Chapter 228

On the field, Jiang Xiaolin was still trying to shoot from outside the penalty area, so Nijmegen's defensive midfielder Yun Bakar could only continue to closely guard Jiang Xiaolin outside the penalty area.

At the same time, other Nijmegen players such as Davis, Hem, and Lens often appeared around Jiang Xiaolin to assist in his defense.

Jiang Xiaolin alone attracted two or three, or even three or four people to defend him.

In this way, the defensive strength in Nijmegen's penalty area was bound to be weakened a lot, and the defense against Hamdaoyi and Martens was naturally not as tight as in the first half.

So, Alkmaar's players began to pass the ball into the penalty area, and no longer just passed it to Jiang Xiaolin outside the penalty area.

In the 49th minute, Jiang Xiaolin attracted Yun Bakar and Davis outside the penalty area, and there were only two central defenders in the penalty area to defend Hamdaoyi and Martens.

Such a defensive strength is actually quite weak.

It was because of Jiang Xiaolin's continuous long-range shots that the players of Nijmegen had an illusion that Alkmaar would only pass the ball to Jiang Xiaolin and let Jiang Xiaolin shoot from a distance.

So they unconsciously put all their defensive energy on Jiang Xiaolin.

As a result, Stein Schalls, who took the ball on the wing, did not pass the ball to Jiang Xiaolin this time, but made a long pass in the air and passed the ball into the Nijmegen penalty area.

Originally, this was just an attempt based on the tactics arranged by Van Gaal.

As a result, it was unexpected that the defense in the Nijmegen penalty area would be so weak this time, and the central defender Patrick also made a mistake in grabbing the point, allowing Hamdaoyi to get the position and successfully grab the point, and before the opponent Patrick, he passed the ball to Martens on the right side of the penalty area.

Martens stopped the ball with his chest under the interference of another central defender Elabi, and then volleyed the ball without waiting for the ball to land.

The ball flew towards the goal like an arrow, but the angle was slightly right and was saved by Babos.

Babos made a wonderful save, preventing Alkmaar from scoring a goal and only giving the opponent a corner kick.

Alkmaar got a corner kick, but this corner kick did not score a goal. Alkmaar did not even get the ball to the first point, and was cleared by the players of Nijmegen out of the penalty area.

The game continued.

Although Martens's volley did not score a goal, Alkmaar's attack still showed something different and achieved certain results.

After all, Martens's shot was a huge threat, proving that the tactics arranged by Van Gaal were effective.

Since the tactics are effective, let's keep playing!

So, Alkmaar's tactics next made Nijmegen uncomfortable.

If it were an ordinary team, without a super striker like Jiang Xiaolin, it might not be a big problem.

However, when facing a striker like Jiang Xiaolin, even though he had withdrawn from the penalty area, Nijmegen did not dare to relax its defense against him. It could only increase its defense strength, and even the defensive midfielder Yun Bakar followed him out to closely guard Jiang Xiaolin.

But the price of this was that the defensive strength in the Nijmegen penalty area decreased a lot, giving Hamdaoyi and Martens many opportunities.

In the 54th minute, it was Jiang Xiaolin who retreated and took away the defensive midfielder Yun Bakar and Davis, giving Hamdaoyi a short opportunity.

Moussa Dembele, who had the ball, saw the opportunity and passed the ball directly into the penalty area in front of Hamdaoyi.

Hamdaoyi rushed to clear the ball before the opponent's defender cleared it, and he shot it without stopping. Unfortunately, the ball shot out of the post, and did not score a goal, nor did it hit the goal frame to create a threat.

However, although the ball did not go in, Alkmaar's two consecutive shots in the penalty area still made the Nijmegen players very nervous.

Davis, the front midfielder who changed positions, had to retreat to the penalty area to help defend.

The only ones left to defend Jiang Xiaolin were Yun Bakar.

The two forwards, Lens and Hemu, were not professional. They were far behind Yun Bakar in both frontal defense and position selection, and they did not help much in marking Jiang Xiaolin.

Under the threat of Hamdaoyi and Martens, Nijmegen's defensive focus finally returned to the penalty area, relieving a lot of defensive pressure on Jiang Xiaolin outside the penalty area.

Of course, Jiang Xiaolin still couldn't get any good gaps and opportunities, so it was still difficult for him to shoot and score.

But don't forget that Jiang Xiaolin also has a full-value passing skill. In addition to shooting himself, he can also assist his teammates.

He has been waiting for the opportunity to make a wonderful pass.

Finally, in the 67th minute, Jiang Xiaolin got the opportunity he had been waiting for.

This attack was launched by Stein Schalls inInitiated from the wing.

He dribbled the ball through the sideline and broke through the full-back of Nijmegen, then cut inside a little and passed the ball to Marte Martens in the scenic area.

After Martens got the ball, the defenders and goalkeeper in the Nijmegen penalty area panicked. Some of them rushed to Martens, and the others defended Hamdaoyi in the penalty area.

At this time, there were many people in the penalty area, and some were blocking the path of Martens' shot, and the goalkeeper was ready to save.

Martens had no confidence that he could shoot through everyone in the penalty area and go straight to the goal.

Therefore, when there was chaos in the penalty area, Martens did not shoot, nor did he pass the ball to Hamdaoyi, but passed the ball back to the outside of the penalty area.

Everyone looked in the direction of the ball rolling, and everyone saw the scene of Jiang Xiaolin shaking off Yun Bakar and rushing towards the ball passed by Martens.

All the players of Nijmegen suddenly became very nervous. Except for Yun Bakar who was chasing closely behind Jiang Xiaolin, the attacking midfielder Davis and the central defender Patrick quickly blocked the route where Jiang Xiaolin might shoot, preventing him from shooting directly without stopping the ball.

Countless eyes on and off the field stared at Jiang Xiaolin, and everyone thought that Jiang Xiaolin would shoot directly without stopping the ball.

As a result, while running and observing, Jiang Xiaolin found that the opponent's players had blocked his shooting route. The shooting angle was not very large, and the control was not very high.

On the contrary, Martens in the penalty area was basically ignored after passing the ball.

Then, he quietly ran out of a gap, just on the right side of the penalty area near the corner of the small penalty area.

Jiang Xiaolin discovered Martens's running intention and the gap in that place.

So, just when everyone thought Jiang Xiaolin was going to shoot, Jiang Xiaolin ran to the ball path but did not shoot. Instead, he faked a shot and passed the ball to the right side of the Nijmegen penalty area, near the corner of the small penalty area.

Jiang Xiaolin unexpectedly did not shoot, but passed the ball back to the penalty area. Both the Nijmegen defender and the goalkeeper were shocked.

Everyone turned their heads and found that there was only Martens in that position, and there was no one defending. Nijmegen's goal was in great danger.

It was too late for the Nijmegen defender in the penalty area to defend and block Martens.

Only goalkeeper Babos rushed to the goal where Martens was, trying his best to save Martens' shot that might hit the near corner.