Chapter 247 Group of Death

Yang Yang originally thought he had no fans in Japan, because the Japanese always looked down on Chinese football.

But what he did not expect was that when Ajax took a flight, crossed half the world and arrived at Narita Airport in Tokyo, Japan, a large number of Japanese fans came to the airport to pick up the plane.

Many of them wore Ajax No. 11 jerseys under the banner of welcoming Yang Yang. When they saw Ajax players appear, they were very enthusiastic and rushed towards Ajax. Go up, especially the most eye-catching Yang Yang.

The Toyota Cup is held in East Asia, Ajax is the Champions League champion, Yang Yang is the only Asian player in the Ajax team, and he has just won the European Golden Boy Award, known as the under-21 The most talented, top-performing young player.

Add the lore goal in the Champions League final before the first half of the year, and the outstanding performance in the Asian Cup.

The past has made Yang Yang super attractive in the Asian region, and the limelight has long overshadowed the international players from South Korea and Japan.

The Ajax players have just jumped more than half of the world, and they are already exhausted and exhausted. On the contrary, Yang Yang is still in high spirits. In the face of the autograph requirements of Japanese fans, he will not refuse.

Soon, he saw Wei Zhen from China in the crowd.

Wei Zhen managed to squeeze away the fans and colleagues and came to Yang Yang, which made his image quite embarrassed.

"Brother Wei, I'm so sorry, I didn't expect there are so many Japanese fans." Yang Yang looked at him and laughed.

Wei Zhen shrugged depressedly, and he really had no choice, "They have always worshiped the strong."

Yang Yang raised his eyebrows, am I a strong man?

Well, it's good to be a strong man.

"This is the last Toyota Cup, and it has little international influence, but the domestic media and fans attach great importance to this Toyota Cup. There will also be many Chinese fans watching the game, and the TV station also specially arranged for me to follow and report. "

Yang Yang nodded, "Okay, but I'm afraid not tonight. Tomorrow, I'll apply with the team and accept your interview."

"Okay, the time is determined, contact me."

After sending Wei Zhen away, Yang Yang was soon surrounded by enthusiastic Japanese fans again, and there were also many female fans, all of whom shouted Yang Yang's name and stretched out their hands, trying to hold Yang Yang.

That passionate look made Yang Yang feel a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, the airport ground staff and security guards were well prepared, and soon came forward to rescue Yang Yang, and escorted Yang Yang all the way to the bus that had been prepared in advance and parked at the door.

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"Hey, Yang, didn't you say that you and Japan are mortal enemies?" Haitinga asked curiously.

"Yeah, what's the matter?" Yang Yang turned his head and asked with a smile.

"Then why do they still like you so much?"

Yang Yang laughed and suddenly remembered what Wei Zhen said, "They have always admired the strong."

"What? Powerhouse?" Heitinga showed an incredible expression, "Are you talking about you?"

With that said, the Ajax captain deliberately opened the zipper of his jacket, revealing the strong chest muscles and abdominal muscles outlined by a close-fitting training suit inside, showing off to Yang Yang for a while.

There was a burst of laughter on the bus.

"It makes sense for you to say that, you are indeed very strong." Yang Yang nodded in approval.

But just when Heitinga was complacent and wanted to show off his muscles, Yang Yang changed the subject, "However, generally speaking, female fans chase players either because he is stronger or because he is handsome, since I don't have you. If you are not as strong as you, it can only prove that I..."

Heitinga didn't wait for him to finish speaking, and immediately zipped up his jacket, "No no no, you are still stronger."

The crowd burst into laughter again.

Between the strong and the handsome, Heitinga chose the handsome without hesitation.

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For the Toyota Cup, Ajax does not take it very seriously, because the opponent in this session is Caldas, the dark horse of the Libertadores Cup from Colombia, and his strength is not strong.

As long as the team adjusts a little and plays normally, there is no problem in beating the opponent.

What really surprised Ajax was that Yang Yang was so favored in Japan.

If the enthusiastic fans went to the airport to pick up the team on the day of the team’s arrival, everyone in Ajax had already felt Yang Yang’s influence in the Asian region, then the next day, the team’s first training session in Yokohama, outside It was crowded with fans and reporters, which surprised everyone.

There is no doubt that they are all directed at Yang Yang.

Yang Yang himself was a little flattered by this situation.

After the recovery training, the team specially arranged for him, Sneijder and Maxwell to interact with the fans on the spot, and also made an exception to arrange for Yang Yang to be interviewed by the on-site media reporters.

The group of reporters is not only from Japan, but also from several Chinese and Korean media.

It can be said that so far, Yang Yang almost represents the highest level of Asian players studying abroad, the Champions League lore ball, the European Golden Boy Award, which is an honor that all Asian players studying abroad have never won in the past.

In this regard, Yang Yang humbly stated that his career has just begun, which is more of an encouragement.

Ajax's performance this season is not very satisfactory, but Yang Yang firmly believes that the team will improve in the second half, and also said that he will strive to play a higher competitive state in the second half.

There were also Japanese reporters at the scene who asked Yang Yang about the draw results of the Asian quarter-finals of the World Cup qualifiers that just ended a few days ago. They wanted to know Yang Yang's views on the results of the draw.

After the Chinese team defeated Kuwait, the national football team successfully qualified from the group and advanced to the quarter-finals.

The draw for the quarter-finals is based on the results of the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. South Korea and Japan are in the first tier, China and Saudi Arabia are in the second tier, and Iran and Uzbekistan are in the second tier. Stan was placed in the third pot, and Bahrain and North Korea were placed in the fourth pot.

Starting in November, all the teams expected to make it to the quarter-finals have been doing public relations in the AFC, and they are eager to avoid the third Iranian team, because everyone knows that drawing Iran is equivalent to drawing in group of death.

But there are only two groups in the quarter-finals, either Japan or South Korea.

The final result was that South Korea won Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Bahrain, and Japan won China, Iran and North Korea in a lottery ceremony held in Kuala Lumpur on December 9.

In other words, China has been drawn into the group of death.

As early as after the lottery results were released, Wei Zhen passed the news to Yang Yang as soon as possible.

"This is really not a lucky draw. We were drawn in the same group as the two most powerful teams in Asia. North Korea also has strong competitiveness. The situation in this group is indeed very bad."

Yang Yang answered questions from the media with a solemn expression, "But I want to say that we have the confidence to face all difficulties and challenges."

"Whether it is Japan or Iran, we are no strangers. We have competed with these two teams in the Asian Cup. I think we have the strength to win. Of course, this requires everyone to work together and work together."

When the Japanese media asked Yang Yang to guess the final situation of the group, Yang Yang said with a smile, "I hope to see China, Japan and Iran join hands to qualify."

This is a very clever answer.

According to the rules of the group stage, the top two teams in the group will advance directly, and the two third-placed teams will play in the play-offs. The winning team will compete with the fourth-placed team from Central and North America for a ticket to the World Cup in Germany.

Yang Yang's answer won him warm applause from the scene.

But soon a Japanese reporter picked on him and asked him about his behavior of actively intimidating the referee in the Asian Cup final, which made the originally relaxed atmosphere of the scene very embarrassing.

Yang Yang also restrained his smile and said righteously, "Even now, I still insist that it was a handball, and it was a deliberate handball. I can understand that the Japanese players did not recognize this for the sake of the country at that time. Facts, but I cannot understand that today, in the face of indisputable facts, there are still people who are unwilling to accept the truth."

The Japanese reporter who asked did not expect Yang Yang to be so tit-for-tat all of a sudden, but instead became very embarrassed.

Yang Yang was also not interested in accepting interviews any more. He politely apologized to the fans and media reporters on the scene, then turned and left.

As for the reporter who disrupted the situation, he ran away in despair under the hostility of many of his peers.

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On the third night of the team's arrival in Yokohama, at the Yokohama Stadium in the World Cup final, witnessed by nearly 60,000 fans, the last Toyota Cup officially kicked off.

Caldas faced the European giants with a defensive counterattack.

The Colombian team arrived in Japan ahead of schedule on December 1, and has been training and preparing for half a month here. It can be said that it is in the best state to face Ajax.

On the other hand, Ajax, not to mention the long journey, just played the game four days ago, and the physical consumption is huge.

Ronald Koeman also knows in his heart that the team’s physical fitness is in a disadvantageous state and must kill the opponent in the first half.

Therefore, from the very beginning of the game, Ajax took on an aggressive attacking stance and firmly suppressed Caldas.

In just four minutes of the opening, Yang Yang made a cross from the right, and Charl Steas headed the goal from close range and hit the crossbar.

Although he failed to score, he was also shocked by the cold sweat of the opponent.

Then there was another attack planned from the right side. Maicon made a cross from the right, and Wesley Songk volleyed from the back point, but it hit the post and bounced off the bottom line again.

But just in the middle of the post twice in a row, when everyone was worried that Ajax's luck and state were not ideal, Yang Yang stepped forward, and Charlie Steas leaned on the opponent's central defender with his body. When the pass was stopped to Yang Yang, Yang Yang dunked an opponent's defender and hit a volley with his left foot, breaking the deadlock on the court.

The goal was broken, and Caldas could no longer defend it.

Colombia’s dark horse could only take the initiative to attack in the second half. Ajax, on the one hand, took advantage of the situation to control the enemy, on the other hand, its own physical ability declined so much that it had to retreat and concentrate on the defensive counterattack.

In a quick counterattack in the 64th minute of the second half, Yang Yang used the pendulum to pass the opponent's two players, and then crossed to the left. Wesley Songk quickly followed up and hit a shot, extending the score. for two to zero.

In the end, Ajax defeated Caldas with one pass and one shot from Yang Yang and successfully won the last Toyota Cup.

Yang Yang also won the best player with his outstanding performance in this game and got a Toyota.