Tschen La Ling

Infobox Football biography
playername = Tscheu La Ling
fullname = Tschen La Ling
height = height|m=1.80
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1956|1|6
cityofbirth = Den Haag
countryofbirth = Netherlands
position = Winger
years = 1973–1975
1975–1982
1982–1984
1984–1985
1985–1986
1986–1987
clubs = FC Den Haag
Ajax
Panathinaikos FC
Olympique Marseille
Feyenoord
FC Den Haag
caps(goals) = 42 (3)
172 (54)
46 (4)
27 (6)
18 (1)
10 (0)
nationalyears = 1977–1982
nationalteam = Netherlands
nationalcaps(goals) = 014 (2)

Tschen 'Tscheu' La Ling (zh-c|c=林球立, born 6 January, 1956) is a former Dutch football player who has played for clubs in the Netherlands, Greece and France.

Club career

Tscheu La Ling was known for his good technique with the ball and his ability to dribble to pass his opponents. He began his career with his hometown team FC Den Haag. His breakthrough came summer/autumn 1975 when he after being bought by Hans Kraay sr. the former coach,joined in the 1975/1976 season the Ajax of new coach Rinus Michels. He became a star right wing attacker (successor of to Valencia departed right wing attacker Johnny Rep) for the club along with his team mate Simon Tahamata, who played as left wing attacker. The successor of Rinus Michels, coach Tomislav Ivic gave more space to the creativity of Tscheu La Ling. La Ling became by his actions passing his opponents the favourite of the Ajax-spectators. By his unpredictability and his supposed lazyness he became a real cult hero. Ajax won the Eredivisie title in the seasons 1976–1977, 1978-1979 and 1979-1980 (the 1st time under coach Tomislav Ivic with defensive football, with often only 1 real attacker (Ruud Geels), goal difference +36 (62-26), entirely against the club culture, which led to criticism of the Ajax-fans; the other seasons with offensive, attractive football)

However, the club had gotten used to the European successes during the early 1970s. The period between (approximately) 1974 and 1985 was considered to be dark years for the club. May good players were sold often to foreign (top)clubs, Ajax repeatedly had to build a new young team and Ajax did not taste real European successes (although the semi-final in the EuropeanCupI tournament in the 1979/1980 season had been a good achievement). The worst periods in this respect being 1973/1974 till 1976/1977 and especially 1980/1981 till 1985/1986, in which period Ajax was eliminated 4 times in the 1st round and 2 times in the 2nd round, and in which period the 14-0 win against Red Boys Differdange (1st round 1984/1985 season) had been the only highlight. In contrast with this the period from the 2nd seasonhalf of 1977/1978 till the end of the 1985/1986 season had been a very successful period in the Dutch league competition. In December 1981 Johan Cruijff returned to Ajax after 8 years at the age of 34, going to play at the midfield. Right and central midfielder Gerald Vanenburg (the 17 year aged successor of Frank Arnesen) was going to play right wing attacker and right wing attacker Tscheu La Ling played less and less matches for Ajax. La Ling spent 7 years with Ajax before moving to Panathinaikos in Athens, Greece summer 1982 and then Olympique Marseille in 1984. He spent a year with Ajax's bitter rival Feyenoord for the 1985-86 season before moving back to his hometown team FC Den Haag for his final season before retirement, at age 30 or 31 years only.

National team

He played for the Dutch team during qualifying for the 1980 European Championship. He earned 14 caps for the Netherlands national football team and scored 2 goals from 1977 to 1982.

References

* http://www.weltfussball.de/spieler_profil.php?id=48002
* http://www.degoeieouwetijd.nl/8109_ling_eng.htm
* http://www.om-passion.com/effectif_saison_1984_819_ling.html

External links

* [http://www.national-football-teams.com/v2/player.php?id=20151 Career]