Chapter 898: Ferguson's Revenge
In fact, many people underestimate Van der Sar's historical status in the Netherlands and even in European football.
This is actually normal. Both the media and the fans focus too much on the goals. The offensive players naturally attract more attention, while the defensive players, especially the goalkeepers, are often easily overlooked.
Its historical status has therefore been greatly reduced.
But in professional circles, this is obviously not the case.
If we want to understand Van der Sar's status in the Netherlands and even in European football, we have to mention Cruyff.
The greatness of the Barca godfather lies not only in Barcelona, but also in Dutch football.
During Cruyff's coaching career at Ajax, he created a new concept for goalkeeping. He adopted the 3-4-3 tactics, hoping that the goalkeeper would no longer be limited to goalkeeping, but would be able to better serve the team's all-out attack and defense.
To achieve this, the goalkeeper needs to be able to read the game well, have an excellent overall view, and be able to pass and receive the ball easily, making them part of the team's offense and defense. The most subversive point is to push the goalkeeper's position forward to outside the small penalty area.
Subversion is to better serve the team's overall tactics.
Former Ajax goalkeeper Stanley Menzo was a prototype of Cruyff's experiment. In order to better help Menzo change, Cruyff specially invited Frans Houck, who had similar ideas to him, to coach Menzo.
The training of Menzo achieved good results, and then he had great success with the younger Van der Sar.
Van Gaal and Cruyff are mortal enemies, but some of their ideas are consistent, including the requirements for goalkeepers. Frans Hoek continues to use Cruyff's goalkeeper philosophy to train Van der Sar.
In 1992, FIFA officially adopted the return pass rule, which greatly overturned the concept of goalkeeper training and development, especially the emphasis on goalkeeper passing and receiving the ball. This showed the foresight of several generations of Ajax. Van der Sar also shined in this environment, allowing the world to see the level of modern goalkeepers under the new rules.
Van Gaal, Van der Sar, Frans Hoek and Ajax reached the top of Europe together, and Van Gaal and Frans Hoek also brought Ajax's philosophy to Spain and Barcelona.
Even now, Frans Hoek is still an authority on goalkeeping coaches in Spain. Many teaching materials come from Frans Hoek, which has trained generations of top goalkeepers for Spain, such as Casillas, Baders and Reina.
And all of this is built on the achievements made by Van der Sar in those years.
Or it can be said that since the reform of the back-pass rule in 1992, Van der Sar has become the template for all goalkeepers and set a benchmark.
As for his failure at Juventus, his decline at Fulham, and his subsequent resurgence at Manchester United, all of these were just further demonstrations of Van der Sar's personal charm on this basis.
Many years ago, everyone basically concluded that Van der Sar would be the best goalkeeper in Dutch history.
It is precisely because of this that Ajax attaches great importance to Van der Sar's farewell match.
Ajax fans also showed great support for Van der Sar's farewell match.
The entire stadium was packed with more than 50,000 fans coming to witness Van der Sar's retirement.
Ajax and Manchester United also cooperated very well.
Starting in the evening, there was a thirty-minute match between the youth teams of Ajax and Manchester United.
The sons of Van der Sar and United assistant coach René Meulensteen both play for the youth team.
Next, Ajax 1995 and the Netherlands team 1998 will play a friendly match, which will last for 30 minutes.
Finally, the Ajax first team played a match with the world stars team, which also lasted ninety minutes.
Afterwards, all of tonight's jerseys, gloves, boots and other items will be put up for auction online, and the proceeds from the auction and the game will be donated to charity organizations.
From this point it is not difficult to see that whether it is Ajax, the Dutch Football Association, or Manchester United, they all attach great importance to Van der Sar, and can even be said to have considerable respect for him.
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Su Dong received a call from Ronnie after arriving in Amsterdam.
Most of the players participating in the world star team this time are Van der Sar's former teammates, with the only exception of Su Dong, who was personally invited by Van der Sar. In an interview, Van der Sar said that Su Dong was the most terrifying scorer he had ever met, so he issued an invitation.
Finally, in the VIP room of the Amsterdam Arena, Su Dong met Ronnie whom he had not seen for a long time.
The two hadn't seen each other for a while, and when they met, they gave each other a warm hug.
"How were those two beauties that night?" Su Dong asked teasingly.
Ronnie was depressed when he heard this. "Don't mention it. I had already negotiated it, but after I went back, someone else got there first."
Su Dong saw his depressed look and laughed happily.
"I don't care. I'm going to blame you for this matter anyway." Ronnie did blame you.
Su Dong was not afraid that he would rely on him.
Soon, Su Dong and the others saw the group of Ajax and Dutch legends, as well as Manchester United stars and some of Van der Sar's former teammates, all of whom were old acquaintances.
Especially Rijkaard, Su Dong's head coach in Barcelona.
"Hey, Frank, long time no see." Su Dong walked over and hugged Rijkaard directly.
Since leaving Barcelona, Rijkaard has coached in Turkey, but the results were not ideal and he rarely comes out now. With his historical status and achievements, he basically has no worries about food and clothing and does not need to do the laborious work of head coach.
Rijkaard had heard that Su Dong would participate and was mentally prepared, so when they met, he naturally exchanged some pleasantries.
Today's Su Dong is no longer the Su Dong who played for Barcelona. He is now regarded as the best player in the world football. More importantly, he will only be 27 years old in September. In the words of the media, he still has at least five years of peak period.
It’s scary to think about it.
Su Dong’s peak is not only high enough now, but also very long.
Van Gaal and Hiddink were also invited to attend. Su Dong also knew the two world-famous coaches. They greeted each other and talked to each other. There were also some other former teammates, such as Makaay, Kluivert, Van Bronckhorst and so on.
Among the Dutch players, one attacker that Su Dong likes very much is Daniel Bergkamp.
Su Dong took the initiative to walk over and greet the Ice Prince, and made no secret of the fact that he had watched Bergkamp's videos to learn how to stop the ball and some football skills, and he really benefited a lot from it.
"I think your ball-stopping and ball-control skills are no worse than mine back then, and have even surpassed me." Bergkamp was very pleased with Su Dong's praise and praised him back in kind.
"I think the only person who can compare with you in this aspect in world football today is Messi."
Su Dong was also very happy about the praise from the Ice Prince and kept thanking him.
Afterwards, when Su Dong was chatting with old friends such as Piero, Vidic, Rooney and Ronaldo, he happened to see the usually rebellious Belgian goalkeeper Courtois, who was like a shy little fan, asking Van der Sar for autographs and taking photos, and was also chatting very enthusiastically.
Van Gaal's unstoppable assistant coach Frans Houck soon joined in.
This was specially arranged by Su Dong. He had already greeted Van der Sar and Frans Hoek before. They all knew Su Dong's intention of bringing this young teammate to Amsterdam and didn't mind lending a helping hand.
…
It is called a competition, but in fact it is an event, a show.
The youth team's match ended in a 2-2 draw. Van der Sar's son Joey made a mistake in his attack, but received warm applause from the fans.
The subsequent matchup between the two classic teams won applause from the audience.
Especially when both teams entered the stadium, even before the broadcast introduced a player, the fans would still wave their flags and cheer, and the atmosphere was very lively. In the end, Ajax of 1995 won a narrow victory over the Dutch national team of 1998 led by Hiddink, 1-0, thanks to Overmars' goal.
The more interesting part is that Cocu had a direct free kick, but was caught by Van der Sar, and Makaay also had a header that hit the post.
…
After two warm-up matches, tonight's event came to the finale.
Ajax vs. World Stars.
Although Ajax's situation has not been ideal in recent years, it still has many players with good potential, such as central defenders Vertonghen and Alderweireld, full-back Van der Wiel, Simon de Jong, Eriksen, Rodney Sneijder, etc., are all very good players.
The head coach of the World Stars team is Ferguson.
What surprised everyone was that this disrespectful Scottish old man actually took this opportunity to take revenge. When arranging the troops, he directly placed Su Dong at the central defender position.
"Rio wasn't here because of something, and we just happen to be short of a central defender. You see, you're the tallest and strongest among all the people here, so..." Ferguson had an expression that said, "I don't want this to happen either," but there was clearly a mischievous glee in his eyes.
Everyone around burst into laughter.
"Sir, I am now very sure that you are taking revenge for your personal gain." Su Dong was also amused.
"No, mainly because I think you are too versatile. Since you can play as a free man in the frontcourt, you can definitely play as a free man in the backcourt. So, don't feel pressured, you can definitely do it." Ferguson said with a "earnest" smile.
Isn't this obviously revenge for the massacre last season? "Jazz, the Community Shield is coming up soon, are you sure you want to do this?" Su Dong "threatened".
Ferguson nodded continuously with an expression that said, "I'm not afraid of you."
Everyone found it funny.
In fact, this was all a show. Ferguson took the opportunity to "retaliate personal grudges", which made everyone find it interesting.
Since his debut, Su Dong has always played as a center forward. I wonder how effective he would be as a center back?
Su Dong looked at Vidic again. The Manchester United central defender must listen to the head coach. "I am looking forward to partnering with you as a central defender."
Every time I saw Su Dong before, I was abused badly. Now it’s better and we have become central defenders.
This feels pretty good.
(End of this chapter)
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