Chapter 55: Go hand in hand
Genk, Heramico Stadium, Jupiler League Round 22, Genk's home game against Ghent.
Genk's team name is GENK, while Gent's team name is GHENT. The names are very similar, to the extent that there are rumors that many fans would go to the wrong venue, cheering for the whole game before realizing they watched the wrong match.
Of course, this is just a joke. In fact, the two teams are completely different. Genk is located in the province of Limburg, Belgium, while Ghent is located in the province of East Flanders. In any case, it's impossible to go to the wrong place.
When the game reached the 27th minute, Christian Civu intercepted the ball in the backcourt and passed it to Gareth Barry in the middle. Barry dribbled the ball into the frontcourt and then passed it to Wang Feng, who was making a run on the right side. Wang Feng quickly dribbled straight along the sideline.
When approaching the penalty area, Wang Feng used a Cruyff turn to shake off the Ghent defenders, then smoothly entered the penalty area and scored with a low shot from a tight angle, opening the scoring for Genk.
In the second half, as the game resumed, in the 71st minute, Genk launched a long pass from the backcourt to the frontcourt. Barry failed to win the first ball, but Bess quickly intercepted the second ball and passed it to Jason Aldridge, who was on the right.
Aldridge quickly turned around, trying to shake off the Ghent defenders, but a Ghent defender poked away the ball.
The ball rolled directly to the right side of the penalty area.
Wang Feng, who had been looking for opportunities all along, suddenly burst out from the right, intercepting the ball before anyone else and quickly entering the penalty area. He then took a direct shot with his right foot, adding another goal for Genk.
"Wang Feng once again breached Ghent's defense, scoring twice in this match. He is like a cheetah prowling on the frontline. Whenever the defensive players show a slight gap, he seizes it tightly."
"This is his 28th goal of the season. His performance is extremely active, currently firmly occupying the position of the top scorer."
"Genk's captain Aaron Abigail said in an interview that Wang Feng is the most important attacking player for Genk, and playing with him makes it very easy. Just pass the ball to his feet and wait for the goal."
At this time, the TV camera gave a close-up of Wang Feng, who was celebrating with both hands pointing to the sky. This action has become his signature move, his handsome face covered in sweat, smiling, revealing white teeth and shallow dimples.
At this moment, the live commentator exclaimed, "Seeing the young face of Wang Feng, who would have thought he would become the most threatening forward in the Jupiler League?"
When the game reached the 79th minute, head coach Aimee Antonis substituted Wang Feng. Although Ghent did not give up on the game, it was clear that they could not reverse the situation.
Before being substituted, Wang Feng also created two excellent chances, one was his own shot saved by the goalkeeper, and the other was a shot by Aldridge from his pass, which went wide of the goal.
This season, Wang Feng has scored many <anno data-annotation-id="3c954881-e4b7-fa4a-826c-a93c0973f1b8">braces</anno>, but only managed a hat-trick once. So he was very eager to score another goal, but unfortunately Ghent's defense against him had reached a very vigilant level, so he couldn't achieve it.
In the end, Genk defeated Ghent 2-0, continuing to solidify their position at the top of the standings.
Three days later, at the Luminous Arena, Genk welcomed Slavia Prague from afar. The knockout stage of the UEFA Europa League round of 32 officially kicked off.
In the 12th minute of the game, Genk intercepted the ball in the backcourt and passed it to the frontcourt. After receiving the ball, Barry was tightly marked by the defender behind him and could only pass it back to Wang Feng, who was running up on the right side.
After receiving the ball, two defenders immediately came to double-team Wang Feng from both sides. Faced with such intense defense, Wang Feng quickly turned to protect the ball, dribbled backward, and used a stepover to evade the double-team.
Sure enough, only one defender followed him, while the other moved towards the center to guard against his pass.
At this moment, Wang Feng suddenly stopped and flicked the ball backward, using a Cruyff turn to shake off the defender who followed him, then turned towards the attacking direction and quickly dribbled forward.
Before other defenders arrived, he passed the ball to Barry in the middle. Seeing this, the defending players could only move closer to Barry's side to guard against his attack.
After receiving the ball, Barry didn't adjust, but directly passed the ball behind the defending player, and Wang Feng quickly made a run, getting the ball near the edge of the penalty area.
At this point, the only defender standing in front of Wang Feng was Emil Parker. Parker was very clear that if he let Wang Feng pass, he would directly face the goalkeeper, and Wang Feng had never missed such an opportunity when facing the goalkeeper directly.
So his attention was highly focused, his eyes staring firmly at the opponent in front of him, not daring to have any slack, sweat dripping from his brow, sliding down from the corner of his eye. But he didn't care, silently calculating the distance between himself and Wang Feng.
But just as Wang Feng was about to confront him head-on, he suddenly saw Wang Feng flick the ball with the instep of his left foot, as if intending to cut inside horizontally. Almost in an instant, Parker remembered what the coach had emphasized before the game, that Wang Feng's shots with both feet were very threatening.
"Damn it," Parker didn't have time to think carefully, shifting his weight to the right, trying to block Wang Feng's left-footed shot. But just as Parker's weight was completely shifted to the right, Wang Feng's left foot withdrew the ball to the right.
Between left and right, a classic double move was completed, and Parker felt a flash in front of his eyes. Wang Feng broke through from his left side.
At this point, there was only one goalkeeper between Wang Feng and the goal. Slavia Prague's goalkeeper, Abner Mayer, was very experienced. When he saw Wang Feng one-on-one against Parker, he already felt that he might not be able to defend it, so he decisively rushed out to defend.
So just as Wang Feng shook off the defender, Mayer had already reached in front of him. His idea was good. After Wang Feng shook off the defender, he could only collide with him, and Mayer could also intercept the ball.
When Wang Feng saw a tall figure rushing towards him, he instinctively pushed the ball forward with his right foot. The ball passed by Mayer's side, although Mayer tried his best to intercept the ball, he was still a step too late.
Wang Feng then passed Mayer, chased after the ball near the goal line, and scored into the empty net.
"Gooooooal! In the 12th minute, Genk took the lead. This is a wonderful individual performance from the 17-year-old prodigy, Wang Feng."
"This goal reflects his skilled dribbling technique and calmness under pressure. First, he used a Cruyff turn to break through the defense, then a delicate one-two combination to evade the defender with his dribbling skills, and finally a delicate touch to evade the goalkeeper's charge. It was all done in one go. If any part had gone wrong, this goal would not have been possible."
"Wang Feng not only performs well in the Jupiler League but also shines on the stage of the UEFA Europa League. So far, he has scored a total of 6 goals, ranking third in the top scorer list."
"It is thanks to his excellent performance that Genk can advance simultaneously in the league and the Europa League."
The Luminous Arena instantly turned into a sea of celebration. The process of scoring seemed long, but in the eyes of the fans, it was completed in an instant. After scoring, Wang Feng even crashed into the advertising boards because he couldn't brake in time due to his speed.
But Wang Feng was not injured at all. After standing up, he directly climbed over the advertising boards, came to the vicinity of the stands, and celebrated the goal with the fans. Genk's other teammates also rushed over at this time, surrounding him in a circle.
<annotations style="display: none;"><li>2 goals in one match</li></annotations>
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