God of Green

Jiang Xiaolin didn't understand why the away results of football teams differed so much from their home results. Many teams were strong at home and weak at away games. Now he has experienced it himself.

Many times, in that kind of environment, you can't just think that you don't care about the shouting and scolding of the opposing fans.

There will always be some impact.

It's just that older players with more experience in away games are less affected. Younger players with less experience in away games are more affected.

Perhaps Van Gaal added him to the 18-man roster for away games with the purpose of letting him feel the atmosphere of away games.

Jiang Xiaolin, who sat on the sidelines of the stadium as a player for the first time, tried hard to adapt to the atmosphere and pressure of away games.

A few minutes after Jiang Xiaolin and others sat on the bench, the entrance ceremony officially began. The players of the two teams each led a little ball boy, led by the captain, and followed the referee team into the stadium.

Next, the referee stood in the middle, and the two teams stood in a row on both sides for reporters to take pictures, then shook hands and chose sides, and the game officially began.

At 15:30 on the afternoon of February 17, 2008, the 25th round of the Dutch Football League, Groningen vs. Alkmaar, officially started at Groningen's home stadium, Euroborg Stadium.

Amid the cheers of the home fans, Groningen, playing at home, launched wave after wave of attacks on Alkmaar.

Dutch football itself advocates offensive football, not to mention that Groningen is playing at home, so it is naturally impossible to play conservatively.

Alkmaar played a little timidly.

On the one hand, playing away games itself has the effect of reducing combat effectiveness, which is not transferred by thoughts and will, and even super giants such as Real Madrid and Barcelona cannot avoid it.

On the other hand, the recent six consecutive defeats have caused the players' confidence to collapse, seriously affecting the players' on-the-spot performance.

Weak offense, unresolute defense, and loopholes are the true portrayal of Alkmaar during this period.

In the 19th round, they lost to Ajax 1-6 away, in the 20th round, they lost to Heerenveen 0-4, in the 22nd round, they lost to Willem II 0-3, in the 24th round, they lost to Nijmegen 2-5...

In the 6 games of the 6-game losing streak, 4 of them lost at least 3 goals, and then the score difference exceeded 3 goals.

It can be seen how bad Alkmaar's defense is.

In this game, Alkmaar still did not see the hope of winning, and even the progress at the beginning of the game made Alkmaar fans feel desperate.

Under Groningen's violent attack, Alkmaar lost the ball in less than 10 minutes.

In the 8th minute, Groningen's attack forced the midfielder David Mendes to shovel and gave the opponent a front-court free kick about 25 meters away from the goal.

Then, the opponent's No. 10 midfielder core Goran Lovre made a beautiful arc free kick and sent the ball directly into Alkmaar's net.

Amid the carnival of more than 16,000 Groningen home fans, Alkmaar's coach, players, and fans could only sigh and reluctantly accept the fact that the team fell behind 0-1 less than 10 minutes after the start.

However, Alkmaar's bad luck was not over yet.

In the 14th minute, just a few minutes after losing the ball, Groningen got another chance to attack from a corner kick.

Then in this corner kick attack, goalkeeper Didulica jumped up in the small penalty area to pick up the ball and collided with Groningen's No. 9 striker Marcus Borg.

Although in line with the principle of protecting the goalkeeper in the penalty area, the referee penalized Marcus Borg for colliding with the goalkeeper and gave him a yellow card.

But it did not help the fact that Didulica was lying on the ground motionless.

Didulica was hit in the chest by Marcus Borg in this collision and immediately fainted.

After only 14 minutes of the first half, Alkmaar's main goalkeeper Joey Didulica had to leave the field due to injury and was sent to a local hospital for a more detailed examination.

The 20-year-old Argentine goalkeeper Sergio Romero, who had not even had time to warm up, had to come on as a substitute in a hurry.

Seeing this young substitute goalkeeper who most people did not know was forced to come on as a substitute in a hurry without even having time to warm up, many Alkmaar fans in front of the TV covered their eyes and could not bear to watch any more.

Everyone seemed to see the goal guarded by Romero being bombarded by the opponent in turn, and then Romero picked up the ball from the goal again and again.

Even the substitutes on the bench looked like they didn't want to watch anymore, and were extremely pessimistic.

Only Jiang Xiaolin, who had a good relationship with Romero, had his eyes lit up and was in his heart for him.Romero's sudden opportunity to play encouraged him: "Romero, you must seize the opportunity, impress the coach, and firmly establish your position as the main goalkeeper!"

Of course, this cannot be said, you can only think about it in your heart.

After all, Romero's appearance was exchanged for Didulica's injury.

And no one knows how serious Didulica's injury is, so Jiang Xiaolin can't show an expression of happiness for Romero on his face.

Then, the game started.

Seeing that Alkmaar's main goalkeeper was injured and replaced by a 20-year-old young substitute goalkeeper who was still immature, Groningen's players naturally attacked more aggressively, wanting to score as soon as possible and expand the score advantage.

Just when most people thought that Romero, who was young and rushed to the field without even warming up, would definitely be defeated by Groningen's offensive, Romero guarded Alkmaar's goal as steady as a mountain, which can be said to be a one-man defense against ten thousand men.

In the 20th minute, Alkmaar did not lose the ball.

In the 30th minute, Alkmaar did not lose the ball.

In the 40th minute, Alkmaar still did not lose the ball.

Until the 47th minute, the first half of the game with 2 minutes of stoppage time was over, and Alkmaar still did not lose the ball.

In the full half hour after coming on as a substitute, Sergio Romero completed 8 saves in front of the goal, an average of one every 4 minutes.

Among them, Groningen had 6 shots that hit the goal frame and were saved by him.

Among these 6 shots, even one was a powerful supplementary shot close to the small penalty area line, which was subconsciously pushed out of the crossbar by Romero's hand.

As the game progressed, Groningen fans stood up again and again with hope, and then sat down with disappointment and shock.

The only 300 or so Alkmaar away fans became more and more excited as the game progressed, and continued to cheer and shout for Sergio Romero's wonderful saves.