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Qin Xiong would soon welcome his first game representing Ajax. However, he was not representing the First Team.
On Wednesday, he joined the club.
During the two days of training on Thursday and Friday, he amazed his teammates on the youth team. Of course, those teammates who had malicious intentions were naturally angry.
Especially on Saturday morning, they would play the youth team U18 league game in the afternoon. When the youth team manager, Danny Brind, announced the team list for the game, Moops and Ilmas were furious!
Ajax also had a tradition that other clubs envied, and that was, they would always invite back retired players who had connections with Ajax to continue their career. For example, the youth team manager, Danny Brind, was a famous player from both Ajax and the Netherlands. Now in his early forties, he had become the manager of the youth team. This could be seen as a regular promotion.
In other words, if the First Team manager, Comain, left in the future, and the club did not hire a manager from outside, according to tradition, Brind would be promoted to manager.
Brind was a dignified manager, which was understandable. When dealing with young players who were easily distracted and rebellious, he always had to hold a big stick in one hand to "intimidate" them.
What surprised Qin Xiong more was that on Saturday morning, he did not train with his 18-year-old teammates. Instead, he trained with a temporary team of uneven ages. Perhaps it was not temporary. There were very few 16-year-old players, most of them were 17-year-old, and there were not many 18-year-old players.
This would be Ajax's team for the U18 Youth League.
If Ajax's First Team already had a 20-year-old captain, a 19-year-old main player, and an 18-year-old main substitute, then it was conceivable that the average age of their reserve team would be very low. Naturally, the age of the team playing in the youth league would be even lower.
For example, the 18-year-old Maduro told Qin Xiong that he would be representing Ajax's reserve team in the game on Saturday afternoon, which would basically be composed of 18-year-old and 19-year-old players.
In the youth league, the main force was the 17-year-old players. The 16-year-old players were promoted, while the 18-year-old players were lagging behind their peers and were on the verge of being eliminated.
Because of this, Mops and Ilmas, who were already 18 years old, were still playing for the youth team. In a sense, this meant that their career in Ajax had sounded an "alarm". Because of this, they were hostile to foreign competitors and were very sensitive to this.
The name list announced by Brinder included the main players and substitutes. In the U18 Youth League that started two weeks ago, Mops and Ilmas were the main players in two consecutive matches!
However, in the upcoming match, not only were the two of them placed on the substitutes' bench, but even Emmanuel, Elson, and goalkeeper Moisande were placed on the substitutes' bench.
This might have something to do with the results of the training match in the middle of the week. Many players in the red team were stronger and represented the reserve team in the match. The other players who represented the youth team were also the main players, but because they lost to the yellow team by a large margin, many of the yellow team's players were given the right to start in the youth team. It was a kind of reward from the coach to the players' performance.
However, the specific situation also needed to be analyzed in detail. Players like Vermaelen, Dunn, and fullback Moisande were still given the right to start. After all, the roles of fullbacks and midfielders and forwards were different. Fullbacks needed more experience to improve, while midfielders and forwards had a higher probability of making a splash.
Mops and Ilmas were gloomy during the training on Saturday morning. Of course, they did not dare to challenge Brinder and protest their demotion from the main players to the substitutes, so they put the blame on Qin Xiong again.
Qin Xiong was very serious during the training because he had to familiarize himself with some of his new teammates. The training on Saturday morning was to familiarize with each other, and Brinder formulated the tactics and practiced them a little.
The good news was that Qin Xiong only needed to familiarize himself with and observe some of his teammates.
The starting lineup of the youth team was as follows.
Goalkeeper: Womer.
Fullbacks: Timisala, Dunn, Vermaelen, Moisande.
Midfielders: Wiltonghen, Qin Xiong, Shabalala.
Forwards: Cameron, Babel, Buhari.
The three forwards of the yellow team were all given the right to start. The two 16-year-old players in the starting lineup were the forward Babel and the defensive midfielder Wiltonghen. (Note: this player later retired from his position. He is now a defensive midfielder and currently plays for Tottenham Hotspur.)
Qin Xiong focused on observing and understanding his teammates Shabalala and Wiltonghen during the training.
As for the other teammates, they were either familiar with each other during the training or had played against each other or worked together during the training match three days ago.
The training content for the whole morning was relatively easy and did not consume too much energy. At noon, the whole team had lunch together. After a short break, the youth team manager, Brinder, led them to the train station and took the train to the Arnhem area, which was southeast of Amsterdam.
They arrived in Arnhem before three o 'clock in the afternoon, and then took the bus to the youth team training ground of Vitesse FC.
Most of the youth league matches were played in makeshift venues. As long as there was a stadium, it could be played.
This was related to the domestic situation of Dutch football.
Even though the Netherlands had famous clubs like Ajax that could shake Europe at different times, the overall situation of Dutch football was very slow and the competitiveness was very low.
There were only two leagues in the Netherlands, and there were no more than 40 professional clubs. The Dutch second division did not have a relegation system, so the competitiveness of Dutch football could not be compared to the five big leagues. It was natural for the three big clubs to monopolize it for a long time.
Vitesse, who survived in the Eredivisie, had recently encountered trouble. The former director was involved in a tax evasion case in 2000, which caused the club's situation to deteriorate. The club's ranking in the Eredivisie was also constantly falling.
The instability of the upper level also shook the foundation of the lower level.
The youth team of Vitesse did not have many talents that the other clubs coveted. With the turmoil of the club, there was a lack of attention to the youth team, and it was quite a free-for-all attitude.
But the days still had to pass, and the matches still had to be played.
Ajax's youth team arrived at Vitesse's youth team stadium. Before the match, there was nothing special. Brinder clapped his hands to encourage the young lads, and then let the players get on the field to prepare for the match.
With Louis Van Gaal and Brinder's personal relationship, Louis Van Gaal asked Rocklink to pass the message, and Brinder did not have the slightest doubt and obeyed.
In itself, the youth team did not have much autonomy. All of the work was carried out around the upper level of the team. The youth team did not have the right to ask why the upper level wanted to focus on training. Or put forward their own ideas.
Before they came, in the morning training, Qin Xiong was confirmed as the core of the team's midfield. This was personally said by Brinder, and no one in the youth team dared to question it. They could only obey!
Qin Xiong wore a brand-new jersey and shoes. With his buzz cut hairstyle, he looked particularly energetic, and gave people a feeling that he was vigorous and energetic.
Before the kickoff, Qin Xiong looked around the field. To be honest, the condition of the field was quite bad. The turf was not complete, and some areas were bare. Besides the coaches and substitutes of the two clubs, there were no other spectators on the field. The scene was extremely deserted.
Looking away, Qin Xiong did not think about anything else. He cleared his mind and focused all of his attention on the match.
The referee blew the whistle, and the match began.
Qin Xiong kicked off in the center circle, and Bukhari passed the ball back to Qin Xiong.
When the football rolled over, the opponent's striker immediately pounced on it. Qin Xiong started slowly to meet the football, and then suddenly accelerated when he was about to meet the opponent's striker. He changed direction and passed the ball by the opponent's shoulder, and then he dribbled the ball forward quickly!
The front line's trident spread out and ran forward, ready to support Qin Xiong at any time. And with Qin Xiong, his teammate Shabalala pushed forward from the midfield.
Through the observation of the morning training, Qin Xiong had a general understanding of Shabalala.
The South African's physical condition was explosively good!
His sense of teamwork could also be said to be the best in the youth team. And in terms of skills, his best was dribbling, which was the combination of man and ball. But he was slightly inferior in other aspects, such as his shooting footwork was ridiculously poor, and his mid-long distance passes were not in place, and so on.
When Shabalala and Qin Xiong ran forward in a parallel line, the captain of the Vitesse youth team, Lahnsana, appeared in front of Qin Xiong. Qin Xiong did not know what the Guinean was capable of, so Qin Xiong did not rashly choose to break through. Instead, he passed the ball to Shabalala, consciously giving the opponent a head start. If Shabalala did not slow down, he would be able to receive the ball safely.
After the pass, Qin Xiong immediately rushed forward. To his surprise, Lahnsana was rushed by him head-on. After turning around and chasing after him, Qin Xiong actually shook him off by just two or three steps!
Qin Xiong immediately took note of this detail: his speed was not good!
When running forward, Qin Xiong always kept a distance of five to eight meters from Shabalala, because he knew that Shabalala's mid-long distance passes were not reliable.
Vitesse's two defensive midfielders stood in the defensive zone, ready to fight.
But Shabalala was too fast!
His speed advantage combined with his dribbling advantage was simply the best among his peers, especially his body was obviously stronger than Qin Xiong's!
In contrast, Vitesse's two defensive midfielders' speed and explosive power were obviously much worse.
Shabalala passed the ball to Qin Xiong in front of one of Vitesse's defensive midfielders, Meersman. After passing the ball, he continued to cut forward, while Qin Xiong dribbled the ball one step horizontally. The defensive midfielder, Brondel, made a mistake in his tackle, and Qin Xiong immediately dribbled the ball forward past him. At this time, Shabalala and Babel were already in front of the opponent's defensive line. Qin Xiong dribbled the ball and passed it to Shabalala at a distance of less than three meters. He pointed to the space between the fullback and the fullback and cut forward. Shabalala kicked the ball and sent it to Qin Xiong's front.
Qin Xiong's speed did not decrease. He dribbled the ball from the front and cut into the penalty area from the flank of Vitesse's defensive line, forming a one-handed ball from the side facing the goal!
Although the angle was not particularly good, Qin Xiong did not have the slightest hesitation. With a cold face, he kicked the goal. The football shot from bottom to top, like a cannonball shooting into Vitesse's goal. It went over the goalkeeper, Van Den's left arm and into the blind corner!
Everyone in the Vitesse youth team was stunned!
Ten seconds into the match, Ajax's youth team's first frontal attack in a positional battle and destroyed them!
And from the beginning to the end, if the attack was counted from the moment Qin Xiong touched the ball in the middle of the field, the entire attack, from advancing to breaking the goal, only two people touched the ball!
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