April 6 is the day of the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals.
Ajax's 51,000-seat Johan Cruyff Arena was almost full.
The original name of this stadium was the Amsterdam Athletic Stadium, but on April 25, 2017, the day of Cruyff's 70th birthday, the stadium was renamed the Johan Cruyff Arena.
This is in memory of the legendary Dutch star who died last year and was born in Amsterdam, where he became one of the best players in the history of world football.
Today, countless Ajax fans are here. In addition to supporting their home team, they also have another purpose, and that is to welcome their children home!
Onana, Westerman, De Jong, De Ligt...
They all left Ajax to join York City!
Except for Westerman, who is older and at the end of his career, the other three are all young talents from Ajax, and De Ligt is a product of his own youth academy.
But due to financial difficulties in the first two years, the club had to sell them all in exchange for cash.
Now, they have all played at their own level in York City and have been selected for their respective national teams. This also makes Ajax fans feel as if their children have grown up but have already adopted someone else's surname.
Who makes Ajax's current performance not so good?
Last season, they finally made it to the Champions League, but were eliminated in the qualifying stage. In the end, they could only participate in the Europa League qualifiers. Fortunately, they finally made it to the group stage and have played until now.
In the Eredivisie, the arch-rival PSV Eindhoven has always been on top of itself, and this season the championship is about to be handed over to someone else.
The more this happens, the more Ajax fans will wonder, what will happen to the team if players like De Jong and De Ligt are still in the team?
But the club sold them!
Then they played in York City and made waves. In contrast, the fans will of course be a little unhappy.
It can be said that their current support for De Jong is a manifestation of their dissatisfaction with the current situation of the club!
As a result, when the players were warming up before the game, these former Ajax players became the most popular players on the court.
Those Ajax fans wearing red and white jerseys kept shouting the names of De Jong, De Ligt, Onana and others, which also moved these York City players.
Especially De Ligt, a real son of his own, waved to the fans in the stands several times, which also attracted bursts of cheers in response.
De Jong, a midfielder who is both offensive and defensive, good at dispatching and advancing with the ball, is considered by Ajax fans to be the most lacking in the current team, so many people also miss him.
And he was sold because he couldn't play football at Ajax!
Dutch TV stations also specially gave De Jong repeated shots during the live broadcast to observe his expression.
However, De Jong did not show any special emotions. He still warmed up meticulously, as if to say:
I am happy here and don’t miss Shu!
——
"We can see that De Ligt, De Jong and others are now very popular in the Netherlands and Ajax!" Lineker said with a smile in the Sky Sports live broadcast room.
Now Lineker spends his working hours following Pan Yi.
No, I just went to broadcast the match between Italy and England, and now I am here to commentate on the match between York City and Ajax.
Speaking of De Ligt, De Jong and others, York City has undoubtedly made a very good deal on them.
Although at the time, it seemed that such a young player would cost Pan Yi millions or tens of millions of euros, which did not seem to be a good deal. Even more people would think that Ajax took advantage.
But after only one or two seasons, they were all selected for the national team, and their worth in the German transfer market has reached 40 to 50 million euros. This has undoubtedly made York City a huge profit.
"How can I put it, Pan Yi really has no choice." Alan Shearer, who was sitting next to Lineker, smiled. "I can even suggest that each club manages the transfer, as long as Pan Yi comes to them If you buy someone, you should pay attention, that person may be a potential stock!"
"Haha..." Lineker laughed, "But you are not absolutely sure. You can't tell whether this potential star became a star because of Pan Yi's guidance, or whether he could have taken root and flourished by staying in the original team. ...If the club listens to your words and doesn't sell out, and ends up losing money, will you pay compensation to you?"
"Uh." Shearer was stunned for a moment, then nodded, "Okay, I did ignore this. Some players did not develop well after leaving Pan Yi... The more typical one is De Sciglio, who was in He played so well at such a young age in Milan, but later became mediocre. Only recently when he entered the Italian national team and returned to Pan Yi's command did people see what he was like back then."
"Yeah. You have to admire Pan Yi for this. He is very successful in running and managing the team." Lineker sighed, "Not to mention that York City has become the Premier League under his hands. Look at the team, look at coach Scaloni, look at the players Tonali, including today’s focus De Jong and De Ligt, these were all discovered by him when they were still unknown.”
"He is even successful in business. I heard that York City Club has planned a large area around the new home ground. It will become the largest business district in York County, and major companies are vying to move in. As you can imagine, This will bring a lot of benefits to York City, and even local residents will be enriched by this."
Lineker smiled and nodded: "This is a business matter, I don't know much about it. But I think Pan Yi undoubtedly has a high personality charm in this regard, and he gives his subordinates enough space to display their talents. And I remember that AC Milan’s new chairman Li Yonghong went to York City to learn from the experience, and when he went back to be interviewed by the media, he said that York City has a lot for him to learn from.”
"Well, actually I don't know much about business. Maybe Pan Yi is such a genius. Not only does he know football well, but he is also proficient in its expanded aspects." Shearer shook his head and said, "Let's keep our eyes on Let’s move on to today’s game.”
At this time, the screen switched to the player tunnel of the Johan Cruyff Arena, and you could see players from both sides of the game preparing to take the field.
It can also be seen in the camera that the players on both sides are also greeting each other, especially Onana, De Ligt and De Jong, who are starting today. Old teammates who are familiar with Ajax are hugging each other. It seems that Quite friendly.
"This is the first time in the history of York City that they have participated in a European competition and then entered the Europa League quarter-finals... If they cross Ajax, they will enter the semi-finals. They are creating a unique and magical history!" Alan Shearer laughed.
"Their existence itself is a legend, Alan!" Lineker reminded with a smile, "The current results in the quarter-finals of the Europa League are already the best results for a second-tier league team in the European war!"
It is difficult for teams in the minor leagues to enter the Europa League or the Champions League through the qualifying rounds, let alone the secondary league teams in the minor leagues.
Even in the five major leagues, such situations are rare.
After all, if you want to participate in the European war as a second-tier league team, you have to win the national cup championship, which is an extremely difficult thing in itself.
And once such consecutive upsets happen, it will be difficult for the sub-league teams to fight on multiple fronts due to their own financial and ability problems, and it will be even harder to make further progress in the European war.
There are few such examples, but there are some.
One of them was the 2008-09 season, when Guingamp was still competing in the French second division.
Guingamp, the dark horse, made it all the way to the final, where they defeated Rennes 2-1 to win the French Cup and qualify for the 2009-10 Europa League.
However, it is a pity that Guingamp ended up in the fourth qualifying round of the Europa League that season, that is, they did not even advance to the group stage of the main match.
Another example is England. Slightly different from Guingamp, Wigan Athletic was originally a Premier League team, but in the 37th round of the 2012-2013 Premier League season, Wigan Athletic lost to Arsenal 1:4, one round ahead of schedule. Downgrade.
That season, Wigan Athletic defeated Manchester City and won the English FA Cup. This meant that in the 2013-2014 season, Wigan Athletic, who was in the English second-tier English League Championship, could participate in the Europa League as the FA Cup champion. cup.
They did not need to participate in the qualifying rounds and directly played in the group stage, but what was the result?
In a group composed of not-so-strong teams such as Rubin Kazan, Maribor, and Will County, Wigan Athletic was eliminated at the bottom of the group, with a score of 1 win, 2 draws, and 3 losses.
This shows how surprising it is that York City can achieve such results today!
"York City's results are of course inseparable from Pan Yi's recruitment. Look at their starting lineup today, Scaloni can be said to have done his best!"
Looking at the list printed on the TV screen, Lineker began to introduce the lineups of both sides:
"The starting lineups of both sides in this game are not too surprising. York City's starting goalkeeper is Onana. This Cameroon team's newly promoted international player has shown strong strength in the English Championship and is known as representing the modern goalkeeper. The trend of development is that he is particularly good at his feet. The right back is Militao, who is also York City’s main right winger this season!”
"The two central defenders are Bastoni and De Ligt. Bastoni performed well in the friendly match between Italy and England that just passed and scored his first goal for the national team. And De Ligt is Aja He is a product of the youth training of FC and is now a member of the Dutch national team.”
"The left back is Canadian teenager Alphonso Davis. Pan Yi went to North America to find him. He quickly integrated into the team after coming to York City. Today there are still three midfielders, Rice, De Jong, Tonali, these are three players with very good skills."
"York City's frontcourt trio is praised by fans as the Magic Trident, which refers to the tacit understanding of the frontcourt trio and their strong personal abilities. They are right winger Kulusevski , left winger Leo, powerful center Baker!"
"Looking at their substitute list again, Amon, Lin Liangming, Varela, Scamacca, Fuan Jianyang, Di Marco... there are even three Italian internationals who did not play! And these three internationals are in Italy. They also performed well in the big win over England."
"It can be said that Scaloni really has troubles with happiness. He has to think about how to arrange his lineup every day. This is also Pan Yi's fault. Who asked this boss to get him so many outstanding players, haha …”
Lineker said, unable to help but laugh himself.
"Of course, for this game Scaloni should have fielded the strongest lineup of players that he thinks are in the best condition and can best cope with today's game, and Ajax must have conducted in-depth research on York City. How to contain York City's trident and how to break through York City's defense is the biggest problem facing Ajax."
Alan Shearer had to agree with Lineker, "York City's frontcourt players have the combination of skills, speed, height, and intensity of confrontation, which allows them to always be able to defeat any strong opponent they face. Showing strong offensive power. Especially in this game, Scaloni specially arranged two technical players, De Jong and Tonali, behind them, obviously to maximize the team's offensive ability. "
"Of course, this also has certain risks. After all, behind them, only Rice is responsible for the defense of the midfield. In terms of protecting the defense, it cannot play the same role as the double midfielder formation. But I think the reason why Scaloni The appointment of De Jong instead of Varela must be to take advantage of his familiarity with Ajax's football style and control the game from the beginning."
"York City players are very skilled, especially their fast-paced passing and one-touch style on the court. This will obviously increase the viewing angle of the game, so I am looking forward to this game!"
——
Ten Hag sat on the coach's bench, pressing his temples with his hands and looking straight at the court.
Among the blond and black-haired assistant coaches and bench players around him, his shiny bald head stood out particularly brightly.
It actually only took two or three months for him to become the head coach of Ajax.
Ajax couldn't be said to have played particularly poorly in the first half of the season, but they were always underperformed by PSV and always ranked second.
If it were other teams, second place would be good, but not for Ajax.
As the number one football club in the Netherlands, Ajax's goal in the league is always to be number one and the championship!
Therefore, during the winter break, Ajax terminated the original head coach Peter Botts and invited Ten Hag.
Ten Hag also coached in the Eredivisie before, and his Utrecht ranked firmly in the top six. Such results also attracted the attention of Ajax's top brass.
However, after taking over, Ten Hag also found that the work of a wealthy team is still difficult.
He led the team to catch up slowly, but still could not catch up with PSV.
After 29 rounds of the league, with only five rounds left to end, Ajax is still 7 points behind PSV, and this season's championship seems to be falling by the wayside again.
Considering that Ten Hag took over midway, Ajax may give him more time, but Ten Hag also urgently needs more wins to prove himself.
The Europa League is the most important of them.
If they can win the Europa League and then directly enter next season's Champions League group stage - or even as a seeded team - then the coaching position will definitely be much more secure.
What's more, today's opponent is York City, one of the most popular teams in European football recently, and its boss is Pan Yi, the world's number one coach!
When Ajax fans generally believe that the players sold by the team have performed well in York City, if they can overcome the York City hurdle, it will undoubtedly greatly increase Ten Hag's reputation in the hearts of Ajax fans. .
Although he won't be called "Teng Sheng", at least he won't be called "Teng Hi" and asked to "make room" early on.
As for Ten Hahe, in fact, he barely played against Pan Yi a few years ago.
Pan Yi was still in Hamburg at that time, and Ten Hag was in Bayern Munich's second team, helping the then head coach Guardiola.
However, Pan Yi led Hamburg, which was far inferior to Bayern, to victory.
Today, Ten Hag's Ajax is theoretically stronger than York City. It depends on how he finds a way to defeat this team that was almost built by Pan Yi.
But "theory" is still "theory" after all.
Indeed, being second in the Eredivisie cannot be worse than first in the English Championship, right?
The question is, judging from the first 20 minutes of the game, do you call this fucking Championship team? ? ?
Today, Scaloni seemed to be here to "show off his skills". The three midfielders composed of De Jong, Tonali and Rice actually played a ball-control tactic in front of Ajax.
They methodically controlled the ball in the midfield, making it difficult for Ajax players to win the ball.
Today Ajax also uses a 4-3-3 formation. The midfielder against York City is Van de Beek + Schone + Ziyech. Logically speaking, the configuration is not bad.
Van de Beek performed well after being promoted to the Ajax first team in 2016. The Dutch national team is already preparing to recruit him to the team. Schone is a Danish international, while Ziyech is a Moroccan international.
But since the start of the first half, York City has had a lot of opportunities, but Ajax has been completely led away and cannot control the rhythm at all.
Opposing players, especially De Jong, the former Ajax player who returned to the Cruyff Arena, showed a strong ability to control the tempo on the court.
Passing, passing the ball, running, intercepting... he can do everything. He seemed to be telling the other person constantly that he shouldn't have sold me in the first place!
Ten Hag had a sullen face. He felt that the players were a little anxious on the court, which worried him.
Therefore, he frequently came to the sidelines during this period, indicating that his players should be more stable and try not to cross the line with their movements.
But it can be seen that the effect is not very ideal.
——
Different from the peak Barcelona team that played pass and control to the extreme, York City's style of play will be faster and more concise, and it will also pay more attention to physical confrontation.
Of course, this is first of all related to the difference in personal ability. After all, even if you look at the entire football history, it is very difficult to find a combination like MSN + Habaib.
The second is that whether Pan Yi is in York City or Italy, he instills more of an efficiency-first philosophy instead of being obsessed with passing and controlling, which affects the speed of the offense.
In addition, the current group of York City players, such as Rice and Tonali, are not afraid of physical confrontation and are willing to actively fight, so increasing the intensity and controlling the rhythm is also a very suitable tactic.
In such a system, Tonali and De Jong will be more offensive-oriented, and when the team is in possession of the ball, they will more often give the ball to De Jong.
After all, compared to Tonali, De Jong has a higher passing success rate and a better ability to read the game. He is a rare player with an overall play strategy.
In fact, De Jong also performed very well after the opening. He is the core of the team's offense today. At the same time, his teammates also trust him. He is the team's most stable ball point.
Ajax obviously saw this too.
Ten Hag wanted to arrange players to keep an eye on De Jong, but he still couldn't restrict him.
It can often be seen on the court that two players surround De Jong, but the latter can always find a suitable point for the ball in the surroundings, either Rice, Tonali and Militao advancing forward, or behind him. De Ligt.
When all the players are running, Ajax cannot restrain De Jong at all, unless they are willing to station a heavy force nearby and cut off the connections around De Jong with his teammates.
But York City's frontcourt is stacked with many players with superb personal abilities, and Ajax will definitely not dare to leave these players alone.
This is tantamount to an unsolvable problem. If you want to restrict De Jong, you must weaken the defense of the front trident. If you want to strengthen the defense of the trident, you cannot restrict De Jong, including Tonali.
Ten Hahe felt a headache and was in a dilemma.
He knows very well that there is no absolutely perfect tactic in this world. There must be a way to restrain York City's style of play, but unfortunately, he can't find it yet.
Where I am now, I can only watch my team being led by the opponent.
And Ten Hag can clearly feel that the players on the field are becoming more and more impatient.
Although the psychological quality of professional players is generally good, once the team is in trouble, the players' mood will naturally be affected.
Then such emotional fluctuations will also affect the players' performance on the court.
In the 35th minute, De Jong received De Ligt's header to clear the ball, and used his body to lean lightly on the opponent's defensive player. After receiving the ball, he played a beautiful one-two with Rice, and suddenly passed through near the half-court. .
York City center Baker used his body to lean on Ajax center back Walpole behind him, and the opponent was pressing against him.
When Baker looked up, he found that the two wings and the nearby Tonali were still some distance away from him, so he tilted his body, stopped the ball with his chest, and flicked the ball with his right foot.
As the ball passed Walpole's left, he turned deftly and passed Walpole's right.
The man passed the ball, accelerated, caught the ball, and entered the penalty area in one move, forming a one-man goal!
Ajax's Dutch goalkeeper Cillessen rushed to attack, but Baker quickly completed the shot.
The ball flew directly past Cillessen and rolled into the net.
0:1, York City takes the lead in the away game!
"It's so beautiful, it's Baker again! In the 35th minute of the first half, he made a beautiful turn. The opponent's center back couldn't handle him at all. He could only watch helplessly as he broke into the penalty area, formed a single shot, and scored! ” exclaimed Alan Shearer.
Lineker on the side also looked very excited: "We can see from the slow motion that the moment Baker stopped the ball, his head was raised, obviously observing his teammates. After making sure that no one was When the response came, he chose to go it alone. Then let's see, the moment he shot alone, he was very calm and composed!"
Alan Shearer shook his head: "Looking at it now, Southgate should recruit Baker to the England national team. Doesn't the national team lack such a powerful center now?"
"But, Alan, you know? When Baker first arrived at York City, he actually didn't know anything except heading the ball, and his skills were very rough." Lineker laughed, "Don't say he is as extraordinary as he is today. Even if I shoot with my feet, the hit rate is extremely poor! But look at the goal just now, tsk tsk, can you tell that this is something that a big man nearly two meters tall can do?"
Alan Shearer was a little surprised, "In this way, Baker has made rapid progress in recent years! This reminds me of our former tall shooter Crouch. He is more than two meters tall but can kick the golden hook upside down and the Marseille spinner." …”
"That's right." Lineker praised, and then turned on Pan Yi mode again:
"After Pan Yi became the boss of York City, this team is really amazing."
"I have watched a player like Baker once or twice before when he was in League Two. I just think his talent is average. At most, he is a pure header who can gain a foothold in the second and third tier leagues."
"But looking at it now, I feel that his achievements may be able to surpass Crouch..."
