Chapter 345
Seeing that Ajax, which was behind in the score, began to replace defensive players to strengthen defense, everyone knew what the other coach meant.
This was to give up the game.
Seeing this, Van Gaal also started to make substitutions, replacing Maarten Martens, David Mendes, and Ragnar Klavan one after another.
Because three days later, Alkmaar will usher in a crucial game: the third round of the UEFA Cup group stage at home against Tottenham.
After losing 2-3 to Dinamo Zagreb away in the first round and having a bye in the second round, Alkmaar has actually fallen to fourth in the group, with 0 points and 1 goal difference with the last-placed Spartak Moscow, but it ranks ahead of Spartak Moscow because it scored one more goal than the opponent.
In the next three games, Alkmaar's opponents are Tottenham Hotspur at home in the third round, Spartak Moscow away in the fourth round, and Udinese at home in the last round.
Tottenham Hotspur is a strong team in the Premier League. As a team in the top five leagues, it is not easy for Alkmaar to defeat them.
In the fourth round, they played against Spartak Moscow away. It was early December, and it was very likely to encounter extreme weather with ice and snow. This away game was also difficult to play.
As for Udinese in the last round, it is also a team in the top five leagues, Serie A, and currently ranked first in the group, which is also difficult to deal with.
Such a schedule and the current situation are more dangerous for Alkmaar.
The only advantage is that Jiang Xiaolin has returned from injury, and there are three qualifying places in the group stage.
But even so, Alkmaar cannot be taken lightly.
Therefore, when leading by three goals and the opponent gave up resistance, it is understandable that Van Gaal replaced the three main players on the central axis to prepare for the next UEFA Cup group stage in advance.
Van Gaal also told Jiang Xiaolin about this privately, and Jiang Xiaolin also expressed his understanding.
It is impossible to drag the whole team to play with him just to vent his anger. Everyone supported him to make the score 5-2, and he scored four goals, which was beyond expectations.
After all, Ajax is not a weak team like Vitesse, but a world-famous giant. It is very rare to score 5 goals against the opponent.
However, for Jiang Xiaolin, it would be better if he could score more goals against the opponent.
A score of 5-2 is called a big win, and 6-2 can be called a bloodbath.
Therefore, although Van Gaal replaced three players in a row, replacing all three main players on the central axis, which seemed to convey the meaning of slowing down the offensive and messing up the time, Jiang Xiaolin was not satisfied.
On the one hand, his game habits made him fight to the end in every game, and his full physical strength and strong physique were enough to support him to do so.
On the other hand, Ajax's discrimination against him at the beginning made him not let the opponent go easily. If he could score another goal and turn the big win into a bloodbath, it would be perfect.
The players who were not substituted on the field naturally knew Jiang Xiaolin's thoughts, and they also did not relax because the head coach started to make substitutions.
Especially the three players who just came on the field, they were full of fighting spirit. Even in the rain, they fought hard and wanted to fight for their performance with only a few minutes of playing time.
No player can be willing to be a substitute forever. If there is a chance to play, they still want to show their performance.
Therefore, in the last few minutes of the game, Alkmaar still maintained a very high intensity of attack, and beat Ajax, who was determined to defend until the end of the game, a little embarrassed.
Ajax did not expect that Alkmaar, who was already leading 5-2, was still not satisfied in the last few minutes, and still forced to attack in the heavy rain, resulting in a series of dangerous situations.
In the 86th minute, because there were too many Ajax players in the penalty area, Jiang Xiaolin took the initiative to withdraw from the penalty area to get the ball. He received a pass from his teammate outside the penalty area and passed Ajax's midfielder Lindgren with a crotch pass, and almost broke into the penalty area.
Unfortunately, Jiang Xiaolin, who passed Lindgren, failed to control the ball and was tackled by central defender Oleg who flew over from the side and shoveled the ball away.
The ball shoveled away by Oleg fell to the feet of forward Aian'ao. Aian'ao did not dare to dribble too much. He looked at the running position of his teammates in front and wanted to pass the ball to Suarez, thinking that it would be good to make a counterattack and delay the time.
As a result, Alkmaar's front midfielder Maarten Martens quickly pressed forward, causing Aian'ao to make a mistake in a hurry. He even forgot that it was a rainy game and kicked a ground pass to the midfield instead of passing the ball in the air.
Then, the ball fell into a puddle in the middle and stopped, and was intercepted by Alkmaar's substitute midfielder Lux.
Because the ball was outside the penalty area just now, Jiang Xiaolin's dribbling was shoveled away by Oleg, and then Aian'ao passed the ball forward again. Players from both sides thought the ball was going to the midfield. Alkmaar players were ready to return to defense, while Ajax players were ready to advance to participate in the attack. What if they scored a goal?
It's always better to lose less.
So, the Ajax penalty area was a bit empty, with only three defenders and Alkmaar striker Hamdaoyi left, and everyone else withdrew from the penalty area.
Even Hamdaoyi and the three defenders of Ajax were walking outside the penalty area.
As a result, Aian'ao's pass error caught everyone off guard, and there was no time to return to defense.
Lux, who had already observed the situation in the Ajax penalty area, was also very decisive after intercepting the ball. He just adjusted one step and passed the ball to the Ajax penalty area with a lob pass, and Hamdaoyi went to compete for the header.
Hamdaoyi was also very alert. He stopped walking out of the penalty area the moment Lux intercepted the ball, turned around to face the goal, and then aimed at the ball Lux passed from the air. He resisted a close-guard Ajax central defender and forced a flying shovel shot, kicking the ball towards the Ajax goal.
Unfortunately, this kind of aerial shot from behind was too difficult. Hamdaoyi failed to hit the right spot. The ball did not fly to the right side of the goal as he expected, but flew straight to the goalkeeper Valmir guarding the middle.
Although Valmir did not make a save, he just waved his hand as if it was a conditioned reflex, and blocked Hamdaoyi's shot by instinct, and then pressed the ball under his body before Hamdaoyi's second reaction was to fall to the ground and continue to shoot.
Hamdaoyi missed a great chance to score, which made him very upset.
Although the team was already leading by a large score, it would undoubtedly be very good for him as a striker to score more goals.
At least there should be more goal awards and one more goal in personal statistics.
But there was nothing he could do if he failed to score. Hamdaoyi could only get up and give Lux a thumbs up, indicating that he had passed a good ball, but he just didn't grasp it.
Then, Ajax took advantage of the goal kick to launch an attack, but it was intercepted by Alkmaar just after passing the midfield.
After the two sides entangled in the midfield for a while, the ball was controlled by Alkmaar, and then launched another attack.
Jiang Xiaolin, who retreated to the outside of the penalty area, was also pinned down by two or three Ajax players and couldn't get the ball properly, so he simply changed his position to the wing.
In the 89th minute, Jiang Xiaolin received the ball from the substitute midfielder Van der Velden on the wing and then dribbled the ball to the bottom.
About 25 meters away from the bottom line, Jiang Xiaolin was intercepted by Ajax left back Wilmaelen.
Jiang Xiaolin made a fake move to break through, causing Vermaelen to take a step back. The next second, Jiang Xiaolin passed the ball to Stein Schars who was approaching from the middle, and then he passed Vermaelen from the sideline.
Vermaelen grabbed Jiang Xiaolin's body and tried to hold Jiang Xiaolin, but was still forcibly freed by Jiang Xiaolin.
Afterwards, Jiang Xiaolin successfully passed Vermaelen and received the ball from Schars behind him.
This was a successful two-on-one match.
As a last resort, Ajax's central defender Vertonghen rushed out of the penalty area, blocked Jiang Xiaolin's way to the bottom, and stuck inside, also preventing Jiang Xiaolin from cutting in or crossing.
Of course, Vertonghen mainly defended Jiang Xiaolin's cutting in and crossing, so he didn't defend Jiang Xiaolin's bottom very strictly.
So Jiang Xiaolin first took a few steps to the bottom line, causing Vertonghen to have to run to the bottom line.
As a result, about ten meters away from the baseline, Jiang Xiaolin suddenly braked, catching Vertonghen in the inside line off guard and running past him.
Jiang Xiaolin successfully dribbled the ball to the inside.
But the full-back Wilmaeren, who had just been broken through by him, had returned to defense and flew over from the side.
Jiang Xiaolin's full-value dribbling skills allowed him to flexibly pull the ball back, allowing Wilmaeren, who was flying, to slide past him, but he didn't touch the ball.
After Wilmaeren slid past, Jiang Xiaolin continued to cross the middle with the ball.
At this time, everyone naturally knew what Jiang Xiaolin's intention was.
Ajax's midfielder Lindgren and central defender Oleg both ran over, and the two cooperated to try their best to block Jiang Xiaolin's shooting route.
Jiang Xiaolin brought the ball to the top of the penalty area through continuous rhythm changes, but still couldn't find a gap to shoot.
However, when Jiang Xiaolin broke through from the wing and cut inside, he attracted the attention of a large number of Ajax defenders.
Including Oleg and Lind who were blocking his shooting route.Glenn, as well as Vermaelen and Vertonghen who were just broken by him, Jiang Xiaolin alone attracted the attention of the opponent's four defenders.
Moreover, other Ajax players, including goalkeeper Valmier, were nervously watching Jiang Xiaolin, fearing that he would suddenly dodge a gap and complete the shot.
Ajax, which was already three goals behind, did not want to be scored by Jiang Xiaolin before the end of the game, and then be bloodbathed by Alkmaar 6-2.
Therefore, when everyone focused on Jiang Xiaolin, it was inevitable that other players of Alkmaar were in the gap without defense.
Of course, Alkmaar's main offensive players, such as Martens, Hamdaoyi, Schals, Dembele and others, were still being guarded.
After all, these people were offensive players themselves.
However, when Ajax had these people on their guard, plus Jiang Xiaolin cut in from the wing to the middle and attracted the attention of four people.
So, no one noticed the left-back Pocognoli who quietly came from the wing.
Maybe someone noticed it, but they couldn't split themselves.
Pocognoli came from the left side, ran behind Moussa Dembele, and then cut inside and ran straight to the empty space on the left side of the penalty area.
Van der Wiel, the full-back who was originally defending Dembele outside the penalty area, saw Pocognoli's running position and was ready to give up defending Dembele and return to the penalty area to defend Pocognoli.
However, Jiang Xiaolin also saw Dembele's running position, and he was more convenient to do it than Van der Wiel.
He didn't need to run over, he just had to pass the ball.
Ogle and Lindgren had already wasted a lot of effort to block his shooting route, and it was impossible for them to block Jiang Xiaolin's passing route.
Jiang Xiaolin easily pushed the ball to the left side of the penalty area.
Despite the rain, Jiang Xiaolin's pass was quite accurate.
Moreover, he was lucky that the ball did not fall into a puddle in the middle and rolled smoothly in front of Pocognoli.
When goalkeeper Valmir saw Jiang Xiaolin pass the ball, his face suddenly changed and he rushed to Pocognoli from the middle.
But Pocognoli hit him in the opposite corner.
Facing the good ball passed by Jiang Xiaolin, Pocognoli did not stop the ball at all, and volleyed the ball to the far corner of the goal, just in the opposite direction of Valmir's save.
Valmir tried to desperately save the ball behind him with his center of gravity, but in the end he failed to touch the ball because of the opposite center of gravity.
After being passed by Jiang Xiaolin, Vertonghen returned to the penalty area and rushed into the small penalty area, desperately stretched his legs to shovel, trying to kick the ball out and clear it on the goal line.
But Pocognoli's unguarded shot was too easy. The ball successfully avoided Vertonghen's last line of defense and flew into the goal from above, brushing his shoes.
In the 89th minute, Pocognoli received Jiang Xiaolin's pass and scored Alkmaar's sixth goal of the game, helping Alkmaar lead Ajax 6-2 at home.
This goal once again ignited the passion of the commentator and the fans. The commentator excitedly explained in the commentary booth, and the fans applauded and cheered wildly in the stands.
No one expected that Alkmaar, which was already leading 5-2, had never given up. When the game was nearing the end, it continued to attack and successfully scored another goal, turning the 5-2 victory into a 6-2 bloodbath.
On the court, Jiang Xiaolin and his teammates naturally celebrated enthusiastically.
On the other hand, the away fans in the stands of Ajax were about to leave one after another.
As the top club in the Eredivisie, they were beaten 6-2 by a previously unknown small team. Everyone couldn't stand it.
It was raining and it was really cold, so these disappointed away fans had no choice but to leave the stadium early.
The Ajax players on the field also looked dejected and listless.
Before the game started, they thought they might lose, but they didn't expect to lose like this.
If they had known this, they wouldn't have had a war of words with Alkmaar before the game. Now everything has become a joke.
