The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 172 - 55: Devil’s Footwork! Toying with Neuer! That Flamboyant Ball Control! He Saves Mainz Once Again
If the opponent pressed hard, he would drop back.
If the defender followed him out, Schürrle would make a diagonal run.
They had already tried similar link-ups a few times before, and the results were quite good.
Although Foyelner’s speed was decent, his instincts for diagonal runs weren’t sharp enough, so he often failed to seize the opportunity.
Schürrle, on the other hand, was very decisive with his runs.
Most importantly, both Foyelner and Hainauer were good passers, and both were two-footed players. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢
Just thinking about it made Wang Shuo envious.
He was also training his left foot hard now. Coupled with the boost from [Coordination], his progress was acceptable. But while it was fine for controlling the ball and playing a supporting role, it was still a far cry from being as good as his dominant foot.
But the German football scene was famous for producing two-footed freaks.
They said it had something to do with the development of the right brain.
Who knew?
"Andrei, as long as I give you the signal, just charge forward. Think of yourself as a striker. I’ll cover for you."
Wang Shuo was referring to covering against counter-attacks if they lost the ball upfield.
In fact, if Schürrle could perform well on the right wing, it would greatly alleviate the defensive pressure on Wang Shuo.
Nowadays, every team in the Bundesliga had the same damn tactic.
Shut down Wang Shuo!
Because they knew Mainz had no other tricks up their sleeve!
It was ridiculous.
The pressure on Wang Shuo was immense.
...
Midweek, in the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals, Mainz hosted Schalke 04.
Although it was the quarter-finals, neither side went all out.
Mainz rested players like Wang Shuo, Hainauer, and Schürrle.
Schalke 04, for their part, rested star players like Rakitic and Little Altıntop.
Even their center-forward, Kuranyi, only played the first half.
During halftime, Luten substituted Little Altıntop for Kuranyi.
The score was still 0-0 at the time.
Klopp made some personnel changes for this match.
The midfield was a combination of Foyelner, Pekovic, and Kalhan.
The attacking trident up front was a combination of Bobagavats, Bancé, and Balik.
But the results were still underwhelming.
The only relatively pleasing thing was that the two center-backs in this match, Roman Neustadter and Bungert, partnered well and did a good job of containing Kuranyi.
Young defenders are like that—inexperienced, with inconsistent performances.
But the skill and potential of these two players were obvious for all to see.
And then there was Kirschhoff.
He made mistakes, sure, but what young defender doesn’t?
In the 64th minute, seeing that his team’s prolonged attacks were fruitless, Luten brought on Rakitic for the midfielder Engelaar.
This was the signal that Schalke 04 was sounding the charge.
Two minutes later, Klopp substituted Elgin Soto for Bobagavats.
When Bobagavats came off the pitch and returned to the bench, Wang Shuo made a point of standing up to shake his hand and offer a few words of comfort.
This forward was actually very good.
At only 1.69 meters tall, he had the typical playing style of a small Eastern European player—excellent individual technique and exceptionally fast.
His performances in daily training were actually quite good.
But when it came to a real match, he just couldn’t deliver.
"Hey, Wang, have you noticed? Bancé can’t hold up the ball at all up front. Why isn’t the boss considering a substitution?"
Schürrle, sitting next to him, gently tapped Wang Shuo’s arm and asked, puzzled.
In this match, Bancé was up against Schalke 04’s two tall center-backs: the 1.91-meter-tall Krstajic and the 1.89-meter-tall Brazilian center-back Marcelo Bodden.
Both center-backs had burly physiques and powerful bodies, and they were both excellent at one-on-one defending.
That’s why Schalke 04 had the best defense in the Bundesliga so far this season.
They had only conceded 21 goals in 22 matches.
Mainz had conceded 27 goals, ranking them third.
Hertha Berlin had conceded 26.
As a center-forward, Bancé’s greatest strengths were his powerful physique, extremely strong ability in physical confrontations, and his skill with headers.
So when he was on the pitch, Mainz mostly played long balls.
Balik and Bobagavats were the ones Klopp had tasked with attacking.
After Bancé won the ball in the air, he was supposed to lay it off for them to play.
But on the pitch, it just wasn’t working.
You could even say it was terrible.
So why hadn’t he been substituted yet?
’If I were Klopp, I probably wouldn’t make a substitution this quickly either,’ Wang Shuo considered.
"To wear down the opponent a bit more," Wang Shuo guessed.
"You mean..."
"Let Bancé keep battling with Bodden and Krstajic, wear them down as much as possible."
Wang Shuo guessed that Klopp had a two-pronged plan.
In reality, both teams in this match were operating under the same major premise.
The DFB-Pokal was less important than the league.
The Bundesliga match on the weekend, Matchday 23, was the crucial battle for points.
This DFB-Pokal quarter-final... it would be great to win it, of course, but if they couldn’t, they still needed to conserve their energy for the weekend’s match.
Klopp’s calculations were the same.
He probably had a specific time in mind for a substitution.
Before that point, if Schalke 04 scored, then Mainz would give up on the DFB-Pokal, and Wang Shuo wouldn’t be brought on.
But if the score was still deadlocked when that time came, then he would bring on Wang Shuo to strengthen the attack and make a final push.
Before that, Bancé’s job was to wear down the opponent’s center-backs’ stamina as much as possible.
This was not only to prepare for the final stages of the current match but also to lay the groundwork for the league game on the weekend.
After hearing Wang Shuo’s detailed analysis, Schürrle was completely stunned.
