The Godfather of Greenery

Chapter 119
The nature of the Cruyff Cup in the Netherlands is very similar to that of other countries' Super Cups. It is usually scheduled to start a week before the first round of the league. This can also be regarded as a warm-up and foreshadowing for the league.

When Ajax bloodbathed Eindhoven 4-0 at the Arena, when Gretz began to suffer a crisis of confidence, and the whole Netherlands began to hype that he would be fired by the club management because of this fiasco, Holland The League One ignited the flames of war.

Unlike the previous Asian football media who paid attention to the Eredivisie this season because Feyenoord brought in Japanese international Shinji Ono, the Asian media is now focusing on the young Chinese coach standing in front of the coaching bench of the home team at the Arena. .

As a result, this team performed very well in this round of competition.

Ajax hosted Roda JC at home, and Ye Qiu started preparing for this game after playing the Super Cup.

Goalkeeper Van der Sar, the defense is Abidal, Kivu, Lucio and Maicon, the three midfielders are Keita, Gilberto Silva and Sneijder, the trident is Robben, Ibrahimovic Rahimovic and van der Vaart.

This is Ye Qiu's main lineup for this game, and it is also the team's first league game of the new season.

Ajax's offense now gives people the feeling of rampage. This team is very young, full of vigor, and also very confident. In addition, the configuration of players is very good, so Ajax always likes to play in that kind of team. In a fast-paced state, launch a round of devastating offensive.

It's like the first round of the league against Rhoda JC. From the very beginning, Ajax was like a tiger going down the mountain. They besieged Rhoda JC, who was not as strong as their own, and took the initiative to press up and put the visiting team in prison. Firmly suppressed in the half.

The ball never crossed the halfway line after Roda JC's kick-off as Ajax scored just 51 seconds into the game, an early interception, planned by Keita after the interception , Ibrahimovic retreated to make the ball, Van der Vaart obliquely inserted into the penalty area from the right to form a single-handed goal, 1:0.

Everyone was surprised by such an opening, but what surprised them even more was that this was just the beginning.

Ajax did not relax in the slightest after Roda JC kicked off again, and still maintained a strong suppression of this away team, always firmly suppressing them in the half, and then looking for opportunities.

In the 4th minute, Roda JC was really overwhelmed, and he made a long pass to the frontcourt. Lucio headed the ball to Gilberto Silva. The latter was assigned to Abidal on the left. Defender pass Robben.

One-on-one, Robben used his best way to break through the opponent's defense, ran all the way to the left side of the penalty area, cut inside, picked a pass in the middle, Ibrahimovic followed up with a push shot, and pierced Robben again. Up to JC's goal, 2:0!

Perfect start, wonderful process!

Ajax's start to the new season was almost impeccable. Rhoda JC was limited by his strength and could not pose the slightest threat to the precarious Ajax, especially after the opening, he was stunned by this sudden stick Yes, I didn't think of making adjustments until I was scored two goals in a row.

Once adjusted, Ajax adjusted accordingly, slowing down the rhythm.

This slowness directly kept the 2:0 until the end of the first half.

But in the second half, Ajax took advantage of their kick-off and launched a fierce attack on Rhoda JC, and scored three goals in the 51st, 64th and 68th minutes respectively. The Arena completed a 5-0 rout of Rhoda JC.

This feast of goals made all the fans in the Arenal Stadium completely crazy. At the same time, it also made Ajax the leader of the Eredivisie League after the first round of the league. This is Ye Qiu's first time. The position of the leader of the Eredivisie.

In the same round, Eindhoven drew 2:2 away from Groningen, and Feyenoord drew 1:1 at home in the derby and drew with Sparta Rotterdam, which led to a 5:0 victory for Ajax. Shengao ranks first in the league.

Three days later, because Ajax was going to participate in the UEFA Super Cup match against Bayern Munich, the second round of the league was brought forward.

In order to prepare for the match against Bayern Munich, and because the first round of the league had only been played three days ago, Ye Qiu made certain adjustments to the lineup for this match.

The goalkeeper is still Van der Sar, the defense is Abidal, Lucio, Kolo Touré and Heitinga, the three midfielders are Keita, Gilberto Silva and Yaya Touré, the three forks The halberds are Hleb, Huntelaar and Van der Meyde.

Ajax's large rotation has affected the team's combat effectiveness to a certain extent. There was a problem in the away game against Heerenveen. When the game progressed to the 13th minute, Heerenveen took the lead in using Ajax A counterattack with a mistake and a goal lead.

But Ajax made adjustments, especially Ye Qiu's targeted arrangements during the game, quickly stabilized the situation, and in the 35th minute of the first half, Hleb assisted Huntelaar to equalize score.

As soon as the second half started, Ajax played another round of offensive. After receiving a pass from Hleb on the left, Van der Meyde once again overtook the score and completed a reversal.

In the end, Ajax reversed Heerenveen 2:1 away and won two consecutive victories.

In the same round, Feyenoord won Roda JC 2-0 in an away game, while Eindhoven met Den Bosch twice at home, and finally relied on Hesselink's final decision at a critical moment. 3:2 narrowly defeated the opponent.

After finishing this game, the Ajax team went to Monaco together.

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Before 1998, the European Super Cup has always been a two-round home and away game system, but since 1998, it has been changed to a single-game final system, and it is fixed in the Stade Louis II in Monaco. With the cancellation of the Cup, the participating teams have also become UEFA Cup champions and UEFA Champions Cup champions.

The teams participating in this year's UEFA Super Cup are Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich and Eredivisie giants Ajax.

Around August 8, the whole of Europe, and even the whole world, focused their attention on Monaco, but many of them did not pay attention to the Super Cup, because the European Super Cup is just a warm-up match for all teams Instead, it is the group draw ceremony of the European Champions Cup, which is what really attracts attention.

Moreover, the annual group draw ceremony will be accompanied by the awarding of European competitions in the previous season.

The draw and award ceremony were arranged to be held at the Grimaldi Convention Center in Monaco. Except for Ajax and Bayern Munich who were going to Monaco to participate in the UEFA Super Cup, the other [-] teams or by The head coach personally leads the team, or arranges for representatives of the club management to attend.

It was the first time for Ye Qiu to attend this kind of annual event, but if he had to choose, he would not be very willing to participate, because he hardly had even a single acquaintance here.

There are big names everywhere, Real Madrid has a huge delegation lineup, head coach Del Bosque, leading stars Raul, Figo, Zidane, Hierro and other stars all attended this event, and Inter Milan recently recovered from injury The comeback Ronaldo also appeared, as well as Liverpool's Owen, Arsenal's Henry and so on.

Frankly speaking, the entire venue was full of star-studded stars, but the problem was that no one took Ye Qiu seriously.

These days, football circles are full of fame. Ye Qiu has just arrived, and a UEFA Cup championship is not a big deal to this group of European teams. They pay more attention to the European Champions Cup.

Therefore, when the UEFA Cup champion Ajax team entered the field, the reaction was mediocre, but when Hitzfeld brought Effenberg, Sauer, Kahn and other Bayern famous players into the field, the audience was boiling, and many people were shocked. Go up, because Hitzfeld not only won his second Champions League, Bayern's group of stars also performed very well, especially Effenberg.

"Boss, isn't this clearly a bully? Why are they praised by so many people, while we can only be left alone?" The Swedish Ibrahimovic looked at the distant passage indignantly, all People are turning around Bayern up and down, and their hearts are seriously unbalanced, because he has a self-centered desire since he was a child.

"Because they are a wealthy family, and we are just a group of country boys who have just entered the city!" Ye Qiu was not very happy either.

It's not that he is cynical, he knows in his heart that this is a very real world, and everyone recognizes Bayern Munich because they are a giant, the biggest giant in Europe, and the team is full of stars, but what about Ajax?

Haven't landed on Mars for a long time!
These days, if you haven’t participated in the Champions League for a year, your reputation and influence will decline rapidly. If you haven’t participated in two or three years, I’m sorry, but you are ashamed to tell others that you are a wealthy family.

Just like Barcelona, ​​they participated in the UEFA Champions League, but because of their unsatisfactory performance, people now feel that Barcelona is in decline, and they can only dig people like Saviola and Riquelme, while their opponents Real Madrid. It is Figo, who is at Zidane's level, so one can imagine how big the gap is.

Barcelona is still in La Liga, but Ajax is in the Eredivisie. Everyone is like this. You can imagine how miserable Ajax is.

Ye Qiu understands that this is a reality caused by the environment, and he doesn't hate anyone, but it doesn't mean that he will willingly accept such treatment in his heart. He believes that anyone with a bit of backbone in his heart will not like such a gap .

But he will not want to leave the field, because this is the voluntary choice of others, it has nothing to do with anyone, and no one is deliberately embarrassing Ajax; Helping you increase your influence will also make others think that you are devaluing yourself.

So he chooses others to play other people's, and I play my own.

"Fuck the country boy, if you have the ability to play a game on the court, kill them!" Abidal is also very displeased with this kind of treatment, and what he dislikes the most is this group of snobs who are stalking people.

"Well said!" Ye Qiu patted Abidal on the shoulder, "It doesn't matter if people look down on us, they play theirs, we play ours, it's not easy to win the favor of those guys? When we can put the whole of Europe under our feet, they will welcome us like Bayern Munich!"

Ye Qiu's words were enough to ignite. Ajax's players are all hot-blooded men. Hearing this is a bit exciting, and they all wish to have a movie with Bayern Munich right now and hack them to death.

"If you are ambitious, remember today, remember this group of people, sooner or later we will trample them all under our feet!"

He didn't like this kind of differential treatment very much. It made him feel as if he had returned to the time when he just crossed over. Didn't the Ajax people look down on him like this at that time?Or even repel him?
Ye Qiu is not a newcomer, he won't mess around, but it doesn't mean he will be content with the status quo.

This kind of character of his, under the daily influence of his ears and eyes, has more or less infected the players of Ajax. They are all a bit similar to Ye Qiu's rebellious and reasonable rebellious spirit. The rebellion against the team, the rebellion against Eindhoven, and the rebellion against the giants such as Roma and Barcelona after reaching the first team.

Now, they are already UEFA Cup champions, but they are getting bigger and bigger, more and more vigorous, and their ambitions are getting bigger and bigger.

So when they heard Ye Qiu's words one by one, they all agreed very much in their hearts, and they all secretly thought that when they met this group of wealthy families, they must all be beaten to the ground to see how they would be. What kind of expression.

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The drawing of lots and the awarding of awards are carried out successively.

Because Ajax won No.2 in the Eredivisie, they did not need to participate in the Champions League qualifiers and directly entered the group stage.

However, due to the poor performance of Ajax in the European war in the past few years, and even the absence of the Champions League for two years, this led to Ajax's points and rankings being very low. The teams that all participated in the Champions League were ranked in the third pot, and Ajax could only fall into the fourth pot in the end.

What kind of teams are in the fourth tier?
Anderlecht, Sparta Prague, Panathinaikos, Celtic, Lille, Nantes...

It should be said that the gold content of the UEFA Champions League these years is still very high. Each of these teams is well-known in Europe, but the problem is that the fourth tier is always the fourth tier, which sounds a bit unpopular. This vote of cynics in Ajax feels very uncomfortable, and they always feel as if they have been slapped in the face.

What can Ye Qiu do at this time?

I can only suppress the fire in my heart and set a goal for my players.

"Have you looked at those first-tier giants? We just want to step on them all, turn their corpses into our stepping stones, and step on them to climb up. That feeling must be very enjoyable!"

In the end, Ajax was drawn into Group F by a draw, and it turned out to be Barcelona, ​​Lyon and Leverkusen.

Among them, Barcelona was Ajax's opponent in the UEFA Cup final last season. You must know that Barcelona this season is very different from last season. They spent a lot of money on signings. Rexach's team The improvement in strength is also very large, and as for Lyon, this team is already the top of the Ligue [-] class, and its strength is self-evident.

Although Leverkusen is in the third tier, if Ye Qiu remembers correctly, they are the kings of Sanya this season. They are runners-up in the Bundesliga, Champions League and German Cup. Although it is a tragedy, it also reflects the strength of this team combat effectiveness.

"Damn it, I'm so lucky to have drawn these three teams!" Ye Qiu gasped.

But looking around at several other groups, it is basically a duel of powerful factions. For example, Bayern Munich encountered Spartak Moscow, Feyenoord and Spartak Prague, while Juventus faced Porto, Rosenberg and Spartak. Celtic, Liverpool are Borussia Dortmund, Dynamo Kiev and Boavista.

In this year, teams like Dynamo Kiev, Boavista, and Fenerbahce are also very good, and the games are difficult to play, so the gold content of the Champions League is so high. Later, after a series of restructurings, the army was massively expanded, and some small teams were specially arranged to come in to fill up the numbers, and the gold content dropped rapidly.

In other words, Ajax's draw is not wronged. Who made them fourth?
After the lottery ceremony, the awards ceremony officially entered.

Sometimes, Ye Qiu felt that winning the Champions League actually required a lot of luck.

Just like Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich in 1999 was stronger than it is now, but that year's Bayern was reversed by Manchester United in the final, and then encountered Real Madrid, which was in turmoil after the coaching change, leading to the 2000 Champions League. It was not until this year that the Champions League was won.

But Bayern’s performance this year is actually not that good. Compared with 1999, their overall performance this year has declined, especially the main players in the team. Except for Effenberg’s outstanding performance, the others are basically all Relatively average, but last season was also the last afterglow of Effenberg.

But sometimes, this is the fate of a team.

For Bayern Munich, Ye Qiu personally admires it very much, because this team has a typical German character, that is, overall stability, they have a stable direction almost every time they form a team, and there is a very interesting thing about it. , other wealthy teams will leave more or less flaws when forming a team.

The moon is cloudy and sunny. If you want to arrange top stars in a certain position, you must arrange green leaves in other positions. This is the necessity of building a team. Therefore, Real Madrid has a strong attacking group in the front field. There is a weak defense in the backcourt, and other teams are more or less the same.

But Bayern, or these few teams in the Bundesliga, have always maintained a pragmatic team strategy, which is comprehensive.

Not blindly chasing stars, but more pragmatically pursuing powerful signings in every position. This has caused Bayern Munich's strength in recent years, but it also caused Bayern's unpopularity in some awards.

So even if they won the European Champions Cup in 2001, Bayern was defeated by all La Liga teams in the best selection of each position, and no one was shortlisted. This is the tragedy of football as a whole.

(End of this chapter)