Chapter 74: I Have Someone to Save Me—Do You? (20k words, begging for monthly tickets!)

“Hah!”

Tang Ye raised both arms and embraced Joosten as if celebrating a goal.

“Tom!”

Aale roared and sprinted back from the penalty area, his long arms wrapping around both Tang Ye and Joosten.

Ten Hag sat on his chair and made a substitution.

De Jong replaces Jansen!

The away fans in the stands began to cheer excitedly.

The biggest difference between De Jong and Jansen is De Jong’s exceptional ability to drive forward.

Ten Hag’s substitution clearly aims to chase the equalizer!

“Come on, come on!”

The away fans’ voices were faint, but Tang Ye could still hear them.

The match continued.

Five minutes after Joosten’s goal, in the 68th minute, Eintracht found an opportunity; Brener intercepted Aale’s pass and delivered the ball to Hendriks.

Hendriks stood at the arc’s apex—a position that looked safe, but wasn’t.

Tang Ye, who had initially moved into the penalty area, stepped out after Aale lost possession and found himself right beside Hendriks.

!

Seeing Tang Ye, Hendriks quickly turned to shield the ball, raising his right leg to pass.

It was a feint by Hendriks.

A very convincing feint—but Tang Ye didn’t bite!

He remembered clearly: Hendriks’s strong foot was his left!

And in FIFA, Hendriks’s weak foot had only two stars—he’d never pass with it!

Here it comes!

Tang Ye lunged at Hendriks’s left foot and successfully intercepted the ball in the attacking third.

“What the hell!?”

Ten Hag on the bench widened his eyes.

Stealing the ball from an opposition defensive midfielder right at the arc’s apex.

Does Tang Ye have this ability?

Before Ten Hag could think, Tang Ye suddenly accelerated and pulled left to create space.

“Aale!”

Tang Ye shouted. All players in the penalty area turned their heads right at the same moment.

Their attention was entirely on Aale—they assumed Tang Ye was about to pass to him!

“Here! Here!”

Aale broke free from Brener and reached out: “Give it to me!”

“No!”

Tang Ye grinned, curled a reverse outside-of-the-foot shot from just left of the arc.

The ball soared upward, struck the ground inside the penalty area, and bounced.

It was meant to roll out of bounds—but because it was an outside-of-the-foot curl, it skidded sharply right after hitting the turf and rolled straight into the net.

Goalkeeper Pater Weier ’s dive came too late.

His view blocked by his own two center-backs, Pater Weier never expected Tang Ye to shoot directly!

Didn’t he just call for a teammate?!

Why shoot directly?!

【You gained 10 Reverse Points】

“Damn it, hah!”

Aale cursed, then sprinted toward Tang Ye.

Deception?

No—what I, Tang the Ball King, do isn’t deception.

That’s tactical fraud!

“Wait, wait!”

After equalizing, Tang Ye pushed away Aale, who tried to hug him.

As Aale looked confused, Tang Ye suddenly accelerated and sprinted toward the sideline.

He dropped to both knees, toes tucked inward.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

It was an incredibly smooth sliding knee-slide.

The broadcast camera followed Tang Ye closely; fans in the stadium and online stared wide-eyed.

One stripe, two stripes.

Huh?

Why are there three stripes on the ground!?

Tang Ye had drawn three stripes!

The giant camera near the player tunnel swung toward Ten Hag; the Dutchman quickly covered his face with his hands.

That’s not something I taught, not something I taught…

When the stadium screen switched from the sliding stripes to Tang Ye’s goal replay, Ten Hag immediately removed his hands and stood up from his chair.

That’s something I taught!

That’s something I taught!

【Nice! 2-2!】

【Haters speak up!】

【I don’t get why anyone hates my Monge—this elite pre-emptive interception, and that outside-of-the-foot shot!】

【Damn, insane curve! Only Tang Ye can do that!】

【Monge only scores godlike goals, but a draw doesn’t earn much—can you be a bit more generous?】

【One goal, one assist isn’t enough? Take your 2.1x odds and leave—what about us who bet on Eintracht to win outright?】

【Eintracht to win outright? What century are you in? Who dares betray my Monge?】

The live camera focused on the grass where Tang Ye had slid—three black stripes, two deep, one light, strikingly visible.

Aale felt a pang of envy and attempted a slide himself.

But only players with exceptional talent can draw the standard three stripes.

Aale’s talent still falls short!

“Stop copying—you can’t learn it!”

Balazic dragged Aale back and joined teammates near the corner flag to celebrate.

Aale pointed at the grass where he’d slid and shouted at Tang Ye: “Why! Why can’t I do it?!”

Tang Ye laughed loudly and shook one finger in front of Aale: “This takes hard training—you’ve been lazy all along, how could you learn it?”

“Huh?”

“Then can you teach me?”

Tang Ye sprinted toward the backfield: “No apprentices!”

…

The match continued. Watching Ten Hag sit back down on the bench, Cocu felt a pang of envy.

Why can others be head coaches and stay so relaxed?

Why must I work so hard?

“Stretch the width! Open up the flanks! Mark, you can drift wide yourself!”

Cocu shouted at Eintracht’s players on the pitch.

He glanced at the fourth official’s scoreboard.

It was already the 82nd minute.

If they didn’t score soon, Eintracht would have to settle for a draw!

“Eintracht is stubborn—they’re still trying to pull something off!”

“Cross it in! To the red spot! Lokadia, head it!”

“Beautiful! Ruit blocked Lokadia’s header!”

“Did the streamer betray us?”

“What the hell? Moderators, mute everyone in chat saying I betrayed you.”

“Don’t just say whatever comes to mind—I’ve always been an Utrecht fan.”

“I used to pretend I liked Eintracht—was that really believable?”

Thanks to Lokadia’s header, Eintracht earned a corner. Tang Ye sprinted back from the front.

“Who am I marking? Who am I marking?”

Before his teammates could answer, Narsingh, mid-air for the header, slapped Tang Ye’s eye with his hand, knocking him straight to the ground.

Fuck!

Tang Ye rolled on the ground, clutching his eyes.

Nalixin’s hand never actually hit Tang Ye’s eyes, but Tang Ye couldn’t stand up now.

Because Nalixin scored.

This was the only chance to disallow Nalixin’s goal!

“What’s going on? What’s going on?”

Tang Ye peered at the referee through the gap between his index and ring fingers.

The referee blew the whistle and pushed both hands outward.

Goal disallowed!

OK!

Tang Ye got to his feet. The Utrecht team doctor, already ready to rush over, gave the stands an awkward smile before slinking back to his seat.

“Fuck, Tang Ye, top-level football IQ!”

“Man, Tang Ye physically defended Nalixin—I’m telling you, he knew Nalixin was going to headbutt him. He was marking Nalixin, so he deliberately stuck his head out for Nalixin to hit!”

“Nalixin fell for it, you get it? That football IQ of Tang Ye—fuck, amazing!”

Time moved forward. Cocu entered this match determined to win, so the later it got, the more tense he became.

When Cocu got tense, he passed his pressure onto the players.

When the players got tense, their movements went haywire.

As for Utrecht, Ten Hag also felt pressure, but he wouldn’t scream like Cocu did.

Because Ten Hag had no idea what to do next.

Right now, Utrecht’s win depended entirely on fortune—if fortune didn’t come, no amount of shouting from Ten Hag would help.

90th minute of the match.

“Go on, number 18! Use your body! Block with your body!”

Cocu screamed hysterically. Hendriks, signaled, stepped forward to mark De Jong one-on-one.

“Right foot!”

Tang Ye shouted, then immediately moved right.

Trick Hendriks into extending his left foot first.

Then he could dribble past!

De Jong successfully broke past Hendriks!

Bruma rushed out to tackle De Jong!

“Behind! Behind!”

As De Jong hesitated, Tang Ye’s voice came from behind—he instantly turned and passed back.

“Hehe, here we go!”

Tang Ye’s eyes lit up. He didn’t control the ball—he flicked it straight into the box. Fullback Klebe, charging in from the right, headed it in!

【You gained 5 Reverse Points. Your current Reverse Points balance exceeds 100. Please use them wisely. Middle-aged fighters don’t need much savings!】

“GOOOO——AAAAAAAA——LLLLLLL!!!”

“Goal! Goal! Another assist from Tang Ye!”

“3:2! Utrecht has taken the lead!”

“91st minute! Utrecht has taken the lead!”

Beep-beep-beep!

Xuuu——!!!

The home fans in the stands erupted with Buman .

Led 2-0 in the first half, then conceded three in the second.

How the fuck could fans tolerate this!

Utrecht’s players ran to the corner flags to celebrate. The away fans began mocking them.

“Cocu!”

“Fire him!”

“Cocu!”

“Fire him!”

The camera cut to Eindhoven’s head coach, Cocu.

With a squad full of stars, he couldn’t even beat Utrecht!

Cocu was under immense pressure now.

“Son of a bitch...”

Cocu clenched his lips, unable to speak for a long while.

At this moment, Ten Hag, sitting on the bench, finally stood up.

He looked at Cocu, trapped in trouble.

Hmm...

Ten Hag shook his head.

He didn’t understand why Cocu dared to sit down after going up 2-0.

I’ve got someone to save me. You?

Do you?

Bang!

Ale kicked open the locker room door: “Fuck, that was awesome!”

“Wuhu!”

Barazite sprinted up from behind, leapt onto the treatment table in the center, and shouted at the slowly entering teammates: “Those idiot reporters said we’d lose to Eindhoven—did we lose?”

“We won! Easy win!”

“Last-minute winner!”

Bang!

Barazite jumped off the treatment table. Tang Ye imitated him and leapt onto the table too.

“Quick, now!”

Barazite shouted loudly. Tang Ye stood bewildered on the table: “What’s going on? What’s going on?”

“Haha!”

Barazite, Ramselaar, and Ale each grabbed water bottles from different directions and poured them over Tang Ye.

“Holy shit!”

“Tang, what did you just say?”

“One goal, two assists—our MVP!”

Tang Ye, soaked, jumped off the table: “Damn it...”

Glancing left and right, his midfield vision spotted a crate of electrolyte water beneath the treatment table.

Of course, Tang Ye couldn’t act too obviously—otherwise Barazite would’ve already run.

He had to be sneaky, pretend nothing happened.

Suddenly grab the water, twist open the cap!

“Fuck you!”

Barazite and Ramselaar got drenched!

Creak—

The locker room door opened. Ten Hag and Fan De were standing there, staring at Tang Ye.

“Uh, well, this is...”

Tang Ye didn’t know what to say. Ten Hag walked in: “Tang, I’ve noticed you’re the most unpredictable one.”

“What?”

“You get MVP and start bullying teammates. And before, you were late to training by ten minutes—but after becoming a starter, your lateness kept growing.”

Ten Hag sighed, lowering his head: “You’re still young. Hold onto your core. At sixteen, you’re already thinking about being the locker room boss?”

“No, I was just celebrating...”

Tang Ye said: “Bart! Hmm?”

Tang Ye looked to Ramselaar for help—but the guy had already run behind Ten Hag!

Damn it!

“Go change into a new jersey. Then come out with me for the interview.”

Ten Hag patted Tang Ye’s shoulder: “Hurry up. I’ll wait three minutes.”

Philips Stadium press room. Tang Ye followed Ten Hag into the room.

Click!

Click-click-click!

The first thing Tang Ye did upon entering the press room was to take the MVP trophy from a staff member.

He had won MVP once during the group stage, but that was different from this—today’s match was a quarterfinal, and the MVP player received an actual trophy.

Tang Ye held the small trophy in his hands and examined it; the base bore the names of the two teams that played.

This was recognition of strength!

Overcome with emotion, Tang Ye dropped the trophy to the floor.

Crack!

Crack-crack!

“Ahem, sorry, sorry!”

Tang Ye picked up the trophy and quickly rushed to sit down on his chair.

The reporters opened with a question for Ten Hag: “You scored a last-minute winner today. As coach, could you briefly describe your team’s mindset during the match?”

“Hmm, of course.”

Ten Hag pursed his lips, thought for a moment, then began: “We were down two goals in the first half, and everyone was tense. But as head coach, I knew I had to stay calm.”

Tang Ye held the trophy in his arms, listening to Ten Hag speak.

At first, nothing seemed amiss.

Then Tang Ye suddenly frowned.

“Yes, exactly—I knew the players were under immense pressure after falling behind by two goals, so at halftime I comforted them and made tactical adjustments based on the first half’s performance. Oh, the most crucial change was in midfield!”

Ten Hag opened his right hand and pointed to Tang Ye beside him: “I asked Tang to make some subtle adjustments in the second half. I’m glad he fulfilled my request—that’s why he earned MVP, and why we were able to turn the score around.”

Tang Ye stared at Ten Hag beside him in shock.

Dude, you didn’t say any of this at halftime!

The reporters turned their cameras to Tang Ye.

“...”

Damn it, Mr. Eric—I’m exposing you today...

Ten Hag glared at Tang Ye. Tang Ye took a deep breath.

“Hmm, yes, that’s right...”

(End of Chapter)