Semester Assessment

Over the past month or so, Yang Yang felt that the greatest progress he had made was in his mindset.

Since arriving in the Netherlands a year ago, he had suffered setback after setback, becoming severely lacking in confidence. Especially after joining the Almere Youth Team, he had been utterly crushed time and again, and had thought countless times about giving up.

But ever since he obtained the Super Training Ground, he had seen hope again. Through one grueling training session after another, he could clearly feel himself improving. Although the training was extremely dull and tedious, that progress allowed him to see hope.

His desire for success and improvement became the driving force that kept him going.

Gradually, Yang Yang began adapting to this dull, tedious basic training. After every session, he seemed to be able to feel even the slightest improvement, which gave him an immense sense of accomplishment. Especially after he began playing matches, he was practically ecstatic over his progress, further strengthening his resolve to keep training.

The improvement in ability brought by training, along with his increasingly outstanding performances in training and matches, gave Yang Yang tremendous confidence. It had also tempered his tenacious spirit, allowing him to face any situation or opponent without fear of a fight.

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

That mental toughness benefited him greatly in the semester assessment. Even in the final thirty-minute attack-and-defense match, when Yang Yang and Henk Dimer became opponents, facing the team's starting left-back, he quickly became the main attacking player on his side.

With God's Perspective, every run and every reception by Yang Yang caused enormous trouble for the player defending him. As long as he was given even a little space, and as long as his teammates' passes arrived accurately, he could quickly dribble forward and create danger.

The team's left-back had looked utterly miserable from the moment he was grouped with Yang Yang. Although he gave it everything he had, he still could not stop Yang Yang, being beaten by Forceful Breakthrough time and again. After playing for a dozen minutes, he realized that his one-on-one defensive success rate was actually zero. It was a complete humiliation, yet there was nothing he could do about it.

Yang Yang only had one reliable move, but that seemingly simple Pendulum Dribble had been perfected to the highest level in his hands.

Not to mention the Almere Youth Team—even in interschool matches, there was no defender who could stop him.

If Yang Yang's fundamentals had not been so poor, and if he had not made mistakes so often, his performance would have been far better than it was now.

Fortunately, after fifteen minutes, John Rep and Van Gaal quickly reached a consensus and immediately had Dick Van Pool substitute Yang Yang off. Henk Dimer, his opponent, was also taken off at the same time.

As for the latter, there was no need to say much. Yang Yang's strengths and weaknesses were both extremely obvious, and everyone understood them clearly.

"This kid is strange. He's impossible to read." John Rep shook his head and sighed.

In just over a month, Yang Yang gave him the impression of having been completely reborn, yet he was still utterly impossible to figure out.

"He persisted with basic training for over a month. Do you know how dull and tedious that was? It wasn't something an ordinary person could endure, yet he actually did it. And I heard that aside from eating, sleeping, and going to school, he spent all his remaining time training every day. Even I find that level of diligence hard to believe."

Van Gaal had personally witnessed Yang Yang's training, and his diligence and hard work had filled him with admiration.

For a sixteen-year-old boy to possess such mental toughness and self-discipline, Van Gaal felt both immense respect and intense curiosity. Just how far could a young man like this improve? Did he still have a chance to play professional football?

Of course, if they knew that Yang Yang even practiced with the ball while sleeping, they would have been even more shocked.

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

Van Gaal shook his head. "I can't read him, but I'd really like to see."

That happened to coincide with John Rep's thoughts.

"But at his age, to possess such tenacious mental strength is something I've never seen in anyone else throughout my life."

Van Gaal's words left John Rep deep in thought.

The two had once been teammates in the Ajax youth team. John Rep had been a direct product of the system and later rose to the First Team, while Ajax had not accepted Van Gaal, forcing him to move to another club. Although Van Gaal had achieved some success there, his professional career was far less illustrious than John Rep's.

After retiring, however, Van Gaal had worked as a physical education teacher before quickly securing a youth-training position at Ajax. He achieved remarkable results in the field, developing top European stars such as Kluivert, Seedorf, Davids, and Reiziger. In 1992, he succeeded Leo Benhak as Ajax's manager.

After several years under his management, Ajax, led by Van Gaal, vigorously promoted youth players and improved by leaps and bounds. In both 1995 and 1996, they reached the Champions League Final. In 1995, they defeated AC Milan 1–0 at Vienna's Happel Stadium to win the title. In 1996, they drew 1–1 with Juventus in Roma, Italy, but ultimately lost in the penalty shootout.

Those two years of success established Van Gaal's lofty status in the Netherlands and European Football. Although he later failed twice as Barcelona's manager and also performed poorly with the Netherlands National Team, his prestige suffered no damage.

John Rep greatly admired his former teammate. He also knew that Van Gaal's football creed was that hard work mattered more than talent, which was why he placed such importance on tactical discipline and players' ability to execute.

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

After Yang Yang came off, the unlucky left-back finally unleashed his full strength, thoroughly humiliating the right winger who came on as a substitute. He demonstrated his own ability while making one fact clear to everyone.

It wasn't that his defense was too poor. Yang Yang's one-on-one breakthroughs were simply too strong.

Everyone was also baffled. Yang Yang clearly only knew one move, the Pendulum Dribble, so how could they still be unable to defend against it?

Yang Yang gave people the feeling that every time he used the move, it was different from before. There was no pattern to follow. He was always changing it according to his opponent, leaving defenders completely unable to guard against him.

After the thirty-minute attack-and-defense match ended, Yang Yang listened to his teammates' complaints and apologized with a smile.

He truly had not intended to make things difficult for his teammates, but on the field, his only thought was to fight for a top-three position.

His teammates were too strong. Henk Dimer, Nick, and the others were all leading figures on the team. Logically speaking, there was no dispute that they would occupy the top three spots, while Yang Yang still had a huge gap between his fundamentals and theirs.

Therefore, Yang Yang could only score as many points as possible in his areas of strength, making up for his weaknesses with his advantages.

Looking around at his teammates, Yang Yang saw that many of those hovering near the elimination line were deeply anxious, worried that their performances had not been good enough and that the coaching staff would give them low scores and eliminate them.

The sight filled Yang Yang with emotion.

A little over a month ago, he had been just like everyone else, filled with worry about the future. How could he have imagined that a month later, he would no longer be worried about elimination at all, but instead be giving everything he had to fight for the top three?

All of this change had come from the Super Training Ground, as well as his own efforts.

Looking at his teammates' expressions, he silently swore to himself that he would keep training and work hard to improve.

"Don't worry. With your performance today, you'll definitely pass."

Henk Dimer, thinking that Yang Yang was worried about the assessment, came over and comforted him with a smile.

Yang Yang smiled in response but did not explain. After all, he had once declared that he would fight for a top-three spot, but that had become everyone's joke. Even now, hardly anyone believed him.

The main reason was that Yang Yang's fundamentals really were too poor.

"How have you considered the matter I mentioned to you a few days ago?" Henk Dimer asked.

Yang Yang nodded. "Sure. Count me in."

After receiving Henk Dimer's invitation, Yang Yang had first discussed it with his uncle, then called his parents. Although the semester assessment had not yet taken place, he had already confidently declared that he would remain with the team.

Their son was far away in the Netherlands, had excellent academic results, and had been noticed by a professional team on the verge of reaching the second tier. Yang Yang's parents had no reason to make him give up football and return home to study, so they could only agree to let him remain in the Netherlands.

However, his parents also made one demand: no matter how promising his football career was, he had to maintain his academic performance. Even if he could not play football in the future, he could still attend a university in the Netherlands. After returning home, having studied overseas would still be a valuable credential.

Yang Yang readily agreed to everything.

He was not being overconfident. Ever since obtaining the Super Training Ground, Yang Yang had been full of energy every day and discovered that his memory had become exceptionally strong. He often remembered what the teacher taught after hearing it only once, and could draw inferences and apply what he learned elsewhere.

After more than a month, although Yang Yang had spent all his free time practicing football, his academic results had not been affected. Instead, they had even improved.

Yang Yang himself could not understand the reason, and Old Bing had not offered a very good explanation either. It was probably an unexpected benefit brought by the Super Training Ground.

After the morning's semester assessment ended, the coaches still had to organize the scores, combine them with the players' usual training performances and match records, and consider their academic results at school before giving everyone a comprehensive score.

The comprehensive scores would not be available until the afternoon, but many teammates had already begun congratulating Henk Dimer, Nick, and the others in advance, believing that they had essentially secured the top three spots without suspense. Some had even arranged in advance for Henk Dimer and the others to obtain autographs from Ajax stars when they attended Talent Day.

Henk Dimer was also confident of victory and accepted all his teammates' requests.

As the teammates' opinions changed, no one mentioned Yang Yang's previous bold declaration that he would fight for a top-three spot. Even if some remembered it, they did not want to offend Yang Yang over it. But from beginning to end, no one believed that Yang Yang could fulfill his boast.

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

Yang Yang, meanwhile, dribbled the ball all the way south back to the Skate Park and continued his basic training.

In the Almere coaches' office, however, a dispute had arisen over the semester assessment scores.

A new week begins. I want to try to push a little harder, so please continue to support me!