Chapter 69

"Good shot!"

Van Gaal in the stands couldn't help but whisper a praise, and then applauded Jiang Xiaolin's goal with the fans, feeling very satisfied.

This goal was Jiang Xiaolin's active counter-attack, forcing the opponent's No. 6 midfielder to make a pass error in the backcourt, and then immediately rushed into the penalty area, facing the ball swept by Lanlot, and shot directly without stopping the ball to score.

This ball not only showed Jiang Xiaolin's active counter-attack fighting spirit, but the most important thing was that the last shot was still as accurate as ever, exactly the same as what Van Gaal saw during the trial, and it did not become distorted because of the official game.

This is what Van Gaal is most satisfied with.

Some players are very good in training, with various technical moves that are fancy and easy, but they can't play well in the game because of tension and pressure. Van Gaal dare not use such players easily.

But Jiang Xiaolin obviously doesn't have this problem.

He is at the same level in training as in the game, which is good.

The game continues.

Groningen, which lost the ball, obviously strengthened its offensive. The ball was mostly circling around the midfield. Jiang Xiaolin didn't get a chance to shoot for a long time and could only retreat to the midfield to help his teammates pass the ball.

But Jiang Xiaolin's ball control skills were still a little bit worse.

In the 35th minute, Jiang Xiaolin had just received a pass from Douglas, but before he could pass it out, he was shoveled away by a flying tackle from the opponent's midfielder.

The opponent not only did not commit a foul, but also took the opportunity to launch a counterattack.

If it weren't for the excellent performance of goalkeeper Elmer, Groningen might have equalized the score.

Of course, mistakes and interceptions on the football field are common, and Jiang Xiaolin is not the only one, and no one blames him.

The game continued, and the two sides continued to fight back and forth in the midfield, and it was difficult to form a shot even if they occasionally entered the opponent's hinterland.

Even if they managed to shoot, the shooting skills of the others were far behind Jiang Xiaolin. The ball either went out of the goal or was confiscated by the goalkeeper due to insufficient angle or power. Neither side scored a goal.

It was not until the 42nd minute that August, the right-back of Alkmaar, suddenly made an assist and disrupted Groningen's defense, allowing Jiang Xiaolin to find an opening.

Jiang Xiaolin ran out of a gap outside the right penalty area and received August's pass before shooting, which caused the two Groningen defenders in the penalty area to jump up and try to block the hole.

The goalkeeper also looked at Jiang Xiaolin nervously at the near end of the goal, thinking that Jiang Xiaolin was going to shoot.

Jiang Xiaolin's shooting skills really made it difficult not to be nervous.

In the end, Jiang Xiaolin was just making a fake move.

He knew that he was the opponent's key defensive target, and even if he got the chance to shoot, the ball would probably be blocked at the first time.

Therefore, before he pretended to shoot, he observed the positions of the two defenders in the opponent's penalty area, knowing that the opponent would definitely block the hole, and it would be difficult for him to score.

So his shot this time was just a feint.

His real intention was to pass the ball.

After attracting two defenders to block his shooting route, Jiang Xiaolin's foot did not shoot, but shook his ankle and passed the ball horizontally to the middle.

The short pass at 15 o'clock made Jiang Xiaolin's pass quite standard, not exquisite, but there was no mistake.

Because Jiang Xiaolin attracted the attention of the two defenders of the opponent, Kagel in the middle was in a short gap at this time.

On the penalty area line, Kagel pushed the ball that Jiang Xiaolin passed horizontally and kicked the ball to the lower left corner of the goal.

Because of Jiang Xiaolin's deception, the goalkeeper on the right side of the goal was too late to save the ball.

Unexpectedly, just as the ball was about to enter the net, the Groningen full-back who rushed back from the wing made a flying tackle and saved the ball on the goal line.

This goal-line rescue attracted a small number of Groningen away fans on the sidelines to cheer loudly, while other Alkmaar home fans sighed.

Then, the full-back who completed the goal-line rescue fell into the net himself, but the ball was stopped after all and rolled gently back to the small penalty area, causing chaos again.

Several players from both sides rushed towards the ball, but it was still Groningen's No. 4 central defender who touched the ball first and kicked it out of the baseline, which was considered a temporary solution.

The Groningen players all breathed a sigh of relief, and then pulled up the full-back who rescued the goal line to hug and high-five, thanking him for the rescue.

Otherwise, they would be 0-2 behind.

However, the danger was not over yet, and Alkmaar still had a corner kick attack.

Lanlotte took the corner kick. Jiang Xiaolin, Cagle, Douglas and the team's tallest central defender all entered the penalty area to compete for the header., Joel, Bruno and other shorter players were waiting for the opportunity to grab the ball outside the penalty area.

Kagel was at the front point, Jiang Xiaolin was at the second point in the middle, the high-school defender was at the third point, and Douglas was at the back point, forming a four-point wave of headers.

Groningen had seven or eight players defending in the penalty area. Jiang Xiaolin and the high-school defender were double-teamed, trying to stop Alkmaar's corner kick attack.

Both sides cursed and pushed in the penalty area, and the referee intervened, asking both sides to move less and not to have physical conflicts.

After everything was ready, the referee withdrew from the penalty area and blew the whistle to indicate that Lanlot could take a free throw.

Lanlot kicked the ball out with one foot, and the landing point went straight to Jiang Xiaolin in the middle.

Jiang Xiaolin's headers have been tested in training and games, and are definitely the best in the team.

As long as Jiang Xiaolin gets the first point, he will most likely head it in.

Therefore, in the corner kick tactics of the Alkmaar Youth Team, the first landing point is mostly to find Jiang Xiaolin, just looking at the footwork of the penalty kick player.

As the main attacking midfielder, Lanlot has good footwork and the quality of this penalty kick is also quite high.

One of the players who competed with Jiang Xiaolin for the header was the tallest central defender in Groningen, a few centimeters taller than Jiang Xiaolin.

But he jumped at the same time as Jiang Xiaolin, but he was a little shorter than Jiang Xiaolin in the final height.

Because Jiang Xiaolin's jumping attribute is as high as 19 points, he jumped higher than him.

Seeing that Jiang Xiaolin, who was jumping, exceeded the height of the central defender, and was about to head the ball falling from the air, he suddenly felt that his body was pulled backwards and fell rapidly.

The other defender who was closely guarding Jiang Xiaolin subconsciously reached out and pulled Jiang Xiaolin down when he failed to jump in time.

Jiang Xiaolin was caught off guard and fell to the ground with his arms and legs spread out. The violent impact made him dizzy and he almost suffocated.