Chapter 13: Brother Meng's Debut in the Eredivisie

After Tang Ye entered the match, he began observing the situation.

Utrecht was desperate to win today, so they had many players pushed forward.

What did this mean?

It meant that if Tang Ye simply sneaked to the back, his number of touches would be extremely low!

Just three minutes after Tang Ye came on, Utrecht's wing attack suddenly materialized; Luwen broke past Meijers on the right flank.

Luwen dribbled toward the center!

Haller started making his run!

Luwen passed the ball!

Haller charged from the edge of the arc into the penalty area!

Receiving Luwen's pass, and then...

Shot!

"Goal! Goal!"

"Haller's goal!"

"Utrecht has taken the lead in the dying moments! Haller, a brace!"

"2-1."

Wang Chao and some fans in the livestream room were extremely excited.

These excited people shared one common trait.

That was, they had all bet on an away win or specifically on a 2-1 victory for the away team!

"Hahaha!"

The Utrecht players began jogging slowly toward the corner flag, while Tang Ye and his teammates hugged each other tightly.

【Awesome, wasn't it agreed that Utrecht couldn't beat Den Haag?】

【Streamer, you told us to bet on Den Haag to win, then turned around and said you support Chinese players while betting on Utrecht. Streamer, you're not human!】

【Damn, is this Tang Ye really that strong? The team takes the lead immediately after he comes on!】

【The guy above smells like a troll; daring to smear my Brother Meng, don't you know the streamer is a Brother Meng fan?】

【Three minutes on the pitch, zero touches. Isn't Brother Meng an attacking midfielder? Why is he hiding at the back? Is this Ten Hag's tactic?】

With Utrecht suddenly taking the lead, Koert was now extremely, extremely nervous.

He glanced at the board held up by the fourth official.

It was now the 87th minute of the match.

There had been quite a few fouls in today's game; including stoppage time, there should still be about seven or eight minutes remaining.

Eight minutes was enough to equalize the score!

Koert complained to the referee that Utrecht was wasting time with their celebration, resulting in a yellow card for Haller, who had just completed his brace.

The Utrecht players were somewhat dissatisfied but said nothing.

The key now was to defend their 2-1 lead.

At the start of the season, Utrecht suffered two consecutive defeats and still had zero points to their name.

They truly wanted to secure these three points!

"Drop back, drop back, pack it tighter!"

Ten Hag shouted instructions continuously from the sidelines, but Den Haag was, after all, the side with superior overall strength.

They were launching a massive counterattack against Utrecht!

Near the center circle, Christensen controlled the ball, constantly scanning for an opportunity, while Alberg, having run out to the wing, signaled for a pass.

Slap!

Christensen played a through ball; Alberg received it on Utrecht's left flank and immediately burst forward with a powerful touch to start his dribble.

Ramselaar reacted quickly; realizing his own goal might be under threat, the Dutch midfielder immediately ran toward Alberg.

Alberg passed the ball into the center.

The player now in possession was Den Haag's striker, Hafner!

"The center is open, where is Utrecht's defensive midfielder?"

"Defensive midfielder? Hmm, why is the player closest to Hafner Tang Ye?"

"Tang Ye, run, run faster!"

"Tang Ye, what's happening, run... positioning, Tang Ye is adjusting his position."

"Tang Ye is still adjusting his position!"

"Datang Shuiyun, Golden Impression, Youlan Shuijing... Tang Ye, damn it!"

"Unfollowing, I'm unfollowing!"

"I'm done, anyone who supports Tang Ye is an idiot!"

In the camera frame, Hafner played a pass forward to the making Duplan; thanks to his excellent run, Duplan now faced Utrecht's two center-backs directly.

Because their attention had been drawn by the players attacking from the wing, Utrecht's two center-backs were still quite far from Duplan.

There was a gap between the defenders and the player in possession.

This meant that Duplan could shoot directly right now!

However, just as Duplan slowed down to prepare his swing, a player in a blue away kit sneaked up from his left rear.

It was Tang Ye!

"Pull him down, pull him down!"

Ten Hag shouted loudly from the sidelines: "Foul immediately, it's fine, pull him down!"

If Duplan shoots at this moment, it would pose an extremely high threat to Utrecht's goal.

Ten Hag's intention was for Tang Ye to commit a deliberate foul and take a yellow card, turning Duplan's long-range shooting opportunity into a free kick.

Considering the pathetic free-kick level of Eredivisie players, giving the opponent a free kick would actually be safer for Utrecht.

Tang Ye was now extremely focused; he did not hear Ten Hag's shout.

Facing Duplan who was dribbling the ball, Tang Ye suddenly turned sideways and fell to the ground, cushioning himself with his right thigh while swinging out his left leg.

Slap!

Tang Ye successfully cleared the ball in front of Duplan; the swinging leg startled Duplan into jumping up voluntarily, and after losing his balance, the Hague forward stumbled a few steps before finally sprawling onto the ground.

"I, I damn..."

"Fucking awesome, what a perfect tackle, so clean, not even a hint of a foul!"

"I'm an idiot, I'm fucking an idiot!"

"Tang Ye, Ball King, you are the fucking Ball King!"

【Wait????】

【Brother Meng knows how to do this too?】

【Master, what line of work are you in?】

【Not bad, that tackle looked highly proficient; did Tang Ye secretly practice it during training?】

【No wonder Ten Hag had Tang Ye impersonate a defensive midfielder today; turns out he has this tackling trick up his sleeve.】

"Damn, damn..."

Wang Chao's heart beat faster; looking at the 2.7 odds for a Utrecht outright win, he felt little excitement.

On the contrary, he was now extremely regretful.

Extremely, extremely regretful.

Because he had only bet 100 yuan!

"Damn it!"

Wang Chao clenched his fists tightly.

Knowing full well that Tang Ye was on the big roster, yet only betting 100 yuan on a Utrecht win.

What is this?

This is disrespect toward the Ball King!

The Ball King invited me to get a foot bath, but what did I do?

I actually only bet 100 yuan!

"Damn it..."

Wang Chao was swept over by a sudden sense of guilt!

"Are you okay, brother? I didn't mean it, I didn't mean it!"

Seeing Duplan rolling back and forth on the ground, Tang Ye quickly ran over and helped him up.

Duplan very much wanted to curse, but Tang Ye's tackle was simply too clean.

What was the most outrageous part?

The most outrageous part was that Tang Ye had practically walked over and tackled Duplan down!

"What is this thing?"

Ten Hag pointed at Tang Ye on the field and looked at Fan Fan Dejiahe beside him: "He knows how to do this too?"

"Hiss, this, this..."

Fan Fan Dejiahe frowned: "Logically speaking, he shouldn't know how to tackle."

"Logically speaking?"

Ten Hag spread his hands toward Fan Fan Dejiahe: "Did you see that tackle of his? 'I just walk over, then take down the opposing player'—with that level of proficiency, he must have practiced for at least four or five years, right?"

"Eh, no, that's not certain either!"

Ten Hag suddenly thought of something.

If any other player pulled off a move like this, it would one hundred percent mean they had secretly added extra training sessions in private.

But the one standing on the field is Tang Ye.

How could he possibly add extra training?

"This must be a guess too."

Ten Hag gave his judgment.

Two minutes passed.

"Tang Ye, right flank, tackle, beautiful!"

"The one falling is still Duplan! Tang Ye is apologizing to Duplan!"

"..."

Fan Fan Dejiahe turned his head to look at Ten Hag without speaking.

Hiss—

It feels...

It feels a bit off!

(End of chapter)