Van Gaal

To show how seriously Almere took this semester assessment, the venue had been arranged at the club's home ground.

Municipal Stadium belonged to the Almere municipal government, but the club had rented it for a long time. It connected directly to the club's training grounds, with a rugby field to the east and tennis and baseball courts to the south.

The First Team's home ground was not very large, with only low, single-tier stands surrounding it.

When Yang Yang and the others came out of the locker room and entered the prepared venue, quite a few fans had already filled the stands, except for an empty section in the middle of the main stand. More fans continued to enter through the aisles, and many players' parents and relatives had even brought banners cheering them on.

Yang Yang also spotted his uncle's family in the eastern stand. Even the employees from the Chinese Restaurant had made a special trip to cheer for him. Since it was still warm-up time, he did not go over, merely waving from a distance in greeting.

As Yang Yang warmed up meticulously on the field, a commotion came from the main stand.

The club chairman, René ter Borgh, appeared accompanied by several distinguished guests. Although there was no welcoming ceremony, many people still recognized the mayor of Almere and several government officials among them. Many of the other guests accompanying them were also prominent figures from Almere.

Yang Yang had only just arrived and was unfamiliar with all these people, so he paid them no mind and continued his warm-up. Henk Dimer and the others, however, were extremely excited by the mayor's arrival.

"It looks like the rumors that the municipal government will strongly support Almere's push for the Dutch Second Division are true."

"With the municipal government's support, and the club officially becoming Ajax's satellite club, Almere should accomplish great things over the next few years. Entering the Dutch Second Division is only a matter of time."

"That's right, that's right. If we don't make it this year, we definitely will next year."

Yang Yang listened without saying a word. He recognized only the chairman, René ter Borgh, who was said to be a local tycoon from Almere. However, he did not live in the city proper, but in Blaricum.

Laren and Blaricum, in Amsterdam's southeastern suburbs, were the residential areas most favored by tycoons and corporate executives. They were actually closer to Almere, lying just south of Hooij Lake, southwest of Almere.

What truly impressed Yang Yang was ter Borgh's vision and boldness. In less than seven years since founding Almere, he had brought the team to its current level, which was no small achievement. The main reason behind it was ter Borgh's complete trust in John Rep. Apart from financial matters, he had practically handed the entire club over to John Rep to manage.

Unlike China, where the football atmosphere was not particularly strong, football in the Netherlands was the most fashionable topic among all political and business celebrities. This was obvious from the way ter Borgh chatted and laughed with the mayor and other government officials in the main stand.

The government was also quite willing to invest in infrastructure. Without even mentioning anything else, the grounds rented by Almere included a standard stadium with stands, two training buildings, six standard football training fields, and three half-pitches. Almere had at least three or four training facilities of a similar scale.

As Yang Yang marveled at the Dutch government's investment in football, another commotion arose in the main stand.

Looking over, he happened to see First Team head coach John Rep appear in the main stand. He courteously led two distinguished guests behind him, while ter Borgh and the others, who had already been seated in the stands, rose together.

"Who's that?"

"What's the background of that man and woman?"

"Oh my God, that's... That's..."

"Van Gaal!"

"Who?"

"Van Gaal! Louis van Gaal!"

"Seriously?"

"Yes, it really is Louis van Gaal."

"Good Lord, why is he here?"

Not only were the players on the field discussing it animatedly, but the parents and fans in the surrounding stands were also thrown into an uproar.

Louis van Gaal was a legendary super-coach in Dutch football and at Ajax. He had spent many years working in Ajax's youth system and had developed numerous stars. Later, in the 1990s, he led Ajax to the Champions League title. That was Ajax's final period of glory, and he was hailed as Ajax's last godfather after Michels and Cruyff.

For that matter, Ajax's current head coach, Ronald Koeman, was a player developed under Van Gaal.

As everyone marveled at Van Gaal's appearance, Yang Yang was also left dumbfounded.

He recognized the man walking behind head coach John Rep. Wasn't he the Dutch Middle-aged Man who often came to watch him train? And wasn't the middle-aged woman behind him his girlfriend, Trus Opameer?

Good heavens, so he's Louis van Gaal!

Yang Yang was utterly shocked and could hardly believe it.

Back in China, he had been fairly familiar with football news, so he was naturally no stranger to the name Louis van Gaal. However, he came from a county-level city in Quanzhou, where newspapers and information were not very developed. There were no live broadcasts of La Liga on television, and during his year in the Netherlands, he had buried himself in training and ignored everything else. On top of that, Van Gaal had worn a golf cap every time he saw him, hiding most of his face. As a result, Yang Yang had failed to recognize him at all.

But wasn't Van Gaal coaching Barcelona?

Oh, right. It seemed there had been news in January that he had been dismissed ahead of schedule.

Although he had been sacked by Barcelona twice and had also failed during his stint as head coach of the Netherlands National Team, Van Gaal still held an exalted position in Dutch football. Everyone treated him with respect, and everyone at Almere felt honored that a world-class coach of his stature had accepted their invitation.

Yang Yang watched Van Gaal from the field, while the Dutch coaching great likewise found him in the stands. Smiling, he raised his right hand and waved at Yang Yang from afar. The gesture immediately caught John Rep's attention.

"Louis, you know Yang Yang?" John Rep asked in surprise.

Van Gaal's smile faded, and he nodded lightly. "You could say that."

He did not seem to like discussing his private affairs in front of outsiders.

"More than that. He secretly followed the boy for over a month and still misjudged him," Trus teased with a laugh.

John Rep was even more puzzled. "What happened?"

Trus glanced at Van Gaal and saw that he did not want to say anything, so she could only briefly explain the matter herself. It was nothing more than that Van Gaal had initially believed Yang Yang would not be able to persist with his foundational training for long, only to be completely surprised by the result.

She explained it vaguely, but John Rep was astonished.

As the team's head coach, he had already completely changed his opinion of Yang Yang and was very optimistic about him. But hearing Trus say that even Van Gaal thought highly of Yang Yang, to the extent that he had followed his training for over a month, what did that mean?

Everyone in the Netherlands knew that Van Gaal was notorious for his foul temper and could not tolerate even a grain of sand in his eye. Yet he had followed Yang Yang for a month. Apart from having immense confidence in him, what other explanation could there be?

And who did not know that Van Gaal was famous for his razor-sharp eye? Winning his approval was practically more convincing than being noticed by Ajax's Chief Scout. If word got out, Yang Yang's value would instantly soar, drawing the attention and even recruitment efforts of countless Dutch teams.

More importantly, John Rep had already received definite news that Van Gaal's next destination would be...

Thought after thought flashed through his mind, leaving the Almere head coach somewhat caught off guard.

After the players finished warming up, club chairman René ter Borgh began his speech before the assessment. He also announced a major piece of news from the club: Yanmar Agricultural Machinery from Japan had officially sponsored and acquired the naming rights to Almere's stadium.

In other words, Municipal Stadium would officially be renamed Yanmar Stadium.

This sponsorship from Japan would greatly ease Almere's financial pressure while also giving everyone at the club a tremendous boost.

Regardless of whether the team could successfully earn promotion to the Dutch Second Division this season, the club's operations were clearly flourishing.

After chairman René ter Borgh, head coach John Rep solemnly explained the purpose of the semester assessment. He also announced that he had invited renowned coach Van Gaal to serve as the technical consultant for the assessment, earning thunderous applause from the entire venue.

The test was the same as a normal training session and still lasted ninety minutes. The exercises were also similar to the usual training drills, consisting of regular activities most useful for evaluation, such as ten-meter and thirty-meter sprint shuttles, Piggy in the Middle, four-a-side games, and six-a-side small-field attacking and defending. The only difference was that a thirty-minute full-field match had been arranged at the end.

Since none of the drills were unusual, everyone soon began the final assessment under Dick Van Pul's organization.

Although these were all exercises they performed every day, everyone clearly sensed the difference. More coaches stood on the sidelines with notebooks, watching the matches and assigning scores. This put tremendous pressure on many players who normally performed well but were somewhat prone to nervousness, causing them to make frequent mistakes.

The coaches showed no sympathy when scoring them, because this was also part of the psychological assessment.

If a player lacked sufficient mental strength, that would likewise limit his future development. After all, on a real playing field, opponents would not show the slightest mercy or sympathy to the weak.

It was just like the match against Omnibus. The right-back who had replaced Nick had performed terribly, and afterward Dick Van Pul had banished him to the bench. He had not received even one more chance to play.

The coaches did not score players merely by looking at whether they made mistakes. They conducted a more comprehensive evaluation.

Take passing, for example. They assessed the passer's quality, including the ball's speed, its trajectory, whether it was played to the receiver's preferred foot, and whether it was easy to receive. At the same time, they evaluated the receiver's movement to offer support and his receiving technique.

Passing and receiving were Yang Yang's weaknesses. Although he had improved considerably after more than a month of intensive practice, he was still inferior to the others. However, his off-ball movement, support play, and passing lanes repeatedly produced eye-catching moments.

In the speed tests, whether it was the ten-meter or thirty-meter sprint shuttle, he was the fastest player on the entire team.

Over the past month, in addition to carrying out the most basic training, he had not neglected his greatest strength, his speed. Under Old Bing's professional supervision, both his speed and explosiveness had improved compared with before.

Yang Yang also showed his progress during the subsequent Piggy in the Middle game and small-sided matches.

When they finally began the full-field attacking and defending match, head coach John Rep and technical consultant Van Gaal came down from the stands as well. They personally went to the sideline to supervise the game and score the players.

If nothing unexpected happened, I should have been watching the World Cup final at this time.

A new week has begun. I hope everyone will continue to support me and cast all your recommendation votes my way. Many thanks!