Super Wingstorm

In the past month or so, Yang Yang felt that the area where he had improved the most was his mentality.

In the year since he arrived in the Netherlands, he had suffered one setback after another, leaving him severely lacking in confidence. Especially after joining the Almere Youth Team, he was so thoroughly crushed that it was painful to watch, and he had thought about giving up countless times.

But ever since getting the Super Training, he had found hope again. Through session after session of grueling training, he could clearly feel himself improving. Although the training was extremely dull and tedious, this progress gave him hope.

The desire to succeed, the desire to improve—this became the driving force that kept him going.

Gradually, Yang Yang began to adapt to the dull and tedious basic training. After every session, he could almost feel the most subtle improvements, which gave him a huge sense of accomplishment. This was especially true once he started playing in matches; he was ecstatic about his progress, which further strengthened his resolve to continue training.

The increase in strength from his training, along with his increasingly outstanding performances in practice and matches, gave Yang Yang immense confidence. It also forged a tenacious will within him, making him dare to fight no matter the situation or the opponent.

Even when he made a mistake, he could quickly adjust his mindset.

This willpower benefited him greatly in the semester assessment. Even in the final thirty-minute offensive and defensive drill, where Yang Yang was pitted against teammates like Henk Demyer and faced the team’s main left-back, he quickly became the primary attacker for his side.

With the help of [God’s Vision], every run and every reception of the ball by Yang Yang caused huge problems for the players defending him. As long as he was given a little space and a teammate’s pass was accurate, he could quickly take the ball and create a threat.

From the moment he was grouped against Yang Yang, the team’s left-back had a miserable look on his face. Although he gave it his all, he was still powerless to stop Yang Yang, getting broken through by force again and again. After about ten minutes, he discovered that his success rate in one-on-one defending was an astonishing zero. It was an utter humiliation, but there was nothing he could do.

Yang Yang was a one-trick pony, but he had mastered that one, seemingly simple trick—the Pendulum Move—to perfection.

Forget the Almere Youth Team; even in inter-school matches, no defender could stop him.

If not for Yang Yang’s poor fundamentals and his frequent unforced errors, his performance would have been even more outstanding.

Fortunately, after fifteen minutes, John Reep and Van Gaal quickly reached a consensus and had Dick Van Puer substitute Yang Yang off the field. Henk Demyer from the opposing side was also taken off.

There was no need to elaborate on the latter. Yang Yang’s strengths and weaknesses were both obvious, and everyone was well aware of them.

"This kid is strange. It’s hard to figure him out," John Reep said, shaking his head and sighing.

In just over a month, Yang Yang seemed to have undergone a complete transformation, yet Reep still couldn’t figure him out at all.

"He’s been sticking to basic training for over a month. You know how dull and tedious that is—it’s not something an ordinary person could endure. But he did it. And I heard that apart from eating, sleeping, and going to school, he spends all his other time training. His diligence is so extreme that even I find it hard to believe."

Van Gaal had seen Yang Yang train with his own eyes, and he couldn’t help but admire his diligence and hard work.

He was both deeply impressed and very curious that a sixteen-year-old boy could have such willpower and self-control. ’Just how much further can a young man like this improve? Is there still a chance for him to play in a professional league?’

Of course, if they knew that Yang Yang was even training while he slept, they would surely be even more shocked.

"What do you think of him?" John Reep asked with concern.

Van Gaal shook his head. "I can’t figure him out, but I’d like to see more."

This coincided with John Reep’s own thoughts.

"But for someone his age to have such a resilient will is something I have never seen before in my entire life."

Van Gaal’s words gave John Reep much to think about.

The two were once teammates on the Ajax Youth Team. John Reep was a product of the academy who was later promoted to the first team, but Van Gaal was not accepted by Ajax and was forced to transfer to another club. Although he had some success, Van Gaal’s playing career was far less illustrious than John Reep’s.

After retiring, however, although Van Gaal worked for a time as a gym teacher, he soon secured a youth development job at Ajax and made a name for himself in the field. He developed top-tier European stars like Cruyff, Siedorf, Davis, and Reiziger, and in 1992, he took over from Leo Benhak as the manager of Ajax.

After a few years of management, under Van Gaal’s leadership, Ajax heavily promoted its youth players and their strength grew by leaps and bounds. In both 1995 and 1996, they reached the Champions League final. In 1995, they defeated AC Milan 1-0 at the Happel Stadium in Vienna to win the title. In 1996, in Rome, Italy, they drew 1-1 with Juventus but ultimately lost in the penalty shootout.

It was the achievements of these two years that established Van Gaal’s revered status in Dutch and European football. Although his two subsequent stints coaching Barcelona ended in failure and his time with the Dutch National Team was also not ideal, it did nothing to diminish Van Gaal’s prestige.

John Reep greatly admired his former teammate. He also knew that Van Gaal’s football philosophy was that hard work is more important than talent, which was why he placed great importance on tactical discipline and players’ ability to execute.

It could be said that Yang Yang was precisely the type of player Van Gaal admired most.

...

...

After Yang Yang was subbed off, the unlucky left-back finally unleashed his fury. He completely dominated the substitute right-winger, both demonstrating his own skill and making one fact clear to everyone.

It wasn’t that his defending was too poor, but that Yang Yang’s one-on-one dribbling was just too strong.

Everyone was baffled. He clearly only knew one move, the Pendulum Move, so why couldn’t anyone stop it?

The feeling Yang Yang gave off was that every time he used it, it was different from the last. There was no pattern to follow. He was always adapting it based on his opponent, which made it completely impossible for defenders to guard against.

When the thirty-minute offensive and defensive drill ended, Yang Yang listened to his teammates’ complaints and apologized with a smile.

He really hadn’t meant to embarrass his teammate, but on the field, his only thought was to fight for a top-three spot.

His teammates were too strong. Henk Demyer, Nick, and the others were the leading figures of the team. Logically, it should have been indisputable that they would sweep the top three spots. Yang Yang still had a large gap to close with them in terms of fundamentals.

Therefore, Yang Yang could only score as many points as possible in the areas where he excelled, playing to his strengths to make up for his weaknesses.

Looking around at his teammates, many of those hovering on the edge of elimination were fraught with worry, anxious that their performance wasn’t good enough and that they would be cut after receiving low scores from the coaching staff.

This scene made Yang Yang feel quite emotional.

A month ago, he was just like everyone else, full of anxiety about the future. Who would have thought that a month later, he wouldn’t be worried about elimination at all, but would instead be fighting for a top-three spot with all his might?

This entire transformation came from the Super Training and his own personal effort.

Looking at the expressions on his teammates’ faces, he made a silent vow to himself to keep training diligently and improve.

"Don’t worry. With your performance today, passing is definitely not a problem."

Henk Demyer, who was standing nearby, thought Yang Yang was worried about the assessment and walked over to comfort him with a smile.

Yang Yang returned the smile but didn’t explain. After all, he had once said he would fight for a top-three spot, but it had become a joke to everyone. Even now, very few people would believe him.

The main reason was that Yang Yang’s fundamentals were truly too poor.

"That thing I mentioned to you a few days ago, have you thought about it?" Henk Demyer asked.

Yang Yang nodded. "Yeah, count me in."

After receiving Henk Demyer’s invitation, Yang Yang first discussed it with his uncle and then called his parents. Although the semester assessment hadn’t happened yet, he had confidently told them that he would be kept on the team.

With their son far away in the Netherlands, getting excellent grades in his studies, and now being scouted by a professional team on the verge of promotion to the second division, Yang Yang’s parents really had no reason to make him give up football and return home to study. They could only agree to let him stay in the Netherlands.

However, his parents also made a request: regardless of his football prospects, he had to maintain his grades in his academic classes. Even if he couldn’t make it as a player in the future, he could still attend a university in the Netherlands. Then, with a "foreign-educated" label, he would still be in high demand if he returned to his home country.

Yang Yang, of course, readily agreed to everything.

This wasn’t him being arrogant. Ever since getting the Super Training, Yang Yang was full of energy every day and found that his memory had become excellent. He could often remember what the teacher taught in class after hearing it just once and could even extrapolate from it to understand related concepts.

Over the past month or so, although Yang Yang had spent all his spare time training, his grades in his academic classes were not only unaffected but had actually improved.

Yang Yang himself couldn’t figure out the reason for this, and Old Ice hadn’t given a good explanation either. It was just an unexpected bonus from the Super Training, he supposed.

After the morning’s semester assessment, the coaches still had to organize the scores. They would combine them with his usual training performance, his match records, and his academic grades from school to give a final composite rating.

The composite ratings wouldn’t be announced until the afternoon, but many teammates were already congratulating Henk Demyer, Nick, and the others, believing they had the top three spots locked up with no suspense. Many had even made advance requests, asking Henk Demyer and the others to get autographs from Ajax stars for them when they went to attend the talent day.

Henk Demyer also felt confident of victory and accepted all of his teammates’ requests.

As for Yang Yang’s previous boast about competing for a top-three spot, with his teammates’ changing opinions of him, no one brought it up anymore. Even if some remembered it, they were unwilling to offend Yang Yang over it. But from beginning to end, no one believed that Yang Yang could actually make good on his bold claim.

After John Reep announced the dismissal, everyone returned to the locker room to shower before going their separate ways.

Yang Yang, however, juggled a ball as he headed south back to the skate park to continue his basic training.

Meanwhile, in the coaches’ office in Almere, a dispute had arisen over the scoring for the semester assessment.