The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 37 - 23: Best Player (2)

Fuerth had 47 points.

Hoffenheim and Cologne both had 50 points, but Cologne overtook Hoffenheim on goal difference to rank 2nd.

Borussia Mönchengladbach drew 2-2 away against Jena this round, placing them at the top of the table with 56 points.

Thanks to this 6-1 home victory, Mainz racked up a significant goal difference, halted their decline, and caught back up.

Although the situation still wasn’t optimistic, it was at least much better than a week ago.

"There are five rounds left in the season."

Klopp looked directly at his players, his eyes firm.

"I’ll say it again: we must get over 60 points to have a chance at promotion to the Bundesliga."

"We have to go all out and win these last five rounds, especially the match against Cologne!"

In the second to last round of the season, Mainz would be playing away against Cologne.

While Klopp went to attend the post-match press conference, Wang Shuo was back in the locker room receiving congratulations from his teammates.

Especially from the captain, Nowitzki, and Foyelner, among others.

Wang Shuo could feel that through his contribution in his first match, his hard work in training over the past two weeks, and his all-out performance during the game, he had begun to integrate into the team’s locker room.

After the team dispersed, he first received a congratulatory call from his agent, Thomas Essien. Then, his teammates from the Mainz U19 team, like Schürrle and Kirschhoff, also came over specifically to congratulate Wang Shuo.

They had all been watching the match from the stands.

Schürrle and the others were incredibly envious of Wang Shuo’s outstanding performance.

And this afternoon, the U19 team had also played a match, an away game against Karlsruhe U19.

Without Wang Shuo, their top scorer of late, the Mainz U19 team drew 1-1 with their opponent away from home.

"Even though Souter scored a goal in the second half, I have to say, his performance can’t compare to yours. He’s way off."

Schürrle wore a look of exasperation. "If it had been you, you probably would’ve scored another hat-trick."

Medinitz deeply agreed. "Even after they subbed on Hoffenheim later, he just kept missing chances."

Speaking of Hoffenheim, Wang Shuo didn’t see him around.

"Him?" Schürrle burst out laughing. "After seeing your amazing performance, he got fired up. Said he was going to run back for extra training, to try and reunite with us on the first team as soon as possible."

Wang Shuo couldn’t help but smile.

That sounded just like something Hoffenheim would do.

’I just wonder how long his enthusiasm will last this time.’

... 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

Although the 2nd Bundesliga has limited influence on the world football stage, it still carried some weight in Germany.

This was especially true for Head Coach Klopp, a renowned young manager in the German football scene who had come close to coaching Bayern.

The 6-1 thrashing of Paderborn at home gave everyone hope that Mainz had hit rock bottom and was bouncing back.

Mainz is very close to Frankfurt, so the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung paid close attention to developments at the club.

After the match, the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung was the first to report on Mainz’s 17-year-old Chinese youngster, Wang Shuo, and his feat of breaking a club goalscoring record that had stood for a century.

Head Coach Klopp also publicly praised Wang Shuo at the post-match press conference.

"He’s 17. Watching Wang Shuo play, I can’t help but be reminded of a young Michael Owen at Liverpool."

Klopp expressed that he was very optimistic about Wang Shuo’s future development.

But he also reminded Wang Shuo that he was still very young and needed to stay grounded and focus on steadily improving himself.

Besides the Frankfurt Allgemeine Zeitung, a few other German media outlets also reported on the match and mentioned Wang Shuo.

But it was the 2nd Bundesliga, after all, so the coverage was generally brief.

In China, however, as the match concluded, major portal websites were the first to publish reports, giving Wang Shuo’s performance extremely high praise. They believed that by scoring on his professional debut, Wang Shuo had demonstrated astonishing talent.

Over the past few years, the performance of the national team had been utterly disappointing.

The older generation of players who played abroad had gradually returned to China, while the new generation, for various reasons, had not gone abroad. As a result, Wang Shuo had become the sole remaining Chinese player in an overseas league.

His current performance had rekindled the hopes of fans back home.

But their hope was not for the national team, but for Wang Shuo himself.

On major sports forums, more and more fans began to discuss just how far Wang Shuo’s career abroad could go, based on his excellent debut performance.

"I think the best he can do is make some appearances in the Bundesliga."

"I agree! Based on his first touch and technical skills during the game, his ceiling isn’t very high."

"Right now, Wang Shuo mainly relies on his speed. The finer points of his ball handling still need work."

"Let me be a wet blanket here. The Bundesliga isn’t even competitive in Europe these days, let alone the 2nd Bundesliga. Wang Shuo’s performance in the 2nd Bundesliga proves nothing!"

"Come on, to the guy above, what’s wrong with the 2nd Bundesliga? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, okay?"

"Exactly! He’s 17, in the 2nd Bundesliga, and he got a goal and an assist on his debut. Is that not good enough?"

"My God, your standards are way too high. Even the German media is praising him. Are you guys comparing him to Messi and Ronaldo?"

"You don’t even need to bring up Messi and Ronaldo, or even established stars like Torres, Villa, or Rooney."

"Just talking about young players, I don’t think Wang Shuo’s individual ability is better than Aguero at Atletico Madrid, or even Suarez at Ajax."

"Benzema at Lyon is about the same height, but he’s much stronger physically, and his footwork is a lot more refined."

"And Pato at AC Milan is also fast and has stronger individual skills."

"Based on my years of watching football, Wang Shuo’s ceiling is a substitute-level striker in the Bundesliga. If he develops well, he could be a starting striker for a mid-to-lower table Bundesliga team."

"To the guy above, after all that, you’re basically just saying you look down on Wang Shuo."

"I’m just being objective. His ceiling really isn’t that high."

"Whether it’s high or not, we don’t know and it’s hard to say. But right now, I just think he’s amazing and incredible!"

"I second the post above! We finally have a promising talent like him. Is it really necessary to compare him to all those world-famous prodigies?"

"No matter what, Wang Shuo is one of our own. I’ll support him, and I’m happy to do it!"

"From now on, I’m watching every single one of Wang Shuo’s matches!"

"Me too."

"Count me in..."

...

Wang Shuo had no idea he had sparked such a heated debate on the sports forums back in his home country.

Even if he had known, he probably wouldn’t have paid it any mind.

At that moment, the afternoon match was over. After having dinner with his teammates, the team was dismissed, and Wang Shuo returned to his rented apartment near Bruch Road Stadium.

The moment he walked through the door, he entered the Ball God System.

"You have a Regional Level Passive Skill Card. Would you like to draw it now?"

"Yes!"

At Wang Shuo’s command, the giant football began to slowly spin once more.