The Godfather of Football

I still remember that once, when playing for Ajax, Yaya Toure met Bobby Hames, an old man who had worked for Ajax long before he was born, or even before his father was born.

At that time, he practiced on the court, which was a habit he had always developed, because he came from a neighborhood in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, where there was brutal competition and cruel survival of the fittest, so he had to work harder than others to ensure that he would stand out one day.

Bobby Hames asked him what he thought was the greatest luck for a player?

Yaya Toure said a lot, such as staying away from injuries, extraordinary talents, and omnipotent skills, but these were denied by Bobby Hames. He said that the greatest luck for a professional player, especially a professional player who wants to play in the top European leagues, is to meet a head coach who understands him and trusts him!

At first, Yaya Toure didn't understand it very well, but then he thought about it himself, and slowly thought about it, and he understood it.

Long before he came to Ajax, he played for Abidjan Mimosa in his home country, Cote d'Ivoire. It was a team founded by colonists and later taken over by a Frenchman named Marc Guillou. He was a good friend of Arsenal coach Wenger and was said to be a former professional player. He was responsible for scouting talents for some European teams in Cote d'Ivoire.

Although compared with the hardware facilities of some European teams, the hardware of Abidjan Mimosa can be described as extremely simple, but it is the most luxurious in Africa, especially in Cote d'Ivoire, so it has attracted quite a number of young players who are determined to play professional football in Europe.

Perhaps, during the time in Abidjan Mimosa, the Yaya Touré brothers came into contact with more formal professional football, but more importantly, they learned the cruelty of professional football here, which is a kind of emotionless, cold cruelty. It even doesn't treat you as a person at all, but as an object.

In the year he joined Ajax, Marc Guillou bought Beveren in Belgium, a Belgian First Division team that had fallen into financial crisis. With the support of Wenger and Arsenal, Marc Guillou bought shares of the team, and then sent players from Abidjan Mimosa to Belgium to play football, and then sold them after they became famous, earning a huge difference.

Yaya Toure was one of the players that Marc Guillou was optimistic about, and he himself did not object to it, because he heard from some compatriots who played in Beveren that playing there would give them the opportunity to play in other European leagues, and they could get a salary of about 300 euros every week.

For the young Ivorian guys who were only 16 or 17 years old at the time, it was simply a sky-high fortune, so they would not resist it at all. On the contrary, they all rushed to catch the bus to Belgium, hoping to make a name for themselves in Beveren.

At that time, young people all had idols. Some worshipped Zidane, some worshipped Ronaldo, and some worshipped Vieira.

When Yaya Toure was young, his face was small and thin. No one would say that he looked like Vieira like they do now, but when he played in midfield, he told himself in his heart that Vieira, who was also a player of African descent and was in the limelight in the Premier League, was his goal.

But another thing happened at that time, which completely destroyed his goal, that is, Ajax got him.

For Yaya Toure, Ajax is a European giant. He never dared to imagine that he could play for a giant team. He never even dared to think that his first salary after coming to Europe would be several times higher than the 300 euros weekly salary he had dreamed of in the past.

He came to Ajax, met Ye Qiu, met Bobby Hams, and met many people. They tested his body for him and dealt with some injuries left in his body in the past. They helped him tailor a set of physical training to make him have more muscles and become stronger and more powerful.

They found a house for him and his brother, arranged part-time workers, arranged tutors for them, and provided them with a complete education and football training program, but they were also very strict. When the brothers, like other African players, liked to hide in the dormitory and eat some junk food secretly, they would give the most severe punishment, but never fine them, but punish them with other things.

Because they all knew that a lot of the money the brothers earned had to be sent back to their families in Cote d'Ivoire, which was an important source of income to help them improve their family environment, so they didn't fine them.

The Yaya Toure brothers knew very well that all this was because of one person.

Ye Qiu, the head coach of Ajax, said when they joined that one day, the two brothers would be able to become the best players in Europe. When they communicated privately, he did not hide his admiration for Yaya Toure and told him that he should take Vieira, Davis and others as his goals and learning objects.

His brother Kolo Toure, who left Ajax early and joined Arsenal in the Premier League and made a name for himself, has seen more of the world and experienced more, but he always tells Yaya Toure that Ye Qiu is one of the few head coaches he has ever seen who truly cares about the players and really wants to help them.

In the past few years, Yaya Toure has experienced a lot and gained a lot of experience, especially after coming to Ajax and Tottenham Hotspur, he has seen more cruelty of professional football, experienced more, and learned more.

He is very clear about his personality. On the surface, he looks introverted, but in fact, he is very eager to be valued in his heart. This has something to do with the fact that he has an older brother and a younger brother, because it is the same as the personality of the middle one among all three brothers or sisters. He is neither high nor low, and has not been valued since childhood. He desperately wants to perform and attract the attention of his parents.

This is the same reason, so his personality continues on the court. He likes to be in the limelight!

But gradually, he also found that his personality has become the biggest obstacle between himself and the respected Ye Qiu.

Ye Qiu once explained in the internal meeting of the team, what is team and system?

He feels that the biggest role of team and system is not tactics, but psychology. With the existence of team and system, all people who play in this team and system are more likely to play at a higher level. The reason is that the people around you in the team and system make you more assured and trustworthy.

But the problem is, if one of them destroys this trust and this atmosphere, then the team and the system will no longer exist.

When Yaya Toure heard Ye Qiu yelling at him on the sidelines, either stand still or sell him, he clearly realized that things had become so serious that he had to make a choice.

When Ye Qiu sold Mascherano, he told him that he believed he could take on Mascherano's responsibilities well, but it was obvious that he was still the same as before, not taking these things too seriously. He still played according to his own temperament. He completely lacked the sense of responsibility for the team that the main midfielder should have.

Ye Qiu told him many times that he saw the representative elements of modern football midfielders in him. He has the outstanding speed and explosiveness of Africans, but he is not lacking in agility. He has the physical fitness of an electric motor that will not get tired, and he can cover a large area excellently.

He is strong, has excellent strength, and has long arms and legs, but is very flexible, which gives him a great advantage in defense. His physique is the benchmark for defensive midfielders, and he can defend both high and ground balls. He has very delicate footwork, which ensures that after he grabs the ball, it is difficult for the opponent to steal the ball from his feet. Moreover, his ability to pass the ball is excellent, and his ability to advance directly with the ball is also quite strong. He also has long-range shooting ability, which makes him a top-notch, almost perfect modern defensive midfielder.

But Ye Qiu also said that his biggest problem is that he has countless coveted strengths and talents, but he is not willing to spend any time on it. He has never been willing to figure out what a defensive midfielder should and should not do. His grasp of timing and situation is still casual and immature.

All of this is because he lacks the will to play as a defensive midfielder. He always behaves casually and has no discipline. He doesn't know how to keep in touch and distance with the back line at any time. He always makes the distance between himself and the central defender exceed ten meters, or even more than twenty meters. As long as it exceeds ten meters, it is a loophole. If it exceeds twenty meters, even gods can't save it.

Suddenly, he stood on the court and he felt scared.

He felt that Ye Qiu had full trust in him and understood him, but he was very scared. He didn't know whether Ye Qiu shouted at him like this to stimulate him, threaten him, and make him improve? Or has he really completely lost the minimum trust in him?

As many people in the team said, he and his teammates were satisfied that they could play under Ye Qiu, because in their opinion, Ye Qiu was one of the few coaches in today's football world who had ideals and pursuits, and who also took good care of his players, so he began to feel scared.

What should I do?

Yaya Toure's mind flashed with what Ye Qiu had said to him and other players in the past.

"Many of you have misunderstood the level of top players. Let me tell you, a truly top player is not one who runs all the time, but one who knows when to stop and rest; a truly excellent player is not one who is fast, but one who knows when to slow down; a truly outstanding defender is not one who knows when to come back to defend, but one who knows when to go up."

"The defensive midfielder who knows when to go in is the top defensive midfielder and the most perfect defensive midfielder. If you can't learn it, then just be a defensive midfielder who does his duty and don't go in!"

As a professional player, Yaya Toure clearly realized that Ye Qiu's simple words actually told the true meaning of professional players, and also made many people realize why some people are the top superstars, while others can't even keep their professional contracts.

It's easy to run, but it's very difficult to rest; it's easy to be fast, but it's very difficult to be slow; it's very easy to stay behind to defend, but it's very difficult to go in!

"Yaya, the ball is here, what the hell are you daydreaming about? Damn it!"

Thiago Silva's roar behind him startled Yaya Toure, who immediately realized that he was in a whirlpool of sound waves. Marseille was using the momentum created by the first goal to launch a fierce attack on Tottenham Hotspur.

They wanted to pass another overhead kick, but this time Ziglinski was prepared and headed the ball away.

But the ball still fell to the Marseille team. Cana passed it to Benoit Cheyrou, who dribbled forward and was disturbed by Fabregas. He passed it back to Cana again, and then Cana passed it to Ben Arfa on the right, but the latter obviously did not find an opportunity to attack, and passed it back to the midfield to Cana again.

Yaya Toure had been lurking in the backcourt. He saw Marcelo rushing towards Ben Arfa, and the two forwards in the frontcourt did not have time to pull the side to respond. Unless Ben Arfa chose to break through Marcelo personally, otherwise, he would definitely pass it back to the middle to Cana.

The Ivorian was a little surprised at his analytical ability, because he found that if he carefully observed the game situation, the running of his teammates, and the opponent's offensive route map, he did not find it difficult at all. He could easily judge the opponent's possible ball route because he had a heart to be an offensive player.

After he made a prediction, he quietly approached Cana, but he remained calm. Instead, he secretly calculated the distance between himself and Cana, as well as his speed. When Ben Arfa passed the ball back to Cana, Yaya Toure suddenly rushed out from his ambush like a cheetah.

The Ivorian had long legs and took advantage of the ball. He got ahead of Cana and poked the ball forward. Then he bypassed Cana and quickly chased after him, forming a counterattack.

"Good!!!" All the coaches on the sidelines cheered for Yaya Toure's interception.

Ye Qiu also felt that the prediction of this interception was very good, but he was worried that Yaya Toure pressed too high. If the attack failed, the opponent would counterattack again and face the defense line directly.

But just when he was about to walk to the sidelines and yell, he saw Yaya Toure pass the ball to David Silva, and then slowed down. Obviously, he was not going to attack, but he was not going to retreat. This was a smart decision.

David Silva took two steps forward and passed it to Gareth Bale who was pulled to the left side of the penalty area. After the Welshman got the ball on the left, he saw Messi on the right raising his hand to ask for it, and he directly kicked a high ball and landed on the right side of the front of the penalty area.

Messi stopped the ball with his chest, and the ball seemed to stick to his feet after landing. Facing Taiwo who ran over to block him from entering the penalty area, he took two steps horizontally to the middle and shot directly with his left foot.

This shot made a beautiful arc ball. Although the goalkeeper Mandanda had made very good preparations, he was still fooled by this arc ball. He didn't expect that Messi would actually shoot directly from 20 meters away from the goal, and the ball was still with strong rotation and arc.

Watching the ball go into the upper right corner, it was almost a blind spot for Mandanda, and he was powerless!

Messi rushed out of the court excitedly, waving his arms all the way, clenching his fists, punching the fans in the stands, turning around, shouting excitedly to his teammates behind him, opening his arms, and hugging and celebrating with his teammates who rushed over.

"A counterattack from Tottenham Hotspur. Less than ten minutes after Marseille scored, Tottenham Hotspur quickly equalized the score. It was a beautiful long shot from Leo Messi. Mandanda was powerless to this shot!"

After Tottenham Hotspur scored, the situation was completely reversed.

Marseille, which had been attacking vigorously before, was completely beaten down by Tottenham Hotspur.

They were not strong enough to attack after scoring the first goal, but they showed their true colors as soon as Tottenham Hotspur counterattacked, especially after the team was tied, they completely lost the confidence to counterattack.

On the contrary, Tottenham Hotspur's offensive momentum became stronger and stronger, and the players' confidence was also growing. They almost kept beating Marseille all the way, and the home team was somewhat defeated.

In the 42nd minute of the first half, Marseille pressed forward and made a long pass to Tottenham Hotspur's back line, but the ball was firmly controlled by Zielinski and passed to Thiago Silva after being pressed.

The captain of Tottenham Hotspur saw an opportunity, especially Van Persie in front was already in ambush, and immediately made a super long pass from the front of his own penalty area, crossing most of the field and landing in front of the opponent's penalty area.

Van Persie had been lying in ambush behind the opponent's central defender, rushing forward quickly, rushing to the front of the penalty area, and when the ball bounced off the ground, he chested the ball into the penalty area, and quickly followed.

Central defender Zubar followed Van Persie, but he didn't dare to move, after all, he had entered the penalty area, and Van Persie's ability to connect with the ball was excellent, so if he didn't give him a chance to kick, it would be a penalty.

Van Persie was very smart. After entering the penalty area, he dribbled the ball sideways, facing the goal and Zubar, stopped, and made a series of fake moves with his feet, tricking Zubar into kicking, and then suddenly dribbled the ball to the bottom line, and quickly chased after it, with a direct pass-like shot, looking for the back point.

Behind him, Messi quickly rushed up from the right, shook off the entanglement of Taiwo and other defensive players, and at the back point of the goal, he easily used his right foot to send Van Persie's pass into the bottom of the goal net, 2:1!

The two consecutive shots made all the Tottenham players cheer wildly and rushed to the front to celebrate with Messi. This was his first official game this season, and his double goal also helped Tottenham Hotspur reverse Marseille away from home!