Chapter 33: Reaching the semi-finals

January 26, 2000, afternoon.

The Eredivisie winter break is not over yet, and the Dutch Cup has taken the lead in igniting the fifth round of the knockout rounds.

As the second team, Ajax's second team has home field advantage in the cup, so this time they face Utrecht on the same ground where they originally challenged Eindhoven.

However, what is different from last time is that this time the game has not started yet, and the stadium is surrounded by people.

Also today, Ajax will face the challenge of Feyenoord at the Arena Stadium. I heard that there are still a lot of fans who have reserved tickets for the game. The attendance at the Arena Stadium is estimated to be comparable to that of the second team in the afternoon. of this game.

Ye Qiu’s starting lineup today is different from last time. The goalkeeper is Stekelenberg, the defense is Abidal, Kivu, Van Duin and Heitinga, and the three midfielders are De Jong and Sneijder and Maduro, the front trident is still Van der Vaart, Huntelaar and Kurul.

Since the last game against PSV, Ye Qiu has been very dissatisfied with Van Drew's performance. Moreover, many of Utrecht's offenses in this game were from the wing. Van Drew's defense is always a hidden danger, so Ye Qiu Qiu used Heitinga, who performed well on the right in the last game and had outstanding defensive ability, to play right back.

When Ye Qiu led the team out of the locker room, the two to three thousand Ajax fans in the audience cheered in unison.

Since defeating PSV in the last game, this team has begun to place the expectations of Ajax fans. Many of them even began to believe that the young players of this youth team will be in the near future. In the future, he will lead Ajax to a new round of revival.

This is also the main reason why so many fans came to watch the game today.

When Ye Qiu walked out of the stands, he saw Eliza Moon who had come specially to watch his game. In the cold Amsterdam winter, a scarf made her look extraordinarily charming, and her encouraging smile also made her look particularly charming. Let Ye Qiu smile back.

But when he walked into the stadium and sat on the coach's bench, his heart was as calm as the snow on the ground!

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In the eyes of many friends who know Mark Watt, today’s Mark Watt is no longer the same Mark Watt. The man standing in front of the Utrecht coach’s bench is full of pride and enthusiasm. conceited.

In the past, Mark Watt gave people the impression of diligence, hard work, and hard work. He would watch videos all night, study information all day, and even go to the away game to watch the opponent's game just for a game. But now, He doesn't do these things much anymore because he thinks his assistants can handle them.

From Lisse to The Hague, he became the best new generation head coach in the Netherlands. From The Hague to Utrecht, he had the opportunity to be promoted to the first-line head coach of the Netherlands. However, it is a pity that Utrecht's downturn this season and The poor record has completely ruined the reputation that Mark Watt has worked so hard to build in The Hague!

But that's not the most terrifying thing. What's really scary is that Mark Voight attributes all of this to bad luck and bad luck!

Because of pride and arrogance, he always believed that the Ajax second team in front of him, which defeated Eindhoven, was just very lucky, so it had the opportunity to accomplish this feat. Countless teams in the Netherlands had A feat he aspires to accomplish, and he is always convinced that his team will be able to regain the glory of the Eredivisie team with this Ajax second team.

Therefore, Mark Watt's tactics for this game are actually very simple: attack, attack from the beginning!

But he didn't expect that Ye Qiu's opening tactics were also very simple and clear. It was also an attack, a life-threatening attack!

To use what Ye Qiu said in the locker room before the game, "What Utrecht likes most is to attack, so if we defend, it will be like fulfilling their wish, but I don't like to let them The enemy feels comfortable and they want to attack, so we have to force them to defend!”

So, when the referee blew the whistle, Mark Watt saw an incredible scene. Ajax shrunk like a turtle against PSV in the last game. The second team actively created threats from the wing from the beginning of the game and launched a series of offensive attacks.

Especially in the 7th minute, after Van der Vaart completed a one-two with Sneijder on the left, he went down to the baseline and passed. Huntelaar grabbed the spot in the penalty area and shot, almost piercing Udler. The goalkeeper of Utrecht was frightened and made a flying dive, but the ball missed the goal slightly.

After the first shot, the Ajax second team had no intention of retreating to defend, and continued to further strengthen the offensive, and soon in the 11th minute, Sneijder passed into the penalty area again and handed it to Kuru. Well, the latter volleyed, but the angle had been blocked by goalkeeper Koyman, and the shot went into Koyman's arms.

Two consecutive shots allowed the Ajax second team to win the cheers of the fans in the stands and completely disrupted Utrecht's rhythm from the beginning.

However, after tasting the sweetness, Ye Qiu immediately gave the players adjustment requirements, and immediately retreated steadily and returned to the defensive counterattack tactics. However, he did not stick to the half court, but set up camp in the midfield, slowly Slowly look for opportunities to counterattack.

After the match against Eindhoven, the players of Ajax II had a deeper understanding and familiarity with the overall defensive tactics arranged by Ye Qiu. In addition, they had two weeks to prepare for the match during the winter break training camp, so they cooperated more tacitly and calmly.

Utrecht was not good at playing against the trend. What they liked most was to control the rhythm steadily from the beginning, preferably to score a goal and take the lead in the first 10 to 20 minutes, and then use their own rhythm to drag the opponent to death.

But if the opponent disrupted their rhythm from the beginning, they would be in a mess and would not know how to play.

Ye Qiu started the game by attacking, on the one hand to show the spirit of Ajax II, and on the other hand to disrupt the opponent's rhythm, disturb their minds, make them impatient, and then take a steady defense and counterattack to defeat the opponent.

The only player in Utrecht that Ye Qiu was impressed with was Kuyt, but this 20-year-old winger has not yet shown too much ability in the Eredivisie. He is not fast and his skills are average. Even his off-ball running and back-ins, which were praised by many people later, are still very immature.

Utrecht's forward strength this season is not outstanding. Center forward Dick Izen is more of a pulling and suppressing role, creating gaps and opportunities for the back-insertion of the midfield. This is why Utrecht's midfield goals far exceed the forwards this season. However, once such tactics are suppressed in the midfield and backcourt, the offense cannot be carried out.

Or it can be said that Utrecht's offensive tactics require space and the midfield needs to be able to penetrate the opponent's 30-meter area, but now Ye Qiu has begun to arrange a tight defensive formation 30 meters away to prevent the opponent from posing a threat.

With Utrecht's weak spot pinched, Mark Watt can't fly, and the rest is to supervise the players to implement tactics and then wait for the opportunity to score.

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There is a big gap in strength. Although they were contained at the tactical level and played very uncomfortable, Utrecht is a Dutch team after all. When they could not threaten the goal of Ajax II, they could also ensure that Ajax II would not easily threaten their own goal.

This led to a stalemate between the two teams and a stalemate on the field.

Ye Qiu knew that the young players of the second team were not patient enough, so he kept shouting on the sidelines, asking them to be patient. During the halftime break, he kept saying that this would be a war of attrition, and whoever could hold on to the end would win.

The game can be said to be very dull and ugly, because neither side was able to create any good opportunities.

Utrecht was contained by the defense of Ajax II, and Ajax II was not that strong.

But such a drowsy game made the Ajax fans in the stands and around the stadium shout very loudly, because in their opinion, it was not easy for the second team to maintain the current situation, and it was already a victory.

Time skipped to the 70th minute, Utrecht made a substitution, replaced a winger, and pushed their midfielders Martel and Berg forward, obviously wanting to exert further pressure, but the effect was not very obvious. After creating several threats, Ye Qiu's adjustment helped Ajax II withstand the pressure.

But Ye Qiu still did not make a substitution, because he was waiting!

He had a very deep understanding of Utrecht, and he also knew his team very well. He focused on the game from the beginning to now, and he had a vague feeling that the mentality of Utrecht players had changed.

He can use a lot of details to support his judgment. For example, when Martel was more than 35 meters away from the goal, he hurriedly turned and shot hard, but after the shot, he stupidly realized that he was so far away from the goal. Kuyt once made a erratic cross from the right, but no one responded at that time.

From this series of details, Ye Qiu can know that the Utrecht players have become impatient.

But the players of Ajax II are also like this?

If Ye Qiu hadn't poured cold water on the sidelines from time to time and shouted a few words, they would probably be more unbearable than their opponents.

In the 73rd minute of the game, Utrecht midfielder John de Jong fouled Sneijder, and the referee gave Ajax II a free kick opportunity.

Sneijder got up from the ground, and after he straightened the ball, he looked at Huntelaar in front of him, who nodded slightly.

The referee blew the whistle, Sneijder kicked the free kick forward quickly, and he also ran forward quickly.

Huntelaar was originally at the opponent's defense line. When the whistle sounded, he ran back to Sneijder's direction as soon as possible. After receiving Sneijder's pass halfway, he knocked the ball back to the left without stopping.

Sneijder ran forward quickly, avoiding the defensive players in Utrecht's midfield. When he saw Huntelaar's knock back, he kicked a half-high arc ball without stopping, heading behind the opponent's defense line.

Van der Vaart had already been roaming around the opponent's defense line and ambushed. When he saw Sneijder pass the ball, he urged himself to run at the fastest speed. After counter-offside, he quickly checked behind him, grabbed the ball before everyone else, stopped it in front of him, and entered the penalty area in one go, forming a single knife.

The whole process happened in an instant. The three players of Ajax's second team cooperated very quickly and cleverly. They were almost running back and forth without the ball. Utrecht's defensive players didn't even react. Did not have time.

And this kind of coordination routine of passing back and knocking back and diagonally passing is not the elements of the new training method?

Van der Vaart entered the penalty area and formed a one-on-one position. Facing the experienced Coyman, he did not make a hasty move. Instead, he deliberately paused and deceived Coyman into thinking he was about to take a shot and moved his center of gravity. After that, he went in the opposite direction and hit the ball into the lower left corner, almost grazing the post and entering the net!

1:0!

All the Ajax fans around him suddenly burst into cheers. Everyone cheered for Van der Vaart's goal, and many fans even shouted Van der Vaart's name to show their respect for him. Appreciation and affirmation for this goal.

After scoring the goal, Van der Vaart also celebrated by surrounding the court, venting his excitement after scoring.

This season, many Ajax insiders have expressed the hope that Van der Vaart can enter the first team. After all, this gem who performed very well in the second team needs first-team experience, but Westhoff has always refused to call up Van der Vaart. Especially, it is unclear whether there are factors in this that he and Ye Qiu had a grudge against.

But what cannot be ignored is that Van der Vaart's outstanding performance in the second team, especially in the Dutch Cup, has won the appreciation and recognition of countless Dutch football professionals, and is known as the leader of the new generation of Dutch players.

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After being scored by the second team of Ajax, Utrecht showed no momentum to counterattack. Instead, it gave people a sense of morale being drained. They did not seek to equalize the score, but seek stability. Live the feeling of the situation.

The Ajax second team failed to score any more goals in the end, and finally defeated Utrecht 1:0 and successfully advanced to the top four!

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, all the players of the Ajax second team hugged each other on the court.

This group of young players have just embarked on the path of their careers. They don’t have the worries and conflicts that many famous stars have. Now they are relatively simple. They only have one thought in their hearts, which is to defeat one opponent after another and let more people win. More people, remember their names from now on!

After winning this game, Ye Qiu high-fived his assistants to celebrate, but he didn't feel too excited in his heart.

Perhaps because he knew this opponent so well, Utrecht did not feel that powerful to him, nor was it the kind of invincible opponent, so the excitement of defeating a strong enemy was somewhat less.

After this game, Ajax's second team has reached the semi-finals. Who their opponent will be will depend on the other three games. For Ye Qiu, this is no longer what he should consider. Something happened.

After the fifth round, the semi-finals will have to wait until April, so he must now start to adjust his strategic direction and devote himself to the battle for the league championship. It is best to take this opportunity to reverse Feyenoord II. The team will become the leader of the league, so that the pressure on him and the players will be much less.

"Congratulations, Ye Qiu!" Fan Praag sat in the stands and watched the entire game this time, so as soon as the game ended, he, accompanied by Bobby Harms, walked down the stands to congratulate Ye Qiu. .

"Thanks!"

"In today's game, the second team performed very well and reached the semi-finals. If the first team can also defeat Feyenoord tonight, and finally our first and second teams can get together in the final, what a scene It’s going to be spectacular and fun!” Van Praag laughed as she looked toward the future.

After Westerhoff replaced Waters, the team won a victory immediately before the winter break. The performance was pretty good and improved. And now that they have gone through the training camp during the winter break, I believe Westhoff My husband will definitely be able to lead the team better.

By the way, Harris Huizinger also officially transferred from Heerenveen to Ajax on January 1. The transfer fee was US$4 million. However, after acquiring Huizinger, Westhoff There were some disputes with the club over the recruitment of the back line. He wanted the club to increase the transfer fee, but the club really couldn't come up with the money at the moment.

Finally, the signings on the defensive line have come to an end for the time being.

Ye Qiu noticed that after hearing what Van Praag said, Bobby Harms' eyes showed worry, but it flashed past, and then he patted Ye Qiu's shoulder. He was highly praised for his tactical arrangements and team leadership in this game.

There were some flaws and a few missed opportunities. If he had been more experienced and had seized those opportunities to counterattack, Utrecht would have lost miserably in this game, but Ye Qiu missed it.

But it's no wonder, after all, Ye Qiu is just a fledgling boy. It's already very rare to be able to achieve what he is today. How can he be asked to do more and better?

"Tonight, let's go to the Arena Stadium to watch the game. I'll leave you a ticket to the podium!" Before leaving, Van Praag sent an invitation to Ye Qiu, which was also a tribute to him for defeating Utrecht. A reward.

Ye Qiuhan smiled and nodded in agreement. He also wanted to go and watch this match live. After all, he had reached the semi-finals, and his next opponent was likely to be one of these two teams.

For Ye Qiu now, the first team is the first team, and the second team is the second team. Even if he really encounters Westhoff's first team, he will not be polite and soft.

He will use all his ability to overthrow any obstacle between him and his goal!