First Goal

It was Saturday again. More than a hundred fans had gathered around Victoria Center Stadium in Diemen, on Amsterdam's southern outskirts. They stood voluntarily outside the low white metal railings by the pitch, watching the match inside.

Today, home side Diemen Bleed High School was facing Baken Academy from Almere.

There was a certain gap in strength between the two teams. After losing at home to their city rivals Omnibus last week, Baken Academy vented all the frustration they had bottled up over the past week on Bleed High School.

From the very first minute, Baken Academy firmly suppressed Bleed High School, especially down the right flank.

After his poor performance in the previous round, the reserve right back had been mercilessly discarded by Head Coach Dick Van Pool. Although Nick had recovered from his injury, he was kept on the bench as a precaution. Yang Yang, who had delivered a stunning performance in the last match, was once again named in the starting lineup.

Tempered by a grueling match, Yang Yang had gained a great deal. Coupled with having Saw Hope, he trained with even more drive. His performance on the pitch had improved markedly from a week ago, and together with the right midfielder ahead of him, he formed Baken Academy's sharp attacking blade down the right, tearing through Bleed High School's left-side defense time and again.

Less than ten minutes into the match, Yang Yang surged down the right on an overlapping run. After receiving the ball and facing the opposing left back, he immediately performed a Pendulum Dribble, cleanly sending the defender off balance and stumbling sideways onto the pitch. He then broke into the right side of the penalty area and squared the ball across goal, where Baken Academy's number nine struck home from close range.

That goal completely sounded the horn for Baken Academy's attack.

After that, Yang Yang became even more active on the right, frequently finding opportunities to receive the ball. Again and again, he faced defenders directly and beat them, but his subsequent handling was either poor or his crosses failed to find their mark, so he was unable to create another goal.

Instead, Henk Dimer, stationed in midfield, was even more proactive. Within half an hour, he scored once and assisted once, helping Baken Academy secure a 3–0 lead before the end of the First Half.

Watching his team completely control the match and establish a three-goal advantage that essentially settled the outcome, Head Coach Dick Van Pool finally breathed a huge sigh of relief, setting aside the burden he had carried since losing the City Derby a week earlier.

John Rep had unusually come to oversee an away match, but he still remained seated in the coaching area, silently watching the game.

When he saw Dick Van Pool approach, John Rep gave an oddly rueful smile. "It seems he only knows that one move."

Van Pool knew John Rep was talking about Yang Yang. He nodded. "It is rather strange."

Being exceptionally skilled at one move was not uncommon in professional football, but someone like Yang Yang, who only knew the Pendulum Dribble while possessing terrible fundamentals, was extremely rare. No wonder John Rep found it strange.

After his outstanding performance against Omnibus, Yang Yang had successfully caught the Coaching Staff's attention. But after a week of observation, almost everyone had reached the same conclusion: though his fundamentals had clearly improved, they were still not good enough and had yet to reach the average level of the Almere Youth Team.

At the same time, however, they had also concluded that Yang Yang was improving extremely quickly. Whether it was his basic skills or his performances in training and matches, he was progressing at a rate visible to the naked eye.

If he made a mistake today, he corrected it immediately the next day. Although new mistakes continued to emerge, he was constantly fixing them, and the same mistake rarely recurred. That in itself was an almost unbelievable form of progress.

And that was not all. Take his Pendulum Dribble, for example.

His movement was not as wide as Ronaldo's, but he added feints and adjustments to his footwork, making it even more deceptive. Defenders, forced to react in haste, were beaten over and over again, giving him an extremely high success rate.

When he faced Omnibus last week, the entire sequence had still been very immature and rough. But today, against Bleed High School, the few times he used the Pendulum Dribble, it was clearly smoother and more effective.

Given his current rate of improvement, John Rep, himself a former Right Winger, even wondered whether Yang Yang might become Almere's ultimate weapon for breaking through down the right if he could drill that move until it flowed as naturally as water and obeyed his command like an arm.

More importantly, he could finally confirm that Yang Yang truly had an extraordinary ability to read and anticipate matches. He was also the type of player who thrived in games, easily becoming fired up whenever he played and overflowing with passion on the pitch.

Players like that were exactly what every head coach dreamed of.

John Rep himself was so puzzled that he could not help wondering why he had never noticed these strengths in the kid before.

Naturally, he had no idea about Yang Yang's extraordinary encounter. Instead, he attributed it to his own prejudice, believing that he had only ever noticed Yang Yang's flaws and never paid attention to his strengths. He felt deeply ashamed.

"The match is pretty much over, Dick," John Rep said with a nod.

The half was about to end, and barring any surprises, Baken Academy, leading by three goals, would win.

"Make an adjustment at halftime. Send Nick on. He should get used to the rhythm of the match too."

Nick was a key player for the Almere Youth Team, capable in both attack and defense, and his position at right back was unshakeable.

"Put Nick on?" Dick Van Pool frowned deeply. "Yang Yang has been playing well. If we take him off now, wouldn't that..."

Half an hour in the last match and more than forty minutes in this one was not much time, but Dick Van Pool had already started to like this Chinese player. There was no special reason—he was easy to use, and once on the pitch, he worked extremely hard without holding anything back.

"I didn't say to take him off. I mean move him farther forward and let him attack with everything he has."

"Attack with everything he has?" Dick Van Pool paused, but quickly understood.

That was right. Yang Yang had played right back in both matches. Though he had performed well in attack, he still had to divide his attention for defense. Let Nick play right back and push Yang Yang into midfield—or even the front line—to attack, and he would have far fewer concerns behind him.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing what he can do," Dick Van Pool said with a chuckle.

John Rep smiled. He was looking forward to it as well.

"Later, tell the bus driver to detour past Amsterdam Arena on the way back."

"Hm?" Dick Van Pool was thoroughly confused.

Normally, returning from Diemen to Almere only required heading east. Once they got onto the A1 Motorway, they could reach Almere directly. But Amsterdam Arena was west of Diemen. Taking that route would not only be longer, but would also mean passing through busy districts.

That area was the heart of Amsterdam's Southeast New Town.

"It's time to give them some motivation," John Rep said with a chuckle.

Attack with everything he had?

When Yang Yang heard Van Pool's adjustment and instructions during halftime, his entire body ignited.

Especially when he heard the head coach solemnly instruct Henk Dimer to do his utmost to support him, excitement surged through him and a deep sense of satisfaction welled up inside.

He could tell that Van Pool was testing him, to see whether he had what it took to become the team's weapon for breaking down defenses.

This was a perfect opportunity for him to return to an attacking position!

When the Second Half began and the teams switched ends, Yang Yang appeared in front of Bleed High School's left back. He clearly saw the other player's entire face darken.

In the First Half, the two sides had clashed head-on plenty of times, and he had not gained the slightest advantage over Yang Yang. He was deeply wary of this Chinese player, who looked rather unreliable but had mastered the Pendulum Dribble to perfection—he was even a little afraid of him.

Wasn't he a fullback? Why had he suddenly come up front? And pushed so far forward at that?

What was he trying to do?

Seeing the defender's near-tearful expression, Yang Yang grinned, flashing a mouthful of white teeth, and gave an innocent chuckle.

"Please go easy on me."

The pleasantries had been said, but he showed no mercy on the pitch.

Back in China, Yang Yang had played attacking roles, both as a striker and out wide. Winger was practically his old trade.

When he had played fullback before, he had constantly had to worry about defending. But now, with starting right back Nick positioned behind him and Head Coach Van Pul telling him to attack with everything he had, what did he have left to worry about?

He knew his own strengths and weaknesses well. After the opening whistle, he had proactively dropped back, and the opposing left back, worried about leaving space behind him, had been unwilling to take risks and allowed Yang Yang to come deep.

After all, this was only an interschool match, and the defending was relatively loose. Yang Yang easily received the ball between the fullback and wide midfielder, turned, and immediately drove forward with the ball. At a steady pace, he charged toward the left back, forcing the opposition's defensive line to keep retreating.

As one advanced and the other retreated, Yang Yang kept closing the gap. When he reached his opponent, he suddenly accelerated and performed another Pendulum Dribble. After shaking off the defender with a series of feints, he drove straight to the byline and sent in a cross.

The entire sequence beforehand had been beautiful, but the final cross lacked quality. It was slightly too high, and the two strikers arriving in the middle failed to get under it in time. In the end, Bryde Middle School's right back hoofed the ball clear.

Failing to create a goal left Yang Yang somewhat disappointed. I still need to find time to practice my crossing more.

As a right-footed player on the right flank, crossing was a highly threatening skill. Even if he did not have the time or energy to learn [Beckham's Cross] for now, he at least needed to make his crosses somewhat more reliable.

Although he had mishit the final cross, Yang Yang's brilliant dribble still won him applause from the fans on the sidelines.

This was not a professional match, and even the home supporters did not hesitate to cheer for an away player.

Having returned to the attacking position he knew best, and having seized the initiative early in the Second Half to suppress the opposing left back in terms of Momentum, Yang Yang, now free to attack without restraint, became even more active down the right. His abundant stamina allowed him to sprint tirelessly up and down that flank.

Finally, in the sixty-third minute, after breaking through once again on the right, he played a low ball across the box, setting up the late-arriving midfielder Henk Dimer for a close-range finish. Four-nil.

With the result beyond doubt, everyone at Baken Academy grew more relaxed. Many players began to play more freely, and all kinds of casual moves appeared on the pitch. Yang Yang, in particular, was no longer content to break through only on the right and began cutting into the penalty area again and again.

Finally, in the eighty-second minute, he once more used the Pendulum Dribble on the right to forcefully break through the opposing left back from the inside, then squared the ball to the number nine striker at the edge of the box. Reading his intent perfectly, the striker slipped a through ball behind the defenders.

Yang Yang cut diagonally into the penalty area at top speed. Catching up with the ball and facing the goalkeeper's decisive rush off his line, he gently nudged it with the inside of his right foot. The ball slid past the keeper's side and struck the net behind him.

A goal?

He'd scored?

Yang Yang was completely stunned.

This was the first time he had scored against an opponent since arriving in the Netherlands.

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