In the past two years, as the situation of Ajax has improved and returned to the ranks of European powerhouses, the Amsterdam Cup Invitational has naturally become a major warm-up event before the season, but its impact has always been limited.

But it is obvious that this year's Amsterdam Cup Invitational Tournament has attracted much attention, and it can even be said that the whole world has followed suit.

Ajax naturally can't have such an influence, attracting the attention of fans and media all over the world are the other three teams, or only two, Lippi's Juventus has not changed much this season, but Barcelona has just undergone a change of coach, Van Gaal has entered the palace for the second time, and Manchester United has made heavy reinforcements, all of which are the protagonists in the transfer market.

Manchester United has just announced the introduction of England defender Leo from Leeds United for a staggering $47.27 million. Rio Ferdinand, this is the first day price in the current transfer market, and it also created the first day price for defenders, which has made the whole European football world look at it.

Compared with Manchester United, Barcelona's hand is not light at all, first introducing Seydoux from Ajax at a high price? Keita, and then brought in the much-talked-about Argentine talent Riquelme from Boca Juniors for a whopping €10.5 million.

Although, Riquelme's transfer fee is similar to that of Seydoux? Keita is close, not even as close as Seydoux? Keita, but the sensation is far from Seydoux? Keita can match the value of the Malian in terms of practicality, but Riquelme has become the hope of the future of Argentine football.

And all the professional media are thinking in their hearts, Manchester United and Barcelona have spared no expense to bring in big-name stars, whether it is Ferdinand or Riquelme, they will not miss the opportunity to play directly with a strong team in the Amsterdam Cup, and Van Gaal and Ferguson must also hope that the new players can pass the test of a strong team.

In other words, the Amsterdam Cup will be the first appearance of these stars for their new clubs.

So, in Amsterdam, as the invitational tournament approached, as the three teams that received invitations arrived in Amsterdam one after another, there were countless reporters gathered here, and all the media suddenly hyped up this event and all kinds of news between teams.

Not only reporters and fans, but even the players themselves are full of expectations for such a strong dialogue, first of all, regardless of winning or losing, everyone hopes to be able to better experience their own strength in the European stars through the competition with the strong, and have a better assessment of their own strength and potential.

But in this festive atmosphere, some people don't think so.

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It was shortened from three exercises a day to two exercises a day, and the second training session ended at 7 p.m. in the evening.

It was slightly dark, but the heat in the air did not diminish at all.

On the training ground, the staff has already been busy taking care of the turf, watering, tidying up and other things must be done as soon as possible, in such a hot weather, if the turf is not taken care of, it is easy to die.

Because of this, those players who want to practice now generally arrange the time for training in the morning or noon, and after the afternoon training session, they go home directly, and the entire first-team training base becomes very empty and quiet.

Ye Qiu was blowing the air conditioner in the office, his feet were comfortably cocked on the desk, looking at the ceiling, thinking about the warm-up match with Barcelona tomorrow, he didn't pay attention to winning or losing, but he attached great importance to the process.

Strictly speaking, this will be the first appearance at the Arenal Stadium after the reorganization of Ajax, and the midfield combination of Arteta and Sneijder can play its due strength, which makes Ye Qiu feel less confident, the key is that the three warm-up games of the China trip were too easy and did not achieve the desired warm-up game effect.

Barcelona let go of Rivaldo this season and loaned Mendieta, but it is anyone's guess whether the Spaniard, who has performed poorly at Lazio, will be able to regain his form at Barcelona.

Sometimes, it's hard to say about form, like Mendieta, who was originally in Valencia, and his whole career should have been on a rapid upward trend, if he could move to a team that suited him and could help him improve when he moved in 2001, then he could become a top superstar.

But all of a sudden, I went to Lazio, I didn't adapt to Serie A, I didn't adapt to Lazio, and all of a sudden, the whole upward momentum was completely cut off, and it was declining at a very fast pace, which was like a nightmare for Mendieta.

It's not an easy thing to break free from a nightmare.

and Riquelme, sometimes Ye Qiu really feels that Riquelme and Van Gaal are like a pair of incompatible contradictions, and the styles of the two really don't match, so he doesn't have too many expectations for Riquelme, but Seydoux? Keita.

This player is definitely the kind of player who can make Barcelona's waist stiff if he uses it well, and he knows Ye Qiu's Ajax very well, and he also knows very well how to play against Ajax, I don't know if Lou van Gaal will ask him for some advice.

Thinking of this, Ye Qiu exhaled lightly, stood up from the office chair, turned off the computer air conditioner, packed up his things, turned off the lights and walked out of his office, ready to go home.

Sometimes you don't have to think too much before the game, because it's not very useful, the most important thing is to identify your own direction, and then move in that direction, and do your best to win the game, even if you lose, you can be at ease.

Playing with the car keys in his hand, when he walked downstairs, Ye Qiu saw a person sitting under the light in the distance of the corridor on the first floor.

Very casually, just sitting on the ground by the corridor, looking at the brightly lit training ground in the distance, the staff were busy back and forth, as if they were in a daze.

"Hey, Mikel, why don't you go back to rest?" Ye Qiu walked over from afar.

"Oh, I'll be back right away." That being said, he didn't mean to move his ass at all.

Ye Qiu walked to his side, followed his line of sight, and smiled, "Is there anything to see?" ”

Arteta turned his head sideways, looked at the curious manager, and shook his head, "I don't know, do they have to be so busy every day?" ”

"Yes!" Ye Qiu nodded, "Isn't it strange?" ”

"No, it's just ......," Arteta shook his head, "I didn't know anything about it before." ”

Ye Qiu was a little surprised by this Spaniard's thinking, he didn't know what to do, so he looked at it in a daze, seeing that he didn't go back now, what kind of logic should this be? Is it good-looking?

'It's our job to play football, it's a good pay, it's a reputation and a status that the media and the fans look up to, it's their job to take care of the training ground, but they get paid less and the media and the fans don't pay attention to them, but they come to the training ground before us, they leave later than we do, and sometimes we even complain that the turf isn't good enough, what do you think they think?'

Ye Qiu was confused when he heard it, and he didn't quite understand what this Spaniard wanted to say.

"I don't know what to say, why don't you ask yourself." After speaking, Ye Qiu shouted into the distance, "Demi! ”

A team leader in the distance, after hearing Ye Qiu's shout, quickly ran over, "Is there something wrong with me?" ”

'Demy, our new player thinks you're working hard, wondering, what do you think of the job?'

Demi is a middle-aged Dutchman, not very tall, but not small, after listening, Haruha smiled, "Is it hard?" It's definitely a bit hard, but guys are used to it, come early and leave late, it's nothing, as long as you think that our Ajax players are training and preparing on our well-maintained training ground, everyone is happy. ”

"Don't you think it's unfair?" Ye Qiu asked with a smile.

Demi Ha Lu laughed, "Boss, are you going to help us apply for a salary increase again?" ”

This summer, before the end of the season, Ye Qiu once put forward an idea, that is, to give the club's employees from top to bottom an appropriate salary increase to reward them for their outstanding work in the past year.

"There's nothing fair or unfair, we have a different division of labor, many of us came out of De Tokmost, we can't play, and in the end we can only choose to work, working in De Tokmost, at least it's more meaningful than working outside, at least here, we can be with the Ajax players every day, watch them play and train."

"Working here makes us feel that everything Ajax has achieved is partly due to us."

From the time Demi came over to the time he left, the whole process was very short, basically Ye Qiu and him were talking, Arteta didn't say a word from beginning to end, but he listened very carefully.

"Actually, they are very ordinary, very ordinary, but without them, there would be no Ajax results!" Ye Qiu waited until after Demi left before he said what he thought of these training ground workers, which was why he proposed a salary increase for the staff.

"Think about it, if they hadn't come to take care of the training ground earlier, the grass would have died in the summer, and in the winter, the whole training ground would have frozen, and the turf would have been full of potholes, would you still be able to play well?"

"The success of any team, from Michels's Ajax dynasty to Sacchi's Milan dynasty, their success seems to be the success of the stars, but in fact, behind the stars, there are a large number of ordinary people who are unknown and not taken seriously, and their contributions are also an important part of the success of a team."

But Ye Qiu shook his head again, "But there's no need to exaggerate their merits, saying that they are heroes who have created great feats, but are unknown, they are not, because they are just a very ordinary group of people, just doing a very ordinary job that they may or may not like, nothing more." ”

"Sometimes there is no need to deliberately search for meaning, because the extraordinary is always accumulated and transformed from the ordinary!"

After Arteta heard this, he seemed to understand a little, but what he understood, Ye Qiu didn't know.

In fact, the Spaniard has been struggling with one thing lately, and that is the difference between himself and Riquelme.

They are all midfielders, why have they always been unpopular in Barcelona, either on loan to Ligue 1 or abandoned to the Eredivisie, and Riquelme has never proven himself on the European stage, why is he expected by Barcelona fans as if he is a savior?

But after listening to Ye Qiu's words, Arteta somewhat understood.

They all live in this world, no one is nobler than anyone, no one is more important than anyone, whoever dies, the earth will still turn, even ordinary and ordinary people, they all play an irreplaceable role in this social chain, and they have lost this group of ordinary people, those who think they are stepping on the top of others' heads, can they live?

It's the same on the football field, if the superstars want to play, they have to rely on the foil and assistance of ordinary players, and the players want to play well, they have to rely on the ordinary staff of the club, and there is no one more important and irreplaceable than the other.

Only now did Arteta understand that one of the dressing room rules for Ye Qiu was that anyone had to respect the club's staff, otherwise they would be severely punished.

By the same token, there is no need for him to be harsh on Barcelona in the same different way as they are in Riquelme, because it makes no sense to look too this point, and in the end it will only make him more isolated in the team.

Ye Qiu is right, the extraordinary is never created by individuals, only the group can create greatness, and individuals can only become a part of the creation of greatness only by integrating into the group.

At this moment, Arteta has a realisation that he should fit in and be part of Ajax and help Ajax beat Barcelona to show his worth, and that is what he should do.

"Thank you, head!" Arteta laughs.

Ye Qiu couldn't figure out what this sensitive Spaniard's thinking was even now, so he could only stand up with a wry smile, "By the way, have you found a house to live in?" ”

Arteta nodded, "I just moved in yesterday, Miss Moon helped find it." ”

Ye Qiu shook the car key in his hand, "Do you want to take a ride?" ”

Arteta immediately laughed from ear to ear, he had already coveted Ye Qiu's Ferrari, jumped up from the ground, and walked faster than Ye Qiu, as if he wished he could hold the steering wheel with his own hands and control this Ferrari.

Of course, Ye Qiu couldn't give him such a chance, Ferrari was his baby, how could he let him try?

Not only that, Ye Qiu also ordered a Ferrari Enzo through the Ferrari Dutch agent before, which is the latest flagship supercar launched by Ferrari, Ye Qiu led the team to excellent results last season, the club has a lot of bonuses, and Eliza has brought him a lot of business income outside, so he doesn't feel distressed about spending money.

If Arteta knew what to do, he would have been even more unbalanced, because he didn't have a car yet, but someone had two Ferraris, one driving and the other at home, which was a terrible thing!

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Van Gaal's opening game in the Amsterdam Cup was played with a very puzzling formation of 3421.

The goalkeeper is Bonano, and the backline is Reziger, Frank? De Boer and Puyol, and Seydoux in midfield? Keita, Cocu, Roshenbach and Mendieta, with Saviola and Riquelme up front and Kluivert as the single striker.

At first glance, Barcelona's starting lineup does not seem to have authentic wide players, and the tactical system of the back three has also proved to be a weakening of the wing, but in attack, Barcelona always attack from the wing, which is a very puzzling puzzle.

First of all, Seydoux? Keita and Mendieta, both of whom are attacking and defensive, were deployed on the left and right wings, but Riquelme and Saviola were also asked to go more on the wings, receiving the ball from the flanks and then cutting to the middle.

Therefore, Barcelona's whole tactic looks like there is no wing, but in fact, because Seydou? Keita and Mendieta play as wing-backs, while Saviola and Riquelme play as midfielders, and this wing combination is not far from each other and maintains a close connection, so it is easy to form a strong press on the wing.

At the beginning of the game, they put a lot of pressure on Ajax's wings at the Arena Stadium, with four wide players repeatedly breaking through on the left and right flanks, connecting with each other and connecting with each other, making it difficult for the Ajax full-backs to adapt and always easily fall into an awkward one-on-two situation.

Everyone knows that in a one-on-two situation, the full-backs are basically unable to form an effective defense.

So for a while, Barcelona's offensive seemed very imposing, surging towards the Ajax defense line to launch a fierce impact, especially the two wings, frequently forming breakthroughs and creating threats.

In the 16th minute, it was Seydoux? After Keita and Riquelme combined on the left, Seydoux? Keita's cross from the bottom was scored by Kluivert in front of the goal, 1:0.

No one expected that the Mali midfielder, who had just moved from Ajax to Barcelona this season, would stab his old club by scoring a goal for his new club when he returned to the Arena for the first time.

There were also some boos at the Arena Stadium, but it wasn't very noticeable, apparently there was a section of fans who were disgusted with Seydoux? Keita was dissatisfied, even angry, for his counterattack, but most of the fans still maintained a tolerant attitude, after all, the Malians have already worn the Barcelona jersey and should do their best for Barcelona.

Ye Qiu frequently signaled the team to press forward on the sidelines, especially the team's midfield, to form a strong pressure on Barcelona's midfield, so that Robben and Van der Vaart on the left and right sides frequently sprinted to Barcelona's side.

The disadvantage of the back three was on the wings, and the use of Arjen Robben and Van der Vaart's wide attacks forced Keita and Mendieta to retreat to help the defence, and even Riquelme and Saviola had to retreat.

A sharp counterattack from Ajax soon completely pressed back Barcelona, who had played smoothly after the opening, and forced Barcelona to put more troops into defense with a tough attitude, telling the Spaniards with tough strength.

, don't go wild on my turf!