Chapter 38 We want the championship!

"A defender will take the first penalty?"

When Van Praag saw Abidal, he was as surprised as all the fans. Why was it a defender?

"Can he?" Van Praag pointed at Abidal and asked Bobby Hams and Leo Beenhakker on his left and right.

Leo Beenhakker nodded calmly with a blank expression, "When the ball is not moving, defenders are not necessarily worse than forwards in terms of shooting skills. On the contrary, because defenders are very strong, many defenders have a better shooting accuracy than top shooters when they are stationary."

"To become a professional player, Abidal's shooting is not a big problem. The key lies in his psychological quality."

Bobby Harms listened and nodded, "After 120 minutes of the game, Van der Vaart is exhausted. Even Huntelaar is probably not strong enough. If they take the lead at this time, the psychological pressure and lack of physical strength may cause them to make mistakes in their penalty kicks."

"Before, I was a little worried that Ye Qiu lacked experience in dealing with such occasions. Now it seems that he is very experienced!" Bobby Harms couldn't hide his praise in his words.

If he knew that Ye Qiu had read a lot of relevant books in the Godfather Development System for this penalty shootout, and also read a lot of well-known head coaches' discussions and experiences on penalty shootouts, he would not be surprised.

Van Praag was about to speak, but at this moment, he heard the referee's whistle.

Abidal saw that with the whistle, without the slightest hesitation, he sprinted forward two steps, swung his left foot, and shot a powerful shot. The ball shot out from his left foot like a cannonball.

Hans Vonk was shocked. He thought Abidal would at least have to prepare his emotions, but he didn't expect this guy to come directly, and he was so strong, which made him do his best to make a save to the left.

But by the time Hans Vonk got to the point, the ball had already entered the goal line.

The goal was valid!

Abidal clenched his left fist, as if he was provoking his opponent and encouraging his teammates.

There was a round of warm applause at the scene, which was also a way to put pressure on the opponent.

The first player to step onto the penalty spot was Danish midfielder Daniel Jensen.

Stekelenborg knew this person. He was ranked first in the list given by Ye Qiu. He was the player with the highest penalty hit rate in Helen Fenry and the first penalty taker.

"Daniel Jensen, right-footed, good at left-footed penalties, feinting on the right side, taking the lower left corner!"

This was the information given in Ye Qiu's intelligence. Stekelenborg would not be wrong, and he had to admire it in his heart. If the head coach had not given such information, he would have been deceived.

Who could have imagined that Jensen would be so skilled in using both feet?

He actually used his right foot as a feint to attract the goalkeeper's attention, and then used his left foot to exert force?

After understanding this, Stekelenborg took a deep breath and turned to look at Jensen, but his attention was focused on his feet, especially his left foot.

All the fans on the sidelines focused their attention on the goal guarded by Stekelenburg, and their hearts almost jumped to their throats.

With the referee's whistle, Jensen took a deep breath and ran forward quickly.

When he entered the range where he could kick the ball, he saw that he deliberately slowed down his speed, and his right foot made a move as if he was going to kick the ball, but in fact, his right foot stepped on the ball, and his left foot swung up quickly, directly kicking the ball to the lower left corner.

This penalty kick method can be said to be tried and tested by him.

But just when he thought his left foot had been done secretly enough, he suddenly found that Stekelenburg flew to the left, and the whole person's diving action was extremely stretched.

The scene that happened next stunned everyone present, because just when they thought Jensen's shot was going to the right, it suddenly flew to the left. Everything happened in the blink of an eye, but just when they realized that Jensen's penalty kick would go in, Stekelenburg jumped to the left.

Wow! ! ! ! !

All the Ajax fans cheered.

Stekelenburg saved Jensen's penalty kick to the bottom left corner with one hand.

This goalkeeper from the Ajax youth training camp has done a great job! !

The extremely warm applause rang out at De Tokmost's home stadium, and the warm cheers were deafening!

Stekelenburg saved the opponent's penalty kick, which was even more shocking than Abidal's first penalty kick, because it was equivalent to letting Ajax II take the lead!

What does it mean to take the lead?

Taking the lead means that this Ajax II team will have the opportunity to surpass the historical record set in the Van Gaal era and become the first youth team in history to reach the Dutch Cup final!

When they thought of this, all the Ajax fans and all the players of Ajax II team cheered and roared. Each one of them was like a fanatical lion, wishing to devour their opponents skin and bones!

On the contrary, after the first round of penalties, the morale of Heerenveen players was low, because they found that the team's top penalty taker actually missed the penalty, and the scene of 21-year-old Jensen falling in the penalty area hurt the hearts of all Heerenveen players.

Even he missed the penalty, can we score it?

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The second player to appear was Huntelaar.

This Dutch shooter is known for his calmness. Although he was under great pressure this time, he still stood steadily near the penalty, retreated in an orderly manner, measured his stride, and then stood still, staring at Hans Vonk.

For him, shooting is simply an instinct in his blood, so he can shoot the angle he wants without looking at the ball.

The key is still the goalkeeper in front of him.

As soon as the referee blew the whistle, Huntelaar sprinted forward quickly, and his right foot did not drag at all, and shot the ball to the left at a very fast speed. This time Hans Vonk guessed the wrong direction and rushed to the right, and the ball went in!

"Long live!!!!" The Ajax fans in the stadium cheered again.

2:0, the first Ajax II team has undoubtedly taken the lead.

But this time, Stekelenburg failed to continue the judgment of the first round, and finally declared the goal lost, 2:1, Ajax II has maintained the lead.

The third player to appear was Sneijder, who still took the lower left corner, very fast. Funk made a judgment, but failed to stop the ball from entering the net, and he was so angry that he kept pounding the grass, 3:1.

But soon, Heerenveen won another game, 3:2!

"Christian!" Ye Qiu made an adjustment gesture to Kivu, the fourth player to appear, on the sidelines.

Just now, he paid close attention to Hans Funk's movements. He found that the goalkeeper of Heerenveen had already judged it, because the first three penalty takers of Ajax all took the penalty on the left side, so he thought Ajax was going to make a fuss about his weakness.

Now, he will definitely focus on defending the left side, and even make a judgment in advance.

Kifu nodded to Ye Qiu, walked to the penalty area, and slowly stepped back.

With a whistle, when he saw Kifu rushing forward, Hans Vonk immediately made a flying dive to the left.

But at this time, Kifu chose to push the ball directly to the middle, and the ball slowly rolled into the goal behind Hans Vonk.

"4:2!!!" All the Ajax fans at the scene cheered in unison.

With four penalties, the Ajax II team's penalty preparations before the game were not in vain.

The fourth penalty taker of Heerenveen was Finnish winger Mika Nurmela. He knew very well that only by scoring this penalty would his team have the possibility of continuing to take penalties, otherwise they would be declared defeated in advance.

"Come on, take the penalty!" Ajax fans were harassing Nurmela, especially behind the goal. Many fans even made various intimidating movements and tried every means to interfere with him.

Nurmela took a deep breath. At the age of 29, he had a lot of professional experience. He knew that he should be calm and rational at this moment, but for some reason, he just couldn't calm down, because he knew that this penalty kick was related to a heavy hope and whether Heerenveen could reach the final.

Sometimes, the more you think, the better.

When Nurmela thought for a long time and decided to shoot the ball to the upper right corner, but failed to suppress the ball in the end, causing this penalty kick to become a high cannon, he fell weakly in the penalty area.

At the same time, all the players of Ajax II rushed into the penalty area, and everyone surrounded Stekelenburg, and around them, the cheers of Ajax fans seemed to become a vast ocean, completely surrounding them.

"Wow!" Ye Qiu screamed loudly after Nurmela missed the penalty kick, venting his excitement.

"We're in the finals, guys!" Turning around, Ye Qiu stretched out his arms wildly and rushed directly to Ricklink.

Ricklink was also very excited at this time, tears were falling down, "Oh my God, am I dreaming? The final, the Dutch Cup final, I can't believe it!"

"No, no, no, Jan Ode Ricklink!" Ye Qiu punched him hard on the shoulder, "I tell you, we're in the finals, we're in the finals!"

"Yes, we're in the finals, Ye Qiu, you're simply our God!!" Ricklink hugged Ye Qiu tightly at this time, and hugged him by the waist, almost throwing him out without holding him tightly.

After the players celebrated wildly on the sidelines, they all ran to Ye Qiu's side, but everyone was looking at Ye Qiu.

"Boss, we're in the finals!" Captain Kifu reported solemnly.

Ye Qiu blinked hard. He had been with this group of people for half a year. In the past six months, he fought side by side with everyone here. They worked together to defeat one opponent after another. They finally got to where they are today.

Dutch Cup final!

This was something no one dared to hope for half a year ago, but now they have done it!

"Boss!" The players shouted in unison, and their solemn expressions were like soldiers waiting for the leader's inspection, or like soldiers who had completed a solemn mission and came back to report their tasks.

Ye Qiu's eyes were red, but he didn't let himself cry weakly. He was not as shallow-minded as Ricklink, nor was he like a big softie named Roland, who ran to the side and cried. He stood in front of the players and looked at them.

"Not enough!" Ye Qiu shouted loudly.

"Reaching the final is not our ultimate goal, we want to win the championship!"

"We want to win the Dutch Cup and let all those who didn't think highly of us know how wrong they were!"

"We want a championship to make everyone remember us!"

"We want a championship!!"

"We want a championship!!" The players responded to Ye Qiu's shouts and shouted in unison.

If they said this before the season, everyone would think they were crazy. If they said it before they beat Eindhoven, no one would have hope for them. If they said it when they beat Utrecht a month ago, no one would be optimistic about them. But now that they said it, everyone had to take it seriously.

After reaching the final, anyone has a chance to win the championship, and it's possible!

"Champion! Champion! Champion!!!"

Hearing the players' shouts, Ajax fans also cheered together, shouting champions in unison.

This scene infected almost everyone present, including Chairman Van Praag.

He really needed Ye Qiu and the second team, but he never thought highly of the second team.

But today, watching this extremely young team, watching them come step by step, defeating one powerful opponent after another, Van Praag had to admit that this team really has the tenacious and brave Ajax spirit.

"Win the championship? This kid is crazy!" Bobby Hams laughed and scolded Ye Qiu's arrogance, but there was no anger in his eyes, but more praise.

It is the first time in the history of Dutch football that a second team can be led to the Dutch Cup final.

Van Gaal led the team to the semi-finals, but only stopped there. Now Ye Qiu has created the best cup record in the history of Ajax II. If they really win the championship, the Dutch Football Association will be very worried.

You know, the Dutch Cup champion will represent the Netherlands in the UEFA Cup in the next season. If Ajax II wins the championship, how will this mess be settled?

What's more ironic is that Ajax's first team can't even play in European competitions, but the second team can participate in the UEFA Cup. What's going on?

Is Ajax going to use the second team as the main force next season?

Bobby Hams will naturally not be troubled by this happy trouble, but he feels that it is necessary to remind Van Praag that at least the club needs to come forward and go to the Dutch Football Association to negotiate, at least to give the second team a fair competition environment, right?

"Ye Qiu... is not simple!" Leo Benhakker felt that he really misjudged.

When Ye Qiu first joined De Tokmost, he didn't have a very impressive performance, so Leo Benhakker supported Westhoff to use him as a scapegoat to hit Waters, but he didn't expect that a year later, this Chinese kid would improve so quickly.

Ajax II adopted two completely different tactics in the league and cup games. In the league, relying on its own strength and overall advantages, it pressed forward and always played a hearty offensive football, but in the cup games, it encountered enemies who were much stronger than itself, so he adopted a defensive tactic.

In Leo Benhakker's view, only a head coach who can adapt to the enemy is worthy of being an outstanding head coach, and Ye Qiu has undoubtedly found the threshold.

Of course, he still has a lot of room for improvement, but this does not prevent Ye Qiu from being able to stand on his own.

Hearing Leo Benhakker's words, Van Praag felt very uncomfortable, because he had hidden Ye Qiu's resignation letter without anyone knowing. Now, the better the second team performed and the better Ye Qiu led the team, the more embarrassed and regretful he felt.

It is a great pity that such an outstanding talent could not be retained.

Ye Qiu naturally did not know the thoughts of the group of bigwigs in the stands. He won the game now, took the players back to the locker room, and celebrated again. Then he slipped out of the door and almost bumped into Huang Chu as soon as he turned a corner.

"If I had known it was you, I would have simply not dodged and bumped into you directly. Maybe I could..." Ye Qiu teased Huang Chu with a smile.

"You are so careless!" Huang Chu was used to it and didn't take it as an offense.

Just when Ye Qiu had a lot of things to say in his heart, a group of reporters suddenly came from nowhere, at least eight or nine, and they pointed their cameras at Ye Qiu and took a lot of photos.

"Excuse me, Mr. Ye Qiu, as the first head coach in Dutch history to lead a youth team to the Dutch Cup final, do you have anything to say?"

"Mr. Ye Qiu, the team has reached the final, and you just shouted that you want to win the championship. Is this what you really think?"

"Mr. Ye Qiu, many old Ajax fans feel that your team has inherited the tradition and spirit of Ajax, but the style of play is a bit conservative. What do you think of this personally?"

"This season, the first team of Ajax has not performed well, but the second team has performed very well. Just now, some Ajax fans called for you to lead the first team. Do you personally have such an idea? Or, will you continue to stay in Ajax and lead the youth team next season?"

The reporters almost put the microphone into Ye Qiu's mouth, which made Ye Qiu, who was experiencing this situation for the first time, feel a little at a loss. Huang Chu seemed to be afraid that her relationship with Ye Qiu would be exposed, so she quickly hid far away.

Just when Ye Qiu didn't know how to answer, he saw Eliza, who was dressed fashionably, like a moonlight Sailor Moon, appearing beside Ye Qiu at the moment of embarrassment, smiling at the camera.

"Sorry, please ask one by one. Mr. Ye will try his best to answer all your questions, but if you continue to ask questions like this, we will not answer any of them!"