Chapter 142 Invitation Letter

After playing against Eindhoven, Ajax faced Ronald Koeman's Twente.

In the first half, Koeman's team performed better and broke through Ajax's goal at one point, taking the lead. However, in the second half, Ye Qiu adjusted the team's tactics and finally reversed Twente 3:1 with three goals from Van der Meyde, Huntelaar and Yaya Toure.

At the weekend, Ajax challenged Den Bosch away. Although Den Bosch has performed poorly this season and is currently mired in relegation, this team still caused great trouble to Ajax, whose physical fitness and condition were not ideal, at their home court. In the end, it was Huntelaar's goal that helped Ajax beat the team 1:0.

Three days later, Ajax faced Bayern Munich.

After more than three months, they met again. Bayern Munich is no longer the Bayern that was in a state of adjustment at the beginning of the season.

Although Ye Qiu's team had been rotated, Bayern was obviously more experienced, and Hitzfeld adjusted the players' status better, which led to their control of the game for most of the time at the Arena Stadium.

But the final score was 1:1. Bayern Munich tied Ajax away with Elber's goal in the second half.

The home team's goal came from the 7th minute of the first half. After a skillful dribbling on the left, Belarusian teenager Hleb passed the ball directly into the penalty area. Ibrahimovic took the ball back to Van der Vaart with his back, and the latter hit the arc ball with his left foot.

In this way, after two rounds of Group A, Manchester United defeated Boavista 3:0 at Old Trafford in the second round, and finally ranked first in the group with 1 win, 1 draw, 4 goals scored and 1 goal conceded, while Ajax also won one and drew one, ranking second in the group. Bayern Munich ranked third in the group with two draws in two games, and Boavista did not get any points and ranked last.

By the way, after the match with Bayern Munich, Hleb took the initiative to find Ye Qiu, and the two sides had an in-depth conversation. Ye Qiu was very satisfied with Hleb's attitude, and was also pleased with his recent state, encouraging the Belarusian to keep working hard and strive for better performance.

After the match with Bayern Munich, the team welcomed Vitesse at the Arena Stadium.

The biggest contributor to this game was Van der Vaart.

The Dutch genius who just saved the team with a goal at the Arena Stadium has recently shown an outstanding state.

At the beginning of the game, he played very actively on the right, and with Sneijder, who had returned from injury, constantly delivering shells behind him, he opened the scoring for Ajax just 12 minutes into the game.

But less than 5 minutes after Van der Vaart scored, Vitesse took advantage of a mistake in the partnership between Kolo Toure and Heitinga on the Ajax back line to equalize the score.

But soon, in the 25th minute, Van der Vaart once again cut in from the right and shot, once again penetrating Vitesse's goal, surpassing the score once again. In the 29th minute, he broke through on the right and passed the ball to Keita, who passed the ball directly behind him. Hleb dribbled past the opponent on the left and passed the ball to Huntelaar, who scored in front of the goal, 3:1.

In the 47th minute, Gilberto Silva took advantage of a set-piece opportunity in the front court and shot a quick free kick from Sneijder into Vitesse's goal, changing the score to 4:1.

After scoring consecutive goals, Ajax seemed to be in high spirits, especially Van der Vaart. After the young player scored twice, his state was still not satisfied, and his desire to score was still very strong. He even took the initiative to ask Ye Qiu to play the whole second half during the halftime break.

Finally, in the 72nd minute, Van der Vaart forced forward from the right and knocked back, then entered the penalty area and dribbled past the Vitesse center back, and hit the ball with a low left foot, performing a hat trick, which was also the first hat trick in Van der Vaart's life.

5:1 victory over Vitesse, Ajax showed an overwhelming strength advantage in this game. Although everyone can see that Ajax is not in the best condition, it still relied on its overall strong strength to suppress the opponent and won a big victory, which also made everyone have a deeper understanding of Ajax.

Vitesse is not a weak team. This team is currently ranked 4th in the Eredivisie, second only to Ajax, Feyenoord and Eindhoven, and has the same points as Heerenveen, but an Ajax in poor condition can win 5:1 against the opponent, which shows that Ajax's overall strength has steadily surpassed the opponent.

But when Ye Qiu was interviewed by the media after the game, he repeatedly stated that Ajax's victory was somewhat lucky.

Since PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord also won big in this round, many professionals believe that the strength of the Dutch Eredivisie this season is very different. The traditional three strong teams headed by Ajax, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven have obvious advantages in overall strength. Although the difference in points is not big, it is more due to the multi-line operations of the giants.

"If nothing unexpected happens, the Dutch Eredivisie champion this season will be born among these three teams, and Ajax is undoubtedly the biggest favorite!"

On December 12, Ajax welcomed Rosendal of the Dutch Eredivisie at home.

Ye Qiu originally wanted to use this game to adjust the players' state, but he didn't expect that Rosendal would take the initiative. Ajax, who was tired at the beginning of the game, was caught off guard.

A clay pot is hard to break near the well, and a general is bound to die on the battlefield.

The cup competition has always been a hotbed for upsets. Ye Qiu led Ajax II to create miracles before, which also made many Dutch head coaches pay attention to the Dutch Cup, hoping to make a name for themselves through the cup competition and become the second Ye Qiu.

It should be said that Rosendal almost succeeded. They took a 2:1 lead in the first half, but they couldn't tell the situation in the second half. They blindly continued to stick to the tactical play in the first half, instead of following the situation and adopting a more conservative defense tactic. Otherwise, the tired Ajax would definitely be dragged to death.

But in the end, Ajax relied on the goals of Robben and Van der Meyde who came on as substitutes to reverse Rosendal 3:2 and successfully advanced to the top 8 from the top 16 of the Dutch Cup. This time Ajax met Groningen of the Dutch League, an old enemy, and the game time was after the winter break.

Three days later, Ajax came to Kerkrade in the south of the Netherlands to challenge Roda JC at the Limburg Park Stadium. Although Ajax scored first, Roda JC had more energy and used a counterattack in the second half to equalize the score, and finally tied 1:1.

In another focus match of this round, Feyenoord tied PSV Eindhoven 0:0 at home.

With Ajax's lead, Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven did not want to lose points in such a strong dialogue, so both Van Marwijk and Gretz carefully arranged tactics, not seeking to score goals, but to avoid conceding goals, so the two sides played a dull and bad game at De Kuip Stadium.

But no one expected that a week later, PSV Eindhoven beat Groningen 8:0 at home.

Although Gretz's twin towers did not play their best in this game, Swedish midfielder Vogel scored a hat trick. In addition, players such as Oye, Bouma, Rommedal, and Van Bommel, who usually score few goals or even no goals, all scored well in this game.

And Feyenoord, ranked second in the league, also won 5:0.

Ye Qiu's team avoided two crises. After a week of rest, everyone thought that Ajax would have a better performance in the last game before the winter break. After all, the most difficult schedule has been passed, and Ajax has performed very well in the intensive schedule.

But no one expected that in the last game against Utrecht, Ajax's overall state was sluggish and was beaten 2:1 by Utrecht. Ye Qiu's team ended up with a defeat and ended all the events in the first half of the season.

In this way, Feyenoord successfully narrowed Ajax's lead to 3 points, while PSV Eindhoven was 4 points behind Ajax. The battle for the league title still seemed to be full of suspense.

According to the Eredivisie schedule, the 20th round will start on January 27, so Ajax's training will also start in mid-January, and the two-week winter break training will be arranged in Mallorca, Spain.

After finishing this intensive schedule, Ye Qiu can finally take a breath. Regardless of winning or losing the game, he has not been able to relax a little until now. At least from now on, for three weeks, he does not need to worry about the next day's training and competition. He can really relax.

What's more rare is that Huang Chu can finally take a vacation and return to his home in Amsterdam, and he and Eliza, two big foodies, can finally taste Huang Chu's cooking skills again.

But at this time, an invitation letter was sent from Zurich to Ye Qiu in Amsterdam.

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The invitation itself was nothing special, except that the FIFA logo was clearly engraved on the jacket. It was heavy in the hand, and it seemed to be specially made by UEFA, and it must be for the special guest.

"I heard that all the shortlisted candidates will receive such an invitation, and other guests will receive different styles." Eliza was well-informed, and she could explain things that even Ye Qiu didn't know.

"Nominated? Coach?" Huang Chu sat next to Ye Qiu, holding his hand, and the affectionate look was beyond words.

"I think so!" Eliza replied.

Ye Qiu was not very surprised by this. As early as the beginning of the season, he had been shortlisted for the UEFA's best coach of the season candidate list, but he lost to Hitzfeld in the end. European football has always been the center of world football, so it is not surprising that he was shortlisted for the best coach of the year again.

"Can you win the award?" Huang Chu looked at Ye Qiu with concern. If she was asked to choose, she would definitely choose Ye Qiu.

"It's probably going to be tough!" Ye Qiu was mentally prepared. The only thing he could show off was the UEFA Cup, but Hitzfeld had the European Champions Cup and later the Toyota Cup. Although Ye Qiu had won the Eredivisie, UEFA Cup, Dutch Cup, Dutch Cruyff Cup and European Super Cup, and was nicknamed the Five Crowns by many people, in fact, Ye Qiu knew very well how important these five championships were.

The Eredivisie championship itself had no weight at all for FIFA, because the Eredivisie was only a second-rate league in Europe, and as for the Dutch Cup and Cruyff Cup, let alone, how could a competition played in the Netherlands be brought to the European and world football arena?

The only thing that is relatively impressive is the UEFA Cup and the European Super Cup, but the competition is also fierce. Hitzfeld is not to be mentioned. Capello's Roma won the championship last season and is now very popular. Bianchi's Boca Juniors won the Copa Libertadores, and Houllier won the FA Cup, League Cup and Charity Shield. In addition, Ferguson and Del Neri, the head coach of Serie A's dark horse Chievo, are all strong competitors.

Today's Serie A is the world's number one league, so Capello and Del Neri are both very popular. As for Ye Qiu... I won't say more.

"Maybe there is a chance of an upset!" Eliza said jokingly.

Huang Chu laughed and held Ye Qiu's hand even tighter, "Anyway, whether you win or not, you are the best!"

Ye Qiu nodded, but sighed again, "I can't win the award, but I still have to give them face. It's really unpleasant to watch others win the award!"

There is only one award, and most people can only lose regretfully. Only that lucky person can laugh at the end. Ye Qiu has long been accustomed to this cruel competition, but he still feels a little uncomfortable in his heart.

There are two awards for the so-called annual best coach, namely the annual best club coach and the annual best national team coach. As the name suggests, the former is for club competitions, and the latter is for national team competitions. The head coach of the Chinese national team, Milutinovic, has also been shortlisted for the national team coach candidate list this time.

However, the possibility of Milutinovic winning the award is very low, because his competitors include the head coach of the Argentina national team, Bielsa, the head coach of the England national team, and the head coach of the French national team, Lemer, all of whom are the head coaches of teams that performed very well in the World Cup qualifiers.

Relatively speaking, Milutinovic's chance of winning the best national team coach is far lower than Ye Qiu's chance of winning the best club coach of the year. At least Ye Qiu won a heavyweight championship trophy like the League Cup.

"By the way, I heard that such a ceremony requires a female companion!" Ye Qiu frowned and looked at Huang Chu while speaking.

The latter immediately shook his head vigorously, "Don't look for me, I won't go this time, I'd rather sleep at home and read."

Seeing Huang Chu like this, Eliza couldn't help but giggle. Huang Chu never liked such occasions. If she really had a choice, she would definitely choose to read at home, or go to the movies.

I still remember that the only time she accompanied Ye Qiu to such an occasion was when Ye Qiu led the second team to win the Dutch Cup. But that time was because of the agreement made before to encourage Ye Qiu. After that, she couldn't break it, and was finally dragged by Eliza.

Nowadays, there are more and more such occasions. Ye Qiu went to those that he could go alone, but there were some occasions that he really couldn't go alone, so Ye Qiu always took Eliza as his female companion. This was Huang Chu's suggestion.

The three of them lived together, and their ages were not much different. They had a good relationship with each other and always got together, so there would not be any complicated fantasies. Besides, Huang Chu and Eliza were good sisters, so she was very confident in Ye Qiu and Eliza.

"Let Eliza go with you!" Huang Chu really made such a suggestion again.

Ye Qiu and Eliza looked at each other, and saw the jokes in each other's eyes. They laughed immediately, and Huang Chu was embarrassed. He twisted Ye Qiu's waist fiercely, and he grimaced in pain.

"If you want to go, you have to prepare your clothes quickly." Huang Chu quickly changed the subject.

Eliza nodded, "Leave it to me!"

Ye Qiu was still very confident in Eliza, but he suddenly thought, weren't they worried about having nowhere to go around Christmas?

"Why don't we go skiing in Switzerland?"

"That's a good idea, let's go skiing!" Eliza was the most excited.

"Can you ski?" Huang Chu glanced at Ye Qiu.

Ye Qiu lowered his head, shook it left and right, and said depressedly: "No!"

"Then only Eliza and I can do it, you just watch from the side!" Huang Chu finally found Ye Qiu's weakness.

The two girlfriends were obviously very excited about Ye Qiu's proposal. When they talked about going skiing, their conversation was like a river with the floodgates opened, surging and endless, from skiing tools, to the weather in Switzerland, to which ski resort to go to, and finally even considered food and accommodation.

Ye Qiu was left out and could only smile bitterly, because he had no experience in skiing. However, he thought that skiing should not be difficult, and he had a well-developed athletic ability, so he should be able to learn it quickly, right?

However, if they decided to go skiing in Switzerland, they would probably not be able to return home. After all, Ajax's winter training this season would start earlier than usual, and Huang Chu would have to start working again soon after Christmas, so they discussed it and finally decided not to go back.

Originally, Ye Qiu thought that Europeans attached great importance to the concept of family reunion at Christmas, but he did not expect that Eliza also planned not to go home. Ye Qiu and Huang Chu were originally going to wait for her to go home after Christmas before going to Switzerland, but she said she did not plan to go home for Christmas, which surprised Ye Qiu and Huang Chu.

After two years together, they found that Eliza had never been home and lived in Amsterdam. No family came to see her. She had never mentioned her family. Whenever they talked about her family, she would quickly change the subject.

This made Ye Qiu and Huang Chu think that Eliza might have no family, so they never talked about this topic.

The three young people did what they said. The next day, they packed their bags and rushed to Switzerland.