Chapter 83

Romero's performance half an hour after coming on as a substitute shocked everyone.

While Van Gaal was ecstatic, he also kept regretting why he didn't let Romero replace Didulica and start in the Eredivisie earlier.

If Romero had replaced Didulica earlier, Alkmaar would probably not have lost six games in a row and lost to this extent.

The live commentator also kept praising the 20-year-old Argentine young goalkeeper on TV, saying that the strength he showed in these 30 minutes was stronger than the original goalkeeper Didulica.

On the goal line, Alkmaar finally found its most reliable leader at present.

All Alkmaar fans in front of the TV agreed with this point.

Looking at Romero's performance in these 30 minutes and comparing it with Didulica's performance in the previous few games, everyone can draw the same conclusion.

Everyone is delighted that their team has found the best goalkeeper.

During the halftime break, Van Gaal praised Romero unreservedly in the locker room.

Everyone could see that Van Gaal was shocked and delighted by Romero's performance. It was estimated that even if Didulica was not injured, it would be difficult for him to return to the position of the main goalkeeper.

With Romero guarding the goal and being as stable as a mountain, Van Gaal naturally hoped that the players would strengthen their offense, equalize, or even reverse the score.

Similarly, Romero's performance shocked his teammates, but also made them feel much more relieved.

In the previous few games, the tragic defeats actually made everyone feel quite critical of Didulica, because he lost the ball too many times.

Such a high rate of losing the ball really made the offensive players in the front court feel desperate.

They would subconsciously feel that no matter how many goals they scored with all their efforts, Didulica behind them would lose more balls.

Anyway, the final result was a loss, and a big loss, so what was the point of fighting?

Therefore, Didulica's poor goalkeeping has also affected the confidence and performance of the front-court attacking players to a certain extent.

Moreover, even if they attack, they dare not attack forward, because they are afraid that they will not be able to retreat after attacking, resulting in a loss of the ball.

Especially the full-backs.

In modern football, full-backs represented by Cafu and Carlos have become an important part of the team's wing attack.

The full-backs' assists have even become the killer of many teams' offenses.

But the former Alkmaar full-backs did not dare to assist at all.

Because once the assists are not recovered and the opponent counterattacks, it is easy to lose the ball: Didulica's last line of defense is too easy to lose the ball.

Romero's performance after coming on as a substitute made his teammates feel much more at ease.

Especially the full-backs, in the last few minutes of the first half, they dared to join the attack.

Because he felt that even if he could not retreat after attacking and the opponent took the opportunity to counterattack, Romero would not let the opponent succeed.

It was like the feeling of being able to trust your back to your comrades during a war, allowing the offensive players to unleash greater offensive potential.

After a 15-minute halftime break, the two sides changed sides and continued the game.

Romero's excellent performance made Alkmaar's frontcourt players feel much more at ease, and everyone dared to attack Groningen's hinterland with courage.

For a while, the two sides had a back-and-forth, and Groningen could not suppress Alkmaar as they did in the first half.

Even in the 58th minute of the second half, Alkmaar's front midfielder Maarten Martens assisted Hamdaoyi to score a goal in the penalty area and equalized the score.

This goal tied the score to 1-1, which greatly boosted the spirits of Alkmaar from players to coaches and fans.

Everyone's heart was pounding, and they felt the possibility of ending the six-game losing streak, and even the urge to reverse the victory.

After the game resumed, the Alkmaar players, who had just scored a goal and regained their confidence, played more calmly and fought with Groningen in the midfield, reducing Groningen's number of shots.

The Alkmaar players found the long-lost passion for the game. Everyone tried their best to play the game, and kept colliding and fighting with the Groningen players.

The fierce midfield strangle made the players on both sides consume a lot of physical strength.

In the 64th minute, Groningen took the lead in making substitutions, replacing an older player who was a little out of strength.

Then, in the 71st minute, Alkmaar midfielder David Mendes suffered a thigh cramp due to too intense fighting, and was also replaced by substitute midfielder Lux by Van Gaal.

So far, Alkmaar's three substitutions have been used up, and the pointsEspecially No. 22 Sergio Romero replaced No. 1 Joey Didulica, No. 19 Lux replaced No. 6 David Mendes.

Alkmaar had one substitution left, and no one knew whether Van Gaal would use it or who would be substituted.

Including Jiang Xiaolin, the players on the bench were a little impatient, and they left the bench one after another, warmed up in the open space, and were ready to play as substitutes at any time.

Everyone felt the possibility of stopping the six-game losing streak and even reversing the victory.

However, we have to admit that sometimes luck is also part of a football game.

This time, Alkmaar was unlucky, and the home team Groningen got good luck.

In the 76th minute, Groningen's attack hit Alkmaar's penalty area, but before getting a shot, the ball was poked away by Alkmaar and fell to the feet of No. 14 central defender Ragnar Klavan.

Because Groningen's attack was coming up, there were more players from both sides inside and outside the penalty area. Klavan was afraid that if he didn't clear the ball in time, the opponent's players would grab it back and shoot it immediately.

Therefore, Klavan, who saw the ball being poked by his teammate, did not hesitate at all, and kicked it away with a big kick, trying to kick the ball to the front court.

In that way, both players can go to the midfield to fight again, and the threat to the goal will be much smaller.

However, a few meters in front of Klavan, there was a Groningen striker, Eric Nefland, who was originally preparing to rush over to grab a shot, but was one step slower than Klavan.

Since he couldn't grab it, he naturally had to prevent the opponent from suffocating him with a ball in his face, which was no joke.

Therefore, seeing Klavan making a big kick to clear the ball, Nefland turned around and jumped up while running, trying to block the gun hole with his back and * to see if he could block Klavan's big kick to clear the ball.

Anyway, it's just a matter of luck. It's impossible for him to block the bullet hole with his face or chest.