Chapter 44: I Specifically Made Tang Practice Shooting Extra on the Night Before Yesterday

The second half begins!

Due to the frequent high pressing in the first half, the Groningen players were nearly exhausted.

According to Ten Hag's deduction, Groningen would slow down the pace in the second half.

And indeed, reality unfolded exactly as Ten Hag had deduced!

While his teammates traded blows with the opposition on the wings, Tang Ye hid in the center, rubbing his hands together as he searched for attacking opportunities.

Hiss—

The feeling...

It seems there's a chance!

"Tom!"

Ramselaar shouted, stopped the ball with the sole of his foot, then flicked it toward Tang Ye.

It was a diagonal through-ball, not placed very accurately.

But it didn't matter; there were no defenders around Tang Ye anyway, so he controlled the ball with ease.

After stopping the ball, he looked up, and a brilliant smile spread across Tang Ye's innocent face.

"Hey, no!"

The more John looked at Tang Ye's smile, the more something felt off.

Droste, you promised to mark that number 99 specifically.

Where are you now!

Crack!

Tang Ye flicked the ball with the outside of his foot.

At that familiar sound, Haller immediately sprinted forward.

The pancake the pancake master made for himself was finally ready!

"Tang Ye, take a blind shot!"

"Here we go again, this is Tang Ye's third blind shot of the match!"

"Will this one work?"

"It's secure! Awesome! Tang Ye's long pass flew over the head of the opposing full-back and found Haller!"

A perfect arc, perfect deceleration upon landing.

The only flaw was that Haller started his run a bit late; by the time the Ivorian cut inside, it was no longer a one-on-one opportunity.

But that didn't matter; for an experienced striker like Haller, there were still many ways to handle such a situation.

A cross delivered to Di Di Bala!

Di Di Bala shoots!

"Goal! Di Di Bala! Awesome, what a shot from Di Di Bala!"

"Utrecht has equalized the score!"

"Wowww!!!"

The fans in the stands rose almost simultaneously, while Di Di Bala, having scored the goal, turned his gaze toward the assistant referee.

No offside!

Perfect!

"Beautiful!"

Di Di Bala slid on his knees, and the Utrecht players on the field rushed toward him.

Tang Ye was happy, but not that happy.

He had made the third-to-last touch, so it wasn't his assist.

Which meant no Counterattack Point reward!

It was a pity, but since he had helped the team equalize the deficit, celebrating even without earning Counterattack Points was still worthwhile!

"Hahaha"

Tang Ye embraced his teammates, savoring the joy brought by equalizing the score.

In front of Utrecht's substitute bench, Ten Hag secretly signaled Ayoub, who was warming up, to return to the bench and sit down.

After hugging and ruffling hair on the pitch, once the celebration had mostly subsided, Tang Ye emphasized to his teammates again: "It's not over yet, the match isn't over, we will score more goals."

"More goals, we must continue attacking!"

!!!

Haller and Di Di Bala took a deep breath.

Is Tang Ye a freeloader?

Damn it, anyone who says Tang Ye is a freeloader is an idiot.

Haller couldn't see anything freeloading about Tang Ye at all.

He only knew that Tang Ye was a warrior.

A warrior who wanted to score!

After the second kickoff of the second half, Tang Ye glanced at the board held up by the fourth official.

Twenty minutes remaining!

He still had twenty minutes to upgrade his chest!

"Olé Olé Olé..."

"Olé Olé~ Olé~"

The atmosphere in the stadium grew increasingly lively, and the players' spirits gradually soared.

The match has reached the 78th minute!

"Ale! Ale, run forward, accelerate, Ale!"

"Damn, it seems Ale can't run much further!"

"Tibring is catching up; Ale is in grave danger now!"

"Pass!"

"To Tang Ye!"

"Tang Ye, on the perimeter!"

"Take a long-range shot straight away!"

"..."

The livestream room suddenly fell silent because Wang Chao had abruptly stood up from his chair, yanking the headset cable loose.

Wang Chao closed his mouth, letting the sounds from the stadium stand out in stark contrast.

Tang Ye's successful long-range strike from outside the box ignited the Galgenwaard Stadium; teammates on the bench had already rushed onto the pitch.

Yet Tang Ye remained unmoved.

He was currently thinking, pondering whether that goal he had just scored was truly a good one.

【You have obtained 10 Counterattack Points】

【Brace Bonus: 10 Counterattack Points】

【Portuguese High-Tier Chest → Portuguese Superstar Chest】

Perfect!

"Good goal!"

Tang Ye shouted praise for himself, then immediately rushed out together with Di Di Bala and Amrabat.

"Tom!"

Bang bang!

"Tom!"

Bang bang!

The stands were extremely noisy; Ale had to shout loudly to ensure Tang Ye could hear him: "How do you feel right now?"

"I don't know; I don't know how to describe it."

With his hair being ruffled by teammates, Tang Ye's mind was somewhat chaotic.

He did not know how to describe his excitement.

Simply put.

It was the kind of excitement one feels when a High-Tier Chest transforms into a Superstar Chest!

【6666】

【Master, are you actually a striker or a midfielder?】

【Damn, two starts in two matches and four goals; Tang Tang Qiuwang is truly fierce!】

【Someone once didn't believe in our Tang Tang Qiuwang; in the end, he didn't visit a foot bath shop for a whole month.】

【The People's Ball King!】

With no streamer's voice in the livestream room, Wang Chao could now only type in the bullet comments.

【Full-time! Utrecht defeats Groningen 3:2 at home; Tang Tang Qiuwang scores a brace! Brothers, I'll stop talking for now; I'm going to use today's earnings to buy a new mic first, otherwise I won't be able to stream the next match.】

After the match ended, Erik ten Hag, the team's head coach, sat down on a chair in the press conference room.

Facing eight reporters below the stage, Ten Hag looked completely relaxed.

The victory was hard-fought, but often it is precisely such hard-won matches that demonstrate a head coach's greatness.

The reporters first congratulated Utrecht on achieving victory in today's match.

After the formalities, the reporters turned their focus directly on Ten Hag: "Mr. Erik, we noticed that at the start of the second half you had Ayoub warming up on the sidelines, yet after Tang scored, you pulled Ayoub back to the bench; may we ask if your initial intention was to substitute Tang off?"

"No, of course not."

Ten Hag hurriedly shook his head.

If he admitted it, that would prove Ten Hag lacked the ability to analyze the match.

In situations unfavorable to himself, Ten Hag would certainly never admit it!

"My reason for preparing Ayoub to enter the match was primarily to create a deceptive effect; the opponent thought I was going to substitute Tang off, the fans thought so too, and you reporters thought the same. Because of this deception, the opponent's tactical arrangement became flawed; this is the fundamental reason our second goal occurred."

!!!

The reporter took a deep breath.

No wonder he could only be a sports reporter and could not become a team coach.

This kind of tactical gambit was something he simply could not have conceived!

"Then, regarding Tang achieving a brace in today's match—this is already his second brace of the season—do you have any comments on this?"

Ten Hag did not rush to answer the reporter's question but instead broke into a smile.

"To be honest."

"Just the night before yesterday, I specifically had Tang practice extra shooting drills."

(End of Chapter)