God of Green

Three days after the Dutch Cup quarter-finals with Breda, Alkmaar went to the away game to prepare for the 26th round of the Eredivisie against Nijmegen.

This away game was abandoned by Van Gaal.

Because only four days later, Alkmaar will face the defending champion Zenit St. Petersburg in the first round of the UEFA Cup quarter-finals at home.

Due to the unfavorable schedule, Alkmaar must win a big victory over Zenit at home to have the confidence to advance to the quarterfinals.

Therefore, in this away game with Nijmegen, Alkmaar sent out a lineup of big-score substitutes and a small number of main players. Most of the main players sat on the bench, and even a few did not even go to the away game and stayed in the training base to rest.

Of course, even if he was subjectively prepared to give up this league, Van Gaal still didn't want to lose.

If he could maintain a draw and win, it would undoubtedly be very good.

Therefore, goalkeeper Sergio Romero, main central defender Hector Moreno, midfielder David Mendes, and forward Jiang Xiaolin, these four people still started the game.

In this way, Alkmaar still maintains sufficient strength on both offense and defense, and even in the away game, there is still a possibility of winning.

After all, Jiang Xiaolin's average number of goals per game is more than two.

As long as he is on the field, Alkmaar has a chance to win even with a weak lineup.

At 14:00 on March 8, 2009, with the referee's whistle, the 26th round of the 2008/2009 Eredivisie match between Nijmegen and Alkmaar officially started at Nijmegen's home stadium, De Gufot Stadium.

Nijmegen has ranked 9th in the standings so far this season and has not performed well, so the De Gufot Stadium, which can accommodate 12,500 people, usually has a low attendance rate.

But today, in the match against the top team Alkmaar, the De Gufot Stadium was full.

In addition to the away fans of Alkmaar who traveled with the team, the home fans of the Nimes team also came more than usual.

This is entirely due to Jiang Xiaolin's appeal.

Jiang Xiaolin has become a box office guarantee for the Dutch Eredivisie stadium.

In addition to the fans, there are also many media reporters on the scene.

Many foreign media that do not usually report on the Dutch Eredivisie have sent people to the scene to collect news.

Because now every goal scored by Jiang Xiaolin in the Dutch Eredivisie is constantly breaking new records.

Moreover, Jiang Xiaolin is ranked first in the scorer list of the three events of the Dutch Eredivisie, the Dutch Cup, and the UEFA Cup, and has the reputation of a world-renowned star.

Therefore, even if this league does not seem to be very important, it can still attract full seats for fans, and a large number of foreign media have come to the scene to collect news and reports.

After the game started, Alkmaar, which rotated most of the main players and played away, naturally did not attack aggressively, but cautiously played a defensive counterattack.

Of course, it was not the kind of defensive counterattack that Italy played, but a defensive counterattack with a slightly contracted formation and not too active attack.

But surprisingly, Nijmegen, the home team, did not take advantage of Alkmaar's rotation of lineup and the opportunity of playing at home to attack Alkmaar, but played quite cautiously.

In terms of formation, Nijmegen even played a 4231 double defensive midfielder formation, which was tougher than Alkmaar in defense.

According to the evaluation of some neutral commentators and guests, even if Alkmaar rotated most of its main players, with Jiang Xiaolin on the field, the opponent did not dare to be careless. Even when playing at home, they did not dare to actively press forward to attack, but played a cautious defensive counterattack.

This game really showed the deterrent power of Jiang Xiaolin to neutral fans and spectators.

Indeed, in the minds of Nijmegen players and coaches, it didn't matter whether Alkmaar rotated other main players.

As long as Jiang Xiaolin was on the field, they dared not be careless.

Jiang Xiaolin's ability to score more than 2 goals per game, his ability to score two goals from free kicks, and his ability to dominate the top scorer list in the Eredivisie/Dutch Cup/UEFA Cup, is it something that a mid-level team in the Eredivisie standings dare to take lightly?

Not to mention that most of the main players were rotated, even if all the main players were rotated, as long as Alkmaar had Jiang Xiaolin on the court, Nijmegen would not dare to press forward and expose large areas of their defense to Jiang Xiaolin.

Speaking of which, Nijmegen was already very careful.

In the first half of the first half, not only did they not take advantage of the opportunity of playing at home and most of Alkmaar's substitutes starting to press forward and seek victory, they even kept paying attention to guarding against Jiang Xiaolin's counterattacks and attacks, and even the number of fouls was very few, in order to avoid giving Jiang Xiaolin freeThe chance to score a goal.

But unfortunately, when the strength reaches Jiang Xiaolin's level, he can score a goal with just a move, which makes people really helpless.

In the 34th minute, Jiang Xiaolin made a powerful long shot about 30 meters away from the goal without strong teammates, the opponent's tight defense, and he could not enter the penalty area.

However, this long shot was headed out of the baseline by Nijmegen's defender Ike Fabris in the penalty area, which temporarily relieved Jiang Xiaolin's shooting crisis.

But Nijmegen's defense did not fundamentally relieve the alarm.

Because Alkmaar got a corner kick, and Jiang Xiaolin's height, physique, jumping, grabbing points, and headers have always been world-class.

Jiang Xiaolin's direct headers in corner kicks are too many times.

Nijmegen not only arranged three central defenders to closely guard Jiang Xiaolin, but also arranged two players of relatively high height on both sides of the goal post to assist the goalkeeper in guarding the goal, just to prevent Jiang Xiaolin from heading the ball.

However, all these arrangements failed.

Although Jiang Xiaolin did not succeed in the header, the corner kick did not fall on Jiang Xiaolin's head after it was sent out.

Because it did not fall on Jiang Xiaolin's head, nor was it headed by any player from both sides, the ball fell into a mess in the penalty area, causing the three Nijmegen central defenders who were closely guarding Jiang Xiaolin to fail to keep an eye on Jiang Xiaolin in time.

In the chaos, when Jiang Xiaolin ran to the corner of the small penalty area without the ball, someone kicked the ball and it bounced high.

Although the ball landed behind Jiang Xiaolin, there were people around him who made it too late for him to turn around and head the ball.

But Jiang Xiaolin naturally had his own way.

Jiang Xiaolin grabbed the Nijmegen defender beside him, leaned back strongly, jumped into the air, and made a hook shot.

One of the Nijmegen defenders, Daniel, wanted to jump up to head the ball, but he still couldn't get past Jiang Xiaolin.

Another point is that he saw Jiang Xiaolin's hook shot and was a little afraid, afraid that Jiang Xiaolin would kick him on the head.

Therefore, Daniel was a little hesitant in the header this time. Although he made a move, he didn't head it forward.

Finally, after finding that he couldn't get past Jiang Xiaolin's hook shot, he even turned his head to avoid it urgently, so as to avoid being kicked in the face by Jiang Xiaolin after kicking the ball.

He did avoid it, but the goal couldn't avoid it.

The Nijmegen goal was penetrated by Jiang Xiaolin's hook shot in the chaos.

The goalkeeper was blocked by too many people and couldn't make an effective save.

The defender at the goal post on the side where the ball entered the net jumped up and tried to head Jiang Xiaolin's shot, but the distance was too close and the speed was too fast, so the ball was slightly off angle and he failed to head it.

The ball flew past his ear and into the goal.

Suddenly, the commentator in the commentary booth shouted excitedly:

"Gooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooal..."

"The ball is in!"

"The 46th goal!"

"Jiang Xiaolin is unstoppable!"

"Jiang Xiaolin scored his 46th Eredivisie goal this season, continuing to break his Eredivisie single-season goal record!"

"This goal is so wonderful and beautiful!"

"Jiang Xiaolin scored the first goal for Alkmaar with a beautiful back-hook shot in the chaos in the penalty area, and also scored his 46th goal!"

"Jiang Xiaolin's pace of breaking the Eredivisie goal record has not stopped!"

At the scene, the Alkmaar away fans who came with the team on the expedition naturally shouted, screamed, and cheered for Jiang Xiaolin's goal with the loudest voice and action.

But even the home fans of Nijmegen applauded Jiang Xiaolin's goal in the stands.

Some Nijmegen fans applauded and discussed:

"Although Jiang Xiaolin is an opponent's player and the goal was scored against us, I still admire him very much, so I am willing to applaud his goal."

"Yeah! Me too!"

"It's amazing! Scoring 46 goals in a season, I never thought of it before. I thought Cohen Dillon's record of 43 goals, which had been sealed for half a century, was a peak that could never be surpassed. Unexpectedly, Jiang Xiaolin not only broke the record, but also continued to raise it."

"Now there are still 8 rounds to the end of the league. With Jiang Xiaolin's current goal efficiency, I think he will definitely raise the record to more than 50 goals."

"Haha, 50 goals? I think 60 goals is possible!"

"It's simply invincible! Such a player, forWhy not from our Nijmegen?"

"Don't think too much! At least we didn't make any mistakes. Think about Ajax, where Jiang Xiaolin once tried out. I guess the Ajax people want to kill the youth training coach now."

"Haha, not bad!"

"No matter where Jiang Xiaolin transfers to in the future, he started his professional career in the Eredivisie, and that's enough!"

"Yes! Although we are opponents, we are fortunate to witness the whole process of the rise of such a superstar. It is really our honor."

"Well said, so I applaud his goal now."

"I also came to the home court to watch the game today just to see Jiang Xiaolin."

"Ditto! ”

Even the home fans were conquered by Jiang Xiaolin, which shows his current charm.

When the strength is as strong as Jiang Xiaolin, even the enemies have to be conquered.

Not only the fans, but even the Nijmegen players on the field shook their heads and sighed, and they were really convinced in their hearts.

They were very careful in this game, but before the end of the first half, Jiang Xiaolin seized the opportunity to score a goal and set a new record.

And it was a beautiful hook shot.

The basis for them to hold on to a draw no longer exists.

After Jiang Xiaolin and his teammates celebrated and the game resumed, Nijmegen could no longer defend and had to be forced to attack.

Because they were already behind in the score, it was meaningless to continue to defend.

There are still thousands of points to attack. One goal could equalize the score, but if they defended, they would lose.

Although everyone knew that Jiang Xiaolin would counterattack more easily if they attacked, there was no other way, so they had to do it this way.

Fortunately, Jiang Xiaolin did not score any more goals in the rest of the first half.

On the one hand, Nijmegen still did not relax its defense against Jiang Xiaolin, and on the other hand, most of Jiang Xiaolin's teammates were indeed replaced by substitutes, and there was some gap in the passing and cutting coordination, which could not provide Jiang Xiaolin with too much help.

After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, and the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 0-1, and Alkmaar, who played away, led by one goal.

At the beginning of the second half, Nijmegen, who was behind in the score, could only continue to press forward and attack, while Alkmaar played defensive counterattacks leisurely.

Nijmegen's attacking strength was insufficient. Even though most of Alkmaar's substitutes played, the goalkeeper, the main central defender and the main defensive midfielder were still there. Nijmegen still failed to score after more than ten minutes of attack.

On the contrary, Alkmaar was counterattacked by Jiang Xiaolin as expected.

Although it was not a one-on-one attack this time, Jiang Xiaolin suddenly dodged the angle and shot from about 35 meters away from the goal during the counterattack with the ball.

Jiang Xiaolin's long shot caught the defender and goalkeeper off guard. No one expected Jiang Xiaolin to shoot from such a distance.

Goalkeeper Babos stood a little outside and failed to retreat in time. In the end, he barely jumped but failed to catch the ball.

The ball flew over his palm and then flew into the goal along the bottom edge of the crossbar.

In the 62nd minute of the second half, Jiang Xiaolin once again took advantage of the counterattack to score a long shot, completing his second goal. While giving Alkmaar a two-goal lead away from home, he also raised his Eredivisie goal record to 47 goals, only three goals away from the 50-goal mark.

Whether at the scene or in front of the TV, countless fans and followers gave Jiang Xiaolin applause and cheers, even the home fans of Nijmegen.

A few minutes after scoring this goal, Van Gaal replaced him with Wienblom, who had a hard time getting a chance to play throughout the season.

Although Jiang Xiaolin's physical strength has always been abundant, Van Gaal is still a little worried. He is afraid that there will be problems in the UEFA Cup game, and he is even more afraid that the opponent will commit malicious fouls against Jiang Xiaolin like in the Olympic final.

Therefore, after taking a 2-0 lead, Van Gaal replaced Jiang Xiaolin. On the one hand, it was to protect him from injury, and on the other hand, it was to let Jiang Xiaolin leave the court early to rest and prepare for the next UEFA Cup quarter-final against the defending champion Zenit St. Petersburg.