The Godfather of Football

"I never thought it would be Ajax II!"

In the head coach's office at Feyenoord's training base in Rotterdam, Bert van Marwijk was smiling helplessly.

This season's Eredivisie is dominated by PSV Eindhoven. Although Feyenoord performed well, it could not shake PSV Eindhoven's leading position. Even in the battle for the runner-up in the league with Heerenveen, Feyenoord was also at a disadvantage. This was related to their fluctuating performance.

With the expansion of the UEFA Champions League this season, the Eredivisie has three places to participate in the Champions League. The first and second teams in the league can directly participate in the group stage, while the third team in the league will participate in the third round of qualifying.

Feyenoord currently occupies the third place in the league, but the points from the second-placed Heerenveen are 2 points, and the gap between them and the fourth-placed Vitesse and the fifth-placed Twente is 1 point. As long as they are not careful, they may be kicked out of the Champions League qualification zone at any time.

Not being able to participate in the Champions League is a huge loss for any club.

In the absence of the Eredivisie, Feyenoord is trying its best to qualify for the Champions League, while almost all its energy is invested in the Dutch Cup. After all, if it can win the cup, it can be regarded as a kind of comfort to the fans.

"Who would have thought?" Assistant coach Mario Bean shook his head and sighed, "When we defeated Eindhoven, everyone thought it was an accident, but who could have thought that Utrecht, Heerenveen, and other Eredivisie teams would fall to this unknown second team. How ironic is that?"

In Mario Bean's view, a Eredivisie team was eliminated by the second team, which can definitely be said to be a big upset, but if such an upset occurs again and again, it is not an upset, but a shame, a shame for the Eredivisie.

"Ye Qiu..." Van Marwijk's mind popped up the difficult-to-pronounce name of the head coach of Ajax's second team, and he came from China, a weak football country. This can be said to be a person he is completely unfamiliar with and very unfamiliar with.

"According to the information sent by the scouts, this season is his first season as coach, but he has been constantly promoted by Ajax, from the U10 at the beginning of the season to the U15 later, and then to the Ajax II team. His promotion speed is very fast, even surpassing Louis van Gaal back then!" Mario Bean said.

"You mean, he is Van Gaal II?" Van Marwijk asked with a smile.

Bean curled his lips, "At least many Ajax fans think so, and some people say he is Michels II."

"Ignorance!" Van Marwijk sighed helplessly, "But this person should be very capable, at least he can bring the second team to the Dutch Cup final, and this ability should never be underestimated."

"I know!" Mario Bean nodded, "I have arranged for the club scouts to follow the Ajax second team's games. According to the information fed back by the scouts, they have basically won the championship in the second team's league. At that time, they will definitely take advantage of this momentum and impact the Dutch Cup championship in one go."

Once a weak team performs well, that momentum is often stronger and more ostentatious than a strong team.

"I heard that Ye Qiu shouted on the field to win the championship after defeating Heerenveen, right?" Van Marwijk asked.

"Yes, all the Ajax fans cheered for them at that time!"

After hearing this, Van Marwijk laughed instead.

"What?" Mario Bean was surprised. Isn't Van Marwijk afraid?

"Remember last year's Dutch Cup final?"

Mario Bean nodded. At that time, he and Van Marwijk were still in Fortuna Sittard. They led this not-so-strong Dutch team and eliminated many strong opponents along the way to the final, but lost 0:2 to Ajax led by Olsen in the final, which also made Van Marwijk miss the first championship trophy in his career.

"A year has passed, and it's the Dutch Cup final again. It's still us and Ajax, but the situation seems to have changed now!" Van Marwijk smiled coldly. He couldn't forget the defeat a year ago.

At that time, he led a professional team for the first time. With a breath of air in his chest, he reached the final. When he met Ajax, who was stronger than himself, they were not afraid. But just when they were about to kill their opponents in one go, the experienced Ajax defeated them completely.

That scene of defeat, Van Marwijk still can't forget it even now.

From Fortuna Sittard to Feyenoord, Van Marwijk is no longer the young man he was a year ago. He is not leading a weak team with a nouveau riche atmosphere, but Feyenoord, one of the traditional top three teams in the Dutch Eredivisie.

"A year ago, we lost because we were too aggressive and too sharp, so that in the final, we could not get rid of the bottleneck of all the dark horses. It's a bit like a sports car that starts to rush too fast and wants to brake, but can't stop!"

"At that time, Ajax, who was playing steadily, took advantage of our shortcomings and weaknesses and slowly wore away our spirit. At the same time, they took advantage of this and accumulated enough physical strength. In the second half, they fought back and scored two goals in a row, completely defeating us!" When he said this, Van Marwijk looked at his assistant and smiled.

"Don't you think that today's Ajax second team is sharper and younger than Fortuna Sittard last year?"

When he said this, Mario Bean felt that it was indeed the case.

Everyone was unwilling to lose in last year's game, but after analysis, they all felt that losing to Fortuna Sittard was too aggressive, which is also the shortcoming of all dark polo teams.

Today's Ajax second team is more aggressive than Fortuna Sittard because their players are too young, basically around 16 years old, and the head coach Ye Qiu has never had any experience. For those who have a coaching and career career, at least Van Marwijk has had a career for many years, so the current Ajax second team is more like a dark horse among dark horses.

"We will deal with them how they deal with us, it's fair!" Van Marwijk narrowed his eyes and became very cold.

…………

…………

Reaching the Dutch Cup final, Ajax's second team immediately became the darlings of Amsterdam.

Almost every day, fans come to Detok Most's training ground to cheer for the team. Almost every day, some reporters come here to conduct interviews. Almost every day, a group of fans wait outside the training ground, waiting for the players. They signed autographs and took photos.

This kind of treatment has probably never happened before in the history of Detok Most, which immediately made everyone in the entire training base feel flattered.

Especially after the team defeated several opponents in the league and won the Youth League Championship, everyone was full of expectations for the upcoming Dutch Cup final. The training ground was also in full swing, and everyone hated it. You cannot use 200% of your energy and strength.

But in Bobby Harms' view, this is not a good thing.

As night falls, all the players have left Detok Most, and only a few offices have lights on.

Bobby Harms walked into the medical department. As he expected, he saw Van Dude and Huang Chu busy doing things. He also saw Huang Chu waiting for get off work, sitting in the reception room and reading carefully. Ye Qiu from the scouting report.

"Ha, Bobby!" As soon as he saw Bobby Harms, Ye Qiu immediately closed the report.

"How's it going? First team scouting report, how do you feel?" Bobby Harms pointed at the report in Ye Qiu's hand.

This is a report specially prepared by the scouting department in accordance with the standards of the first team. It even includes a few of Ye Qiu's own requirements. This is a Feyenoord report specially tailored for Ye Qiu. Some game footage.

"I'm a little flattered!" Ye Qiu patted his chest and laughed.

Bobby Harms laughed and sat down directly opposite Ye Qiu, "How is it? I heard that you have been studying every day recently. Do you have any experience?"

Ye Qiu smiled, "What do you think of Bert van Marwijk?"

He has read many works by football masters, and many of them have mentioned that the head coach's character often represents the character and style of a team, and the formation of a game has a big impact. To a certain extent, it's a competition between the two head coaches.

The closer the strength is, the greater the winning-losing relationship between the head coaches will be in determining the game.

"How should I put it?" Bobby Harms hissed, as if he was thinking hard, "Van Marwijk doesn't get much attention from the media, and I don't have much contact with him, but give me The most impressive thing was last year’s Dutch Cup final.”

"Yes, he led Fortuna Sittard and met our Ajax in the final!" Ye Qiu also noticed this.

With last year's final experience, Van Marwijk will definitely have some advantages.

"He is a low-key, pragmatic person. The team he coaches is also like his character. It is relatively balanced and has good offense and defense. Feyenoord's defense does have some problems this season, especially with central defender Van Onderen. Many problems were exposed in the selection of partners, which caused them to lose several games. "

"But no matter what, his first season coaching Feyenoord was relatively successful, and he has great hope of staying on!"

Ye Qiu's evaluation of Van Marwijk was similar to that of Bobby Harms, but not as in-depth as the latter.

"Actually, your current situation is a bit similar to his situation last year!"

When Ye Qiu heard this, he looked at Bobby Harms in confusion. He felt that the eyes of this Dutch old man were full of profound wisdom.

"Fortuna Sittard has never been very strong, but last season it eliminated many teams that were better than itself and reached the finals. I remember that Olsen wanted to give up the initiative at that time. Many people in the coaching staff objected because we were stronger than the other team, but I think Olson made the right choice.”

After a pause, Bobby Harms smiled and said, "Many people like dark horses, but it is rare to see a dark horse that can win to the end. Do you know why?"

Ye Qiu was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Bottleneck!"

"Yes!" Bobby Harms praised. He felt that Ye Qiu was able to answer this question, which in itself proved his improvement in strength. At least it had exceeded Bobby Harms's estimation of him. .

Sometimes I think about it. Bobby Hamm has to admit that Ye Qiu is really talented in coaching. His progress in the past year can be described as a rocket. It’s incredible. Bobby Hamm. Si can say that he has never seen any head coach in his life who can improve as quickly as Ye Qiu.

But this is because Bobby Harms doesn't know that Ye Qiu spends almost every night in the study room reading various football books, often studying the works and football experiences of some football greats, which makes him The progress is very obvious.

"The reason why dark horses are dark horses is because they lacked attention before. Everyone thought they were weak. This is not a disadvantage for them, but an advantage because their opponents don't know them well and they can do what they want." To win by surprise, the question is, you have been a dark horse in two games and defeated several powerful opponents in a row. When everyone starts to pay attention to you, are you still a dark horse? Can you still win by surprise? "

"The reason why many dark polo teams are unable to go all out is partly due to their own strength, but the more important reason lies in two points!"

Ye Qiu listened silently, but remembered it very carefully in his heart, almost remembering every word clearly.

"One is the bottleneck you mentioned. When they go from a dark horse that no one pays attention to, to a team that everyone is watching, and they can no longer win by surprise, what do they rely on to defeat their opponents? What do they rely on to win a game? This is one point! "

"Another point is their psychology, because they have defeated many strong opponents along the way, which makes the dark horse team full of confidence before every game, even over-inflated confidence, so once they arrive at the game Once they find out that the game is not going as they imagined, they get completely panicked.”

"So, if you look at all the dark horse teams, those who have gone dark to the end have basically dealt with these two problems very well, and almost all the teams that have competed with the dark horse teams and won have also dealt with them very well. The battle situation is arranged around these two points.”

Ye Qiu nodded heavily, "I understand, Bobby, the first team should have used this method to defeat Fortuna Sittard last year, right?"

Bobby Harms laughed and did not deny, "I have always felt that firing Olsen was a very stupid decision. He did a good job here, but his performance plummeted in the second season. He cannot take all the responsibility." Put it on the head coach.”

"No matter what, thank you, Bobby!" Ye Qiu saw Huang Chu waving, obviously she was done.

Bobby Harms also turned around and saw Huang Chu, who was smiling like a flower. He was also very knowledgeable and said, "I wish you good luck!"

Ye Qiu smiled and patted Bobby Harms' chubby shoulder, then walked out with Huang Chu.

In recent summer, the temperature has begun to warm up.

Ye Qiu accompanied Huang Chu as they walked westward quietly from Detokmost. Only when vehicles passed by would they break the tranquility in their hearts.

"Bobby is really an amazing person!" As Ye Qiu walked, he thought of the conversation he had just had with Bobby Harms. It really benefited him a lot, especially when he thought about this conversation with Heerenveen. He understood how difficult the game was.

"So, everyone in Detok Mostli worships him like a treasure!" Huang Chu said with a smile.

"Does this count as... having an old man in the family is like having a treasure?" Ye Qiu chuckled, "However, our treasure is too fat!"

Huang Chu couldn't stop giggling, "Be careful if Bobby hears it and rips your mouth off."

"If you dare to tell the truth, I will shut your mouth first!" Ye Qiu also threatened.

Huang Chu was speechless at these words, and his pink face was burning hot. He must have thought wrongly.

But the lights were dim so no one could see.

Feelings are a strange thing.

Just like Ye Qiu and Huang Chu, maybe they both have some strange feelings for each other in their hearts, and they are guessing each other's psychology, but they dare not say it directly. They can only rely on some ambiguities in their daily lives. The ambiguity teases and stimulates the other person.

No one is willing to take the initiative to break this situation, because no one is willing to bear the painful consequences that if they guess wrong, they may not even be friends, so they can only continue to maintain the status quo and continue to wait for who knows what day. to change the situation.

Perhaps, this is cowardice in the eyes of many people, but is it really cowardice?

When you really, really care about someone, are you willing to take risks and bear the consequences?

For Ye Qiu, his first love may not be brave, but it is sweet and enjoyable because he can accompany Huang Chu on this three-kilometer road home every day.

For Huang Chu, her first love was also very romantic, because she liked to walk home like this, with this warm feeling of being protected, cared for, and accompanied by others.

It may be silly and stupid, but they enjoy it.

"Ah Chu!" Ye Qiu suddenly spoke as he was approaching the door of his home.

"Huh?" Huang Chu looked at Ye Qiu, his beautiful eyes shining brightly under the light.

"If I lose the game, you will be my female companion, okay?" Ye Qiu looked at her and asked.

Huang Chu blushed, but asked, "Why do you have to lose..."

"Hehe, in this case, I think I can at least win something!" Ye Qiu smiled.

Huang Chu glared at him angrily, "I refuse!"

"Ah?" Ye Qiu was stunned.

"I said, I refuse!" Huang Chu said it firmly, word by word, and walked straight forward.

Ye Qiu was standing there stupidly, wondering if his words had made Huang Chu angry?

Thinking about it, it really seemed like he was looking for a substitute, and anyone would be angry.

"But..." Huang Chu, who was walking in front, suddenly stopped, looked back and smiled, "If you win, I will be your female companion, but it's a deal, just this once!" After saying that, she ran home like a fly.