for you to turn off the TV then?
Ajax’s celebrations lasted quite a while, and shortly after the game resumed, the first half was over.
During the halftime break, Maxa didn’t rant in the locker room.
"Kai, I support any decision you make. Even though we are down by three goals now, I have the utmost trust in you," Maxa patted Deng Kai on the shoulder and handed the tactical board over to him.
Then he sat on the side and began drafting his speech: "Yes, all the decisions were made by Deng Kai, every player in the changing room can testify to that. But I still have to say, the responsibility for losing this game is on me, not on Deng Kai."
"I won’t allow anyone to blame him. If you have any complaints, direct them at us. Even if we’ve only made it to the semi-finals of the Youth Champions League this year, next year I believe I can lead the team to a new challenge for this honor!"
The assistant coach was watching Maxa with a cold eye, not needing to think to know what Maxa was rehearsing. That speech had been written by Maxa a long time ago, but he had never had the opportunity to use it.
The rough translation would be: "Yes, all the mistakes were made by Deng Kai, everyone can prove it. So the responsibility is on him, not on me."
"Don’t blame me; if you want to blame anyone, go blame Deng Kai. Also, don’t forget, I’m the one who led the team to the semi-finals of the Youth Champions League this year! I’m a meritorious coach, I’ll do even better next year!"
Talk about being a jerk!
Deng Kai, however, didn’t care about Maxa.
After all, Maxa, although despicable, was willing to delegate authority.
Try switching to another team and see if the coach allows a fourteen-year-old kid to arrange tactics.
Mbappé was quite famous when he was a teenager, but wasn’t he still compelled by the youth coach to play as a full-back without any room to resist?
"Veloso, you’ve performed well, push harder in the second half. Van der Vaart has adapted to your defensive intensity, you need to put in more effort," Deng Kai patted Veloso, "We won’t be able to support you much in the second half, starting now, we can’t concede any more goals."
Afterward, Deng Kai communicated with the back line, telling the full-backs to defend out appropriately, at least to interfere when the opponent was crossing the ball.
"Marcelino." Deng Kai called out to the disheartened Marcelino.
In the first half, Marcelino had the most opportunities.
Because Ronaldo was the biggest threat, attracting the most firepower.
Lorenzo was centrally positioned, so he dropped back more.
However, Marcelino had failed to seize the opportunities, causing some disappointment among the fans, and he himself was also unsatisfied with his performance.
"Others may not understand your efforts, but I do," Deng Kai patted Marcelino on the shoulder, "Keep going, use every bit of your strength, show your impact. During the early stage of the second half, you are our main striker. All the balls will eventually be passed to you."
As the saying goes, a soldier will die for those who appreciate him.
Marcelino’s eyes were filled with moved tears.
Maxa shook his head speechlessly on the side.
This is the art of language.
What Kai meant was for you, Marcelino, to hurry up and play in the second half, to expend your energy quickly, because when the team really starts to counterattack, you’re definitely going to be substituted out.
But who to substitute in after Marcelino?
The rest of the Lisbon Sporting substitute forwards are not on the same level as Marcelino, otherwise, with Marcelino’s king-style playing, he would have been taken down in front of Ronaldo and Kai a long time ago.
...
The second half began.
Ajax made no adjustments, as the leader they could remain unchanged and respond to all changes.
What surprised most people was that Lisbon Sporting, despite being behind, also made no changes.
Did they still want to lose three goals in the second half?
In the 47th, 49th, and 56th minute, Deng Kai launched consecutive long passes, initiating fast attacks.
Although Marcelino didn’t create a threat three times, he ran with great effort and commitment, and to some extent still kept players like Sneijder pressed back in their own half, using offense as a form of defense and relieving the pressure on his own team’s defense.
The so-called long passes, if it was just the connection between Deng Kai and Marcelino, could help conserve the teammates’ energy.
The 65th minute.
Ronaldo, who had been roaming in the middle, suddenly returned to the left wing.
Deng Kai at the back launched another long pass, this time targeting Ronaldo.
A ground pass with added backspin.
Ronaldo replaced stopping the ball with a flick and raced down the wing.
"Cutting inside! Ronaldo, after a series of step-overs, cuts inside, moving incredibly fast!"
"With successive feints, Ronaldo is nearing the penalty area... long shot... beautiful!"
"That’s in!"
"One to three! Ronaldo scores a superstar goal with his individual ability, helping the team pull one back!"
"It hasn’t been easy for Sporting Lisbon; they’ve had barely any decent chances throughout the game."
"But Ajax isn’t panicking at all, because such superstar goals can’t happen all the time."
"The nature of scoring through individual ability and tactical plays is completely different."
"Look, Ajax’s defenders have increased their joint defense efforts on Ronaldo; they were a bit lax earlier. Ronaldo’s goal has also served as a wake-up call for them."
The 72nd minute.
Lorenzo dropped back to receive a pass from Deng Kai, but was immediately dispossessed by Sneijder.
Sneijder lifted his foot in the backfield...
Bang!
Marcelino slid in with a tackle that took Sneijder down like a felled tree.
In his mind, he remembered the instructions Deng Kai had given him during the halftime break, "Besides, apart from attacking, you also need to actively participate in defending the midfield. Pay special attention to their Sneijder; don’t allow him too many chances to make long passes."
Marcelino did just that.
After the referee blew the whistle, he showed Marcelino a yellow card.
Deng Kai then signaled a substitution to Maxa with his hand.
Maxa made the substitution right away.
Although he didn’t have clever strategies up his sleeve, Mr. Fengchu Kai had told him earlier who to replace Marcelino with.
"Marcelino has been substituted."
"About time; his style of play has always been physically demanding, and now with a yellow card, he can take a rest."
"Who will Sporting Lisbon use to replace him? They seem to lack high-caliber reserve forwards."
"Eh... is that Wu Xudong? He’s a right-back, though occasionally he can play as left-back, but... what does this mean? Is Maxa adjusting the formation?"
"No, he’s not! Wu Xudong is taking Marcelino’s position; he’s going to play forward?"
"This is unexpected, Wu Xudong’s technical skills aren’t great, his main attribute is extreme speed, putting him on is a bit of a gamble."
The 74th minute.
Ajax continued their usual attacks down the flanks.
Bang!
After attracting Sporting Lisbon players slightly to the left, Ajax’s left winger made a long pass to transfer the ball to the right winger.
The right winger received the ball, moved forward a few steps, then passed it back to the approaching Van der Vaart.
Veloso suddenly made a tackle, using both hands and feet, pulling off a steal that was somewhat suspect of a foul.
Van der Vaart spread his arms on the ground, expressing his dissatisfaction to the main referee. However, because he had fallen to the ground frequently before, he had left an impression of being prone to diving, so the main referee did not blow the whistle.
Bang!
After Veloso transferred the ball to Deng Kai, Deng Kai didn’t waste a second and delivered a long ball without controlling it directly to the team’s right forward area!
De Bruyne’s Conscious Flow Pass!
This pass gave an absolute opening, but the ball speed was extremely fast.
"As expected! Deng Kai wants to exploit Wu Xudong’s speed advantage; this pass was for Wu Xudong, and he gave him a lot of lead."
"Ah! Isn’t that too much lead? The ball is going out of bounds!"
"He can’t catch up, that ball is definitely going out."
"The Ajax players have already stopped, beginning to discuss positioning and movement with their teammates. Just now, Wu Xudong and Lorenzo crossed paths, with Lorenzo drawing away the defender. This belongs to a defensive loophole that needs constant attention... wait, is Wu Xudong catching up?"
In the camera shot, the football seemed destined to roll out of bounds.
But a green-and-white figure, like lightning, was rapidly closing the distance to the ball.
