God of Green

After Jiang Xiaolin received the pass from his teammate with his back to the goal, the two Zenit defenders, Kanisinahi and Wedicsher, who were closely guarding him, immediately came closer.

While they kept stretching their feet to try to poke the ball away from Jiang Xiaolin's feet, they kept close to Jiang Xiaolin to prevent him from turning and shooting.

There were other Zenit defenders nearby who were also staring at Jiang Xiaolin nervously, preventing him from suddenly getting rid of the two defenders through his strong dribbling and change of direction ability to get a chance to break through and turn and shoot.

In addition, goalkeeper Malafif also kept a close eye on Jiang Xiaolin, also preventing Jiang Xiaolin from shooting.

It was really because Jiang Xiaolin's previous achievements were too scary and threatening, and they were all very careful and cautious when facing Jiang Xiaolin's ball.

Of course, their defensive purpose was achieved, because Jiang Xiaolin really couldn't get a chance to turn and shoot under their close defense.

With his back to the goal in the penalty area and two defenders of the opposing team closely interfering with the defense, even with Jiang Xiaolin's dribbling ability and technique, it is difficult to complete a turn shot.

Even if the ball is at his feet and he has the initiative to attack, it is useless.

However, Jiang Xiaolin himself did not want to complete a forced turn shot.

Because Van Gaal had conducted detailed tactical drills before the game, Alkmaar had a better tactical response plan in this case, and Jiang Xiaolin had a better choice, rather than having to pursue his own shot after entering the penalty area.

Although his shooting skills are the most superb, it is useless if he can't kick or shoot.

It is better to pass the ball to teammates.

Even if his shooting skills are not good, he is still a professional player at the Eredivisie level.

Once Jiang Xiaolin's teammates get a chance to shoot without interference, they can also score.

At this time, when Jiang Xiaolin holds the ball, the other teammates of Alkmaar begin to drill into various gaps tacitly.

They don't need to consider whether Jiang Xiaolin can pass the ball.

Because they are not one person, but everyone is running together.

On the one hand, it disrupts the opponent's regional defense system, and on the other hand, it allows Jiang Xiaolin to have more ball-passing routes.

Around Jiang Xiaolin, Maarten Martens moved horizontally outside the penalty area to the right side of the top of the penalty area.

However, he was followed by a Zenit midfielder, Schenlov.

On the right side of the penalty area, Hamdaoyi rushed left and right, trying to run out of space, but he was also the focus of Zenit's defense and could not get rid of the defensive players around him.

On the left side of the penalty area, midfielder David Mendes came up, but there was also a Zenit midfielder following him to prevent Jiang Xiaolin from passing the ball to him.

Only on the left side, after Moussa Dembele passed the ball to Jiang Xiaolin, the full-back defending Dembele continued to follow Dembele to cut in horizontally to prevent Jiang Xiaolin and Dembele from playing against the wall.

In the gap after Dembele cut inside, Alkmaar's left back Pocognoli quietly inserted himself from the side of the penalty area and rushed to the small penalty area corner behind Jiang Xiaolin.

When Pocognoli entered the penalty area, he finally attracted the attention of some Zenit St. Petersburg players.

However, they either had their own defensive targets or were too far away.

Only the two central defenders Kanisinahi and Vidichal who were closely defending Jiang Xiaolin were closest to Pocognoli, but they could not give up Jiang Xiaolin who was holding the ball to block Pocognoli's running position.

They could only continue to try to grab the ball at Jiang Xiaolin's feet, or prevent Jiang Xiaolin from turning and shooting.

But Jiang Xiaolin did not force a turn and shoot.

He looked at the right side of the penalty area, as if he wanted to pass the ball to Maarten Martens or Hamdaoyi.

Wedichal, who was defending Jiang Xiaolin closely behind him, involuntarily moved his body to the right, trying to reach out from the side to steal Jiang Xiaolin's ball, but his open arms, strong physique and balance prevented him from stealing the ball.

Just when everyone thought that Jiang Xiaolin was going to pass the ball to Martens or Hamdaoui, and the two players defending them were nervously preparing to steal the ball, Jiang Xiaolin suddenly raised his heel and knocked the ball back, knocking it between the legs of the unprepared Canisinahi, and knocked it to the left corner of the small penalty area, in front of Poconioli's running position.

Jiang Xiaolin made a wonderful heel pass in the penalty area without looking at Canisinahi's feet or Poconioli's running position.

This was a certain amount of luck, but the greater role was Jiang Xiaolin's full creativity and Van Gaal's pre-match tactics.

Even without seeing Pocognoli's running position, Jiang Xiaolin knew that when this happened, when Moussa Dembele cut inside from outside the penalty area,When the full-back Pocognoli has come up to assist, he will definitely insert into the gap on the left side of the penalty area.

This is a tactical running coordination that has been trained many times in training.

In addition to Jiang Xiaolin's full team cooperation and creativity, his eyes seem to be looking in the direction of Martens, Hamdaoyi and others, but in fact he is kicking the ball behind him with a heel pass.

As for the heel pass through Kanisinahi's crotch, there is a certain element of luck, but Jiang Xiaolin also judges the opponent's position based on the opponent's strength on him, and strives to knock the ball through the opponent's legs.

Jiang Xiaolin succeeded.

When the defenders and goalkeeper of Zenit St. Petersburg were all focused on preventing Jiang Xiaolin from turning around and shooting or passing the ball to Martens at the front of the penalty area or Hamdaoyi on the right, Jiang Xiaolin's heel pass was both hidden and sudden, catching everyone off guard.

Pocognoli rushed to the corner of the small penalty area, met the ball that Jiang Xiaolin suddenly knocked with his heel, and kicked it into the left corner of the goal.

Although goalkeeper Malafev was standing on the left side of the midpoint of the goal line, he also made a save.

But Jiang Xiaolin's heel pass was too sudden, and Pocognoli's shot was too decisive, with a close distance, great power, and very fast speed.

Malafev's save failed to save Pocognoli's shot in time.

The ball flew into the goal like a cannonball before Malafev's palm was in place.

In the commentary booth, Dutch TV commentator Jones shouted excitedly:

"Gooooooooooooooooooooooooal..."

"The ball went in!"

"In the 21st minute, Alkmaar opened the scoring, and the goal was scored by left-back Poconioli!"

"Jiang Xiaolin took the ball with his back to the goalkeeper in the penalty area, and then suddenly made a perfect heel-knock pass with the opponent's two defenders defending closely, sending the ball to the left corner of Zenit St. Petersburg's small penalty area. Poconioli, who cut in from the wing and was unguarded, shot into the near corner without any defense. ”

“Although Jiang Xiaolin didn’t score the goal, Jiang Xiaolin deserves the most credit.”

“He used his body and dribbling skills to control the ball in the penalty area, and attracted the close defense of the two opposing defenders, allowing Pocognoli to get in and cut in without defense.”

“Finally, Jiang Xiaolin’s heel-knock assist was a stroke of genius, and it can definitely be listed as one of the top ten assists in this season’s UEFA Cup.”

The commentators from other TV stations in the commentary booth, or the commentators in the broadcasting rooms of various countries, all believed, like the Dutch TV commentator Jones, that the biggest credit for this goal still belongs to Jiang Xiaolin.

Although he didn’t score the goal, Jiang Xiaolin deserves the most credit.

On the court, the players and coaches of Zenit St. Petersburg also thought so.

Although Pocognoli scored the goal, they believed that the biggest reason for the loss was the heel pass from Jiang Xiaolin.

This is really surprising.

Therefore, watching Jiang Xiaolin and his teammates running wildly on the field to celebrate, Zenit's players thought in their hearts that they still had to keep a close eye on Jiang Xiaolin.

Otherwise, even if Jiang Xiaolin couldn't score a goal himself, a wonderful pass like this would be very fatal.

Next time, everyone should not only defend Jiang Xiaolin's shot, but also his pass assist.

Zenit St. Petersburg is ready to further upgrade its defense and siege of Jiang Xiaolin.

They are going further and further on the wrong tactical thinking.

Of course, after losing the ball, Zenit must also find a way to counterattack.

Otherwise, if the total score is behind, Zenit will be more passive even if it returns to the home court, and will inevitably be counterattacked by Alkmaar.

On the contrary, Zenit St. Petersburg is not under so much pressure to play away games now. If the total score is lost, it will lose. As long as they sneak in and get an away goal, they will win.

Therefore, in the next game, Zenit St. Petersburg continued to closely guard Jiang Xiaolin while trying to counterattack.

Not only guarding Jiang Xiaolin's personal breakthroughs and shots, but also guarding Jiang Xiaolin's passing routes to other teammates.

Facing a player like Jiang Xiaolin, Zenit St. Petersburg had to attack and defend, and even had to defend Jiang Xiaolin's passes, so naturally there was not much manpower and energy to strictly guard other Alkmaar players.

They had not seen through Van Gaal's tactics, and still thought that Jiang Xiaolin was the offensive core and offensive end point of Alkmaar.

Speaking of which, Zenit's luck was not very good today.

After losing the first goal, in the 27th minute, they also played a veryA threatening attack.

Unfortunately, the forward Sensov's last cross was headed slightly above the crossbar by the striker Pugnyek.

Pugnyek headed the ball almost unguarded, but it was a pity that it was headed high.

Otherwise, this could really be a valuable away goal.

This reflects the value of Jiang Xiaolin's header skills.

If Jiang Xiaolin had grabbed the ball, Jiang Xiaolin would have headed it in more than 80%.

But Pugnyek did not have Jiang Xiaolin's header skills, and in the end he could only hold his head and sigh, thinking that he had missed a great chance to score.

The fans of Zenit St. Petersburg in the stands also sighed in unison, regretting that Pugnyek's header did not go in.

However, what made them even more depressed was still to come.

Less than 10 minutes after Pugnyek's header failed, in the 35th minute, Alkmaar actually played an almost identical attack.

The same winger, the same bottom cross, and the same forwards competed for the header in the middle.

Alkmaar winger Stein Schars made a two-pass cooperation with Hamdaoyi who came to meet him and passed the last defender on the wing and successfully crossed the ball from the bottom.

The ball was passed very well and fell to the area near the penalty spot in the penalty area.

The landing point was far from the goal, and goalkeeper Malafev did not dare to attack, and could only passively wait for the players from both sides to compete for the header.

Jiang Xiaolin showed his superior running position, speed, physique, scoring, jumping and other abilities in this middle competition.

At the moment when Stein Schars kicked the ball, he first ran two steps from the top of the penalty area to the near point of the penalty area, which attracted the defender who was closely guarding him to run forward with him, fearing that he would grab the first landing point of the ball.

However, in fact, Jiang Xiaolin, at the moment when his teammate kicked the ball, used his keen ability to grab the ball to judge that the best landing point of the ball was not at the front point, but near the penalty spot in the middle.

Therefore, his running position was just to get rid of the opponent.

After running two steps forward, Jiang Xiaolin immediately braked and changed direction, and moved horizontally to the vicinity of the penalty spot with two steps.

The running position in the penalty area can be lightning fast and extremely fast. Jiang Xiaolin just made this simple forward change of direction, and immediately got rid of a midfielder and a central defender who were closely guarding him. Only the last central defender, Canisinahi, followed his change of direction in time.

But even if he caught up, it would be useless.

Because Jiang Xiaolin's other abilities are also top-notch, Canisinahi could not stop Jiang Xiaolin's goal-grabbing.

Jiang Xiaolin judged the ball's landing point before Canisinahi, and jumped from the best jumping position, leaping high. With his strong physique and balance ability, he fought against Canisinahi's collision and header next to him. Facing the aerial ball passed by his teammate Schars, he headed the ball to the upper corner of the goal with a powerful swing.

In such a penalty area where people were rushing to score, Jiang Xiaolin still managed to head the ball at an angle in the air.

It can be seen that Jiang Xiaolin's advantage in headers is great.

Even if Canisinahi, who was next to him, jumped desperately, his head could only reach Jiang Xiaolin's neck.

His jumping ability was far behind Jiang Xiaolin.

This was because Jiang Xiaolin was pulled by him and could not jump the highest, otherwise he would appear even shorter.

On the goal line, goalkeeper Malafif kept staring at Jiang Xiaolin, guarding against him getting the first header, and made a save at the first time.

Unfortunately, Jiang Xiaolin's header was too sharp, and it went straight to the dead corner behind the goal.

Moreover, the header in the penalty area was too close, and the goalkeeper had no time to save the ball.

Even though Malafev made a save, he was still out of reach and could only watch the ball hit the bottom of the crossbar and fly into the net.