Chapter 330 Finally Won

Playing for the National Team and the National Youth Team was a completely different feeling from playing for Ajax.

On any team, Yang Yang was the undisputed star player, which earned him the support of all his teammates.

But at Ajax, his teammates were more skilled, and they were able to create more opportunities for him.

Often, he didn’t even have to worry about anything else; he just needed to focus on how to attack.

But on the National Team and the National Youth Team, the situation was markedly different.

Due to the team’s limited strength, Yang Yang had to consider not only how to attack but also how to organize the midfield and distribute the ball. Many times, he even had to worry about organizing the defense.

Whether on the National Team or the National Youth Team, Yang Yang acted as the on-field representative for Arie Haan and Klauen.

This was probably because he liked to think and was always able to better understand and execute the head coach’s intentions.

This role of having to do everything was truly exhausting. The burden on his shoulders was heavy and the pressure immense. Sometimes Yang Yang himself found it unbearable, especially when they lost.

But he didn’t feel distressed by it, nor did he want to escape.

On the contrary, he shouldered the responsibility even more bravely.

There’s a saying that fits perfectly: a son doesn’t mind if his mother is ugly, and a mother doesn’t mind if her child is poor.

Chinese Football was indeed weak. But no matter how weak, it was the only team that could represent China, represent over a billion Chinese people on the football pitch. And as a Chinese person, Yang Yang’s only thought was to help it defeat all its opponents and improve its strength.

With great power comes great responsibility.

If Yang Yang wanted an easy life, it would be simple. He just had to slack off, train less, and let his skills decline. Then, naturally, he wouldn’t have to bear such great responsibility, such a heavy burden.

This was true for the National Team, and it was true for his club.

Take Maxwell, for example. He was a good-natured guy, content with his lot, who spent his days thinking about having a third child. No one would force him to score in every game, and no one would pressure him to step up in critical moments.

But then again, no one would call him Ajax’s number one star.

In his three years in Europe, especially the two since joining Ajax, Yang Yang had truly transformed.

The things he saw were different, and his perspective on problems had changed.

Before, he would only think of himself. But now, besides himself, he also thought of the team.

Van Basten once told him something: a team’s soul and core isn’t determined by words, but by performance on the pitch. If you help the team, everyone on the team will naturally help you.

The flip side of this was that if a person only thought about his own performance and not about how to help the team, the other players would quickly cast him aside. That person would achieve nothing and find it hard to make any impact.

Sometimes, Yang Yang was incredibly grateful to these Ajax legends.

Van Basten, Van Schip, Luther Carroll, Van Gaal, John Reep, Ronald Koeman...

They passed on the experiences and insights of their professional careers to Yang Yang without reservation.

And all of this gave Yang Yang a much deeper understanding of the game of football.

......

......

As the match clock ticked on, the Brazil Team began to grow anxious.

Nearly every Brazilian player carried an innate pride, because they were Brazil—the kings.

The Chinese Team, on the other hand, grew more confident the more they defended, especially after Klauen continuously reinforced the defense in the midfield and backline.

After the seventy-fifth minute, the veteran German coach even substituted Chen Tao off.

Only Yang Yang and Gao Lin were left up front.

Time ticked away, and the Brazil Team started playing with more impatience, repeatedly making mistakes in the midfield.

But the Chinese Team just couldn’t manage to get the ball to the front, to the feet of Yang Yang and Gao Lin.

Hao Junmin was replaced by Lu Lin, who came on to play left midfield. With him on, there was basically no one in the midfield who could move the ball forward.

Realizing this, Yang Yang began to drop back constantly, taking on the role of linking the midfield and the attack.

In the eighty-first minute, Raphinha brought the ball up the right wing. Yang Yang ran over from the center to defend, forcing the Brazilian right-back to make a quick horizontal pass to the midfield.

Still shaken from conceding a goal near the end of the first half, Raphinha didn’t dare to take Yang Yang on directly.

The pass was a bit rushed and was quickly intercepted by the Chinese Team.

Lu Lin, on the left flank, passed it forward to Yang Yang.

He controlled the ball, turned, and dribbled at a forty-five-degree angle toward the edge of the penalty area.

The moment he got the chance, Yang Yang suddenly accelerated, sprinting forward with the ball.

For over two years, he had practiced dribbling almost every day. The distance, rhythm, and length of each step had practically become instinct, allowing him to control the ball as he pleased.

His sudden acceleration took him straight through the Brazil Team’s midfield and directly at their backline.

Gao Lin was smart. Seeing Yang Yang cut diagonally into the box from the left half-space, he immediately ran toward the right side of the penalty area, both to create space for Yang Yang and to create an opportunity for himself.

Fabio quickly closed in, using his body to jostle Yang Yang.

A year ago, Yang Yang would have surely lost his composure. But now, forget a young player like Fabio; even a veteran Eredivisie center-back couldn’t dream of easily pushing Yang Yang off the ball.

Not only was Yang Yang not pushed aside by Fabio, but he burst forward, getting a step ahead and using his own body to shield the ball from the Brazilian center-back.

At that, the Brazil Team’s defense panicked.

They hadn’t managed to win the ball, and now Yang Yang had gotten past them. How could they stop him?

Especially as Yang Yang got closer and closer to the box, the other Brazilian center-back, Leonardo, decisively abandoned Gao Lin and charged toward Yang Yang.

As Yang Yang dribbled to the left side of the arc at the top of the box, he saw Leonardo rushing at him. He chose to slide a diagonal pass with his right foot into the penalty area, sending it rolling to the right of the penalty spot.

Gao Lin, understanding perfectly, chased after it. Before the Brazilian Goalkeeper, Renan, could react, Gao Lin hit a simple tap-in, sending the ball into the net.

"GOOOOAL!!!!"

"GAO LIN!!"

"A brilliant, clever pass from Yang Yang, and in the eighty-first minute, Gao Lin scores once again for the Chinese Team!"

Yang Yang was so excited he sprinted off and jumped straight onto Gao Lin’s back.

Gao Lin, carrying Yang Yang, ran all the way off the pitch and over to the stands where the Chinese fans were.

The Chinese players on the bench and the field all rushed over, swarming them. Everyone was celebrating wildly.

"Absolutely brilliant!"

"Yang Yang made a thirty-meter dash with the ball from the left of the centerline, then played a diagonal through-ball at the edge of the area to assist Gao Lin’s goal!"

"This sudden goal was absolutely spectacular!"

"You could say it was a perfect demonstration of Yang Yang’s outstanding individual skill."

"The current score is a major disadvantage for the Brazil Team!"

"To all the fans watching on television, allow me at this moment to say something to the Brazilian Youth Team, all the way over in Utrecht, Netherlands: it’s the eighty-first minute. There isn’t much time left for you!"

As he finished, the National Television commentator’s voice seemed to be choked with emotion.

"My mind is a mess right now. I can’t think of any more adjectives to describe our heroes, especially Yang Yang."

"I can only say that having a player like Yang Yang is the greatest fortune for Chinese Football, and for all of us Chinese fans. He is going to become an incredible player!"

"I even have a very strong feeling right now... I think we can win the championship!"

"With Yang Yang, nothing is impossible!"

...

Yang Yang finally got down from Gao Lin’s back.

He was grinning from ear to ear, celebrating and hugging all his teammates.

Afterward, he made a point of walking over to the sideline to embrace the veteran coach, Klauen.

Gao Lin ran up as well and gave Klauen a forceful hug.

If Gao Lin was thanking Klauen for nurturing and promoting him, then Yang Yang was using his actions to prove to everyone his support for Klauen.

He believed that Klauen’s contributions were indispensable to the team’s journey to this point, and that he deserved to have his contract renewed.

And he had always been advocating for Chinese Football to seriously study and learn from the youth training reforms in German football, for which Klauen would undoubtedly be a crucial bridge and channel of communication.

......

......

Having suffered a crushing comeback, many of the Brazilian players looked utterly dejected.

They had held an absolute advantage in possession. In the second half especially, their possession rate had even reached over sixty percent at one point, but they were never able to find an effective way to breach the Chinese Team’s goal.

Not only that, but the Chinese Team had seized its chances on the counter-attack, scoring two goals in a row.

This was an absolutely devastating blow to them, especially to the players on the field.

They began to lose trust in one another and started to doubt themselves.

This emotion quickly translated into frequent mistakes on the pitch. Coupled with the dwindling time, they grew even more frantic.

After scoring the go-ahead goal, the Chinese Team quickly made its third substitution, taking off Gao Lin to further strengthen the defense in the midfield and backline.

It was obvious that the Chinese Team now intended to defend the two-to-one scoreline until the final whistle.

Yang Yang became the team’s lone striker up front. His stamina had always been excellent, and even now, he could still keep running and pressing, but it was all running on fumes.

His teammates organized lines of tight defense behind him, determined not to let the Brazil Team advance even a single step.

Accustomed to playing a slow, leisurely style of football, the Brazil Team struggled to pick up the pace when they suddenly needed to intensify their attack.

’Yang Yang had always found it puzzling. Why wasn’t a player as talented as Filipe Luís a starter?’

’Perhaps it was simply because he wasn’t used to this kind of possession-based football.’

But regardless, the Brazil Team failed to score another goal against the Chinese Team before the end of the match.

By falling back and defending with their entire team, the Chinese Team held the score until the very end.

Two to one, the Chinese Team had narrowly, perilously defeated Brazil!

And the moment the final whistle blew, the fans in the stands began to sing the "March of the Volunteers."

Countless Five-Star Red Flags began to wave in the stands.

Yang Yang stood where he was, too exhausted to move, but his heart was filled with immense satisfaction and pride.

’We won!’

’We finally won!’