Chapter 13: Mongo's Eredivisie Debut

After Tang Ye took the field, he began observing the situation. Utrecht was eager to win today, so there were many players up front. What did that imply? It meant Tang Ye could quietly slip to the back, resulting in very few touches for him.

Just three minutes after Tang Ye came on—precisely when he was at his best—Utrecht suddenly launched an attack down the flank. Ruven completed a breakthrough against Meyers on the right wing. Ruven dribbled toward the center. Alae started his run. Ruven passed the ball! Alae charged from the arc into the penalty area, received Ruven’s pass, and then... took a shot!

“Goal! Goal!”
“Alae scores!”
“Utrecht takes the lead in the dying moments! Alae nets his second!”
“2-1.”

Wang Chao and some fans watching the live broadcast were ecstatic. These excited viewers had one thing in common: they had all bet on the away team to win outright or on Utrecht to win 2-1.

“Hahaha!”

The Utrecht players slowly jogged toward the corner flag as Tang Ye and his teammates embraced tightly.

[Awesome! Didn’t they say Utrecht couldn’t beat The Hague?]
[Announcer, you told us to bet on The Hague, then turned around and said you support the Chinese player and bet on Utrecht. You’re not human!]
[Damn, is Tang Ye really that strong? The moment he came on, the team took the lead!]
[The guy doubting is a troll, trying to slander Mungo. Don’t you know the announcer is a Mungo fan?]
[Three minutes on the pitch, zero touches. Mungo is supposed to be the attacking midfielder, why is he hiding in the back? Is this Ten Hag’s tactic?]

Utrecht’s sudden lead made Colt extremely nervous. He glanced at the fourth official’s board: the 87th minute. There had been quite a few fouls today; including stoppage time, about seven or eight minutes remained. Eight minutes were enough to turn the score around.

Colt complained to the referee that Utrecht was wasting time celebrating. Alae, having just scored twice, was shown a yellow card. Utrecht’s players were a bit displeased but said nothing. The key now was to hold onto the 2-1 lead.

At the start of the season, Utrecht had lost two consecutive matches and still had zero points. They genuinely wanted these three points!

“Fall back, fall back! Form a tight defense!” Ten Hag kept shouting instructions from the sidelines, but The Hague, being the stronger side overall, launched a fierce counterattack.

Near the center circle, Christensen controlled the ball, constantly scanning for an opportunity. Albergh, running to the wing, reached out for the ball.

Snap!

Christensen delivered a through ball. Albergh received it on Utrecht’s left flank and burst forward. Ramseylal reacted quickly, realizing his goal was threatened. The Dutch midfielder immediately moved to intercept Albergh.

Albergh passed the ball inside. The Hague’s striker Hafner was now in control.

“The center is open. Where is Utrecht’s defensive midfielder?”
“Defensive midfielder? Hmm, why is Tang Ye the closest to Hafner?”
“Tang Ye, run! Run!”
“What’s going on with Tang Ye? He’s moving... repositioning.”
“Tang Ye is still repositioning!”
“Great Tang Shuiyun, Golden Impression, Youlan Water Realm... Tang Ye, damn it!”
“I’m quitting my fandom!”
“No more, whoever supports Tang Ye is an idiot!”

On screen, Hafner passed to the advancing Duplan, who, with excellent positioning, faced two Utrecht center-backs. Because attention was drawn to the winger, the two defenders were still some distance from Duplan.

There was a gap between the defender and the ball carrier.

This meant Duplan could shoot directly now!

However, just as Duplan slowed to prepare his shot, a player in a blue away jersey stealthily approached from behind and to the left.

It was Tang Ye!

“Take him down! Take him down!” Ten Hag shouted from the sideline, “Foul him, it’s okay, just bring him down!”

If Duplan shot now, it would pose a serious threat to Utrecht’s goal.

Ten Hag’s intention was for Tang Ye to deliberately foul and take a yellow card, turning Duplan’s long-range shot opportunity into a free kick.

Considering the poor free-kick skills typical of Eredivisie players, handing the opponent a free kick would be safer for Utrecht.

Tang Ye was highly focused and didn’t hear Ten Hag’s shout.

Facing Duplan with the ball, Tang Ye suddenly dropped sideways, his right thigh touching the ground, while his left leg swung out.

Smack!

Tang Ye successfully interrupted the ball in front of Duplan. The shot scared Duplan into jumping, losing balance and stumbling before falling to the ground.

“Damn...”
“Awesome! Perfect tackle, very clean, no foul at all!”
“I’m an idiot. I really am!”
“Tang Ye, the king of football, you are truly the king!”

[No way???]
[Mungo can do this too?]
[Master, what do you do for a living?]
“Not bad. That tackle looks very skilled. Has Tang Ye been secretly practicing this?”
“No wonder Ten Hag had Tang Ye pretend to be a defensive midfielder today. Turns out he’s got tackling skills too.”

“Damn, damn...” Wang Chao’s heart raced. Looking at Utrecht’s 2.7 odds to win outright, he wasn’t thrilled.

On the contrary, he felt deep regret.

Very, very regretful.

Because he had only bet 100 yuan!

“Damn it!” Wang Chao clenched his fists.

Knowing Tang Ye was on the squad, he only bet 100 yuan on Utrecht to win.

What was this?

Disrespect to the king of football!

The king of football invited me to wash his feet, and what did I do?

I only bet 100!

“Damn it...” Wang Chao was suddenly engulfed by overwhelming guilt.

“Are you okay, brother? I didn’t mean it! I didn’t mean it!” Tang Ye saw Duplan rolling on the ground and hurried over to help him up.

Duplan wanted to curse but couldn’t. Tang Ye’s tackle was just too clean.

The most astonishing thing?

Tang Ye practically walked over and tackled Duplan down!

“What is that?” Ten Hag pointed at Tang Ye on the field, looking to Vandergaag beside him. “He can do this too?”

“Hmm, well...” Vandergaag frowned. “By rights, he shouldn’t be able to tackle.”

“By rights?” Ten Hag shrugged. “Did you see that tackle? He just walked over and took the opponent down. That level of skill must take at least four or five years to develop.”

“Hey, no, wait, maybe not!” Ten Hag suddenly realized something.

If any other player pulled that off, it would definitely mean secret extra training.

But this was Tang Ye on the field.

How could he have trained in secret?

“This must be thanks to Mung,” Ten Hag concluded.

Two minutes passed.

“Tang Ye, right side, tackle, beautiful!”
“Duplan is down again! Tang Ye is apologizing!”

Vandergaag turned to Ten Hag, saying nothing.

Hiss—

Something felt off.

Something didn’t quite add up...