Chapter 96: Fellow Countrymen Meet Fellow Countrymen, Sorry About This, Fellow Countryman!

Time arrived in May, and the Utrecht first team resumed their training.

However, before today's training, Ten Hag held a brief meeting with the players.

Currently on the standings, Utrecht held a three-point lead over second-place PSV Eindhoven.

With two matches remaining and a three-point cushion, Utrecht's league title seemed almost secure.

In reality, it was not.

Eindhoven possessed a staggering 55-goal difference, and in the event of a tie on points, team ranking is determined by goal difference.

This meant that if Utrecht lost one of their next two matches while Eindhoven won both, Utrecht would lose their first-place position.

Immense pressure!

"So why do they have such a large goal difference?"

On the pitch, Tang Ye voiced his confusion.

"That doesn't matter, that doesn't matter."

Ten Hag waved his hand: "What matters is that we need to win the upcoming matches, do you understand what I mean? Two victories, only then is our title secure!"

The Eredivisie championship!

Just hearing it made one excited; Tang Ye had already started rubbing his hands together silently.

If he could truly win the Eredivisie title, then his Ultimate Template would finally have substance.

The Superstar and Legend templates were already heaven-defying.

Tang Ye really looked forward to seeing what this so-called Ultimate Template actually included!

……

Time arrived at the day of the match against Vitesse; the Utrecht players boarded the bus to Arnhem, the location of Vitesse's home ground.

"Tang Ye?"

In the player tunnel, Tang Ye, who was just about to enter the locker room, was called out directly.

Turning around, he saw an Asian-faced man opposite him.

"Oh, I remember you! I remember you, Zhang, Zhang..."

Meeting a fellow countryman was exciting, but Tang Ye simply could not recall the man's name.

"It's Zhang Zhang Yuning, haha!"

Zhang Zhang Yuning hugged the approaching Tang Ye; his height was approximately 1.82 meters, slightly taller than Tang Ye.

However, both of them were still in their development stages.

"Damn, I know you, I've seen you on Dongqiu Di!"

Tang Ye said; this was a habit he had formed back in China, where he would open Dongqiu Di to take a look whenever he had nothing else to do.

He knew that besides himself, there was another Chinese player competing in the Eredivisie, but he had only met him today.

"I played against Vitesse before; were you here at that time?"

Tang Ye suddenly remembered that it was already the end of the season; according to the league format, Utrecht must have played against Vitesse once before.

"I was just promoted from the U19s in February."

Zhang Zhang Yuning explained: "By the way, where are you from?"

"Foshan, and you?"

Tang Ye blinked; there were people with the surname Zhang in his hometown too, he just didn't know about Zhang Zhang Yuning...

"I'm from Wenzhou."

"Wenzhou? Damn, there's a Wenzhou restaurant right next to my training base; what a pity, you should have come to Utrecht too."

"A Wenzhou restaurant?"

Tang Ye said with a smile: "Yes, yes, yes, I often go there to eat; they have wontons, sweet and sour pork ribs, uh... anyway, basically everything you can eat back home is available there."

"Hahaha, good, good, but I really don't have the mind to eat anything right now."

Zhang Zhang Yuning's expression suddenly turned serious: "I still need to figure out how to get into the starting lineup; but Tang Ye, you are truly awesome, damn it, Dutch Cup champion, I watched your match on TV."

"Haha!"

Two players both from China, one 17 years old and the other 18, had simply too many topics to discuss; unfortunately, Zhang Zhang Yuning didn't play video games much, otherwise Tang Ye estimated they could have chatted until the match ended.

"Tom!"

Ten Hag shouted.

"I have to go first, bro, let's add each other on WeChat after the match!"

Tang Ye patted Zhang Zhang Yuning's solid shoulder, then hurriedly caught up with the team.

"Is he Asian like you?"

Ramselaar pointed at Zhang Zhang Yuning, who was waving behind Tang Ye.

"Not just Asian, but from the same country."

Tang Ye replied, taking out his phone to look up Zhang Zhang Yuning's information on Dongqiu Di.

"Wow, he's only one year older than me, one year and two months."

"But his muscles are much bigger than yours, Tom; you are too thin."

Ramselaar grabbed Tang Ye's arm fiercely.

……

"Brothers, welcome back; this is Round 33 of the Eredivisie, the away match between Utrecht and Vitesse!"

"A reminder to brothers, these are Utrecht's last two matches of the season; if you want to earn money, you need to hurry up."

"The match has started; King Ball Tang remains in the starting lineup; I wanted to introduce the starting lineup of the home team Vitesse, but I think it's unnecessary."

【Understood, the streamer can't recall the names】

"It's not that I can't recall the name; the main point is that Vitesse's bench holds a surprise today—you'll know shortly."

Wang Chao waited for the director to cut to the camera feed.

The match had been underway for about twelve minutes when the director's lens focused on the Vitesse substitutes' bench, where Zhang Zhang Yuning, clad in a yellow bib, sat on a chair.

【Holy crap? A Chinese player?】

【Awesome, who is this?】

"That's Zhang Zhang Yuning; like Tang Ye, he was promoted from the youth ranks, but unfortunately, Zhang Zhang Yuning remains a substitute for now. It's unknown whether Tang Ye and Zhang Zhang Yuning will have the chance to face off in today's match!"

Check Dongqiu Di live match report: Round 33, Vitesse vs. Utrecht, a hometown reunion for Tang Ye and Zhang Zhang Yuning.

Check Dongqiu Di pinned post: Foshan vs. Wenzhou, a Chinese civil war unfolds in the Eredivisie!

Zhang Zhang Yuning's appearance further boosted the match's popularity in China.

Fans now hoped Zhang Zhang Yuning would take the field; some had even climbed over the Great Firewall to leave messages on Vitesse's official website purchasing jerseys.

Tang Ye might depart next season, so this was likely the final opportunity for a clash between Chinese players in the Eredivisie.

The match reached the 21st minute!

"Ramelaar!"

"A long pass directly finds Balacite!"

"Balacite crosses horizontally!"

"To Haller!"

"Haller lays it back to Tang Ye!"

"Tang Ye, will he shoot directly?"

"Tang Ye chose to play it safe; how will he handle it?"

"To Josten!"

"Goal!"

"This is the... 23rd minute of the match!"

"In the 23rd minute, Utrecht took the lead!"

Home fans in the stands chattered noisily.

Although a goal had been conceded, the home supporters did not appear particularly devastated.

This was because, late in the season, the league standings were largely settled; Vitesse had completed their relegation battle, making the outcome of this match not especially crucial for them.

There was another factor: their opponent was Utrecht!

This season, Utrecht possessed an inexplicable strength; even powerhouse teams like Ajax, Feyenoord, and PSV Eindhoven failed to gain any advantage against them.

Facing such an overwhelmingly in-form Utrecht, Vitesse fans actually held little expectation of winning.

"Tang Ye, drive forward with the ball!"

"Find Haller!"

"..."

"Wow! Goal! 2:0!"

"Although Tang Ye's curled shot was saved by the goalkeeper, Klaiber reacted quickly; this was a follow-up shot!"

"A perfect follow-up, 2:0!"

"Brothers, I feel Utrecht has this match secured!"

【Vitesse is about to get thrashed.】

【Awesome, it's a pity Tang Tang Qiuwang didn't get an assist on this goal!】

【Ridiculous; Tang Tang Qiuwang is already the Eredivisie's top assist provider; he certainly doesn't need to pad his stats.】

【When will Zhang Zhang Yuning come on? Haven't we brothers bought enough jerseys?】

【They probably all went to Putian to buy them; Vitesse never saw the money.】

The first-half dynamics tilted almost entirely toward Utrecht.

Vitesse was never a team adept at defensive tracking, and Tang Ye's through-balls proved too difficult for Vitesse players to handle.

At the end of the first half, Utrecht entered the locker room with a two-goal advantage.

In the second half, Ten Hag made no substitutions or tactical adjustments, as he needed only the same players and tactics from the first half to dominate the opposition.

But Vitesse was different; now trailing, they needed to adapt.

In the 61st minute of the match, what Chinese fans had been anticipating finally arrived.

The Vitesse head coach made a like-for-like substitution at the striker position; number 43, Zhang Zhang Yuning, came on as a substitute!

"Hmm."

Tang Ye saw Zhang Zhang Yuning running onto the pitch from the sideline; coinciding with a set-piece defense situation, Tang Ye and Zhang Zhang Yuning exchanged a high-five.

Slap!

"Vitesse takes the set-piece!"

"..."

"Utrecht seized an attacking opportunity from the set-piece counter; Nakamba directly dragged De Jong down!"

What began as a Vitesse set-piece instead resulted in an Utrecht counter-attack, the outcome of which was Utrecht winning a set-piece.

The pace of the Eredivisie remained quite fast; only about two minutes separated the two attacking free-kicks.

"Do you want it?"

Ramelaar proactively asked Tang Ye, who stood behind the white line observing.

The angle was too narrow; shooting directly was certainly not an option.

But if it's a cross...

The ball is in the perfect position!

"I'll take it!"

Tang Ye took the ball from Ramseelaar's hands.

Smack!

Using Ward-Prowse's topspin technique again, the leather ball flew straight toward the penalty area.

Tang Ye pursued too much topspin, resulting in a delivery that was slightly off-target.

It was meant for Haller, but it ended up right in front of De Jong.

"You can shoot directly!"

Tang Ye shouted loudly.

!!!

Smack!

De Jong unleashed a volley.

The angle was mediocre, but the ball speed was fast enough; goalkeeper Room didn't even manage to make a save attempt.

"GOOOO——AAAAAAA——LLLLL!!!"

"De Jong with a volley! Beautiful, it's a goal!"

"Another assist from Tang Ye!"

De Jong ran excitedly toward Tang Ye.

This was his first goal in the Eredivisie.

His first goal was a volley!

"Beautiful, Frenkie!"

The Utrecht players hugged together in celebration, forming a stark contrast to the Vitesse players.

The two strikers, Zhang Zhang Yuning and Solanke, stood with hands on hips, their expressions somewhat helpless.

Just last month they got blown out by PSV, and today they're getting blown out by Utrecht again, damn it!

With the match at the 70th minute, Utrecht now led by three goals.

"I feel Vitesse's tactics have been crushed by Utrecht, because Vitesse has no idea how to mark Haller and Di Di Bala."

"Hiss, looking at it this way, Ten Hag is indeed awesome, let's see..."

"Eh, De Jong made a mistake; he just played a god-tier ball, De Jong, what's wrong with you!"

"A very good attacking opportunity for Vitesse, Solanke is making a forward run with the ball!"

"Very fast, De Jong tried to commit a tactical foul but failed!"

"A combination with Nakamba on the wing!"

A simple but quick one-two pass, Solanke took the ball and ran straight toward Utrecht's left-side penalty area.

Tang Ye rushed back to defend.

From his position, sticking close to Solanke was definitely impossible, but Tang Ye had his own target.

Zhang Zhang Yuning!

While running, Tang Ye observed Zhang Zhang Yuning's movements.

This guy's attacking intent was too obvious, so obvious that even Tang Ye, his opponent, knew what he wanted to do.

"Here!"

Zhang Zhang Yuning reached out for the ball, and at the same moment, Tang Ye accelerated.

Smack!

After pressing the defensive line, Solanke played a cutback pass!

Zhang Zhang Yuning controlled the ball!

Oh?

Sorry, fellow countryman!

Bang!

Tang Ye decisively went to ground, sending both the ball and the man flying.

"Awesome, haha! Tang Tang Qiuwang directly scraped Zhang Zhang Yuning away just as he was preparing to shoot!"

"Who said my brother Meng can't defend? Look at the slow-motion replay, not bad, Tang Ye's tackle was quite clean."

The ball Tang Ye tackled away returned to Solanke's feet; the latter, clearly somewhat anxious, blasted a shot straight into the stands.

"You okay, Brother Ning?"

Tang Ye extended his right hand to Zhang Zhang Yuning, and the latter grabbed it.

"Damn, you're really f***ing ruthless!"

Zhang Zhang Yuning felt somewhat upset; if Tang Ye hadn't tackled the ball away just now, he would have had a direct shooting opportunity!

But Zhang Zhang Yuning simply didn't know Tang Ye had suddenly arrived!

"Sorry, sorry."

Tang Ye patted Zhang Zhang Yuning's shoulder, and the latter shook his body and quickly began to adjust his state.

It wasn't easy getting a starting spot; if he could seize this chance to score a goal, perhaps his opportunities at Vitesse would open up!

Five minutes after Tang Ye's flying tackle on Zhang Zhang Yuning, Utrecht's three forwards were dribbling and passing in the front field.

The old problem emerged again: the several forwards couldn't find a shooting opportunity.

"Let me do it, let me do it!"

Tang Ye ran up excitedly, only to be knocked down immediately by Nakamba, who had rushed back to defend.

The referee did not blow the whistle.

Advantage Utrecht!

Damn it!

Tang Ye climbed up from the ground, feinting a run to the right; the moment Nakamba shifted his weight, he suddenly accelerated to the left.

"Inside!"

Tang Ye pointed at the penalty area before him.

Di Di Bala, who now had the ball—if Di Di Bala could pass it in, Tang Ye would seize a chance to face the goalkeeper one-on-one!

It all depended on whether Di Di Bala could drive the ball in!

Slap!

A through pass!

Di Di Bala's through ball sliced between two Vitesse defenders.

Got it!

Tang Ye knew he absolutely could not stop the ball at this moment.

To be honest, he wasn't confident he could control the ball steadily right now.

The logic was clear enough.

Shoot directly!

"GOOOOOO——AAAAAA——LLLLLLL!!!"

Without stopping the ball, Tang Ye executed a Tui She Cheng Gong to score.

Say what you will, the angle of that shot was quite good!

"Haha!"

Tang Ye sprinted toward the corner flag, once again showing the fans in the stands his sliding knee celebration with three stripes.

"Phew..."

Zhang Zhang Yuning exhaled a long breath.

He remembered this fellow townsman of his was supposed to be a midfielder, right?

(End of Chapter)