Chapter 1 The Land of Tulips

The impression this country gives is of boundless tulips, windmills towering above fields of flowers, man-made dikes by the sea, wooden clogs, cheese, Europe's famous bicycle kingdom, and that orange memory that lingers in the hearts of all fans.

Johan Cruijff, Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard… For Zhang Jun, these names represented everything about this country.

The Netherlands, the land of tulips, at 14:50 on the afternoon of August 4, 2002, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan finally set foot on this land. They were sponsored by Philips to experience the atmosphere of Dutch football. Within ten days, they would train with the youth team of PSV Eindhoven, one of the top three teams in the Eredivisie, for three days, and then visit the Ajax and Feyenoord clubs, and attend PSV Eindhoven's stadium open day.

As the first batch of college football players in China to go abroad for a visit, the domestic media did not pay too much attention. While the country was still in a mess trying to find excuses and push responsibility for the men's football team's failed World Cup journey, the "tourism" of these two to the Netherlands was simply too insignificant.

Unnoticed and uncheered, the two's journey to the Netherlands began.

Speaking of Dutch teams, people may first mention the name Ajax, but PSV Eindhoven is also a team to be reckoned with.

August 31, 1913, was the 100th anniversary of Dutch independence, and PSV Eindhoven was officially established after a grand commemorative event against this background. PSV Eindhoven is one of the 19 members of a sports club called Philips Sports Vereniging (PSV in Dutch abbreviation), and the Philips Stadium built that year has been in use ever since.

From 1914, PSV Eindhoven officially began to participate in the Dutch football league. After more than ten years of training, PSV Eindhoven finally won the first league title in the club's history in 1929, and then won the first Dutch Cup in 1950. Five years later, in 1955, PSV Eindhoven became the first Dutch team to successfully reach the European Cup final. It is worth mentioning that in the 56-57 season, PSV Eindhoven's greatest shooter in history, Dillen, scored 43 league goals, a glorious record that remains to this day.

Speaking of shooters, one cannot fail to mention the names of Ronaldo, Romario, and Van Nistelrooy. These three famous forwards all played for PSV Eindhoven. The Dutch, who pay attention to technique, have always favored Brazilian foreign aid. In 1988, Romario came to PSV Eindhoven, and his arrival helped the team achieve the greatest glory in the club's history. Romario's departure in 1993 did not have much impact on PSV Eindhoven, because they introduced another talented star, Ronaldo. Although the latter only stayed in the Netherlands for two years, the Alien helped the team win the 95-96 Dutch Cup. And Van Nistelrooy, who is now in full swing at Manchester United, also played for PSV Eindhoven for 3 seasons.

In the mid-1970s, PSV Eindhoven ushered in a glorious era for the club. At that time, they had many big-name stars, and won the 74-75, 75-76, 77-78 league titles and the 73-74, 75-76 Dutch Cup titles in one fell swoop. This glory was marked with a perfect ending by their first European championship - on May 9, 1978, PSV Eindhoven defeated French team Bastia 3:0 at home and brought back the UEFA Cup.

After the glory, PSV Eindhoven immediately underwent reorganization and major transformation, and was rewarded in the late 1980s. A team composed of big-name stars such as Gullit, Romario, and Ronald Koeman led PSV Eindhoven to another glory. In the 7 seasons from 85-86 to 91-92, PSV Eindhoven won 6 league titles and 3 Dutch Cup titles. In the 87-88 season, PSV Eindhoven defeated Benfica of Portugal in the penalty shootout after extra time in the Champions League final. After winning the domestic league and cup double, they once again dominated the European arena, historically becoming a triple crown winner.

Since then, after a few years of silence, PSV Eindhoven has made a comeback, and they have won the league titles in the 96-97, 99-00 and 00-01 seasons.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan arrived in Eindhoven the next day and caught up with PSV Eindhoven's "Stadium Open Day". On this day, all the streets in the small city of Eindhoven were completely empty, and all the old and young people flocked to the Philips Stadium. Various activities unfolded with the Philips Stadium as the center, just like a football carnival.

Looking at those gleeful fans, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan deeply realized the weight of football in the hearts of Europeans. It is by no means just a sport, or a game, or something to pass the time in physical education class in the eyes of many Chinese people. It is an attitude towards life that has been deeply integrated into the blood of the local people and passed down from generation to generation. Here, it is not uncommon for families where three generations of grandparents and grandchildren are supporters of the same team. In fact, this is extremely common in Europe, but in China, at least, it is impossible at present.

Various activities were held on the square of the Philips Stadium. Zhang Jun and the others were attracted by a small football match called "Iron Cage Scorpion Fight". This is similar to indoor football, but the venue is moved from indoors to an outdoor iron cage. This is an event promoted by Nike. Three people on one side, a total of six people compete in the iron cage, and the first to score wins and advances. Many people watched outside the cage, cheering for both sides in the cage.

Although it was just a game, both sides played very seriously. The scorer would make many celebratory moves to win applause, while the losing side was very annoyed and was "kicked" out of the cage. Zhang Jun found it very interesting to watch, so he pulled Yang Pan to sign up, but the translator, Mr. Li, told them that they must have 4 people to sign up to participate. Zhang Jun looked at Yang Pan, and then looked around, all strangers, so he shrugged and gave up.

Entering the Philips Stadium is another world. The 30,000-seat stadium was almost full. Zhang Jun and the others could still hear the huge cheers from the stands while sitting in the box provided by the club. Playing football in such an exciting environment, I believe the players will use 200% of their strength.

The highlight of this year's Stadium Open Day was a match between the current PSV Eindhoven team and the PSV Eindhoven veteran star team. The on-site commentator began to introduce the players one by one. Obviously, the audience gave the most enthusiastic applause and cheers to the veteran star team, after all, those people's names represented an era, a glorious memory.

Zhang Jun didn't know many of them. In the veteran team, he only knew Ronald Koeman, an excellent player of the same era as the Dutch Three Musketeers, and now the head coach of Eredivisie powerhouse Ajax. He is the coach of the veteran star team today. The appearance of another person made Zhang Jun very excited. In fact, not only Zhang Jun, but all the fans were the same. When the commentator shouted extremely emotionally: "Number 11, Romario--" the audience burst into thunderous cheers and applause. When this short Brazilian appeared on the field, the cheers continued for a long time. Everyone expressed their respect for this greatest shooter of PSV Eindhoven in the past ten years in the most direct way.

Zhang Jun kept applauding in the box. Yang Pan was not as excited as him, but he was also moved by these fans. When could he reach such a height? He thought to himself.

This game belonged to Romario. His two goals in the game helped the veteran team beat the active team 2:1. Among them, that long-range lob shot from the wing won waves of applause from the fans. The 35-year-old "Lone Wolf" is not old!

Zhang Jun looked at Romario raising his hands after scoring a goal and accepting the cheers of the fans. There was only one thought in his mind: a shooter, a real shooter, a great shooter. Even if he is no longer young, he can still win so much cheers and win the love of so many people.

A dreamlike day. At the hotel at night, Zhang Jun was still excited about everything during the day. He pulled Yang Pan to talk: "Yang Pan, did you see it? This football field, those audiences! I really want to play in this kind of place! It's just enjoyment!"

"Dream on!" Yang Pan finally fell asleep, but was awakened by Zhang Jun. He said unhappily: "It's not that simple! We're just here to observe high-level football. To put it bluntly, it's tourism! Do you think the club will sign a contract with you just because you train with the youth team here for three days? Go to sleep! If you don't have energy during training tomorrow, you'll be the one who makes a fool of yourself!"

According to the plan, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan would train with PSV Eindhoven's youth team for three days, do the most basic exercises, and feel the training mode of European clubs. Because it was to feel the atmosphere, the youth team coach didn't pay much attention to them, just let them follow along, and didn't consider the effect. Therefore, when the team practiced passing and receiving the ball, the two of them formed a group, and Zhang Jun and Yang Pan also passed and received the ball with each other. Because they couldn't understand what the coach was shouting, the two of them looked around, watched what the people around them were doing, and imitated them, and there was nothing wrong with that. But after a day of training like this, there was no fun to speak of, just felt very tired. Physically tired, eyes tired.

During the scrimmage, Yang Pan's breakthrough speed surprised the others. He didn't use any skills, just easily broke through the players defending him with his speed. But in the subsequent cross, he kicked the ball away, causing many people to shake their heads. Asian players are still a bit famous for their speed, but the technique behind the speed is really not flattering.

Yang Pan was also very regretful, but there was nothing he could do, who made the shoes provided by the club a bit too big?

Because it was the youth team's training, there were not many fans watching around the field, but there were still a few spectators, and Adriaanse was one of them, but he was not a die-hard fan. He came here for another purpose. As the head coach of FC Volendam, the newly promoted team in the Dutch Eredivisie this year, he was here to see what treasures he could dig, to put it bluntly, to poach people. A few days ago, he went to Ajax, and there were a few that interested him, but in a club like Ajax, where youth training is very mature, it is really difficult to poach people. What he values ​​is often valued by others, and he is not willing to pick up what others don't want and treat it as a treasure. Volendam is a small club. Logically speaking, he shouldn't be picky. It would be great if someone came, but who made him the head coach of Ajax's youth team and first team? His vision is too high!

Adriaanse found himself distracted, shook his head, and the recent introduction of reinforcements was not going smoothly, which made him very distressed. The club only gave him 1.3 million euros to use to introduce players to celebrate being promoted to the Super League. This little money can only introduce those third-rate players, or a second-rate player. It seems that if he wants to buy good ones, he can only go to the youth team to discover them himself. He went to Ajax a few days ago, today is Eindhoven, and in a few days he will go to Feyenoord. Only looking for it in the Netherlands is a big limitation, and even so, people are still unwilling to come, and in his opinion, the first-tier players are useless, and it is difficult to help the team stay in the league.

He put the financial problems aside and concentrated on looking at the training field where the five-person scrimmage was being held. Today, so far, the notebook in his hand is still blank, and Eindhoven has disappointed him.

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. The No. 13 on the white team created a cross opportunity with a fast breakthrough on the right, but he kicked the ball away. Like the others, Adriaanse also shook his head. Is it another waste who only relies on speed to play football? He sighed in his heart, what a pity for his speed... wait! This black-haired No. 13 is very unfamiliar! As far as he knows, Eindhoven's youth team shouldn't have this No. 13 and another No. 21.

Adriaanse suddenly thought that he had heard yesterday that two Chinese college players had come to Eindhoven as participants in an exchange activity. Adriaanse began to pay attention, after all, he had a relationship with China that was not too short.

Ten minutes later, Adriaanse changed his initial evaluation of that No. 13. No. 13 took the ball to the bottom again. Perhaps because of the language barrier, he rarely communicated with the other three Dutch people on the field. Once he reached the bottom, he crossed to find the No. 21 spot, but failed the first two times. But this third time, he kicked the ball up under the interference of the opponent's defender, and the No. 21 following up in the middle jumped up for a powerful header, and the ball went in!

Zhang Jun was just like in the Luoyang Shuguang stadium, Yang Pan crossed, he headed the ball, and then the ball went in!

The red-haired goalkeeper didn't react at all. Maybe he didn't even think that this Chinese man who was 1.83 meters tall could compete for the top in front of a center back who was 1.88 meters tall?

Zhang Jun ran excitedly towards Yang Pan, just like countless times before, he jumped up, and Yang Pan opened his arms and hugged him.

The coach of PSV Eindhoven's youth team just tilted his head slightly: "Oh, these two Chinese people still have some tacit understanding!"

But Adriaanse certainly wouldn't think so. He had been the head coach of Ajax's youth team and first team, and he had seen countless people in his life and had never been wrong. This time, he believed what he saw, those were two big diamonds!

In the subsequent games, Adriaanse completely abandoned Eindhoven and kept his eyes on the two Chinese people.

When the training ended, his notebook was already filled with several pages. As the training deepened, he became more and more convinced of his intuition. The club gave him absolute power in personnel management and player transfers, and now he wants to exercise this power.

After a day of training, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were lying on the bed, both very tired. Although the training volume of the youth team was not large, the intensity was not small. In addition, it was the first time to participate in such formal training, so it was inevitable to be a little nervous, and fatigue was natural.

A knock on the door.

"Coming please!" Yang Pan shouted politely in English while sitting up.

The door opened, it was their translator, Mr. Li from Philips (China) Company, and behind him was a tall Dutchman, whom they didn't recognize. "You're both here? That's great! Let me introduce someone to you." Mr. Li pointed to the Dutchman beside him, "Mr. John Adriaanse, former head coach of Ajax's youth team and first team, and now the head coach of FC Volendam, the newly promoted team in the Dutch Super League. These two are Zhang Jun and Yang Pan, college football players from China who are visiting the Netherlands."

"Nice to meet you!" Yang Pan and Zhang Jun took the initiative to greet each other.

"Nice to meet you too!" Adriaanse replied in English.

After the pleasantries, Mr. Li went straight to the point, "Mr. Adriaanse watched your training at PSV Eindhoven's youth team and is very interested in you. So he found me. He wants to invite you to join his current club, Volendam."

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan were stunned. They had never heard of Volendam, but Mr. Li said that they had just been promoted to the Super League and were also a professional team. Now their head coach has come to them to invite them to join. Are they dreaming?

Seeing the two people's disbelief, Adriaanse said a series of Dutch words to Mr. Li, and then Mr. Li translated them to the two of them: "He said please rest assured, today is not April Fool's Day. He is sincerely here to invite the two of you. He watched your training the other day and believes that you are fully capable of playing in a professional league, of course, this requires good training. But please believe in his level. He guarantees in the name of Ajax that you can handle it. Volendam is a small club that has just been promoted to the Super League, but it is a very ambitious club. The chairman has given him the greatest power to select players. There are experienced veterans and young players in the team, and the team is very united."

As Mr. Li recounted, Zhang Jun and Yang Pan's mood gradually calmed down.

Yang Pan had completely understood, and he began to consider it at a deeper level. "Um, Mr. Adriaanse, we are not professional players, and we don't belong to any club. We only registered as amateur players with the Chinese Football Association when we played in the domestic college league. How are you going to sign a contract with us?"

Adriaanse nodded while listening to Mr. Li's translation, and then said a series of words to Mr. Li, who was responsible for translating them to the two of them.

"He said that this is not a problem. Although the Dutch Super League has labor permit requirements, it is far less demanding and complicated than the English Premier League. You don't belong to any club, so it will be easier to handle. Volendam can sign 'apprentice contracts' with you. As apprentices, you will receive training in Volendam, so you don't need to consider the labor permit issue. Then, whether you go from apprentice to official player is up to him, the coach. The Dutch Football Association cannot interfere. At most, you have to go to the Dutch Ministry of Labor to sign a labor qualification certificate, but you don't need to worry about this. The club will handle everything for you, including registering with the Chinese Football Association to become professional players, and all visa issues will also be handled by a dedicated person for you. All you have to do is pick up a pen and sign the contract."

After speaking, Adriaanse looked at Zhang Jun and Yang Pan quietly. He had said everything he needed to say, and the rest was up to them.

Yang Pan looked at Zhang Jun. He suddenly realized that Zhang Jun's "nonsense" yesterday had actually come true. They really had the possibility of becoming professional players and playing for professional teams! "Zhang Jun, what do you think..."

"Do you think we still need to hesitate, Yang Pan!" Zhang Jun was very excited, but he was trying his best to restrain himself. He didn't want to be too失态 in front of outsiders.

Yang Pan turned his head to look at Mr. Li again.

Mr. Li smiled: "Let me declare one thing first, the company's responsibility is only to sponsor you to come out and experience the atmosphere of Dutch football. As for any contracts you sign with any team during this period, we will not interfere. If necessary, we can even strongly support it, after all, you are the first batch of players to go out from our league. We will be responsible for getting through to the Chinese Football Association."

In this way, there were no more worries. Yang Pan said, "Okay, please tell Mr. Adriaanse that Zhang Jun and I agree to sign a contract with Volendam."

After Adriaanse heard Mr. Li's translation, he stood up excitedly and clapped his hands: "God!" Then he reached out and shook hands with Mr. Li, Yang Pan, and Zhang Jun one by one. "It's settled then! I'll bring the contract tomorrow night for you to take a look at. Feel free to ask any questions or raise any objections! Haha! Li, would you like to go for a drink? My treat!" He laughed happily, with an expression as if he had found gold.

Zhang Jun and Yang Pan also laughed, with an expression as if they had been hit by gold.

After Adriaanse and Mr. Li said goodbye, Yang Pan slowly closed the door, stayed for two seconds, and then he suddenly jumped on the bed and shouted, "Long live! I'm so happy! Zhang Jun, are we dreaming?"

Zhang Jun punched Yang Pan in the face and asked with a smile, "Does it hurt?"

Yang Pan rubbed his face and also smiled, "It hurts!"

"Then it's not a dream, you idiot! Haha!"

"Ha! Yeah, but you dare to mess with me! I'll make you look good! Foshan Shadowless Kick, ya!"

The two of them fought and闹闹 on the bed and on the ground, venting their inner ecstasy to their heart's content. After fighting tiredly, the two of them sat side by side on the ground by the window. "Phew! To be honest, I really feel like I'm dreaming, it's too sudden!" Yang Pan gasped and said, "That Adriaanse wouldn't be lying to us, would he? Have you heard of this Volendam team?"

"No, my understanding of Dutch football is limited to Cruyff, the Dutch Three Musketeers, and the top three in the Eredivisie. Hehe! But what does it matter! As long as we have football to play!" Zhang Jun said with a smile.

"You're always like this, from childhood to adulthood, you just need to have football to play. But you're right, now we just need to be able to play the game!"

"Hehe, I was thinking, what would Zhang Fan and the others look like if they knew?"

"If you didn't say it, I would have forgotten. I guess we won't even have the opportunity to say goodbye to them in person."

Zhang Jun looked at Yang Pan: "Really?"

"The Dutch Super League will start at the end of August. Before that, we definitely have to report to the club, and participate in training to integrate into the team as soon as possible... Maybe we will just go home to pack our luggage and come back here. How can we go back to school to say goodbye to them?" Yang Pan usually pays attention to various magazines and newspapers that introduce European football.

Zhang Jun opened his mouth: "What a pity, but leaving like this, isn't it a bit unkind..."

"What's unkind about it? We are also for the future of Chinese football. I believe they will understand!" Yang Pan patted Zhang Jun on the shoulder, stood up, and walked to the bathroom, "Go to sleep, there's still training tomorrow! Don't let being too happy affect tomorrow's training and leave a bad impression on that Adriaanse, that would be too bad."

Zhang Jun thought of Kaka. The smile on his face holding the gold cup in Yokohama on June 31 stung him a little. They were also partners who played football together in high school, and one of them had already stood at the peak of the world so early... He stood up, patted the dust on his buttocks, lay down on the bed, stared at the ceiling, and stayed like this until he fell asleep.