Chapter 39

In the next few days, Jiang Xiaolin followed the training plan tailored for him by head coach Crofts to do dribbling, passing, breakthrough, and team cooperation training.

He became more and more familiar with his teammates and made several new friends, mainly midfielders such as Lanlot.

After discovering Jiang Xiaolin's superb shooting skills, these teammates who played in the midfield wanted to use Jiang Xiaolin to brush up their assist data. After deliberately making friends with him, they gradually became friends with Jiang Xiaolin.

With 50 training experience points every day, after a few days of youth team training, Jiang Xiaolin's system experience also rose to level 7 350/3000.

On Saturday, January 19, 2008, in the 20th round of the Dutch Youth League, the Alkmaar Youth Team played against the Degastrup Youth Team at home. The venue of the game was the training ground of the Alkmaar U19 Youth Team.

On this day, the youth training base was fully open to the public, allowing fans to enter to watch the youth team's game.

Jiang Xiaolin was selected for the 18-man roster, but did not start.

However, Jiang Xiaolin still told Song Zhicheng the good news.

Song Zhicheng was his temporary agent and his lifesaver, and they had a special personal relationship. It was natural for him to tell him that he was selected for the youth team match.

Unexpectedly, Song Zhicheng told the news to Peng Zhijie, a reporter from Sports Weekly.

He was selected for the youth team just a few days after training. Although he was not in the starting lineup, it was worth being happy.

If nothing happened, Peng Zhijie would definitely go to the scene and wait to record the moment when Jiang Xiaolin might come on as a substitute.

But because Yu Hai was also included in the 18-man roster for the Dutch Eredivisie match between Vitesse and Heracles later on the same day, Peng Zhijie had to wait on the scene.

Therefore, Peng Zhijie could only ask Song Zhicheng to come to Alkmaar to watch Jiang Xiaolin's game, and then tell him about Jiang Xiaolin's performance and the results.

Song Zhicheng wanted to watch Jiang Xiaolin's first game in the Alkmaar youth team, and with Peng Zhijie's commission, he would not hesitate.

Song Zhicheng was not even sure whether Jiang Xiaolin could play, so he brought people to Alkmaar.

Although Alkmaar and Amsterdam are two cities, the distance is only 30 to 40 kilometers, which is not very far.

Therefore, Song Zhicheng drove two cars with several Chinese fans from Chinatown to the Alkmaar Youth Training Base to cheer for Jiang Xiaolin.

In addition to Song Zhicheng and others, there were hundreds of fans at the training ground. There were home fans and away fans, but home fans were the majority, and there were only a dozen away fans.

Most of these fans who were willing to watch the youth team's game were actually like Song Zhicheng and others. They were relatives and friends of the players who entered the game list today. Only a very small number of them were real fans who really cared about the young players and came to watch the youth team's game.

Song Zhicheng did not tell Jiang Xiaolin before he came.

Therefore, when Jiang Xiaolin saw Song Zhicheng and others appear on the sidelines, he was shocked and quite moved.

Jiang Xiaolin went to greet everyone and chatted with them. Song Zhicheng and others also encouraged and comforted Jiang Xiaolin, telling him not to be anxious.

It would be best if he could play as a substitute in this game. If he couldn't play, he should calmly wait for the next opportunity and not quarrel with the coach.

Jiang Xiaolin nodded to show that he understood, and then returned to the bench with everyone's blessings, waiting for the game to start.

The youth team game was naturally not so formal. There was no caddy and no entrance ceremony. The starting players of both sides stood directly in their respective half of the field, arranged their formations, and prepared to start the game.

At 14:30 in the afternoon, with the referee's whistle, the 20th round of the Dutch Youth League, where the Alkmaar Youth Team played against the Digastrup Youth Team at home, officially started.

The Alkmaar Youth Team is currently ranked third in the standings, and the Digastrup Youth Team is ranked sixth. There is a little gap in strength, but it is not big.

In the 14th minute, Alkmaar Youth Team scored a goal with the assist of left winger Joel and striker Kagel, and Alkmaar Youth Team led Degastrup Youth Team 1-0 at home.

However, not long after, in the 25th minute, Degastrup Youth Team fought back.

They were assisted by the No. 6 full-back and crossed from the wing, and the No. 9 center forward grabbed the first point in the penalty area and scored the first goal. A powerful header shot broke through the Alkmaar Youth Team gate guarded by Elmer.

Degastrup Youth Team equalized the score and the two sides drew 1-1.

In the rest of the first half, neither side scored again, and the score of 1-1 was maintained until the halftime break.

In fact, during the game, Jiang Xiaolin was very anxious for his teammates watching from the sidelines.

Alkmaar YouthThe team still created a lot of scoring opportunities, but because of poor shooting skills, the players who shot either missed or sent the ball directly to the goalkeeper, and there were few shots with both power and good angles.

If Jiang Xiaolin was on the field, he could have scored at least two or three of these opportunities.

It is no wonder that Van Gaal did not promote a striker from the youth team during the winter break. The goal efficiency is indeed much worse.

Fortunately, Crofts did not let Jiang Xiaolin wait for long.

Van Gaal sent Jiang Xiaolin to the youth team, but he did not let Jiang Xiaolin sit on the bench.

Although the youth team also has its own league, the results are not the focus. The main task of the youth team is to provide new players for the first team.

Since Jiang Xiaolin is a general hand-picked by Van Gaal, Crofts will send Jiang Xiaolin to play regardless of whether Jiang Xiaolin has adapted to the youth team or has formed a tacit understanding with his teammates.

Jiang Xiaolin was not allowed to play in the first half because he knew that Jiang Xiaolin had never played in a professional league, and he wanted Jiang Xiaolin to observe the half-time closely off the court.

During the halftime break, Crofts called Jiang Xiaolin to the small circle to arrange the tactics for the second half.

Seeing Jiang Xiaolin participating in the tactical meeting, everyone knew that Jiang Xiaolin would appear in the second half.

Both forwards looked unhappy, and they didn't know who would be replaced by Jiang Xiaolin.

Crofts didn't let them wait too long. At the beginning of the tactical meeting, Crofts announced the decision to replace a forward who performed poorly in the first half with Jiang Xiaolin in the second half, so that the forward named Bernie could go back to the bench to rest early.

Bernie left the small circle angrily and returned to the bench. He sat down and didn't move.

Bernie felt too embarrassed to be replaced by a 16-year-old kid who had just joined the team for less than a week.

But he had no choice. He couldn't challenge the head coach, so he could only go back to the bench and sulk.

Jiang Xiaolin couldn't care less. He only knew that his official debut in the Alkmaar Youth Team was coming soon.