Chapter 60 Well, you didn't ask, after all...

Tang Ye was rolling on the ground, clutching his legs, as the referee flashed a yellow card at Bælinghø.

It was a set-piece opportunity for Utrecht.

Let Ramselaar take it!

Ramselaar excelled at long-range shots, but crossing was not his strong suit.

However, Utrecht had to let Ramselaar take this indirect free kick because they needed players to attack the ball in the penalty area, and among the midfielders and defenders, only Ramselaar and Tang Ye were incapable of heading the ball.

Ramselaar hugged the ball and walked behind the white arc.

The distance from the goal was far—very, very far. This meant Ramselaar had to deliver the ball precisely to the head-height position in front of his attacking teammates.

Executing a precise pass was not difficult for a professional player, but the real challenge lay in controlling the ball's speed.

It had to be kept away from the opponents while allowing their own attacking player to connect with it comfortably using their head.

This was an art!

The camera cut to Ramselaar, and Tang Ye limped over.

"Hiss, it hurts so much..."

"How about leaving this kick to me?"

Tang Ye reached out his hand to Ramselaar, leaving the latter completely bewildered.

Not only Ramselaar, but also Ten Hag and Van de Gaag on the bench were dumbfounded. Tang Ye's gesture asking for the ball scared Van de Gaag so much that he instantly jumped up from his chair.

Was the number 99 up to his antics again?

"You're taking it?"

Ramselaar hesitated for a moment. "Are you sure?"

Tang Ye nodded. Ramselaar pulled Tang Ye closer and covered his mouth with his hand. "Are you going to pass it? Into the box?"

"Right."

"Are you sure you can reach it?"

"I should... be able to?"

Ten Hag hadn't arranged any set-piece training for Tang Ye, only letting him take a few corner kicks.

After purchasing the Ward-Prowse free-kick template, Tang Ye's corner-kick ability had improved somewhat, but he had never taken a real indirect free kick using the abilities from this template.

So it was hard to say!

"Sh—should be able to?"

Ramselaar looked Tang Ye up and down. "Uh, if you're sure you want it, I'll give it to you."

Tang Ye took the ball and placed it on the ground.

Though he handed over the ball, Ramselaar didn't rush forward to fight for the header; instead, he stood right in front of Tang Ye.

The referee blew the whistle. Ramselaar raised his right hand to signal, then started his run-up, and let the ball roll past him once he reached the spot.

Ramselaar's dummy run unsettled the defensive players in NEC's penalty area, causing them to briefly lose track of the attacking players they were supposed to mark.

That was when Tang Ye struck!

Thwack!

The set-piece was delivered!

It was a decent arc. The ball soared over the wall formed by the players from both sides and flew forward.

Haller and Barazite were both keeping their eyes on the ball!

The positioning was excellent. After reaching its peak, the ball began a slow descent.

To make it easier for his teammates to connect with a header, Tang Ye had struck an overspin ball, which descended slower than an underspin ball.

Moreover, this type of ball was exceptionally well-suited for headers.

Because upon contacting the head, the overspin would naturally deflect downward, making it much less likely to fly over the crossbar!

"Haller!"

"Header!"

"It's in!"

"Haller's header bounced off the turf and then flew into the net!"

"Brilliant!"

"1-0, Utrecht takes a one-goal lead!"

Wang Chao's face was flushed red, and with a swift rip, he tore off the white paper pasted on his chest.

He was making amends to the King of Football, and in the dying moments of the match, the King of Football had saved him with a free kick.

What did this prove?

The King of Football had forgiven him!

Haller ran across the pitch, and Utrecht's players gathered around the corner flag to celebrate.

Suddenly, Haller froze, asking a bizarre question.

"Why is Tang capable of doing that?"

Prompted by Haller's question, the celebrating players gathered around the corner flag realized that Tang Ye was not among them.

Turning around, they saw Tang Ye slowly jogging over toward the corner flag on the right flank.

"Wait for me, wait for me!"

The camera cut to Ten Hag, the Dutch manager resting his right hand on his bald head and turning to look at Van de Gaag. "Did you teach him that?"

Van de Gaag quickly took a step back. "No, no, no, I didn't teach him."

Ten Hag nodded.

"Then I must have taught him."

"?"

...

The final whistle blew. Haller's header was the only goal of the match. Utrecht defeated the home side by a single goal margin, and Haller, scorer of the match's only goal, was named the Man of the Match.

Bang!

Returning from the press room, Haller kicked open the dressing room door holding the Man of the Match trophy. "Ha, TOM!"

Huh?

Not spotting Tang Ye at first glance, Haller calmed down and observed carefully, noticing the players all clustered in a corner.

"What's going on?"

Haller walked over with the trophy, leaning his upper body onto the backs of Amrabat and Janssen. "Let me see!"

"Come on, come on!"

"Pass it! Can't you just pass it!"

"Don't pass, you can't pass now!"

"Shoot, shoot!"

"Brilliant!"

"Hahaha!"

Tang Ye's phone screen displayed the word "WIN".

Having just won against NEC, they had just won another match of mobile FIFA right after the final whistle.

This counted as a streak of two consecutive victories!

"Damn, Tang, you're actually pretty good at this game!"

Ramselaar snatched Tang Ye's phone, scrolling with his thumb to inspect Tang Ye's lineup. "Did you learn your tactical vision from video games? Hey, hahaha, Tang, you even put me and Nacer [Barazite] in your starting lineup!"

Ramselaar suddenly burst into laughter because he spotted himself in the starting XI Tang Ye had set up!

Bart Ramselaar!

And Nacer Barazite!

"What?"

Haller squeezed in, and after browsing the starting lineup, began questioning Tang Ye: "What about me? Why am I not in it!"

Tang Ye was truly incorrigible.

He put Ramselaar and Barazite in the starting lineup, but left him, Haller, out of it!

He was clearly Utrecht's top scorer!

"I couldn't help it, I just didn't pull your card."

Tang Ye spread his hands helplessly, prompting Ramselaar to shout again, "Wow, you even have your own player card, why didn't you put yourself in? Who's your midfielder? De Bruyne, Modrić? Um, why don't you put yourself on the field?"

Tang Ye pouted and reluctantly tapped on his own player card.

"My rating is only in the 50s, putting me in guarantees a loss."

"Hahahaha!"

"Hahahaha!"

All the players in the dressing room erupted in laughter. "Haha, Tang, you bastard, you're going to kill me, haha!"

"Damn you."

Tang Ye took his phone back. "It's totally normal that I don't use myself, seriously. Wait until next season's update, I'm swapping Bart [Ramselaar] out for myself instantly!"

"As if."

Ramselaar waved his hand dismissively, pointing at Tang Ye's phone. "My rating is 76, can you reach 76 next season? Probably not, right?"

"..."

While the players were still bantering, Ten Hag, who had finished his post-match interviews, walked in from outside.

"Tang, come outside for a moment."

Tang Ye spread his hands and prepared to put his phone back into his bag, but Ramselaar snatched it away instead.

"Let me play one match."

"Be careful, don't mess with my lineup!"

Tang Ye admonished, then followed Ten Hag out of the dressing room.

"Good performance."

Ten Hag applauded. "Although the first half wasn't great, your performance in the second half saved your day."

"Yeah, I can feel myself improving!"

Tang Ye said excitedly.

"Well, I have a question now. That set-piece you assisted Haller with was executed very well. Why didn't you tell me you knew how to take set-pieces?"

Ten Hag sounded slightly annoyed because he felt Tang Ye had kept something from him.

If Tang Ye had told him earlier that he could take free kicks, Utrecht's set-piece tactics might not have looked the way they did right now.

Tang Ye's concealment was disadvantageous to the team.

"This..."

Tang Ye rubbed his head sheepishly. "W-well, mainly..."

"Mainly what?"

"Mainly you didn't ask..."

"..."