Chapter 227

Not long after the last shot, in the 19th minute, Jiang Xiaolin received a cross from wing forward Moussa Dembele and volleyed the ball outside the penalty area.

The ball flew into the air and hit the Nijmegen goal with great force like a cannonball.

However, this time Jiang Xiaolin's volley hit the goal frame, but it was a bit straight.

After all, volleys are much more difficult to grasp than ground shots.

However, although the angle was not tricky, Jiang Xiaolin's shot was very powerful.

Goalkeeper Babos did not dare to hold the ball directly in his arms. For safety, he just used his hand to save the ball from the bottom line, giving Alkmaar a corner kick.

This was the first corner kick Alkmaar got in this game, and it was also a very good offensive opportunity in the frontcourt.

In the case of the opponent's bus defense, both free kicks and corner kicks are very good offensive methods.

Because Jiang Xiaolin could finally stand in the penalty area to compete for the header, which posed a direct threat to Nijmegen's goal.

Players from both sides crowded in the penalty area, squeezing each other, trying to grab a favorable position, and even started to clash.

The referee had to step out and stop them several times, warning everyone that if they continued to entangle, he would show a yellow card.

Finally, under the threat of the referee, the players from both sides restrained themselves a little.

Afterwards, Alkmaar's front midfielder Martens sent a corner kick.

Originally, he wanted to find Jiang Xiaolin for this ball, because Jiang Xiaolin had the best header technique and the highest jumping ability in Alkmaar.

As a result, because he thought Jiang Xiaolin had a high jumping ability, Martens kicked the ball a little higher.

The ball passed high over the front point and over the head of Jiang Xiaolin in the middle. Jiang Xiaolin tried his best to jump but couldn't touch the ball.

The ball fell to the back point.

The penalty area was already in chaos.

As a result, Jiang Xiaolin attracted the defensive attention of most of the Nijmegen players in the middle.

Because all the Nijmegen players knew that Jiang Xiaolin was in good shape, had a high jump, and had great heading skills, several defenders and goalkeepers focused their attention on Jiang Xiaolin.

Unexpectedly, the ball from Martens flew too far and flew straight to the back point.

Hamdaoyi, who happened to be standing at the back point, headed the corner kick from Martens without any defense, and headed the ball into the goal.

At this time, goalkeeper Babos was still moving from the near point of the goal to the back point. If Hamdaoyi headed the ball within the range of the goal frame, the possibility of the ball going in was very high.

As a result, Hamdaoyi was unlucky, and the ball was headed high, slightly above the crossbar, which disappointed the Alkmaar fans at the scene.

The game continued.

When Jiang Xiaolin withdrew from the penalty area, there were too many opportunities for long shots, and the Nijmegen players could not defend no matter how they defended.

In the 24th minute, Jiang Xiaolin received another pass from his teammate, and then dodged an angle and shot at a distance of about 30 meters from the goal.

This shot was also powerful, but after the ball was shot out, it was blocked by Nijmegen defender Ji Hehe who jumped up to block the hole.

Jiang Xiaolin's powerful long-range shot was not light, and the ball hit Ji Hehe's head, causing him to fall to the ground and faint for a few seconds.

However, despite this, Jiang Xiaolin's shot was indeed cleared by Ji Hehe.

Moreover, Ji Hehe stood up and returned to normal after a while, winning applause from all Nijmegen away fans.

There are indeed many more long-range shooting opportunities outside the penalty area than in the penalty area.

By the 30th minute, Jiang Xiaolin had already shot 5 shots outside the penalty area, an average of once every three minutes.

Although only three of the five shots hit the goal frame. But for long-range shots, this goal frame hit rate is already quite high.

After all, this is not a shooting training without interference, but a shooting under the interference and pressure of opponents.

Therefore, seeing Jiang Xiaolin's long-range shots so frequently and threatening so much, the head coach of Nijmegen also made corresponding adjustments, switching the front midfielder Davis and the defensive midfielder Yun Bakar.

Yun Bakar moved up the position and specifically guarded Jiang Xiaolin closely.

In this way, the frequency of Jiang Xiaolin's continuous long-range shots was finally suppressed.

In the next 15 minutes until the end of the first half, Jiang Xiaolin only got three long-range shots outside the penalty area, and under the interference of Yun Bakar, Jiang Xiaolin only had one long-range shot within the goal frame, forcing goalkeeper Babos to make another wonderful save.

However, shots without goals are useless.

When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, the entire AFAS stadium was almost silent.Alkmaar, who bombarded the entire first half, failed to score a single goal. The two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 0:0.

Jiang Xiaolin and his teammates looked unhappy, while the players of Nijmegen were all smiling.

Although they were beaten by Alkmaar in the first half and looked very embarrassed, and paid the price of two yellow cards, they successfully defended the goal and did not let Alkmaar score even a single goal.

Nijmegen still led Alkmaar with a total score of 4-2, occupying a two-goal lead.

There was only 45 minutes left for Alkmaar to turn the tables.

All the Alkmaar fans in the stands did not expect that Alkmaar, with Jiang Xiaolin, did not score a single goal in the first half.

This was very rare in previous games.

Although those opponents did not shrink their defense like Nijmegen, it was still too surprising that Jiang Xiaolin did not score a single goal.

The fans found it very difficult to accept and very disappointed.

Only those professional TV commentators and media reporters can understand why no one in Alkmaar, including Jiang Xiaolin, could score in the first half of this game.

It was really because Nijmegen's bus defense was too much.

This is no longer called defensive counterattack, it should be called stubborn defense.

In the entire first half, Nijmegen only had two counterattacks, and they did not hit the penalty area line of Alkmaar.

Nijmegen put all the remaining energy into defense, vowing to stick to it.

Before the game started, everyone thought that Nijmegen's two-goal lead was not very big, and Alkmaar, with Jiang Xiaolin, had a great chance of completing a reversal at home.

Because Alkmaar's winning rate after Jiang Xiaolin started to play in the second half of the season was very high, and there were many wins with more than two goals.

Unexpectedly, Nijmegen used a defense that was shrinking to the limit to crush Alkmaar. Even a super striker like Jiang Xiaolin could not do anything about Nijmegen's tortoise shell.

In the locker room, the morale of the entire Alkmaar team was indeed not very good. Jiang Xiaolin could already feel that the state of his teammates was probably far below the 92% level at this time.

If they could not score a goal as soon as possible in the second half, Alkmaar would probably lose.

Fortunately, although Juncker did not have the momentum of head coach Van Gaal, he was still able to do his job and stood up to convey the tactics that Van Gaal had arranged in advance.

When Jiang Xiaolin could not open the situation with a long shot, Van Gaal had a backup plan.

I only heard Junker say:

"Don't be discouraged, in fact, the boss had anticipated this situation yesterday and had already made arrangements."

"Jiang Xiaolin's retreat successfully made the opponent make corresponding adjustments. Their midfielder Yun Bakar also followed Jiang Xiaolin out of the penalty area and closely guarded Jiang Xiaolin."

"So, our tactics in the second half are to implement the established tactics arranged by the boss yesterday."

"After the second half of the game started, when Jiang Xiaolin attracted the opponent's defensive players, the other players tried their best to pass the ball to Martens."

"Then, Martens can choose to shoot himself in the penalty area according to the situation, or choose Hamdaoyi or the two side forwards to pass the ball, and try to break the opponent's ball. goal."

"In addition, Jiang Xiaolin, your passing skills are also very high. If you have the opportunity, you can also take on the work of the front midfielder and try to pass some good balls to your teammates."

"Sometimes, you don't have to shoot yourself to create a threat."

"In short, according to the boss's tactical arrangement, when Jiang Xiaolin is restricted outside the penalty area, the defense in the Nijmegen penalty area will definitely weaken. I hope everyone will seize the opportunity."

"If no one defends Jiang Xiaolin, then you can continue to try long shots yourself."

...

After assistant coach Junker arranged Van Gaal's established tactics, the team atmosphere was slightly better, because after all, this was what Van Gaal and the players had expected.

Although everyone was a little disappointed that there had been no goals, Alkmaar had not completely entered a desperate situation.

Two goals, for Alkmaar, are not absolutely impossible tasks.

After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and fought again. Nijmegen continued to defend and Alkmaar continued to bombard Nijmegen's half.

However, this is just an appearance.

Alkmaar's bombardment was just for show. It looked powerful, but they could not score.

Nijmegen seemed to be pinned to the ground by Alkmaar, but they built a solid defense and never lost any points. They had the advantage of a two-goal lead.The momentum made them more and more confident, and their defense became more and more stable.

Even the fans of Nijmegen felt a little embarrassed when they saw the team defending so stubbornly at the beginning.

But as the game progressed, with the result that the qualification for the UEFA Cup was about to be obtained, the fans of Nijmegen gradually accepted the fact that the team was defensive and cheered for the team.

As long as they win the final and get the qualification for the European Cup next season, as for what tactics to use, does it matter?

Winning is the hard truth.

As for the boos from Alkmaar fans, Nijmegen players and fans didn't care much.

Anyway, they are leading now.