The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 155 - 52: Half-Season Champions! Is There Anything He Can’t Do?
On the field, Wang Shuo saw the surprise on the faces of Lővér and his other teammates.
"I pointed it out to you. There was an opening over there, you just had to pass it there," Wang Shuo said to Lővér with a smile.
There was no hint of accusation in his words.
Lővér gave a wry smile.
’So, it’s my fault, then.’
’I didn’t see Schürrle, which forced you to come back and make the assist yourself. Is that how it is?’
’The thing is, I was facing the direction of attack and I didn’t see him. You had your back to him. How did you see him?’
’Do you have eyes in the back of your head or something?’
Lővér just couldn’t figure it out. In the end, he could only attribute it to one thing.
’Geniuses are just different from us mortals!’
But what made Lővér despair even more was when Schürrle, the goalscorer, finished his celebration and slung an arm around Wang Shuo’s shoulder.
"Wang, you were right. Scoring really isn’t that hard!"
"See? I told you. I draw them out, you make the run, and an opportunity appears just like that."
Lővér was completely crushed!
’Why didn’t I ever run into a teammate like Wang Shuo? If I had, how could I have ended up as a defender? I’d definitely be a prolific left-sided attacker right now!’
’What’s the difference?’
’Duh!’
’Attackers have higher transfer values and better salaries!’
’And most importantly, the female fans all love to see goals.’
...
Schürrle’s goal helped Mainz end the first half with a 1-0 lead.
But after the second half began, Mainz’s situation worsened.
Having played all the way to the final round of the first half of the season, the state of Klopp’s team’s stamina was predictable.
In the 53rd minute, Hainauer tripped a Bochum midfielder while tracking back to make a tackle. The action was a bit too aggressive.
The referee showed him another yellow card.
Two yellows make a red. Hainauer was sent off immediately.
At the same time, Bochum was awarded a free kick in an advanced position.
The number 10, Apalle, took the free kick. Inside the box, the 1.95-meter-tall Polish defensive midfielder, Dabrovsky, scored with a header, equalizing for Bochum.
1-1!
Down to ten men and with the score tied, Mainz was in a very difficult position.
Especially after the 60-minute mark, Wang Shuo could clearly feel his teammates’ stamina rapidly declining around him.
The team’s performance became less and less dynamic.
What was even more critical was the other match: Bayern Munich’s away game against Stuttgart.
In first-half stoppage time, Khedira scored a goal.
After play resumed in the second half, Borowski equalized for Bayern in just three minutes.
In the 65th minute, Luca Tony turned the score around for Bayern!
2-1!
With Mainz drawing here and Bayern winning there, Bayern had already overtaken Mainz on the live table.
Klopp hurriedly made a substitution.
Kirschhoff came on for Gunkel, whose performance as a starter hadn’t been ideal.
This was a move to strengthen the team’s defense.
But on the attacking end, Klopp made no adjustments.
Not until the 75th minute did he bring on Amri for Schürrle.
Don’t be fooled by Amri’s usual carefree and unreliable demeanor; his football talent was actually immense.
Since coming to Mainz, Wang Shuo had heard more than once that if Amri put the time and energy he spent on women into football, he would have long since become a famous star in the Bundesliga.
After coming on, Amri immediately ran up to Wang Shuo to relay the head coach’s instructions.
Score a goal!
Wang Shuo knew what Amri was capable of.
"Buddy, if we want to hold onto the half-season championship, we have to score again!"
"I’ll be waiting in the box. Any kind of pass is fine, okay?"
Amri felt the expectation in Wang Shuo’s eyes, but he still flashed a cheeky grin. "Then you just wait!"
...
The match restarted.
On Foyelner’s side, he was clearly running on fumes.
With one man down in the midfield, Mainz started looking more for Amri on the right side during counter-attacks.
The two teams began to battle back and forth on the right side of the pitch in a fierce struggle.
Kirschhoff and Helle also started to constantly get involved in the defense on that side.
Ever since Schürrle started to emerge, Helle had begun to drop back to the right-back position, taking over from Hogland to become the starting right-back.
The crucial thing was that it was working very well.
In the 87th minute, Helle suddenly pressed forward, rushing near the halfway line and executing a fierce slide tackle, knocking the ball away from the feet of an opposing midfielder.
The Bochum players protested for a foul, but the referee didn’t blow the whistle.
Kirschhoff immediately kicked the ball forward to Amri.
Amri executed a brilliant trap and turn, immediately breaking forward with the ball.
Dabrovsky rushed over with long strides to intercept him, but Amri didn’t slow down. Instead, he used his speed to force his way down the outside and break into the right side of Bochum’s penalty area.
Wang Shuo was standing near the penalty spot, surrounded by two center-backs.
Seeing Amri break into the box, he quickly moved toward the right side of the six-yard box, waiting to see Amri’s next move.
It had to be said, Amri’s breakthrough was quite spectacular, but this was as far as he could take it.
After breaking into the penalty area, he couldn’t find a way to cut inside. He was forced to stay wide, pushed near the byline before he finally found an opportunity to send in a cut-back cross.
Bochum’s center-back, Mejrim Mavraj, was only 22 years old and 1.89 meters tall, but crucially, he was left-footed.
As Wang Shuo appeared on the right side of the six-yard box, Mavraj kept facing to his right, watching Amri’s movements while simultaneously using his right hand to rest on Wang Shuo’s left arm, keeping track of his opponent’s every move.
