Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 196

Real Madrid’s home stadium, Santiago Bernabéu. The stands, with a capacity of about 80,000 seats, are completely filled.

The England players in their white uniforms and the Netherlands players in their bright orange uniforms enter the field.

“Whew. The round of 16 was easy, but now I’m starting to get nervous.”

“The Netherlands are good.”

“Yeah. They’re really well-balanced. And they’re in great form.”

“In a way, it feels like the final.”

“Right. It’s a bit unfair for whoever loses. To meet each other in the quarterfinals of all places is rough.”

Rohaan and Ban Seok-ho look quite tense.

Indeed, the group stage and the round of 16 were comfortable.

The draw was decent.

Both Japan and Mexico were weaker teams than England in terms of objective power.

But the Netherlands are different.

Especially this year’s Netherlands team.

“Of all times, it has to be the golden generation…”

Golden generation.

The history of the Dutch golden generation is quite brilliant.

The first golden generation, represented by Rijkaard, Gullit, and Van Basten, the Orange Trio.

The second golden generation, built by Stam, Seedorf, Dennis Bergkamp, Kluivert, Edgar Davids, Overmars, and others.

And now, this national team is being called the third golden generation to follow in the footsteps of their seniors.

The core is the young players from Ajax [a famous Dutch football club].

Except for de Kleijn and Heitinger, the entire defense, from the goalkeeper to the defense, are all Ajax members.

Even de Kleijn is from Ajax, and his time playing with them overlaps.

In fact, it’s safe to say they are all Ajax players.

The midfield is the same.

Except for van der Velde, who belongs to Manchester United, they are all Ajax.

Only the attack doesn’t have Ajax players.

Janssen from Bayern Munich and de Vrij from Arsenal.

But this is also a delicate balance.

The weakness of Ajax was the attack.

These two were players who could sufficiently make up for that weakness.

Strictly speaking, the Netherlands was a team with a similar feel to Mexico.

A well-rounded team with a good balance of attack and defense.

However,

There is quite a difference in the scale of that balance.

The Netherlands is a complete package.

Moreover, their teamwork is excellent.

The biggest difference between a club team and a national team is teamwork.

After all, the national team doesn’t train and work together all year round.

In terms of teamwork, they can’t keep up with the club team.

But the Netherlands are different.

There are as many as six players from the same current team.

They are made up of players who can understand each other’s thoughts just by looking at each other’s eyes.

Anyway, the players from both England and the Netherlands are all brilliant.

In that case, the power of teamwork becomes even stronger.

Paah-!

You could tell just by looking at how they organically moved to form triangular formations and continued to pass, raising their possession rate.

It is not a common sight for England to easily lose ball possession.

But the Netherlands easily avoided England’s pressure.

And the attack development.

The pattern mainly used by the Netherlands is simple.

Both of the two forwards, de Vrij and Janssen, are tall strikers, but they are also players who prefer to move to the side.

If one of them goes to the side, a long pass will fly from the rear without fail.

Winning aerial balls against fullbacks is a piece of cake for them.

In particular, England’s left-back, Danny White, is not tall.

Of course, it was a good target for the Netherlands, and thanks to that, the Netherlands’ attack development seemed very easy today.

However, England does not easily allow more than that.

Although aerial ball fights are difficult, Danny White, who is good at man-to-man defense, took the ball from de Vrij.

And,

Connects directly to a counterattack.

An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

England can do what the Netherlands do.

Ppeooo-!

Shuuuuung-

Paah-!

Price’s accurate pass was connected to Johann.

Johann, who had moved to the right just like de Vrij.

However, the Netherlands’ left-back, Theo Ederveen, was a tall player, unlike Danny White.

With a height of 187 centimeters, he is a fairly large player for a fullback.

However,

In front of Johann, Danny White or Ederveen are all the same.

No, maybe White is better.

Because White is at least fast.

Ederveen staggered and reacted late to Johann’s sudden acceleration.

Unlike Mexico, the Netherlands is generally tall.

Therefore, they may be better than Mexico in aerial ball fights, but footwork may be disadvantageous.

Because the opponent is Johann.

Tatatat-!

Johann dribbles into the right side of the box.

At the same time, England players rush towards the box.

All teams facing England suffer from this situation.

Johann is a target that requires at least two or more people to stick to him.

But he also passes well.

When Johann has the ball, England always actively penetrates with a large number of players.

As long as Johann has the ball, there is no way he will lose it, so they don’t prepare for a counterattack.

Still, the Netherlands were quite calm.

“Behind!”

“Here!”

In that short moment, the defense lines up in an orderly manner.

You can feel that they haven’t been working together for just a day or two.

And,

De Kleijn sticks to Johann.

‘Sorry, but…’

De Kleijn, who had been waiting for this moment.

It came sooner than expected.

He knows that his physical condition is not 100 percent due to his sudden return after retirement.

So he feels sorry, but what can he do?

This is not a stage where he can afford to consider the enemy’s circumstances.

No matter how good Johann is, he wouldn’t be an existence that he can’t stop now.

You can tell just by looking at the uniform.

A uniform that fits snugly to the body like a tight top.

You can guess how comfortable his life has been since retirement.

It’s hard to understand how he can produce this kind of speed with that physique.

Tatatat-!

As de Kleijn stuck tightly, Johann protected the ball by blocking it with his left leg.

And a confrontation.

Johann, who puts the ball down and turns his back, and de Kleijn, who pushes Johann away.

‘His physical game has gotten better, huh?’

He doesn’t budge.

Because he has weight.

Well, he was originally a guy who didn’t budge.

‘But the other things…’

Even if his weight has increased and his physical game is better than when he was active, everything else must have fallen off.

You shouldn’t think about the old days.

If it’s him now, Derek de Kleijn, the best defender in the PL [Premier League] league, can absolutely prevent him from turning around…

“Behind!”

Huh?

Ppeooo-!

De Kleijn was dumbfounded by the sound of the shot that came from behind while he was pushing Johann.

What? Why is the ball there…

When did he take the ball away?

“…”

De Kleijn frowned and looked at the scoreboard.

The scene from just now is being replayed.

Johann was pretending to protect the ball, but he was taking the ball out from between his legs.

Damn it.

He didn’t even notice that…

‘Does that mean his senses haven’t dulled at all?’

There is a story that retired players always tell.

Even as they get older, their skills themselves are as good as their prime, or rather, they peak every year, but they retire because their stamina and physical abilities decline.

This guy will be the same.

There was a gap, but what fell due to that gap was only physical ability, not his senses.

‘We can’t let our guard down, huh?’

De Kleijn sighed.

Still, there are some satisfying parts.

Anyway, he couldn’t turn around.

He was a guy who would have turned around and even taken a shot if it was a year ago, but he stopped him from doing that.

Himself.

‘It’s almost sad. He was a really hard guy to stop when he was active.’

De Kleijn nodded confidently.

No goals have been scored by either team by the 25th minute of the first half.

A tight flow.

It’s not that there weren’t chances in between, but both teams escaped the crisis with the goalkeeper’s super save, a spirited defense, or the opponent’s mistake.

The situation has become very important as to which side will score the first goal.

‘It’s not bad.’

Jeroen Hauer, who lost interest in the Manchester United manager position due to Johann’s retirement, eventually terminated his contract and took over as the coach of the Dutch national team, nodded.

There was nothing wrong with the time passing like this.

As everyone knows, Johann’s stamina is not the same as before.

In other words, his body will inevitably become heavier as time goes by.

While preparing for today’s game, the most important thing was not to concede a goal in the first 30 minutes.

After that, Johann’s movements will definitely decrease, and if that’s the case, it’s worth a try.

The fact that it’s 0-0 until the 25th minute of the first half.

It’s a pity that no goals have been scored, but the game was definitely going as he wanted.

However,

Coach Ranister of England was thinking the same thing.

‘It’s about time to let our guard down.’

If Coach Hauer focused on the first 30 minutes, Coach Ranister had instructed Johann to use up his strength in the first 30 minutes.

Certainly, the Netherlands’ defense organization was incomparable to the opponents so far.

No matter how good Johann is, it would require considerable energy consumption to score goals against them.

In the games so far, Coach Ranister has never allowed Johann to play full-time.

He made him play about 60 minutes in both group stage games, and about 70 minutes in the round of 32 and round of 16.

When he checked Johann’s physical condition, that was the right level.

Fortunately, his stamina was improving every time he played a game, so he was planning to let him play full-time from the quarterfinals if possible.

Because from now on, this is a stage where you can’t let your guard down for 10 minutes, no, even 5 minutes.

So, he made Johann play while managing his stamina as much as possible.

When managing stamina, is it better to put all your strength in the beginning of the game and manage it in the second half, or is it better to save it in the beginning and put it all in the second half?

Of course, it’s the latter.

The clock on the scoreboard is ticking towards 30 minutes.

And,

Both coaches are thinking the same thing.

28:39…

29:24…

29:45…

30:00

‘That’s it.’

The moment 30 minutes passed, both Hauer and Ranister thought, ‘That’s it.’

Coach Hauer thought it was done because he hadn’t conceded a goal for 30 minutes, and Coach Ranister thought it was done because he didn’t have to wait any longer.

It was hard to hold back.

Seeing Johann, who came down to the half-line and grabbed the ball after 30 minutes, Coach Ranister smiled.

That guy, really.

He is a guy who is thorough with his sense of time.

Okay, come on.

Go!

It’s time to use your strength now!