The country is impressed with endless tulips, windmills towering over fields of flowers, artificial embankments by the sea, clogs, cheese, Europe's famous bicycle kingdom, and the orange memories that linger in the hearts of all fans.

Johancruijff, Marco Van Basten, Ruudgullit, Franco Rijkaard...... For Zhang Jun, these names represent everything about the country.

The Netherlands, the country of tulips, at 14:50 p.m. on August 4, 2002, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan finally set foot on this land. Sponsored by Philips, they came to experience the atmosphere of Dutch football and will spend ten days training with PSV Eindhoven, one of the top three in the Eredivisie, and then visiting Ajax and Feyenoord clubs for the opening of the stadium in PSV.

As the first batch of college football players in China to go out to visit, the domestic media did not pay too much attention, and when the country was still making excuses for the failed trip of the men's World Cup, and shirking the responsibility, the "tourism" of these two people to the Netherlands was too insignificant.

No one paid attention to it, no one applauded, and so began the trip of the two of them to the Netherlands.

When people think of Dutch teams, they may first mention Ajax, but PSV Eindhoven are also a team to be reckoned with.

On August 31, 1913, the 100th anniversary of the Dutch Reading Power, the Eindhoven Club was officially established in this context after a grand commemorative event. PSV Eindhoven is one of the 19 members of a group of 19 clubs called Philips Sports Club (PSV in Dutch), which is still in use today.

Since 1914, PSV Eindhoven has officially started playing in the Dutch football league. After more than a decade of training, PSV Eindhoven finally won the first league title in the club's history in 1929, followed by their first Dutch Cup title in 1950. Five years later, in 1955, PSV Eindhoven became the first Dutch team to reach the final of the European Championship. It is worth mentioning that in the 56-57 season, Dylan, the greatest goalscorer in the history of PSV Eindhoven, scored 43 league goals, a glorious record that still holds to this day.

It is impossible not to mention the names of Ronaldo, Romario and Vannistelrooij, three of the most famous strikers who have played for PSV Eindhoven. The technical Dutchman has always favoured Brazilian foreign players, and in 1988 the lone wolf Romario arrived in Eindhoven and helped the club achieve the greatest glory in the club's history. The departure of Romario in 1993 did not have much of an impact on PSV Eindhoven as they brought in another talented player, Ronaldo, who helped the team win the Dutch Cup in 95/96, despite only spending two years in the Netherlands. And Ruud van Nistelrooy, who is now in the limelight at Manchester United, also played for PSV Eindhoven for three seasons.

In the mid-70s of the last century, PSV Eindhoven ushered in the club's glorious era. They boasted a number of big names at the time, winning the league title 74/75, 75/76, 77/78 and the Dutch Cup 73/74, 75/76. The success came to a close with their first European title win when PSV Eindhoven beat French side Bastia 3-0 at home to win the UEFA Cup on 9 May 1978.

After the succession, PSV Eindhoven was restructured and remodeled, which paid off in the late 80s. A team of big-name stars such as Gullit, Romario and Ronald Koeman took PSV Eindhoven to another glory. In seven seasons, from 85/86 to 91/92, PSV Eindhoven won six league titles and three Dutch Cups. In the 87/88 season, PSV Eindhoven defeated Portugal's Benfica on penalties after extra time in the Cup Winners' Cup final, winning the domestic league and cup competitions again, and becoming the treble winner in history.

After a few years of silence, PSV Eindhoven made a comeback, winning the league title in 96/97, 99/00 and 00/01.

The day after Zhang Jun and Yang Pan arrived in Eindhoven, they caught up with the Eindhoven club's "stadium opening day". On this day, all the streets of the small town of Eindhoven were empty, and the whole stadium flocked to the Phillip Stadium. A wide variety of activities are centered around the Philips Stadium, which is almost like a football carnival.

Looking at the elated Russian fans, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan deeply realized the weight of football in the hearts of Europeans. It is by no means just a sport, or a game, or a physical education class to kill time in the eyes of many Chinese. It is an attitude to life that has been deeply ingrained in the blood of the local people and has been passed down from generation to generation. Here, it's not the case for families whose grandparents and grandchildren are all supporters of the same team. In fact, this is extremely common in Europe, whereas in China, at least, it is not possible at the moment.

In the square of Philips Stadium, where a variety of events are held, Zhang Jun and his team were attracted by a small football game called "iron cage scorpion", which is similar to indoor football, but the playing field has been moved from indoor to outdoor iron cages. This is an event promoted by Nike. There are three people on one side, a total of six people play in the iron cage, and the first player wins the promotion. Many people gathered outside the cage to watch, cheering on both sides of the cage match.

Although it was just a game, both sides played seriously, with the goalscorers doing a lot of celebratory gestures to applaud, while the losing side was so annoyed that they were "kicked" out of the cage. Zhang Jun watched it very interestingly, so he pulled Yang Pan to sign up, but the interpreter, Mr. Li, told them that they had to be four people to sign up for the competition. Zhang Jun looked at Yang Pan, and then looked at the surroundings, they were all foreigners he didn't know, so he had to shrug his shoulders and give up.

Entering the Philips Arena is another world, and the 30,000-person stadium is almost full. Zhang Jun: Sitting in the box provided by the club, they can still hear the loud cheers coming from the stands. Playing in such an exciting environment, I believe the players will give 200% of their strength.

The highlight of this year's stadium opening was the current PSV Eindhoven team against the PSV Eindhoven Veteran Stars. The on-site commentators began to introduce the players one by one, and it was obvious that the audience gave the warmest applause and cheers to the veteran star team, after all, the names of those people represent an era and a glorious memory.

Zhang Jun doesn't know much about Ronald Koeman, a great player of the era of the Dutch Three Musketeers, who is now the head coach of Eredivisie giants Ajax, and he is the coach of the veteran star team today. The appearance of another person made Zhang Jun excited, in fact, not only Zhang Jun, but also the fans in the audience. When the narrator shouted "No. 11, Romario-" the audience burst into cheers and applause. When the short Brazilian appeared on the pitch, the cheers endured. All expressed their reverence for PSV Eindhoven's greatest goalscorer of the last decade in the most direct way.

Zhang Jun followed and clapped in the box, Yang Pan was not as excited as him, but he was also moved by these fans, when can he reach such a height? He thought to himself.

The game belonged to Romario, who scored two goals in the game to help the Seniors win 2-1 against the active side. Among them, the long-range hanging shot on the side of the foot won wave after wave of applause from the fans. The 35-year-old "lone wolf" reported that he is not old!

Zhang Jun watched Romario raise his hands high to accept the cheers of the fans after scoring the goal, and there was only one thought in his heart: a shooter, a real shooter, a great scorer. Even though he is no longer young, he can still win so many cheers and the love of so many people.

One dreamy day, at night in the hotel, Zhang Jun was still excited about everything during the day, he pulled Yang Pan to speak: "Yang Pan, have you seen everything?" This football field, those spectators! I really want to play in a place like this! It's just a treat! ”

"The beauty of thought!" Yang Pan finally fell asleep, and was woken up by Zhang Jun, he said angrily: "Where is it so simple!" We're just here to watch high-level football, and to put it bluntly, it's tourism! Do you think the club will sign you for three days of training with the youth team? Let's sleep honestly! If you don't have the energy to train tomorrow, you're going to make a fool of yourself! ”

According to the plan, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan will train with the youth team in Eindhoven for three days, do the most basic exercises, and feel the training mode of European clubs. Because it was to feel the atmosphere, the coach of the youth team didn't pay much attention to them, just let them do it, and didn't consider the effect of doing it. Therefore, the team practiced passing and receiving, and in pairs, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan also passed and received the ball to each other. Because they couldn't understand what the coach was shouting, the two looked around to see what the people around them were doing, and they were also learning what to do, and nothing went wrong. But after a day of training like this, it's not fun, it's just tiring. The body is tired, the eyes are tired.

When fighting in groups, Yang Pan's breakthrough speed surprised the others, he didn't use any skills, just relied on speed to easily break through the players who defended him. It's just that on the next cross, he kicked the ball away, making many people shake their heads. The speed of Asian players is still a bit famous, but the technology behind the speed is really not flattering.

Yang Pan is also regretful, but there is no way, who made the sneakers provided by the club a little bigger?

Because it was a youth team training, there weren't a lot of fans watching from the sidelines, but there were still a few spectators, Adrianse was one of them, but he wasn't a die-hard fan, he came here for another purpose. As the head coach of this year's Dutch Super League newcomers, FCVOLENDAM (FCVOLENDAM) is here to see what treasures can be dug up, to put it bluntly, he is digging the foot of the wall. A few days ago, he went to Ajax (ajax), there are a few that interest him, but unfortunately in Ajax, a club with very mature youth training, it is really difficult to poach people, what he values is often valued by others, and he is not willing to pick up what others don't want to take home as a baby, Warrendam is a small club, it stands to reason that you shouldn't pick and choose, it's good to have someone to come, but who let himself be the head coach of the Ajax youth team and the first team, the vision is too high!

Adrianse found himself distracted and shook his head, the recent recruitment work has not been going well, and he is very distressed. The club only gave him 1.3 million euros to celebrate his promotion to the super, which can only be used to bring in third-rate players, or a second-rate player, and it seems that if you want to buy a good one, you can only go to the youth team to find it yourself. A few days ago it was Ajax, today it was PSV Eindhoven and in a few days it was Feyenoord. It can only be found in the Netherlands, which is a big limitation, so people are still reluctant to come, and the first-division players are useless in his opinion, and it is difficult to help the team relegation.

He put the financial problem aside and looked intently at the training ground where the five-man match was taking place. Today, until now, the notebook in his hand was blank, and Eindhoven had let him down.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up as the whites' number 13's quick break down the right created a cross, but he kicked the ball away. Like everyone else, Adrianse shook his head, is it another waste who only plays football by speed? He sighed inwardly, but pity his speed...... Wait a minute! This black-haired No. 13 is very strange! As far as he knows, PSV Eindhoven should not have this 13 and another 21 in the youth team.

Adrianse suddenly remembered that yesterday he had heard that PSV Eindhoven had brought two Chinese university players as participants in an event for the exchange. Adrianse began to pay attention, after all, he still has a not-so-short relationship with China.

Ten minutes later, Adrianse changed his assessment of the 13. The number 13 took the ball down again, perhaps because of the language barrier, and he rarely communicated with the other three Dutchmen on the field, and at the end of the cross to find the number 21 point, the first two times failed. But for the third time, he took the ball under the interference of the opposing defender, and the number 21 who followed up in the middle jumped a powerful header, and the ball went in!

Zhang Jun is like on the pitch in Luoyang Shuguang, Yang Pan crosses, he heads the ball, and then the ball goes in!

The red-haired goalkeeper was completely unresponsive, maybe he didn't expect that this Chinese with a height of 1.83 meters could fight for the top in front of a 1.88-meter central defender, right?

Zhang Jun ran to Yang Pan with some excitement, just like countless times before, he jumped up, and Yang Pan opened his arms to hug him.

The coach of the youth team of Eindhoven only tilted his head slightly: "Yo, these two Chinese still have a bit of a tacit understanding!" ”

But Adrianse certainly doesn't think so, he has been the manager of the Ajax youth team and the first team manager in his life, he has read countless people in his life, and this time, he believes what he sees, it is two big diamonds!

In the ensuing match, Adrianse completely left PSV Eindhoven aside, and his eyes followed closely the two Chinese.

By the time the training was over, his notebook was filled with several pages. As his training progressed, he trusted his instincts more and more. The club has given him absolute power over personnel management and player transfers, and now he has to exercise that power.

At the end of the day's training, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were lying on the bed, they were very tired, although the training volume of the youth team was not large, the intensity was not small, plus the first time to participate in such a formal training, it was inevitable that there would be some nervousness, and fatigue was natural.

There was a knock at the door.

“ingplease！” Yang Pan shouted politely in English and sat up at the same time.

The door opened, and it was their translator, Mr. Li from Philips (China), who was followed by a tall Dutchman whom he did not know. "You're all here? Just right! I'm going to introduce you to someone. Mr. Li pointed to the Dutchman next to him, "Mr. John Adrianse, who used to be the head coach of Ajax's youth team and first team, is now the manager of the Dutch Super League newcomer FCVOLENDAM, these two people are Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, university players who came from China to visit the Netherlands. ”

“nicetomeetyou！” Yang Pan and Zhang Jun took the initiative to greet each other.

“nicetomeetyoutoo！” Adrianse replied in English.

After the politeness, Mr. Li went straight to the point, "Mr. Adrianse was very interested in you after watching your training with the youth team in PSV Eindhoven, so he approached me and asked you to join the club Volendamm where he is now coaching. ”

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were stunned, Warren Damm had never heard of it, but I heard Mr. Li say that he had just been promoted to the super and was also a professional team. Now their manager has come to the door asking for the two of them to join, aren't they dreaming?

Seeing that the two of them didn't believe it, Adrianse spoke Dutch to Mr. Li, and then Mr. Li lost to the two of them: "He said don't worry, today is not April Fool's Day." He made it his heart to invite the two of them. He looked at your training and thought you were perfectly capable of playing in the professional league, which of course requires good training. But trust his quality, he assures Ajax that you can do it. Warrendam is a small club that has just risen to the top but is a very ambitious club, and the chairman has given him the most power to select players, both experienced and young, and the team is very united. ”

With Mr. Li's retelling, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's mood also calmed down a little.

Yang Pan had fully understood, and he began to think about it at a deeper level. "Well, Mr. Adrianse, we are not professional players, we don't belong to any club, we just registered as an amateur player in the Chinese Football Association when we played in the domestic university league, how do you sign with us?"

Adrian nodded while listening to Mr. Li's relay, and then spoke to Mr. Li, who was responsible for relaying it to the two.

He said there was no problem with that, and that although the Dutch Super League had labour certification requirements, it was far less demanding and complicated than the Premier League. If you don't belong to any club, it's even better because Warrendam can sign an 'apprenticeship contract' with you, and you can train in Warendamm as an apprentice without having to worry about labor certification. Then from the apprentice to the official player is his coach, the Dutch Football Association can not interfere, at most you have to go to the Dutch Ministry of Labor to sign a labor qualification certificate, but you don't have to worry about it, the club will do it all for you, including going to the Chinese Football Association to become a professional player, and visas and so on All issues will be handled for you, all you have to do is pick up the pen and sign the contract. ”

After speaking, Adrian looked at Zhang Jun and Yang Pan quietly, it was time to say everything, and the rest was up to them.

Yang Pan looked at Zhang Jun, and he suddenly found that Zhang Jun's "nonsense" yesterday had actually become a fact, and it was really possible for them to become professional players and play on behalf of professional teams! "Zhang Jun, look ......"

"Do you think we still need to hesitate? Yang Pan! Zhang Jun's heart was very excited, but he was desperately trying to maintain restraint, and he didn't want to lose his temper too much in front of outsiders.

Yang Pan turned his head to look at Mr. Li again.

Mr. Li smiled: "Let me state one thing first, the company's responsibility is only to sponsor you to come out and experience the atmosphere of Dutch football, as for any contract you have signed with any team during this period, we will not interfere, if necessary, we can even support strongly, after all, we are the first players to go out in the league." On the Chinese Football Association's side, we will be responsible for getting through. ”

In this way, there are no worries, Yang Pan said: "Okay, please tell Mr. Adrianse, Zhang Jun and I agreed to sign a contract with Warrendam." ”

After listening to Mr. Li's relay, Adrianse stood up excitedly and slapped his face: "God! Then he stretched out his hand and shook hands with Mr. Li, Yang Pan, and Zhang Jun one by one. That's it! I'll show you the contract tomorrow night, and if you have any comments or questions, don't hesitate to mention them! Ha ha! Lee, do you want to go for a drink, I'm in for a treat! He smiled happily, and it was the expression of the gold he had found.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan also laughed, which was the expression of being hit by gold.

After Adrianse said goodbye to Mr. Li, Yang Pan slowly closed the door and stayed for two seconds, then he threw himself on the bed and shouted: "Long live!" So blissful! Zhang Jun, we're not dreaming, are we? ”

Zhang Jun punched Yang Pan in the face and asked with a smile, "Does it hurt?" ”

Yang Pan rubbed his face and smiled: "It hurts!" ”

"Then it's not a dream, idiot! Ha ha! ”

"Hah! yes, but you kid dare to play with me! I want you to look good! Foshan has no shadow feet, ah! ”

The two of them were playing in bed and underground, venting the ecstasy in their hearts. Tired, the two sat side by side on the ground by the window. "Whew! To be honest, I really feel like I'm dreaming, it's so sudden! Yang Pan took a breath and said, "That Adrianse can't be lying to us, right?" Have you ever heard of Warrendam as a team? ”

"No, my knowledge of Dutch football is limited to Cruyff, the Dutch trio, and the Eredivisie triumvirate. Ho ho! But whatever it is! All you need is a ball to kick! Zhang Jun said with a smile.

"You've always been like that, growing up as long as you have a ball to kick. But you're right, now we just need to play! ”

"Ho ho, I'm thinking, what would be their expression if Zhang Fan and they knew?"

"If you don't say that I have forgotten, I guess we won't even have a chance to say goodbye to them in person."

Zhang Jun looked at Yang Pan: "Isn't it?" ”

"The Dutch Premiership starts at the end of August and we have to report to the club and train to integrate into the team as soon as possible...... Maybe we'll go home at the most and pack our bags before we'll come back again. Where can I go back to school and say goodbye to them? Yang Pan usually pays attention to various magazines and newspapers about European football.

Zhang Jun opened his mouth: "It's a pity, but it's a bit uninteresting to leave like this......"

"What's not interesting enough? We are also for the future of Chinese football, I believe they will understand! Yang Pan patted Zhang Jun on the shoulder, stood up, and walked to the bathroom, "Go to sleep, there will be training tomorrow!" Don't let the joy be too much, affect tomorrow's training, and leave a bad impression on that Adrianse, but it's too bad. ”

Zhang Jun remembered Kaka, Yokohama on June 31, and his smile holding the golden cup actually stung him a little. One of the friends who played together in high school has stood at the top of the world so early...... He stood up, patted the dust off his buttocks, and lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling, and so on until he fell asleep.

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