Super Wingstorm

In fact, Ibrahimovic’s good mood didn’t last long.

On the Saturday after the third round of the Champions League qualifiers, Ajax welcomed the first round of the new Eredivisie season. Their opponent was Vitesse, a team that had narrowly avoided relegation last season.

Ajax was playing away, and Yang Yang and Vermaelen were holed up at home watching the live broadcast.

The away team’s first half was just as poor. A mere thirteen minutes after kickoff, Vitesse defender Frankel assisted striker Amoah for a goal. Ajax struggled to break the deadlock and only managed to equalize ten minutes later thanks to an own goal from Frankel.

Ibrahimovic only played for an hour in this match before being substituted off. Koman then made a series of additional changes, and finally, in the 87th minute, Sneijder scored, securing a hard-won victory for Ajax on the road.

Having saved Ajax in two consecutive matches, Sneijder had become the team’s veritable savior at the start of the season, his fame overshadowing that of star player Van der Vaart and center-forward Ibrahimovic.

The first round of a new season is often difficult. It was no small feat for Ajax to win away from home and secure three precious points. Eindhoven drew 2-2 away with Roda JC, and Feyenoord, playing at home, also scraped by with a narrow 2-1 victory over Nijmegen. It was a tough start for everyone.

After returning to Amsterdam from the away match, Ibrahimovic’s mood had soured considerably. It was said that he had been fiercely reprimanded by head coach Koman and technical director Van Gaal, which left him simmering with frustration.

Finally, in the midweek home game for the second leg against Graz AK, Ibrahimovic scored just fifteen minutes in. He converted a cross from the left by his good friend Maxwell, sending the ball into the opponent’s net, opening the scoring for the team and netting his first Champions League goal of the season.

But the good times didn’t last. Just before the end of the first half, a mistake in the Ajax defense allowed their opponents to seize the opportunity and equalize.

After that, Ajax’s sustained attacks failed to break through. The 1-1 score held until the end, and the two sides went into extra time.

Finally, in the 104th minute, Graz AK’s defender Eman made an error. The veteran Galasek seized the chance and calmly scored the winning goal, helping Ajax advance to the group stage with a narrow 3-2 aggregate victory.

The narrow escape was a huge relief for everyone on the team, but criticism from the media soon brought dark clouds gathering over De Toekomst.

Three official matches into the new season, and Ajax had played poorly in all of them. Not only had the offense, which the team relied on last season, failed to pose a threat, but the once-solid defense was also showing frequent problems.

A record of two wins and one draw in three matches, with five goals scored and three conceded, seemed passable on paper. But of those five goals, one was an own goal and another was gifted by an opponent’s unforced error. These two lucky goals had helped Ajax earn three points in the league and advance to the Champions League group stage.

It could be said that without these two pleasant surprises, Ajax would have faced a catastrophe.

Even more unacceptable was conceding three goals in three games, an average of one per game, and against teams that weren’t even powerhouses. This kind of defense made it difficult for anyone to feel at ease.

Everyone knew that without a solid defense, a team’s results would be unstable. How could they compete with Hiddink’s Eindhoven?

In a post-match interview, Koman stated that he was satisfied with Ajax’s start to the season. He said the team’s problems were within his expectations, because they had lost two key players, Van der Meede and Qi Wu, in the offense and defense respectively during the summer. Both the attacking combinations and the defensive line had been restructured and needed time to gel.

But Koman ended with a warning to his players, hoping that everyone would quickly get into the rhythm of the new season and perform at their best. He made it clear that anyone, regardless of who they were, would not be in his starting lineup if their form was poor.

Koman’s stern warning undoubtedly sounded the alarm for the first team.

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Influenced by the first team’s performance and the surrounding media commentary, the atmosphere at the Ajax Second Team’s afternoon training session was a bit tense.

They were set to challenge Ezmeralda in an away game tomorrow, and everyone could feel the pressure of the first match of the season. Compounded by the first team’s lackluster results and the swirling media debates, the players were not at ease.

Head coach Van Basten, standing on the sidelines, felt it too.

He didn’t say a word throughout the entire training session, just stood by the pitch and watched silently.

The eighteen-man roster for the team had already been drawn up and posted in the locker room at noon. Everyone knew at a glance who had made the cut and who hadn’t. Some were happy, some were disappointed; that was inevitable.

With over twenty players on the team, only eighteen could make the game day squad. Van Basten had to make choices. He even had to select a starting eleven from those eighteen, which was undoubtedly a more brutal process.

But this was just the second team, facing an amateur team in the first round of the Dutch Cup knockout stage.

If they couldn’t even handle this, how could they face the mountain of pressure that came with the first team?

Under pressure, the players’ performance in training was a true reflection of their mental state. Van Basten and his assistants saw it all, and he would use this to assess a player’s trustworthiness.

”Have you made a decision?” Rob Witschge came to his side.

He was Van Basten’s close friend. The two had grown up together in the Ajax Youth Academy, fighting side by side and building a deep friendship, even though Rob Witschge later played for their mortal enemy, Feyenoord, for a long time.

”The match is in the afternoon, but he has classes at school in the morning. I still think it’s better to have him start on the bench.”

As he spoke, Van Basten’s gaze fell upon Yang Yang on the training pitch.

In less than two weeks, Yang Yang had fully integrated into the team’s training. He always meticulously carried out the coaching staff’s instructions, never slacking off during practice. After training, he was also one of the few players who voluntarily stayed behind for extra practice. Van Basten never said anything, but he took note of it all.

Talent may be valuable, but in the vast world of World Football, it is not rare. Hard work is the most precious quality of all.

Besides, who could accurately judge a person’s talent?

”This kid is definitely a promising prospect. As long as he continues to develop at this pace, he’ll surely be able to contribute to the first team given time,” Rob Witschge said with conviction.

After speaking, he looked at the conflicted Van Basten. ”How about I go talk to him?”

Van Basten stubbornly shook his head. ”No, I’ll tell him myself.”

As a former professional player, he believed that no matter what choice he made for the starting lineup, he should bear that responsibility and personally communicate it to the players, even explaining his reasoning.

He had once had a head coach who was blunt and abrasive, pushing the task of announcing the starting lineup onto his assistant. He had found that highly inappropriate, so he was determined to do it himself—not just for Yang Yang, but for the other players who were left out as well.

At the very least, he wanted them to understand why they didn’t make the starting lineup, and what they should do when they were on the bench.

Rob Witschge nodded. He understood. This was the Ajax Second Team’s first match of the new season, but wasn’t it also the first match of Van Basten’s coaching career?

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As usual, after the afternoon training session ended, Yang Yang and Vermaelen voluntarily stayed behind for extra practice.

Yang Yang started with the basics, juggling the ball with various parts of his body. Then, he practiced volleying passes back and forth with Vermaelen, followed by their routine crossing drills and one-on-one attacking and defending.

Ronaldo’s Charge could be considered Yang Yang’s signature skill. Especially after mastering the Pendulum Move, he began practicing other moves like consecutive feints and ball-dragging, which made it extremely difficult for Vermaelen to defend against him one-on-one. The Belgian’s success rate in stopping him was steadily declining.

All of this was proof of Yang Yang’s progress.

But the Belgian center-back was no pushover either. Through constant practice, his defensive skills were also improving rapidly. Knowing that he couldn’t stop Yang Yang head-on, he began to employ other defensive methods, always finding ways to make things uncomfortable for Yang Yang.

In this way, they made life difficult for each other, pushing one another to improve.

With each day of relentless training, he began to gain more insights and a deeper feel for Beckham’s Crossing. These were feelings that were difficult to describe in words, but he now clearly had more confidence in his crosses.

And the facts proved it: the quality of his crosses was becoming more and more reliable.

After one of his crosses was headed wide by Vermaelen, Yang Yang was about to tease his teammate when he suddenly heard Van Basten’s voice from the sidelines.

”Here, try crossing a few to me.”

Seeing Van Basten in his training gear striding onto the pitch, Yang Yang didn’t hold back. Laughing, he first sent a long, looping cross into the penalty area. After watching Van Basten show his keen striker’s instinct to tap it into the net, he delivered a curling cross, which the Dutch legend met with a header for another goal.

Seeing Van Basten personally join in, Vermaelen and Yang Yang were both fired up. The Belgian center-back was responsible for passing the ball to Yang Yang, who was in charge of crossing, while Van Basten was in the box to get on the end of them with his feet and his head.

Throughout the process, Van Basten constantly offered pointers on each of Yang Yang’s crosses.

Although he was a center-forward, Van Basten’s technique was exquisite. He offered a lot of advice on Yang Yang’s crossing technique, but most importantly, he analyzed Yang Yang’s crosses from a striker’s perspective. From the ball’s destination to its curve and power, he always hit the nail on the head, providing eye-opening insights that were very rewarding for Yang Yang.

Thanks to Van Basten’s friendly guest appearance, Yang Yang’s extra practice session extended until dusk, when they finally, reluctantly, called it a day.

Coming to Ajax, what Yang Yang wanted most was to receive guidance from his idol, Van Basten. The session was incredibly fruitful, and even Vermaelen, who was on the side, learned a lot.

After the training ended, Van Basten, though drenched in sweat, was in high spirits. He said he would definitely join Yang Yang for practice again when he had time, which made both Yang Yang and Vermaelen ecstatic.

As for not making the starting lineup for tomorrow afternoon’s match and being on the bench instead, Yang Yang unhesitatingly expressed his support for Van Basten’s decision.

In any case, it really wasn’t appropriate for him, a newcomer who hadn’t proven himself, to start.

Demuer, on the other hand, was a product of the youth academy and had even joined the first team’s training camp over the summer. He was certainly more deserving of a starting spot.

But Van Basten also promised that, regardless of the match’s outcome, he would give Yang Yang at least thirty minutes to prove himself.

Clearly, this match would be his first test for both Yang Yang and Demuer.