Six steps later.
-----
Perhaps Comain himself did not expect that an offensive system without a center forward would have an effect that was beyond his imagination.
With Van Der Vaart in the Shadow Striker position, Qin Xiong was more liberated, allowing Qin Xiong to further unleash his talents as a playmaker. This kind of space did not exist in the previous match. Qin Xiong was always in an environment where he was surrounded by many players and was unable to control the ball for long periods of time.
Now, he was like a classic attacking midfielder who stirred up trouble in the attacking midfield area, using his keen insight to make the entire team's efforts go to waste!
Comain was excited and cheering for Qin Xiong, for Pinard, for Snede, and of course, for Van Der Vaart, who scored the goal!
He saw the hope of his dreams and ambitions being realized. Although this team was not perfect, Ajax still had its weaknesses, they had a chance to challenge for the Champions League title. Because looking at the Champions League semi-finals, there was not a single team that was strong enough to be near perfect!
The Monaco players stared in shock at Qin Xiong after their defeat. They had a tacit understanding not to be surprised by Van Der Vaart and Snede. When such a traditional and common cooperation occurred in the penalty area, there was nothing to be surprised about.
They were shocked by Qin Xiong's playmaking talents. Qin Xiong's playmaking talents were clearly outstanding.
He became the highlight of the match, a player who had the ability to decide the match!
In the previous attack, if Qin Xiong had passed to Van Der Vaart, he would have been a mediocre playmaker!
If he had passed to Pinard, who was covered by Van Der Vaart, then he would have been a decent playmaker!
However, he suddenly turned the ball around, shifting his line of sight and attack to the other side of the penalty area that everyone had neglected. He decisively and accurately sent the ball to Snede's feet.
He was overflowing with talent and outstanding!
At that moment, the light that bloomed was dazzling enough!
Van Der Vaart hugged Qin Xiong's shoulder as he ran. He knew that most of the credit for this goal went to Qin Xiong. They ran along the sidelines together, creating a wave of people in the stands.
Finally, they stood in front of the stands. In front of them, there was a young Ajax fan in the crowd. He cheered excitedly, holding up a support poster. On the poster were promotional photos of Qin Xiong, Van Der Vaart, Snede and other Ajax stars. On the poster was a crooked caption: Come on, take us to Germany!
It must have been written by this young fan himself.
"Ajax's captain, Van Der Vaart, opened the scoring and led Monaco with a total score of 3: 2. Deschamps' team is in a desperate situation. They have to score at least two goals here to turn the tables and advance to the finals. It looks difficult, especially since they don't know how to restrict Ajax's attacks. Qin Xiong, Snede, Pinard and Van Der Vaart are four players with excellent footwork. They formed an offensive system with excellent ball control and coordination. They rarely make mistakes in small areas, especially when Qin Xiong's flash of inspiration in command and dispatch can often make Ajax's attacks suddenly open up, and even directly explode with a fatal blow that can kill Monaco!"
Today, there were scouts from many European teams in the stands of the Amsterdam Athletic Stadium.
They were on-site to observe the performance of Ajax's players or Monaco's players. Of course, most of them were scouts who observed Ajax's players.
They represented a wide range of clubs, from powerhouses to first-class clubs. They would not be too emotional about the goals that appeared in the game. Instead, they would rationally whisper to their colleagues to discuss the specific performance of the target they were observing in the game.
From before the game to the start of the game, Qin Xiong's attention was on the field. It was not until the goal celebration that he noticed a small group of China fans in the stands. He could not tell whether they were overseas Chinese or Chinese fans who came all the way from China. They pulled out a banner with the words: Fly! China Heroes!
If it were not for the flamboyant Chinese characters that were too conspicuous, Qin Xiong would not have been able to detect their existence.
After seeing that scene, Qin Xiong could not help but smile.
A warm current flowed through his heart and then swept through his whole body. Then, he took a deep breath. Qin Xiong walked back to the half of the field with a determined look, as if he had been reborn with unlimited motivation!
Monaco could not change anything. When the score was 0: 0, they had to score.
When the score was 0: 1, they still had to score!
Goal, goal, goal!
It was as if a shackle was clamping down on their thinking. Before they scored to change the score and the overall situation, even if they knew that their current defensive line was not stable, they still could not weaken their offense and strengthen their defense.
In the final stage of the first half, Monaco's momentum suddenly dropped due to the loss of the goal. Ajax played a continuous offensive to suppress the opponent.
Kierkes's performance in this game was worlds apart from the previous game. After losing the conditions for Cisse and Bernardi to work together to restrict Qin Xiong, Cisse and Bernardi had to worry about Van Der Vaart and Galasek, who might come in from behind to provide support.
This exposed Kierkes to frequent one-on-one situations with Qin Xiong.
He made a fool of himself by making a series of missed tackles. His weakness of being slow was exploited by Qin Xiong. Qin Xiong did not need any fancy or nimble technical moves to get rid of his defense. He only needed to stop and turn sharply to change the rhythm of his control of the ball.
Ajax's offensive system was not as simple as Monaco had imagined.
They were forced to keep an eye on Ajax's trident, Snede, Van Der Vaart, and Pinar as they retreated in defeat.
They also seemed to believe that Qin Xiong would be limited to the role of organizing the midfield.
They were so wrong!
In the 40th minute of the game, Qin Xiong controlled the ball at the front waistline and suddenly changed positions with Pinar. During this change of position, Pinar took over Qin Xiong's control of the ball in the attacking midfielder area, while Qin Xiong ran directly from between Van Der Vaart and Snede in an anti-offside position!
No one came to mark Qin Xiong!
Rodriguez, Ibarra, Givette, and Cisse, they were almost in a two-on-one position to absolutely seal off Snede and Van Der Vaart. When Qin Xiong ran from between the two of them into the heart of the penalty area, their brains seemed to have crashed. They did not know who to defend against Qin Xiong.
Pinar did not hesitate and passed the ball to the penalty area in the direction of Qin Xiong's running position.
Qin Xiong was successful in his anti-offside position, but he could not handle the ball well. Pinar's pass was already considered good, but unfortunately, Qin Xiong could not stop the ball and had to directly raise his leg. However, the football was still a little high.
Therefore, Qin Xiong directly jumped sideways from the left side of the penalty area and assumed a prone shooting position in the air!
The Ajax fans stood up one after another. Many of them could not help but open their mouths wide as they watched in disbelief at Qin Xiong's shooting position from within the penalty area!
They hoped that Qin Xiong would be able to score this goal. If that happened, not only would the score be rewritten, but Ajax would also gain a greater lead.
More importantly, Qin Xiong and Pinar's cooperation this time was eye-catching, and Qin Xiong's choice of shooting was even more dazzling!
Qin Xiong rarely attempted such a difficult shot. After all, he was not a striker and his shooting training was different from that of a striker.
He could only complete the shot based on his feel for the ball.
Unfortunately, it was his first time using such a method of shooting in a professional match, and he actually kicked the ball away. It was ridiculously wide, as if he was trying to break free from a siege.
The fans in the stands let out a long sigh. They were not very disappointed. Instead, they looked at each other and immediately burst into applause.
Qin Xiong stood up after landing and shook his head.
No means no.
He was not trying to be brave. It was true that he was not good at this kind of difficult shooting. Moreover, this kind of shooting was not necessarily something that a world-class striker could grasp every time. He was a midfielder and his posture was quite good. He did not feel embarrassed even if the effect of the shot was ugly.
Although his mid-air shooting didn't seem to have much of an effect, his long shot at the end of the first half still showed his long-range shooting skills.
"Roma has done well! Roma bravely blocked Qin Xiong's tricky long shot. Ajax's offense was like a tide. Just a little bit more and they could have changed the score. Deschamps finally breathed a sigh of relief. The Monaco players needed to calm down and reorganize their thoughts. From the first half, their disadvantage was very obvious. Ajax was not able to take advantage of the situation at the end of the first half to increase the score. Will he regret it in the second half? This fierce battle for the Champions League final will take at least 45 minutes to reveal the result! "
Amidst the endless applause and cheers of the Ajax fans, Ajax and Monaco finished the first half with a score of 1: 0. Ajax led their opponents with a total score of 3: 2. They walked into the locker room together.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
