Ajax Match (2)
Jong Ajax's Total Football was a nightmare to face.
Not long ago, playing with a Dutch amateur club, he had tasted a fragment of Total Football — but compared to Jong Ajax, that had been nothing. A drop in the ocean.
Without a key player who possessed the football intelligence to orchestrate everyone else, Total Football simply collapsed into a free-for-all of bodies chasing the ball. That was exactly where the skill gap with those amateur players had come from. Without a key player, they had been playing neighborhood football. The fifteen minutes he had joined them, their attacking movements had sharpened dramatically — because he had been that key player.
Jong Ajax was a different beast entirely.
They had been educated from youth in Europe's finest facilities, drilled for years in the spatial pressing and off-the-ball movement that Total Football demanded. And given that they had been playing league matches together until recently, their organization was far superior to Project X's as well.
And yet, with the first half nearly over, the score remained 0–0.
Anti-football is working. No question.
Anti-football was practically Total Football's natural predator. Total Football thrived on patient passing, waiting for the perfect chance to open up. Anti-football slammed the midfield shut completely. Three midfielders dropped their line, joined the two center backs in defense, and aggressively cut out every ball.
On top of that, Jong Ajax had one enormous problem of their own.
Their striker — Dani Sneijder.
Even with anti-football as a lethal counter to Total Football, Project X still lagged behind Jong Ajax in individual quality and cohesion. A week of training together was never going to out-organize players who had spent years side by side.
In the end, they had conceded five clear chances in the first half alone — and every single time, Dani Sneijder had blown them.
Here another weakness of Total Football revealed itself: a struggling striker.
What was a striker's role? Dropping deep to link play, drifting wide on the counter like a winger — those were part of it. But the primary job was obvious: put the ball in the net. When chances were already scarce, and then you miss the ones that should have been tap-ins?
Never mind the opponent's counters — cracks started forming inside your own team. A striker's mistakes bred distrust, and distrust meant the ball stopped finding the striker at all.
Which was why, for the past five minutes or so, the Jong Ajax players had been stuck on the flanks, knocking horizontal passes back and forth, looking for an angle that never came.
Another cross-field ball, right to left.
Thud—!
The one who rose highest and got a foot to it was Baek Namgi.
"Counter!"
"Run!!"
Baek Namgi launched a long ball toward striker Kang Seungwook, who was positioned on the second line. Left winger Seong Ian and right winger Jeong Woojun both tore into the empty space on either flank.
Jong Ajax's system required their fullbacks to push high and join the attack on both sides. In a counter like this, that became poison.
Bang—!
Before a Jong Ajax midfielder could even close him down, Kang Seungwook whipped a diagonal through-ball slicing across the pitch.
"Ian!"
The ball dropped at his feet. Kang Seungwook had chosen him.
"@#$%!"
The Jong Ajax goalkeeper screamed at the center back still left in their half, and one of them started closing on Ian. He checked Jeong Woojun arriving from the right, but a pass there looked certain to be cut out by the other center back.
Then…
Ian tapped the ball forward, easing into the box, and shaped as if he were about to shoot. The Jong Ajax center back launched himself at the feint.
Ian watched him and the corner of his mouth curled up.
Tap—!
He didn't shoot. He drove further right instead. The center back, already committed to the dive, was caught completely flat-footed — a full step late.
One-on-one with the keeper.
The goalkeeper, distracted by the duel with the center back, had drifted toward the near post. That left the far post wide open.
Ian wound up to shoot again. The keeper, certain it was going far post, threw himself to the right—
Shhhk—.
Ian chose the near post.
A low, skimming drive into the near side. The keeper, already airborne the wrong way, had no chance. The net bulged.
The instant he heard the ripple of the mesh, Ian sprinted straight for the corner where the cameras were waiting—
Shhhk—!
—and dropped into a full knee-slide across the green turf for the celebration.
"Yesss!!"
"Insane! That was filthy!!"
Jeong Woojun, who had been charging into the box for a cutback, and Kang Seungwook, who had made the pass and was still running, both wrapped him up and roared.
Project X's first-ever goal. And the man who scored it was him.
"Brilliant run, and a sensational finish! Seong Ian! Outstanding!!"
"If you look back at the replay, there was a huge gap at the far post, right? He could have scored there too, of course — but he read the keeper perfectly. Absolutely superb."
The commentators clutched their mics and shouted themselves hoarse, savoring the opening goal scored right before the half-time whistle.
The production crew celebrated with them — but shock came first.
No one had expected a lead in the opening match. Their opponents were the reserves of Ajax, one of the Netherlands' most storied clubs. Even Japan, widely considered stronger on paper than the Korean side, had lost 3–0 to Marseille's U-19s in their first game. The production team had figured that even a 3–0 loss to Ajax would have been a respectable fight.
Instead, this wasn't a consolation goal. It wasn't an equalizer. It was a lead.
"Camera three — stay locked on Ian alone."
The staff member overseeing stadium coverage spoke into his radio. Fourteen cameras covered the pitch; one of them was now dedicated solely to the goalscorer, Seong Ian.
The reason was simple. He had stood out in the practice matches, he had just scored, and he was good-looking — the exact type of player who attracted fans overnight.
Later we can just cut a highlight reel of his plays and drop it on NeoTube…
After Seong Ian's goal, Jong Ajax kicked off — and with that, the first half ended.
"Kanker!"
Dani Sneijder stormed into the first-team locker room and hurled a water bottle. It smashed into a photo of one of the senior players.
"Dani!"
"…Coach."
Hendrik came in right behind him and barked his name.
"Swearing in this sacred locker room?! Do you think that's acceptable?!"
"…No."
Under Hendrik's scolding, Dani bowed his head and bit down hard on his lip.
"What the hell are you all doing out there?! I know perfectly well you don't fully trust Dani after he just came back from a long-term injury. But when chances open up, you don't give the ball to your striker?!"
Hendrik Jansen's face was flushed crimson as he roared. The Jong Ajax players had nothing to say.
"Is this their stadium? This is the stadium of the sons of gods! Are you just going to sit there and take it?!"
"No, sir!"
"Then show it! This is the Johan Cruyff Arena! Do not disgrace that name."
"Yes, sir!"
Hendrik did not overhaul the tactics. He only made a small adjustment to the fullbacks' roles. The ones who had gotten so caught up in the attack that they left space behind — and gifted the opposition a goal — were ordered to push only so far, then recover into defensive shape.
Everything else — the attack, the midfield — needed no change, not with the number of chances they had created in the first half. All he needed was for Dani, freshly returned from injury, to find his range.
"I believe in you. Right now, the most important thing is your finishing."
"Yes, Coach."
Dani's fighting spirit ignited once more.
Tweet—!
The rest period ended and the second half began with the Korean side's kickoff.
From the opening moments, Jeong Woojun tried to drive down the flank — and was shut down by Jong Ajax's left back.
"Go!"
Jong Ajax players surged forward at once. Their left back switched the ball with a long horizontal pass to the right, keeping it clear of the Korean players clustered on the left side.
Charging straight ahead was Steve Jensen, Jong Ajax's right wing-forward. The Korean defensive midfielder stretched a leg but never touched the ball.
Steve drove it long and arrived at the Korean left back in a flash. Ignoring the standing tackle the defender was setting, he cut sharply left. As Steve slipped into the pocket between midfielder and defender, a Korean center back stepped up to meet him.
"No!"
The Korean goalkeeper shouted, tracking Dani's diagonal run — but it was already too late.
Steve slid a low through-ball. Dani collected it cleanly, and before the keeper could even stretch out a hand, he drilled a low shot into the far right corner.
Shhhk—.
The match was level again — just two minutes into the second half.