Chapter 1 Buttons and Bows

A Scottish bagpipe tune, "Buttons & Bows," transported Zhang Jun to the beautiful Netherlands. The CD belonged to Yang Pan, and Zhang Jun, bored, had grabbed an earphone to listen and pass the time, only to hear some very strange music. He asked what it was, and Yang Pan rolled his eyes at him. "Didn't you watch the '98 World Cup? Scottish fans marched into the World Cup opening ceremony playing this!"

"Scottish bagpipes?"

"Yeah, what other instrument sounds like this? Music like the wind…"

"What did you bring this for?"

"The Netherlands isn't far from Scotland. I wanted to bring some European-flavored music with me so I can adapt to the environment there as quickly as possible. Music is part of a place's culture, after all! I searched every audio-visual store in Luoyang to find this, a genuine copy!"

Zhang Jun put the earphones back on, the soothing and melodious music echoing in his mind. Yang Pan was right; it really sounded like the wind… Zhang Jun closed his eyes, and a picture gradually unfolded before him with the sound of the bagpipes.

Gently rolling hills. He sat alone on a grassy hillside, with an endless field of tulip flowers below. The sea breeze carried a floral scent, a very peculiar fragrance. The wind blew through his hair and clothes, turning the huge windmills, which creaked and groaned. The tulip fields rose and fell in the wind like the waves of the sea, and swarms of butterflies danced in the air… It was a pity he was alone; Sophie wasn't there to share this beautiful scenery…

Zhang Jun found himself homesick again; this was the fifth time on this trip. The first time he went to the Netherlands, he was thinking about coming back in ten days, and the trip was all novelty and excitement. Home was nowhere to be found. But this time it was a real journey far from home, and he didn't know when he would be back.

Although everyone was generally optimistic about the future when they said goodbye at Luoyang Airport, Zhang Jun clearly remembered his mother turning her back and constantly shrugging her shoulders when she finished packing his luggage. He also saw his father pull his mother aside and raise his hand. He knew what that was; it was his father wiping away tears. He had always thought his parents' educational philosophy was very independent, and his mother didn't talk much, but at the airport, he saw another side of this strong woman: a mother worried about her son traveling thousands of miles…

And that evening, Sophie hugged his leg and said, "You're leaving again soon anyway…" and the hard pinch Sophie gave him on his arm at parting.

Zhang Jun didn't cry at the airport, and he didn't cry when he was homesick in Beijing. He wasn't someone who cried easily—at least, that's what he thought—but this time, listening to the melodious bagpipes, he…

Zhang Jun took off the earphones and wiped his face, noticing that Yang Pan had put on sunglasses at some point. Besides the Volendam officials and Mr. Li, no one on the plane knew they were going to the Netherlands to play soccer, and they weren't big stars, so no one would ask them for autographs or photos. Was he putting on airs with those sunglasses?

Zhang Jun was about to tease Yang Pan to ease his homesickness when he saw two lines of sparkling, transparent liquid slowly flowing from under the sunglasses…

The Netherlands, a small country, constantly produced soccer stars that amazed the world, from Cruijff to the Dutch Three Musketeers, to the current Kluivert, van Nistelrooy, Davids… The Netherlands never lacked talent because they had the best youth player development system in the world. Ajax even had the reputation of being a "star production line."

However, fCvolendam, where Zhang Jun and the others were going, was just a small club, so small that it was hard to find on the map of the Netherlands. In the 1980s and 90s, they had been floating in the Eredivisie (later renamed the Dutch Eredivisie), but later they were relegated. Last season, Volendam hired the former Ajax coach, John Adriaanse, who was unemployed at home, and as a result, the team was promoted from the Eerste Divisie to the Eredivisie in just one season.

But Adriaanse knew that the Eredivisie and the Eerste Divisie were two different concepts. If he still relied on the Eerste Divisie team to play in the Eredivisie, it was unknown whether they could even avoid relegation. So Adriaanse "ruthlessly" terminated the contracts of five players whose contracts had expired, and then sold four players who were still in demand. In addition, one veteran retired and wholeheartedly assisted Adriaanse as an assistant coach.

In this way, the first team, which originally had 28 players, suddenly had only 18 players left. However, Adriaanse transferred several young players with some ability and talent from the second team, and traveled around, persuading those players who could not play as starters in mid-tier teams but had the strength. In addition, he borrowed a young player from the Ajax youth team through personal connections, and a team that would compete in the Dutch Eredivisie finally took shape.

Oh, yes, and the two Chinese lads who were about to arrive, very talented young men. Although they had no professional soccer experience, he had already told the youth team coach, Reis, to train these two Chinese well. He believed that under the training of Reis, the former assistant coach of the Ajax youth team, they should soon be able to play for the first team.

The average age of the Volendam team was now 24.5 years old. The oldest player in the team was 29-year-old Holwijn, an experienced veteran in the defense who was good at long-distance throw-ins and had good stamina and heading ability. He had been playing for Volendam all along and had dedicated his youth to the club. His character was unquestionable, and he was deeply respected and trusted by his teammates. After another veteran defender, Steur, retired and became an assistant coach, the captain's armband naturally went on his left arm.

And partnering him in the defense was Gijs Luirink, 18 years old, who was promoted from the second team last season. He was good at playing center back and defensive midfielder and was one of the club's key targets for cultivation and had a very good relationship with the club and was a future captain.

These two players should have had their starting positions confirmed before the season, but Adriaanse still borrowed 22-year-old center back Huisman from the Eredivisie team AZ. Adriaanse thought he was very promising, had good physical strength, and was a tireless center back.

Bartele, 28 years old, a defensive midfielder, was the team's number one star and the highest paid, but he was worth the salary. He defended fiercely and was a solid iron gate in the team's defense. The only drawback was that he was not good at attacking, but this allowed him to defend with peace of mind in the back.

Of all the players, Adriaanse was most optimistic about Cees Keizer, whom he had borrowed from the Ajax youth team. He was only 18 years old, a defensive midfielder, had very good physical qualities, and was very accurate in judging the landing point of high balls. He was very good at both defense and offense and was a key target for Ajax's youth team. Adriaanse had snatched him from Ajax through his personal connections. He had rented him to make up for Bartele's lack of offense.

The strength of the midfield and backfield allowed Adriaanse to rest assured, but the front line kept him up at night. Judging from the recent warm-up matches, the team's goals mostly came from midfield and backfield players. Keizer had integrated well into the team, as evidenced by his two assists and one goal. And Buys, who was promoted from the second team last season, had become the team's top scorer in the warm-up matches, scoring four goals alone. Buys was only 22 years old, an attacking midfielder, thin, but technically good, very calm in front of the goal, and had a high influence in the team. He was also a key target for Adriaanse to cultivate.

However, while Adriaanse was happy for the growth of these young players, he was troubled by the forwards' failure to score in the three warm-up matches. It was not a normal phenomenon to always have the attacking midfielder responsible for scoring goals. Once Buys was marked, the team's offense would fall into a stalemate, and Buys's experience was not very rich, so he was likely to be marked in the game. After he gradually attracted the attention of the Eredivisie teams, his goals would be very, very few. Where would the forwards be at that time?

In these three warm-up matches, Adriaanse tried several forward combinations, but they were always unsatisfactory. Heuvel was a good left winger, the player with the best dribbling skills on the team, with good speed and very accurate passing. His technical and tactical level was the best among the young players cultivated by the team itself, but, but the only drawback was that he didn't seem to know how to shoot. He had a very poor sense in front of the goal. In the first two games, Adriaanse had always let him play as a starting striker, but the answer he handed in was seventeen shots, ten wide, and the other seven were all saved by the opponent's goalkeeper. Adriaanse felt that it was better to put him in midfield, where he could use his excellent dribbling and fast speed, while in the penalty area, he was like a lost lamb. In the third warm-up match, he was indeed very active in the midfield, constantly using his dribbling breakthroughs to assist, but the forwards wasted his kindness time and time again, but he finally helped Buys score a goal, which was not bad. It seemed that after the season started, he would be Buys's fixed partner in the midfield.

Ouichou, a 22-year-old striker from Morocco, joined the team in 2001. Although he had improved after a year of training, his physical strength was too poor, and he was still some distance away from Adriaanse's requirements. He was the team's happy fruit, and with him around, the team would not lack laughter. But Adriaanse didn't buy him in just to bring laughter to the team, did he? He might as well pay for the players to go to the circus to see the clowns.

The team after the major overhaul was full of vitality because young players accounted for the majority. Despite the mediocre results of the warm-up matches, this did not prevent the players from looking forward to the upcoming Eredivisie. Young calves were not afraid of tigers, and Adriaanse was also hoping that these young players could bring him some surprises.

Hoens was the owner of this team, 65 years old. When he took over this club 10 years ago, the team had always been in the middle of the Dutch Eredivisie (later renamed the Dutch Eredivisie). In the mid-1990s, they were relegated from the Eredivisie to the Eerste Divisie. The famous Dutch coach Ben Haak had coached here. When they were floating in the Eerste Divisie, Hoens thought of a famous coach, so last year he hired John Adriaanse, who was unemployed at home, as the team's head coach. In just one year, the team was promoted to the Eredivisie under John's leadership, which was worthy of being a famous coach! So this year, he let Adriaanse handle the signing work. Overall, John did a good job, especially by borrowing Keizer from the Ajax youth team through personal connections. He had heard of this young player for a long time. He was strong and was one of Ajax's key players to cultivate. Being able to borrow him was a brilliant move!

Of course, there were also things that bothered the old man, such as the two young men from China. John decided to sign them based on a few impressions, and the speed was staggering. It wasn't that he didn't trust John's vision, but when he asked John for the information of those two people, John didn't know anything! If it wasn't because he used to be the coach of the Ajax youth team, Hoens would have fainted from anger. Looking at his expression, it was as if he had found gold, urging the club to complete all the formalities.

He had agreed with John in the initial contract that they would sign a one-year contract first, and then if the team could be successfully promoted to the Eredivisie, they would sign a long-term contract. Sure enough, the team stood on the Eredivisie field after one year, and Hoens signed a four-year contract with Adriaanse as agreed. When signing the new contract, he agreed to Adriaanse's request to be fully responsible for the player introduction work and wrote this into the contract terms. Even he, the boss, had no right to interfere. Therefore, although he was unwilling in his heart, he still agreed to Adriaanse's approach. However, he was always skeptical. He didn't know much about China. In his impression, Chinese people should be cooks in the kitchen. He didn't know if those short, sallow-faced Orientals could play soccer.

When Zhang Jun and Yang Pan stood in front of Adriaanse, the tall Dutchman nodded in satisfaction. Although the long flight made them feel tired, their eyes were still clear and not stained with dust.

Adriaanse patted Reis's shoulder beside him: "I'll leave it to you, old pal! Hehe! Keep an eye on these two. I hope to see them in the first team in two months. Two months, I'm waiting for your good news!"

Reis was his former assistant in the Ajax youth team and had very rich experience in training young players. When Adriaanse came to Volendam, he also brought Reis with him. He personally went to the Ajax youth team to invite Reis, who was still a deputy, to build Volendam's second and third teams for him. At that time, he only said one sentence to Reis: "Come on, come to me, do whatever you want!" Reis packed his luggage and came with him to this small fishing village-like town northeast of Amsterdam. He trusted Reis, so he gave Reis the power he didn't have in Ajax. Reis didn't let him down either. The future captain, the young center back Gijs Luirink in the defense; the young midfielder Buys, who made great contributions to the team's promotion to the Eredivisie in the Eerste Divisie; and the excellent young left winger Heuvel were the answers he handed in. He believed that in two months, no, maybe less than two months, he would be able to see two sparkling pearls, two mysterious pearls from the East.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan couldn't understand Adriaanse's Dutch, but they both saw the head coach's smile. A smile should mean that the head coach was quite satisfied with them, so the two of them let go of their worries.

Adriaanse told the two young men through the accompanying translator, Mr. Li: "Have a good rest for a day, get over the jet lag, and start formal training with the youth team the day after tomorrow."

Then he and Reis left with laughter. There were still ten days left in the new season, and all the personnel had arrived. He, the head coach, was also in a good mood. There was one last warm-up match left, and then it would be the highly anticipated Eredivisie. Ten years, Volendam was finally back!

Back at the hotel arranged for them by the club, Mr. Li introduced them in detail to the Volendam club, where they would soon be living and working, and told them that in a few days, after everything was settled, the club would find them another translator, and he, the part-timer, would leave. But no matter who came to be the translator, it was not as good as communicating directly with the teammates and coaches. Therefore, if they wanted to successfully integrate into the team and succeed in Europe, language was the key. They were both young, and they had gone to college and received higher education, so learning it shouldn't be a big problem. But he was also worried about one thing: being together would certainly help each other, but it would also easily form a fixed small circle, and the integration with new teammates would also be affected. Therefore, he encouraged the two of them to hang out with the Dutch players more often, understand their lifestyles and ways of thinking, so that they could better cooperate on the field.

"The company will pay attention to your development in the Netherlands, and the company will stand up for you if you have any difficulties. Go ahead and make a name for Chinese soccer!" When Mr. Li said this, he was no longer a translator or an assistant to the department manager of Philips (China) Company, he was just an ordinary Chinese soccer fan.

The next day, the Volendam club held a press conference to let the newly joined players meet the media and fans. Originally, this press conference should have been held two weeks ago, but Adriaanse had been busy with the team's signing work, so the matter was postponed until now. All the newly joined players attended and were introduced to the media and fan representatives by the head coach one by one. However, among these people, there were no Zhang Jun and Yang Pan. In the club's official files, the two were now apprentices. Soccer apprentices like them were nothing new in any team, and the club had no need to hold a press conference even for recruiting a few apprentices.

While Keizer and several other people were holding the team's orange-yellow jerseys and smiling at the reporters' "bombardment," Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were honestly getting over the jet lag in the hotel.

At this time, on this sunny morning, everything that happened outside had nothing to do with these two Chinese teenagers. They were enjoying the last lazy sleep in their lives where they didn't have to think about anything and were as relaxed as they were at home. When they woke up, the world should be different.

ps: The Spring Festival is coming soon. Because I want to go back to Luoyang for the Spring Festival, I won't be able to update the novel in the short seven days. In order to let you all have a good year, I will try to update one chapter of "We Are the Champions" every two days in the next week, until I leave Chengdu on the 19th, which can be regarded as my early New Year greeting and a Spring Festival gift for everyone.

Author's statement: From now on, we will enter the professional soccer stage, which will involve a large number of real-life clubs, players, coaches, and all kinds of soccer-related information. I will try my best to be realistic, but in the arrangement of some information, for the sake of the novel's plot, I have made some changes to those data. For example, in 2002, Volendam was still working hard to get promoted to the Eredivisie in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. In the novel, I moved the time they were promoted to the Eredivisie forward by one year. I have also made some changes to the information of some players in the team and did not write it entirely according to real-life data. For example, for the sake of plot arrangement, I pushed back the time when some players appeared in the team. People who should have appeared in the team in 2002 will postpone their appearance by one year. I am very grateful to my friend fcmilan79 from Qidian. The Volendam player information and information about Dutch soccer and Dutch customs that you provided gave me a lot of help. I will also make corresponding adjustments to the later plot based on your information.

Writing about soccer in real life is a very difficult thing. It must be written realistically, but I don't want everyone to confuse reality with the novel after reading it. After all, it is very difficult to change what has happened in reality.

Another note: The Kaka in AC Milan now is the Kaka in the novel, but they are still a bit different. The real-life Kaka is a pure Brazilian. His real name is Ricardo Izecson Santos Leite. Kaka is because his younger brother couldn't pronounce his name and called him "kaka." Brazilians have a tradition of using nicknames instead of real names, so the name Kaka has been used ever since. The real-life Kaka already has a fifteen-year-old girlfriend, but in the novel, he is a diamond bachelor, hehe!

By the way, Volendam in the Netherlands is a Catholic town. It used to be a small fishing village. The scenery is beautiful, and the rows of green wooden houses and lace-trimmed curtains hanging by the windows add a lot of warmth. The town is located northeast of Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, in the province of Groningen, near Germany, with a population of about 50,000. You can take buses 110, 112, 113, and 116 from the bus terminal in front of Amsterdam Central Station. The journey takes 40 minutes. In addition, Volendam is also a very popular wedding photography spot. If you have the ability, you might as well go there with your loved one to take a wedding photo! But be sure to post it online and let me see it, hehe!