Chapter Twenty-Seven: A Late Debut
"Being in the squad again, do you think you'll get a chance to play in tomorrow's game?"
On the eve of the fourth round, on the sidelines of the training ground, Yu Liang was interviewed by Lu Bing. Lu Bing chose to stay, but the editor-in-chief of the newspaper only gave him a month.
Like the previous round, Yu Liang was selected for the squad again, and King Dong was also selected for the squad.
"I don't know! But I'm ready to be there at any time! ”
Tomorrow at noon, Yu Liang will travel with the team to Denitz to visit the Van der Wewerler Stadium.
Despite the team's away game, Yu Liang was not sure that he would be able to get a chance to play in the game.
"Be confident, you can do it. In today's intra-squad training, you put on a yellow vest that symbolizes the main workhorse, which is a good sign! ”
After the clash with Mihem, Yu Liang was not able to wear the yellow vest that symbolizes the main force again during the confrontation training. Being able to wear the yellow vest symbolizing the main force again today is indeed a good signal for Yu Liang to be released by Van Ake.
"To borrow your good words, even if you can't start, it's good to be able to play."
Thinking about the starting list in the first three rounds, there is not much difference from the main lineup of confrontation training, and Yu Liang is looking forward to tomorrow's game.
Deniz is located southwest of the city of Ghent, just 80 kilometres from Antwerp. It's only an hour's drive from Antwerp.
Because the match was held at 7 p.m., the Antwerp club did not leave for Denitz until 3 p.m. on the day of the match. At the end of the game, they will take the team's bus directly back to the club.
The bus travelled on the highway for more than an hour to the Van der Weele stadium on the banks of the River Leihe.
"This?"
After getting off the bus and looking at the stadium in front of him, Yu Liang was a little surprised.
Unlike what he had imagined, the stadium was small, with a small section of stands on the east and west sides and a section on the south side, which could not accommodate many fans to watch the game.
It's hard for him to imagine a second-division team's home stadium being like this, similar to the football stadium on some college campuses in China.
After walking into the locker room, Yu Liang frowned even more.
In addition to a few long benches, there is only one bathroom in the away team's dressing room. If several people want to be convenient at the same time, then you have to queue up. There wasn't even a place to take a shower.
"Don't be so surprised, there's worse than this!"
"Okay!"
Listening to King Dong's words, Yu Liang quickly changed into training clothes, and then followed his teammates out of the locker room.
However, I have to say that although the stadium does not look good, and the hardware facilities in the locker room cannot keep up, the turf is still quite well maintained.
Stepping on the soft turf, Yu Liang and his teammates began to warm up on the court.
After nearly an hour of warm-up, the staff brought dinner to the locker room, which was ordered at a nearby restaurant, and the portions were not very large, but just enough to fill the stomach and not go hungry to the game.
After the meal, Yu Liang and King Dong walked outside for a while. Then they went back to the dressing room again and started their pre-match preparations.
"Today's tactics are arranged like this, they have been trained like this before, so let's talk about today's starters."
Van Ake announced his starting XI after emphasizing the tactics of the game in the dressing room.
After watching Van Ake write down a series of jersey numbers representing everyone on the tactical paper, Yu Liang's face showed a look of disappointment.
Although the team's starting list for each of the three rounds of games is not much different from the main lineup of the usual confrontation training, Yu Liang has become this part of the team and has not been able to enter the squad.
However, King Dong entered the starting list today and served as a single arrow.
At 6:50 a.m., players from both sides walked out of the dressing room. After Yu Liang walked through the passage in his training uniform, he walked directly into the field and sat on the bench.
Although the stadium is not very large, the stands on three sides are full of fans. In one corner of the stands, you can clearly see wearing the red and white jersey of Antwerp, and Yu Liang knows that they are fans who have come from afar with the team.
When the players came out, they also let out a burst of shouts, although the momentum was not huge, but it showed their enthusiasm for football.
Playing the national anthem and picking the sides were not omitted because of the simplicity of this stadium.
When the time pointed to 19 o'clock in Brussels time, the referee blew the whistle, and the fourth round of the Belgian second division, Antwerp's away match against Deniz, officially began.
Antwerp, who was a guest, faced Deniz, who was weaker than him, and launched a fierce attack directly after the opening, wanting to grab the start.
In the 4th minute, after Verbist split the side, he immediately stepped forward, attracting the attention of the defenders and vacating the middle. After Kevin Jensen broke through on the wing, he crossed directly to the no-man's land at the front of the middle penalty area, and Mihem, who was inserted, shot angrily at the ball, but unfortunately he couldn't suppress it and hit an anti-aircraft gun.
In the 8th minute, Antwerp made a comeback, and after going down the wing, he sent in another cross, but King Dong's header went wide of the post and missed a good chance to score again.
Although the strength of Deniz's team is not as good as that of Antwerp, sporadic counterattacks are also testing Antwerp's backline.
The game was deadlocked for almost thirty minutes, and in the 32nd minute, Antwerp broke the deadlock thanks to a goal from Kevin Jensen.
Antwerp, who had been making a big fuss on the right flank, was organized by Verbbister, and this time it was an attack from the left.
The Romanian midfielder, Robert, and left wing-back Cedric continued to work together to tear apart the opposition's defence, but did not choose to cross. Robert made a direct lateral pass and handed the ball to King Dong. After receiving the ball, King Dong couldn't complete the turn, and once again handed a cross to Welbist in the middle.
Antwerp's breakthrough on the left flank attracted Deniz's defence, and when the ball reached Verbist's feet, Deniz's left wing-back immediately came to the defence.
Verbicial faced the opponent's defender's defense, and did not choose to break through or shoot, but made a diagonal pass, passing the ball to Kevin Jenson, who was inserted behind, and the unguarded Kevin Jensen received the ball, calmly adjusted, and directly shot the far end of the goal.
1-0。
Antwerp took the lead.
After Antwerp took the lead, they played more calmly and simply.
In the midfield, there are two backs composed of Biga and Mihem, who have strong interception ability, and Deniz's many attacks have been intercepted by the two together.
Deniz, who was eager to equalize, was intercepted by the two and was not able to equalize, but was counterattacked by Antwerp.
In the 38th minute, after Mihem broke the ball from the feet of the Denitz player, he made a direct diagonal pass and distributed the ball to Kevin Jensen on the side, and after Kevin Jensen received the ball, he directly made a long pass and sent the ball behind the opposing defender.
King Dong's outstanding explosiveness is undoubtedly on display at this moment.
After shaking off the opponent's central defender, King Dong caught up with the ball and rode the dust, single-handedly.
Suddenly facing the opponent's goalkeeper in the penalty area, King Dong chose to push the near corner more safely. Although the opposing goalkeeper judged the right direction, the ball was too fast and flew directly into the goal from his armpit.
2-0!
Antwerp have a two-goal advantage on the road.
Van Ake, who had a two-goal advantage, made changes to his team at the start of the second half.
Mihem was removed and replaced with striker Darko Lukovic from Sweden to strengthen the team's attack.
However, the effect of this substitution was not obvious, and shortly after Antwerp replaced Mihem, Deniz scored a goal with a counterattack opportunity to rewrite the score to 1-2!
The goal gave the Denitz players hope of an equaliser or even a win, so the motivation on the pitch was very high.
As Deniz's head coach, Eddie certainly won't let go of this opportunity. Immediately brought on Kurt Draar, a 22-year-old with decent pace and finishing skills, and a good attacker up front.
Dellar's presence added a lot of pressure to the Antwerp backline.
In the 57th minute, a shot from the edge of the Drahr penalty area hit the post, shocking Van Ake in a cold sweat.
"We've got to step up our defense!"
Assistant coach Günther was also shocked by Draal's shot in a cold sweat, and immediately walked to the head coach's side to remind.
Why doesn't Van Ack know this?
But not long ago, he replaced a striker and removed a defender. Now to put in a defender and take off an offensive player, isn't that self-defeating? Moreover, such substitutions can also lead to a disunity of thought among the players on the field.
When the judgment continues, it will be disturbed.
Just when Van Ake hesitated, Deniz's attack hit the team's goal again, and a cross from Deniz striker Duminik and Draal tore apart the Antwerp defence again.
This time Antwerp were not so lucky, and the goalposts were not able to save them.
Facing the attacking Willocks, Draal's shot flew straight into the corner.
2-2!
Fifteen minutes into the second half, Deniz equalised.
In the small Van de Wewer stadium, bursts of cheers immediately erupted.
"Substitution!"
Van Ake said to the assistant coach next to him, Günther, with some annoyance.
Turning to look at the players on the bench, he frowned. If he strengthens his defense, he now has only two options, either to replace Gunther Feljans or to replace Yu Liang. Although the replacement of two can strengthen the defense, the side effect is different.
Gunther Feljans has a wealth of experience in the game, is an old fritter on the pitch, and has excellent positioning and anticipation. Partnering with Biga just complements each other.
And Yu Liang, in fact, in defense, he and Ferjans have some similar characteristics, but the difference is that Yu Liang's overall view and organizational ability on the court are what Ferjans does not have.
"Replace Yu Liang!"
Without even thinking about it, Van Ack made a straightforward decision.
From leading to being equalized by his opponent, Yu Liang's mood was the same as Van Ake's, like riding a roller coaster, and he went straight to the bottom.
Watching assistant coach Günther find himself, the mood of falling into the trough, immediately flew into the clouds again.
After a simple warm-up on the sidelines, Yu Liang took off his training uniform, wore the No. 10 jersey, and came to the sidelines to wait for the chance of the dead ball.