For example, you need more strength to dribble the ball where there is water. Then, if there is no water in the next step, the football will easily escape your control. It can be said that in the first 26 minutes, both teams were basically adapting to the field and posed almost no threat. .
Ajax completed 2 shots, but neither of them hit the goal frame.
Utrecht didn't even have a shot. It can be seen that the slippery field conditions were a big test for both teams. In addition, the temperature today was only 7-9 degrees Celsius, which made it even more difficult for the players.
When the time came to the 27th minute, Dezeu passed the ball to Emmanuelson on the wing.
However, the first time the football hit the ground, it encountered a small puddle, and its speed immediately slowed down, causing Emmanuelson, who was running past, to stumble and almost fall.
Utrecht, who is good at counterattacks, will naturally not give up such an opportunity.
Midfielder No. 27 Nyholt stepped forward and decisively grabbed the football, and passed the ball off the ground to find Jacob Mulenga in the frontcourt.
Xiao Yu looked very familiar with this player, but couldn't remember where he had seen him before.
It turns out that in Xiao Yu's previous life, Jacob Mulenga had joined the Chinese Super League and played for a few years. However, Xiao Yu didn't pay much attention to the Chinese Super League in those years, and he only had an impression of it.
Jacob Mulenga, the international player from Zambia, received the ball and burst to the left wing, where there were the fewest puddles.
Apparently Utrecht had made some arrangements in advance.
"Jacob activated!"
"Anita!"
"Anita chases after you!"
"The two of them are pulling each other!"
"Anita steps down to grab the ball!"
"Jacob fell!"
"This should be called a foul!"
Beep! ~
The referee ran to the place where Jacob Mulenga fell and showed Anita the first Topaz God of War card of the game.
But Jacob Mulenga, who won the free kick in the frontcourt, smiled happily with his white teeth, regardless of the fact that his white uniform had turned into brown and black under his roll.
Because Ajax were wearing black uniforms for the away game, Jacob Mulenga, who was covered in mud after falling, was asked by the referee to leave the field and change into a new white uniform.
Sebo Paul's free kick was dropped into the penalty area and Toby Alderweireld grabbed the first point to resolve it.
In the 31st minute, another frontcourt error caused Ajax to lose the ball again.
Jacob Mulenga, who received the ball, still rushed to the left. First, he followed the established plan. Second, Ajax's right back Anita had already received a yellow card. He should not dare to use too much. The big defensive move is coming.
Sure enough, Jacob Mulenga made the right bet on Anita, but Anita just followed him all the way, forcing him to go to the sideline. He ran for more than ten meters without daring to steal the ball.
However, Anita is not the only one behind Ajax.
I saw a black figure gliding diagonally towards Jacob Mulenga.
"Alderveredel!"
"Sliding shovel!"
"nice shot!"
"Alderweireld made a sliding tackle and took away the football from Jacob's feet! The threat in the backcourt was eliminated!"
Beep! ~
The referee came over again and showed Toby Alderweireld a yellow card.
Alderweireld held his head in his hands in disbelief. He clearly knew that he had tackled the football first, so he and Anita went to explain to the referee.
De Zewu quickly ran over and pulled the two of them away.
Currently, both players have been shown yellow cards. If there is another act that the referee misunderstands as excessive, it will easily turn two yellow cards into one red and be sent off the field.
"This should be a good shot!"
"Perhaps the referee's vision is not good, and Jacob fell again and was covered in mud. The referee will also adopt some subjective ideas when making penalties."
Xiao Yu couldn't help but sigh on the sidelines, would it be better if there was VAR?
After all, he also saw Toby Alderweireld tackle the football first, but today without VAR intervention, the referee's decision cannot be changed once it takes effect.
It's just that Alderweireld was wronged.
The first half ended goalless in the mud.
Back in the locker room, Martin Jol first told his assistant Rigoberto Johansson that today's referee had some biased whistles, and asked his assistant to negotiate with the fourth official.
Then arrange for all the players on the field to take a hot bath, change into clean game clothes, and have a good rest to prepare for the second half of the game.
At the beginning of the second half, Martin Jol arranged for five players, Xiao Yu, Romedal, Soleimani, Donald and Blind, to warm up. The temperature was too low and he did not want any players to get injured.
As for why five people are arranged to warm up at one time, it is not to create doubts. After all, anyone who has watched the game knows that there are only three substitutions.
The good news is that the rain has stopped and the Utrecht stadium was drained again during the halftime break. The condition of the field will be better than that in the first half. Of course, this is the same for both sides.
In the 46th minute, Utrecht received a free kick in the frontcourt.
Five people from the Ajax backcourt gathered around the referee and explained that Mertens' fall just now had nothing to do with Emmanuelson. He slipped and fell. Emmanuelson was even half a meter away from him. How far?
However, the referee insisted on his decision and warned that if he continues to influence his law enforcement, Ajax players will be shown yellow cards or even red cards.
Dezeu once again pulled the players away. Some facts cannot be changed, and it will not be worthwhile to take a card because of this.
This penalty delayed a full two minutes before Utrecht was able to take the free kick.
The free kick was lobbed into the penalty area, and Jacob Mulenga, who was ambushing at the back point, looked back and lobbed the football high to the far point of the goal.
"The ball is in!"
"Jacob!"
"Jacob, who has already worn his jersey twice in this game, broke through Ajax's goal with a beautiful back-and-forth shot!"
"Hey! Before the game, I said to be careful with Utrecht's set-piece tactics. After all, they have no chance of winning in a positional battle with Ajax. But set-pieces are different. They can always find suitable loopholes. As long as you find it once, that's enough."
Utrecht 1:0 Ajax.
In the 55th minute, Emmanuelson broke through and was forced out of the field by Utrecht's Seb Paul, eventually slipping outside the field.
Although it looked very serious, the referee used the slippery field as an excuse to only verbally warn Sebo Paul, which made many people in Ajax dissatisfied.
For safety reasons, Martin Jol immediately replaced Emmanuelsson with Romedaal.
In the 60th minute, it was Seibo Paul who once again pushed Essati out of the field, and Essati fell to the ground.
Under the siege of many people from Ajax, the referee finally showed Sebo Paul a yellow card.
In the 64th minute, Jacob Mulenga came forward again and fell to the ground with another cunning (foot slip).
The referee once again decisively whistled for a free kick in the frontcourt and showed Ennoch a yellow card.
Ennoch, who was involved this time, could not understand what the referee meant. How did he punish himself for a foul when there was no physical contact between him and Jacob.
And this time the position is better, at the top of the Ajax penalty area.
In order to avoid continuing to receive cards, Dezeu, as the captain on the field, had to pull away from his teammates again and went to the referee to explain himself.
And Essati in the frontcourt also persisted for another five minutes, and took the initiative to sit on the ground and gesture to the bench to indicate that a substitution was needed.
Martin Joel decisively dispatched Xiao Yu and Soleimani, while replacing Essati and Pantalic.
The rain battle is very physically demanding. After all, Pantalic is a 78-year veteran. Although the score is still behind, the veteran cannot be exhausted.
As soon as the two came on the field, they were lined up in the wall to defend Utrecht's frontcourt free kick.
Nyholt volleyed the ball around the wall and toward the goal.
Stekelenberg focused on the football and made a sideways dive to block the football from the goal.
However, there were many people in the penalty area, and the football that could not be saved far was hit by Utrecht's Belgian defender Jan Wittens with a supplementary shot into the Ajax net.
"Follow up!"
"The ball is in!"
"Let's see who gets the final kick!"
"Jan Wittens! Jan Wittens, a defender from Belgium, found the football during the melee in front of the Ajax goal and shot it into the empty goal."
"Hey! This is another set piece, Utrecht is in trouble!"
Although Zhang Lu is praising Utrecht at the moment, her heart is bleeding. She has invested 500,000 Chinese coins. Ajax should rise quickly!
Fortunately, Xiao Yu and Soleimani both appeared on the stage. There are still more than 20 minutes left. For Xiao Yu, who can perform a hat trick in a few minutes, he should be able to achieve a reversal.
Of course, this was what Zhang Lu was thinking and didn't say it out loud.
"Director Zhang, what do you think about Utrecht scoring these two goals?"
"The goal is very beautiful, but I don't agree with the way of getting the free kick. I can't understand it!"
When they came to the center circle, Xiao Yu and Suarez whispered a few words.
Suarez's eyes lit up. He had experienced this before, and he smiled knowingly and nodded towards Xiao Yu.
Beep! ~
The referee blows the kick-off whistle.
Suarez pushed the ball back and immediately rushed forward.
And the next moment, there was a loud noise!
Bang! ~
The football flew high into the Utrecht half.
"This! Suarez kicks off, is Xiao Yu shooting directly?"
"Oh my God! Mitchell Worm slipped and it went in! The ball went in!"
"Xiao Yu once again accomplished the feat of shooting directly from midfield!"
"Hehe! Xiao Yu is like this, he always brings us surprises!"
"No one expected that Xiao Yu would directly shoot from midfield with his first touch of the ball after coming on the field."
