Chapter 318

On the match day, in the afternoon, before the game started, Alkmaar's home stadium, AFAS Stadium, was packed.

In addition to Alkmaar's home fans, there were countless Chinese and overseas Chinese fans, and even other foreign fans.

Jiang Xiaolin's performance at the Olympics, with the global live broadcast, not only conquered Chinese fans and Alkmaar fans, but also many Dutch and Europeans became fans of him.

Today, all these fans are expressing their support for one person.

Almost all of the 17,000 fans in the stadium held banners, slogans, five-star red flags, or Jiang Xiaolin's personal portraits to express their support for him.

This is the first time that Jiang Xiaolin has appeared on the court of an official match since he was injured in the Olympic final.

These fans are all here to support him, hoping that he will return to his peak state as soon as possible and present more exciting goals for everyone.

The number of reporters on the sidelines is also unprecedented in Alkmaar.

Countless media reporters from all over the Netherlands, Europe, China, and other Asian countries flocked to the AFAS Stadium to report the news of Jiang Xiaolin's comeback as soon as possible.

Jiang Xiaolin's performance of leading the Chinese team to the championship with 17 goals and 3 assists in the Olympics made him the first superstar in Asian football and also famous in the world football.

If he hadn't been injured, Jiang Xiaolin would have been snapped up by major European top leagues.

Jiang Xiaolin's injury just made it natural for him to stay in Alkmaar.

Otherwise, he would have to find a way to explain to the outside world why he chose to stay in Alkmaar and refused the recruitment of so many super giants.

In fact, Jiang Xiaolin himself proposed to Van Gaal to participate in today's game.

After using the healing potion produced by the system, he was naturally full of confidence and believed that he must have fully recovered. He didn't have to worry about whether he could return to his peak state or the recurrence of his injury.

Since the hospital has repeatedly checked and confirmed that he has fully recovered, and the club's medical department has also checked and confirmed that his body has recovered, then he can train and compete with confidence.

But this is just Jiang Xiaolin's own idea.

He has the system cheat and the healing potion produced by the system. Of course, he is confident that he has fully recovered and is capable of playing in high-intensity professional games.

But others don't know!

Especially Van Gaal, how dare he let Jiang Xiaolin play so quickly?

What if Jiang Xiaolin's injury relapses or even becomes more serious because of his quick return? How can he explain to his boss? How can he explain to the fans?

So, although Jiang Xiaolin was put on the game list by Van Gaal at his request, it is completely impossible for him to start.

Moreover, even if he is on the list, Jiang Xiaolin's chance of coming on as a substitute is not high. At most, he will be put on to adapt for a few minutes in the final stage of the game.

That's it, it depends on chance.

If the team is leading by a large score and is sure to win, then Van Gaal will let Jiang Xiaolin go up to adapt for a few minutes, otherwise forget it.

Jiang Xiaolin is also helpless.

He has no say in this matter, he can only listen to the head coach's instructions.

However, during the pre-match warm-up, Jiang Xiaolin was personally moved to see so many fans supporting him.

During the warm-up, Jiang Xiaolin had a long shot from outside the penalty area of ​​more than 30 meters, which was powerful and directly penetrated the goal guarded by Romero, causing the reporters and fans on the scene to cheer.

Everyone thought that Jiang Xiaolin was just included in the big list and sat on the bench to feel the atmosphere of the game again.

Unexpectedly, from the pre-match warm-up, Jiang Xiaolin's right foot has fully recovered, otherwise he would not be able to play such a powerful long shot.

And seeing Jiang Xiaolin's relaxed look, it is obvious that he is not forcing himself, but really has the ability to play such a shot in the game as long as he has the opportunity.

This makes everyone look forward to it.

However, it is obviously impossible to start.

At 17:45 on the afternoon of October 26, 2008, with the referee's whistle, the 7th round of the 2008/2009 Dutch Eredivisie season, Alkmaar's home game against the newly promoted Volendam officially began.

Alkmaar still played a 442 midfield diamond formation, with Hamdaoui and Ali as forwards.

Perhaps stimulated by Jiang Xiaolin's return and resentment for being forcibly deprived of the No. 9 jersey, Ali was quite excited in this game, and was quite active in both running and shooting.

However, he seemed a little too excited.

In terms of running, Ali, who was eager to attack and shoot, was often offside, making his own attack useless, and the ball was taken away by the opponent.In attack, Ali often ignored the better running positions of his teammates around him, and forced himself to dribble or shoot, wasting opportunities.

In terms of shooting, Ali did not have such superb shooting skills as Jiang Xiaolin, and often wasted opportunities, and even had another situation where the supplementary shot from 5 meters in front of the goal hit the plane.

This made Van Gaal frown on the sidelines.

Fortunately, another striker Hamdaoyi and the attacking midfielder and forward were more reliable.

Because the opponent was a newly promoted team after all, it was very weak.

Alkmaar took a 1-0 lead in the first half.

In the 73rd minute of the second half, Hamdaoyi received a wonderful pass from Maarten Martens and shot successfully in the penalty area.

Alkmaar was already leading 2-0 at home, and it was almost a lock to win.

The next game was definitely garbage time. With the strength of Volendam's newly promoted team, it was impossible to score two goals in a row away from home to equalize the score.

Under such circumstances, Van Gaal could not help but have a slight idea of ​​letting Jiang Xiaolin play to adapt to the atmosphere of the game.

Jiang Xiaolin's long shot during the warm-up before the game was not the reason for Van Gaal's determination.

An occasional powerful long shot does not explain the problem.

What moved Van Gaal was that in the training of the previous two days, Jiang Xiaolin performed perfectly in both physical fitness and technical training, and he did not look seriously injured at all.

In this situation, it should be no problem for him to play to adapt to the game when he was leading 2-0 and there was little time left in the game?

What's more, there were so many reporters and fans at the scene, all waiting eagerly!

However, Van Gaal was a little hesitant about who to replace.

Logically speaking, Ali, who performed poorly, should be replaced.

But in that case, Ali's confidence would be severely hit and he might be ruined.

Anyway, it was not necessary to score a goal when the score was behind. After considering for a few minutes, Van Gaal decided not to replace Ali, but to replace Hamdaoyi, the hero of the goal.

Relatively speaking, Hamdaoyi, who scored the goal, would not have too many thoughts, and it didn't matter if he went off the court early to rest.

Therefore, after thinking it over, Van Gaal called Jiang Xiaolin on the bench and said, "Jiang, go warm up and come back in 5 minutes!"

Jiang Xiaolin, who had been waiting patiently and thought that Van Gaal would not let him play as a substitute in this game, was overjoyed. He jumped up from the bench and rushed to the side to start warming up along the open space outside the sideline.

This season, China National Television purchased the live broadcast rights of the Dutch League, so this game was broadcast live to China.

Although it was already midnight in Beijing time, there were still many Chinese fans waiting in front of the TV, waiting for Jiang Xiaolin's possible comeback.

However, as the game time passed, Van Gaal did not let Jiang Xiaolin warm up until more than 70 minutes, and everyone was almost desperate.

Unexpectedly, at this time, Van Gaal actually called Jiang Xiaolin up and asked him to start warming up.

The commentator was immediately refreshed and excitedly explained loudly:

"Get up, Jiang Xiaolin is up."

"Van Gaal called Jiang Xiaolin up from the bench and asked him to warm up on the sidelines."

"Is Van Gaal really going to send Jiang Xiaolin to the bench?"

"Perhaps, we really have the possibility to witness Jiang Xiaolin's first game after his comeback!"

The Chinese fans who had begun to doze off in front of the TV were also refreshed, staring at the screen, ready to witness Jiang Xiaolin's possible first comeback performance.

Sure enough, after a few minutes, Van Gaal called Jiang Xiaolin back after warming up, explained a few words, and then asked the fourth official to play the electronic card for substitutions.

At the same time, the commentator at the stadium also reported to the fans on the spot through the radio: "Alkmaar substitution, No. 10 Hamdaoyi off, No. 9 Jiang Xiaolin on!"

The whole stadium suddenly became noisy, more than 10,000 fans applauded and cheered at the same time, and reporters also aimed their cameras at Jiang Xiaolin wearing the No. 9 jersey on the sidelines.

A historic scene is about to take place.

After seeing the substitution sign, Hamdaoyi did not feel unhappy at all. He walked off the field calmly, hugged Jiang Xiaolin, said "Come on", and then returned to the bench.

Amid the attention and cheers of countless fans at the scene and in front of the TV, Jiang Xiaolin came on as a substitute in the 81st minute of the match between Alkmaar and Volendam at home.

In fact, before going on the field, Jiang Xiaolin also took the time to spend 2 attribute points, increasing the "position" from 14 to 16, and the remaining attribute points were 111.

It is too obvious to add up to the maximum, but it should not matter if only 2 attributes are added.

After all,Now, more than two months have passed since his last game.

In the commentary booth or in the studios of TV stations in various countries, countless commentators excitedly explained:

"Dear audience, Jiang Xiaolin is on the court!"

"After leading the Chinese Olympic team into the Olympic finals and helping the Chinese team win the gold medal, Jiang Xiaolin was fouled by his opponent at the last minute of the finals and broke his calf, almost bidding farewell to football."

"After more than two months of treatment and rehabilitation, Jiang Xiaolin once again stood on the professional competition field."

"Let's wait and see, I hope Jiang Xiaolin's comeback this time will be successful and perfect."

In the expectant eyes of countless fans, Jiang Xiaolin ran into the court, high-fived his teammates who were close to him, and started the game after receiving encouragement from his teammates.

However, after the game started, the players of Volendam did not keep a close eye on Jiang Xiaolin.

On the one hand, Volendam is a newly promoted team, and their understanding of Jiang Xiaolin is not as intuitive as the teams that played against Jiang Xiaolin last season in the Dutch League, so they don’t know much about the threat of Jiang Xiaolin.

On the other hand, because Jiang Xiaolin has just recovered from a serious injury, the players of Volendam don’t think Jiang Xiaolin is a big threat.

If they have that time, they might as well attack more and try to equalize the score.

After all, they are only two goals behind now, and there have been cases in football history where two goals were scored in the last few minutes.

So, Volendam attacked vigorously on the field, leaving only two central defenders in the backcourt, one to defend Ali and the other to defend Jiang Xiaolin.

Seeing this situation, let alone others, even Jiang Xiaolin’s competitor Ali wanted to complain.

Volendam is looking for death, right?

Although Jiang Xiaolin has just recovered from a serious injury, he is the one who scored 17 goals in 6 games in the Olympics. Are you so careless?

Moreover, judging from his performance in training, Ali also thought that Jiang Xiaolin might have fully recovered, otherwise he would not dare to train so hard with everyone and act as if nothing had happened.

Facing such a Jiang Xiaolin, how dare you, a newly promoted team, look down on Jiang Xiaolin?

Who gave you the courage?

Even Ali thought so, let alone other teammates.

Everyone was overjoyed.

In this case, as long as a counterattack is launched, with Jiang Xiaolin's skills and speed, it is almost a one-to-one hit!

Sure enough, less than 3 minutes after Jiang Xiaolin came on the court, Alkmaar got an excellent counterattack opportunity.

After all, Volendam is just a newly promoted team. Even if they press forward and attack, they can't break Alkmaar's goal, and even the penalty area is difficult to attack.

In the 83rd minute, Volendam's frontcourt pass was discovered by Alkmaar's midfielder David Mendes, who intercepted the opponent's pass halfway with an early rush.

Mendes, who had grabbed the ball, looked up at the running situation in the front court and was immediately overjoyed.

Because Jiang Xiaolin had turned around and rushed to Volendam's half, and there was only one central defender in front of him: the other central defender was defending Ali far away!

In the case of only one defensive player on the other side, as long as the ball was kicked over, with Jiang Xiaolin's body, speed, point grabbing (ability to judge the landing point), and ball stopping skills, Jiang Xiaolin would most likely get the ball and form a single-handed attack, just like Jiang Xiaolin did in the Olympics.

So, Mendes, who was still not far from the front of the penalty area, did not hesitate to dribble the ball and adjust one step, and then without waiting for the opponent's player to counter-grab, he kicked the ball to Volendam's half with a big foot.

Mendes kicked the ball well, not only did the direction not deviate, but it was just in front of Jiang Xiaolin, so Jiang Xiaolin didn't have to go around to grab the ball.

Moreover, the ball landed at a very good point, just over ten meters in front of the penalty area, so that the goalkeeper of Volendam did not dare to attack at all, and the central defender here could not compete with Jiang Xiaolin in speed.

Jiang Xiaolin would most likely grab the ball.

Mendes passed a good ball.