Thank you to "Altitude 1.75" for your tip!
Who would expect the Champions League final to be a Spanish derby? Would it be a repeat of the script from two years ago? Hahaha.
-----
During the two days of preparation for the trial, Qin Xiong did not wander around the bustling city of Amsterdam. He only jogged around his residence in the morning and at night, did light exercises in his room, and had sufficient rest.
August 27, 2003.
In the morning, Freddy and Qin Xiong arrived at the Ajax Club's youth training base, De Toekomst.
It meant that the academy belonged to the future.
Since the 1960s, the Ajax Youth Academy's excellent production efficiency had created the legend of the Ajax Youth Training Academy.
There were three ways for the Jax Empire to recruit young talents from the Jax Empire.
First, with Amsterdam as the center, they would search for Robben's native talents within a 60-kilometer radius.
Second, the annual selection day. On this day, thousands of children would come to Ajax to show their football ability, in an attempt to impress Ajax and enter the most famous football academy in the Netherlands.
Third, Ajax's overseas satellite club would recommend talents, such as Pienaar from South Africa and Shabalala, who was not even 18 years old. They were able to cross the sea to Ajax because of the contribution of Ajax's satellite club system. As for Qin Xiong's trial qualification, it was also because of the behind-the-scenes deal between the Tang Group and Ajax's overseas satellite club.
One thing that must be faced was that even though Ajax did not recruit talents from abroad was a distortion of the truth, the head of youth training, Ricklink, had tirelessly declared that they would not look for children 60 kilometers away from Amsterdam. We believe in our own culture, we will not consider looking for young players from abroad.
There was no doubt that Ajax's youth training system using their own people was an important characteristic of them!
Of course, Qin Xiong was already 18 years old. He yearned for Ajax, but it did not mean that he wanted to become an authentic Ajax person!
He was not here to join Ajax's youth training system. He was only here for the trial. If he succeeded, his goal would be to enter the first team. It could be said that he did not expect Ajax to nurture him and remodel him. He needed a stage to show off. He believed that he already had strong ability. The hard work of the past 15 years was the foundation of his confidence.
On the other hand, even though Jax was famous for its youth training, they still needed people from the outside to help them in the transfer market.
For example, the first team striker, Ibrahimovic, was poached by Ajax. Who was the club that missed out on Ibrahimovic? Arsenal.
The youth academy was located next to the Amsterdam Athletic Stadium. The sun was bright and the wind was warm. When Qin Xiong and Freddy walked into the training base, they naturally admired the scenery inside.
There were seven full-sized football fields. The training conditions were outstanding at a glance. Just the scenery here made Qin Xiong feel restless and excited.
The youth training director, Ricklink, received the two people. In his office, he looked over the trial recommendation letter that Freddy had handed to him and sized up Qin Xiong with a scrutinizing gaze.
Qin Xiong keenly discerned from the other person's dignified expression that he seemed a little unhappy.
Yes, of course, Ricklink was unhappy.
Ajax did not have a satellite club in China yet, especially in terms of talent introduction channels. They did not make such investments.
This must have something to do with China's football competitiveness, or the soil of football talent.
Therefore, a China player came to Ajax for trial and openly took out a recommendation letter from an African satellite club.
Ricklink was not a fool. There must be something fishy about this!
However, he did not intend to make things difficult for Qin Xiong and Freddy.
Just as it happened every day in the African continent, black-hearted agents "sold" some children who dreamed of becoming famous to Europe, this kind of thing was not uncommon.
In any case, the other party came with a recommendation letter in hand. After Ricklink confirmed with the satellite club in Africa, he approved Qin Xiong's trial qualification.
In his opinion, perhaps it was just to let Qin Xiong come here for a day trip.
"Can you understand English?"
Although the Netherlands had its own language, the mainstream language in this country was still English. Even the homeless beggars on the streets could speak English.
Qin Xiong replied to him, "Sir, I can. General communication is no problem."
Ricklink nodded and said to him, "There will be a youth team friendly game later. I will let you join one of the teams. This is your trial. Take advantage of the opportunity."
Qin Xiong said solemnly, "Sir, I will!"
Ricklink got up and walked out with the two men. Then he pointed to a building and said to Qin Xiong, "There is a locker room over there. You go inside and change into your jersey and shoes. It doesn't matter what you wear. I will put on a training shirt for you later."
Qin Xiong took his shoulder bag and walked towards the building.
Freddy followed Ricklink to the training ground. On the way, Freddy asked curiously, "Aren't there any other tests? Jax's famous selection criteria were TIPS, technique, insight, personality, and speed. Just based on a short training game, the evaluation of the players is not comprehensive enough, is it? "
Ricklink didn't mind Freddy's bluntness, so he went straight to the point. "The new season has already begun. This young man didn't come here on the day of the draft, and we haven't tested him before. The standard you mentioned is just the basics of the basics. Perhaps you don't know much about us here, so I can explain it to you in detail."
"I would like to hear the details."
Freddy said with a smile.
Through Ricklink's introduction, Freddy had an intuitive understanding of this place.
For a club like Ajax, which had absolute superiority in the Netherlands, they selected and trained players. They were not like ordinary clubs that only judged players based on the most basic characteristics.
In this youth training base known as Ajax's future, there were more than 200 youth players divided into seven groups. At the same time, there was an echelon for each age, from seven to 19 years old.
Just like the selection criteria that Freddy had just asked about: TIPS.
That was relative to younger players. The younger the player, the more malleable the player was!
For example, Qin Xiong was already 18 years old. If it was just to evaluate his speed, personality, insight, and technique, that was not enough!
To put it into practice, the development model of Ajax's youth training system was that the echelon under 12 years old would use the main 343 formation as the training core for the competition. For those above 12 years old, they would change to the 433 formation.
In other words, TIPS was only the lowest standard to enter the threshold. Otherwise, there would be thousands of children coming to Ajax every year for trials. However, after years of accumulation, it would be impossible for there to only be more than 200 youth players here, not to mention that there were also the talents recommended by the satellite club to join.
In the long run, the root cause of this situation was the keynote of the development of the entire Dutch football!
That was the "battle of the sword aura" within Dutch football.
Tactics and techniques, which was the most important?
When Michels led the Netherlands to the title of the uncrowned king with full offense and full defense, the Dutch football tactics of full offense and full defense became popular all over the world and won the world's applause.
It also laid the foundation for the idea of tactical supremacy that Dutch football had persisted for a long time!
Therefore, when it came to Dutch football, it was offensive football. It was the almost unchanging 433 formation.
In such a context, the TIPS standard could only be the basics of the basics.
Whether it was personality, insight, technique, or speed, all of these had to be used in the service of tactics!
In other words, it was to serve the team!
If this principle was violated, then no matter how fast one was, no matter how outstanding one's personality was, no matter how outstanding one's insight was, and no matter how unparalleled one's technique, one would be dissociated from the tactical system. Then, sorry, you were not the player that Ajax wanted!
Qin Xiong was already 18 years old. Whether he could meet Ajax's selection criteria was no longer just an assessment of him based on the TIPS standard. It was necessary to further observe his team consciousness on the basis of the TIPS standard and find a balance. In other words, not only did he have to obey and serve the team, but he also had to find his own role in it and give play to his personality.
This was also the reason why Ricklink was not optimistic about Qin Xiong. In a place like China, there might be some players who were fast, strong, skilled, and had keen insight. However, compared to a team, in such a complicated environment where 11 people worked together in a team, he did not think that the Chinese players could do better than the Dutch local players if they did not have the patience and active guidance from a young age.
In particular, Qin Xiong was a stranger, an outsider.
In today's youth team training match, the players from both sides trained together every day and were very familiar with each other!
Freddy's expression did not change at all. He had confidence in Qin Xiong, especially when he understood the specific focus of Ajax's examination of the players. He had even less to worry about.
To sort out the complicated situation, to find the right position in the team, and to find a breakthrough in an unfamiliar environment.
This kind of thing was Qin Xiong's specialty!
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.
