God of Green

On May 1, 2008, Labor Day, Thursday, at noon, the weather was fine, and Roda JC's home stadium, Limburg Park, was packed.

In addition to the more than 16,000 Roda JC home fans, the Alkmaar away fans who traveled with the team reached more than 3,000, and both sides filled the Limburg Park.

This is the game with the most away fans in Alkmaar so far this season.

There is still a difference between ordinary leagues and entering the post-season play-offs to compete for the UEFA Cup.

In particular, Alkmaar is ranked 7th to 10th in the standings, with the highest winning rate and the greatest possibility of qualifying for the UEFA Cup.

The fans were even more enthusiastic.

Of course, there are many fans who came to see Jiang Xiaolin specifically, and the number is quite large. There are four or five hundred Chinese and overseas Chinese fans alone.

Not only Chinese and overseas Chinese fans, but also many Dutch people, all like Jiang Xiaolin very much.

If there was no Jiang Xiaolin in Alkmaar, there would definitely not be so many away fans for this game.

Jiang Xiaolin scored 17 goals in the last 9 league games, which is really amazing.

It was only after Jiang Xiaolin joined Alkmaar's first team and started to play in the Eredivisie that Alkmaar stopped losing streak, started to score points and improved its ranking.

Without Jiang Xiaolin, no one knew whether Alkmaar would stop losing streak or even fall into the relegation zone.

Therefore, many Alkmaar fans like Jiang Xiaolin, and the recent surge in sales of Alkmaar's No. 29 jersey is a clear proof of this.

However, Jiang Xiaolin did not start in this game, and the fans' love for Jiang Xiaolin had to be suppressed for a while.

At 14:30 noon, with the referee's whistle, the first game of the 2007/2008 Eredivisie UEFA Cup play-offs between Alkmaar and Roda JC officially started.

Jiang Xiaolin sat on the bench.

Although Alkmaar ranked 7th and Roda JC ranked 10th, Roda JC seems to be weak.

But this is a battle for European places. Who doesn't want to play in European games, whether it's a club or a player playing in Europe?

Haven't you seen that Arsenal has become a top-four madman, fighting hard at the end of each season just to keep the Champions League place for the next season.

When other teams can't get a Champions League place, they will also fight for the UEFA Cup place.

From the club's perspective, participating in European games can get more appearance fees or bonuses than the league.

From the player's perspective, participating in European games can expand fame, influence, increase exposure, and even increase value if the performance is good, as well as the opportunity to show themselves to other giants.

Especially for teams outside the top five leagues, the league's attention is naturally lower than that of the top five leagues, and they need more opportunities in European games to promote themselves to the top five leagues.

Teams in the top five leagues may only value the Champions League and look down on the UEFA Cup, but teams outside the top five leagues cherish the opportunity of the UEFA Cup.

Therefore, in the case of playing at home first and away later, and with an unfavorable schedule, Roda JC needs to win enough in this game.

In particular, the most dangerous Jiang Xiaolin did not start, which gave Roda JC players the greatest opportunity. They must establish a sufficient score lead before Jiang Xiaolin came on the court.

Therefore, at the beginning of the game, Roda JC launched a fierce attack on Alkmaar's defense line amid the cheers of the home fans.

Under the desperate attack of Roda JC players, Alkmaar's defense line was somewhat unable to withstand.

The main reason is that without Jiang Xiaolin starting in the frontcourt to engage the opponent's defense line, Roda JC can invest more backcourt players to assist.

For example, the full-backs can boldly take turns to assist.

Alkmaar's own strength will naturally not be so poor, but unfortunately everyone has developed a dependence on Jiang Xiaolin in the second half of the season.

What's more, this is still an away game, which has more or less affected the performance of some players.

So, after holding out for more than ten minutes, Alkmaar finally lost its defense in the 14th minute, and Roda JC used the full-back's assist from the wing and the cross from the bottom to score the first goal.

Roda JC led Alkmaar 1-0 at home, and the home fans of Roda JC cheered and screamed enthusiastically.

They seemed to see the hope of victory.

Van Gaal stood in the coaching area and stomped his feet, and even turned his head to look at Jiang Xiaolin on the bench, but he didn't let Jiang Xiaolin warm up after all.

Although the score was behind, Jiang Xiaolin was not injured or sick. It was undoubtedly a huge insult to the starting striker to make a substitution just over ten minutes after the start, and it was also a great insult to Van Gaal himself.Mo Da denied, which was equivalent to slapping himself in the face.

If Jiang Xiaolin was substituted more than 10 minutes after the start, it would be better to let Jiang Xiaolin start directly. Why change players more than 10 minutes after the start?

Therefore, after hesitating for a while, Van Gaal finally held back.

However, after losing the first goal, Alkmaar learned from shame and finally stabilized.

In particular, goalkeeper Sergio Romero saved two dangerous shots from the opponent in a row, which made the home fans of Roda JC sigh and stamp their feet.

Until the end of the first half, Roda JC did not score any more goals.

Of course, Alkmaar did not either. The two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 1-0, and the home team Roda JC led by one goal.

Alkmaar did not have no threatening attacks, but neither Hamdaoyi nor Ali could seize the opportunity to kick the ball into the opponent's goal.

In terms of shooting skills, Hamdaoyi and Ali were still far behind Jiang Xiaolin.

Jiang Xiaolin's full-value shooting skills are unprecedented and unique in the football world.

In view of the fact that the score was behind, Van Gaal asked Jiang Xiaolin about his physical condition during the halftime break.

Although the fatigue from continuous long-distance travel, flying, and jet lag has not been completely eliminated, Jiang Xiaolin feels that he can still play and contribute to the team.

Especially now that the team is behind in the score, he, the team's top scorer, needs to stand up.

Therefore, Jiang Xiaolin expressed his desire to play and participate in the battle.

So, during the halftime break, Van Gaal replaced Ali with Jiang Xiaolin and let Jiang Xiaolin continue to partner with Hamdaoyi as a double striker.

The players in other positions are basically the strongest main lineup of Alkmaar in the second half of the season.

Van Gaal's bottom line is to equalize the score and get an away goal. If the game can be reversed, it will naturally be better.

Knowing that Jiang Xiaolin had participated in the national Olympic team training and had gone home to see his mother within a few days, and must be very tired and had not recovered to his best condition, Van Gaal still substituted Jiang Xiaolin in order to equalize the score or even reverse the victory.