Chapter 229

In the penalty area, after Jiang Xiaolin unexpectedly did not shoot but sent a precise pass to Martens in the penalty area, goalkeeper Babos had no time to think and could only try his best to rush to the near corner of Martens' side from the middle.

A defender on the small penalty area line also rushed over, trying to fly to block the gun hole and block Martens's shot.

As long as Martens paused for half a second, the ball might be blocked.

As a result, Jiang Xiaolin's pass was too accurate and accurate. Jiang Xiaolin's 20-point short pass made Martens not need to stop the ball at all. He ran to the ball and shot directly without stopping the ball and hit Babos in the opposite corner.

Since Martens received the ball for the first time, the defense in the Nijmegen penalty area has been disrupted.

After Martens received the ball for the first time, he did not shoot or pass it to Hamdaoyi, but passed it to Jiang Xiaolin outside the penalty area with an inverted triangle, which actually made the Nijmegen defense very chaotic.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xiaolin did not shoot after receiving the pass from Martens outside the penalty area, but instead faked a shot and passed the ball back to Martens.

This was a wall-to-wall match in the dangerous area of ​​the goal, which was completely beyond the expectations of the Nijmegen defenders and goalkeeper.

No one thought about that at all, resulting in Martens receiving the pass from Jiang Xiaolin and completing the shot without any interference.

The position where Martens shot at the corner of the small penalty area was too close to the goal, and the goalkeeper Babos had no choice but to try his luck and dive to the near corner.

As a result, he dived wrong, and Martens hit him in the opposite corner.

When Babos saw the ball flying past him at a moderate height and angle, he was already desperate.

Under the gaze of everyone at the scene and in front of the TV, the ball shot by Martens flew into the Nijmegen goal behind Babos without any suspense.

In the 67th minute of the game, Jiang Xiaolin and Maarten Martens made a wall-to-wall cooperation inside and outside the penalty area of ​​Nijmegen, and finally Jiang Xiaolin assisted Martens to score the first goal of Alkmaar in this game.

"Wow..."

Thunderous applause and cheers, shouts, and roars rang out, and all the Alkmaar fans inside and outside the stadium stood up and celebrated wildly!

As the time of the second round of the game passed, when all Alkmaar fans were about to despair, Jiang Xiaolin finally assisted Martens to score the first goal of Alkmaar in this game.

All fans suddenly rekindled their hope and naturally celebrated this goal.

After Martens scored this goal for Alkmaar, Alkmaar led 1:0 in this game, trailed 3:4 in the total score, but had two away goals.

As long as Alkmaar scored another goal and the total score became 4:4, Alkmaar would eliminate Nijmegen with the advantage of more away goals and qualify for the League Cup next season.

Therefore, the current score is much more subtle than before, which greatly increases Alkmaar's hope of a comeback.

No wonder all the Alkmaar fans in the stands couldn't help but cheer enthusiastically.

On the court, Martens, who scored a goal, was also very excited. He rushed to the sidelines and celebrated with a passionate bomber dive glide. Then his teammates rushed up and pressed him under them to celebrate.

After the celebration, Martens stood up and hugged Jiang Xiaolin tightly, thanking Jiang Xiaolin for his assist.

This ball came from Jiang Xiaolin's assist. He passed the ball back to Jiang Xiaolin at that time, preparing for Jiang Xiaolin to shoot.

Unexpectedly, Jiang Xiaolin made a feint, attracted the attention of the Nijmegen goalkeeper and defenders, and then passed the ball back, giving him the chance to shoot in a better position.

Moreover, Jiang Xiaolin's passing angle and strength were very accurate, so Martens didn't need to adjust when receiving the ball, and he shot directly while running.

For Martens, this was a very comfortable pass.

Compared to the ecstatic celebrations of Alkmaar fans and players, the players and fans of Nijmegen were under much more pressure.

Now the pressure of the game came to Nijmegen.

Leading by one goal and leading by two goals are completely different psychological states.

When leading by two goals, everyone would think that even if the opponent scored one goal, they would still be ahead, and they would have a great sense of security psychologically.

However, when the lead becomes only one goal, everyone will have no sense of security and will become very nervous.

Because a one-goal lead is too unsafe.

On the football field, a one-goal lead is the most unsafe lead.

Now there is a lot of time left before the end of the game.There are still more than 20 minutes, and Alkmaar may score the second goal at any time.

As long as they score, Alkmaar will eliminate Nijmegen with the advantage of away goals when the total score is 4:4.

The problem facing the Nijmegen coach now is: should Nijmegen continue to defend and hold the lead of the last goal, or should they attack and try their best to score?

However, it didn't take long for the Nijmegen coach to make a decision.

After all, Alkmaar has two away goals, and now there is not much time left in the game. It is almost impossible for Nijmegen to score more than two away goals at the AFAS Stadium.

So Nijmegen can only choose to defend, hold the advantage of the last goal, and prevent Alkmaar from scoring again.

If the defense is successful and Alkmaar is not allowed to score again, Nijmegen will still eliminate Alkmaar with a total score of 4:3 and qualify for the UEFA Cup next season.

Then, before Alkmaar's celebration was over, everyone saw that Nijmegen's head coach made two consecutive substitutions, replacing the two forwards Lens and Hem with two defensive players, almost completely giving up the chance to counterattack and score.

Nijmegen chose a thorough bus defense and defended to the end.

After the game resumed, the game situation between the two sides entered a white-hot situation.

On the one hand, it was because Alkmaar saw the hope of a reversal, and on the other hand, Nijmegen no longer had the relaxed feeling before.

Now, they are determined not to let Alkmaar score again to complete the reversal.

Everyone's fight seemed much more intense than before, and there were many half-to-half opportunities, and the players on both sides fought desperately.

The physical conflicts and yellow cards between the two sides also became more and more.

In the 79th minute, Nijmegen's midfielder Snoor fouled forward Stein Schars, allowing Alkmaar to get a free kick in the frontcourt.

Jiang Xiaolin's "arc" skill has not yet been added to the qualified position, so this free kick was taken by Hamdaoyi, the former first free kick taker of Alkmaar.

Hamdaoyi kicked the ball over the wall and successfully avoided the goalkeeper Babos's ten fingers, but it hit the top of the crossbar and bounced out of the bottom line.

However, the quality of this kind of free kick that can hit the crossbar is still quite high.

Although the ball did not go in, it also scared the players and fans of Nijmegen.

The game continued.

When Nijmegen did not even want the forwards and replaced them with defensive players, their determination to defend became more thorough.

Whether it was Jiang Xiaolin outside the penalty area or Martens, Hamdaoyi and others in the penalty area, it was difficult for them to get any chances.

There were too many players in Nijmegen's half, especially in the 30-meter area of ​​the goal.

Sometimes, even if Jiang Xiaolin, who had full short pass skills, got the ball, he couldn't pass it in. He could only pass it to the sides, or to the back, to the two wingers or the defensive midfielder or defender.

However, this also gave Alkmaar's backcourt players some opportunities to shoot.

In the 85th minute, Jiang Xiaolin got the ball and pushed it to the side. David Mendes, who came in from the back row, made a long shot that hit the goal frame and almost scored a goal.

Unfortunately, Nijmegen's goalkeeper Babos made a world-class save this time, saving Mendes' shot, which made all Alkmaar people feel very sorry.

As time passed, Nijmegen fans, who had been nervous since losing the first goal, began to relax and cheer slowly.

It seemed that they were about to win.

More than 14,000 Alkmaar fans at home were no longer sitting. Almost all of them stood up to cheer for Alkmaar.

Now, they only need one goal to eliminate their opponents.

Alkmaar not only has full-backs, but also two central defenders have already crossed the half court to participate in the attack.

After the two central defenders crossed the half court, they shared a lot of attention from Nijmegen on Jiang Xiaolin.

In the 89th minute, central defender Ragnar Klavan even broke into the top of the penalty area from the back row, received a cross from Moussa Dembele, and made a powerful long shot from the top of the penalty area.

Although this long shot did not score a goal, it still made Nijmegen's defense nervous for a while, and they had to pay attention to Klavan and others' back row insertion, and their attention to Jiang Xiaolin was inevitably reduced.

Time passed slowly, and soon, the regular 90 minutes of game time ended, and the fourth official held up a sign on the sidelines for three minutes of extra time.

Nijmegen's players immediately felt refreshed.

After being bombarded by Alkmaar throughout the game, they were finally about to see the dawn of victory.

More than 2,000 Nijmegen away fans in a corner of the stands also kept waving flags and singing Nijmegen's team song to celebrate.

There were only 3 minutes left before the end of the game, and most of them thought Nijmegen had already won.