The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 89 - 43: Topping the List! Not for Sale! He’s Klopp’s Treasure! While You Were Slaughtered by Bayern

'But is it necessary?'

Frankfurt wasn't the kind of club rolling in money. Spending that much on a young prospect wasn't worth it!

"Then you guys can focus on developing him. I hope he doesn't disappoint you!"

Young players were a huge risk.

Sometimes, a single injury could end a career.

Since Mainz was willing to take the gamble, there was no need for Frankfurt to get involved.

...

The match at Bruch Road Stadium ultimately ended in a 2-0 victory.

After Wang Shuo assisted Hainauer's goal, neither team managed to score again.

By scoring in the opening minutes for two consecutive rounds, and contributing both a goal and an assist in each, Wang Shuo's outstanding performance began to attract the attention of the German football scene.

At the same time, he was also garnering more and more media coverage in China.

His exceptional performance, combined with the hype from Capital Television's broadcasts, was rapidly gaining momentum.

...

「The evening of August 29th, Wild Park Stadium in Karlsruhe, Germany.」

In the third round of the Bundesliga, Mainz faced Karlsruhe in an away match.

For Mainz, who had started the season with two consecutive wins, this was proving to be a difficult match.

Karlsruhe, also aiming to avoid relegation, adopted a highly defensive 4-2-3-1 formation.

Not only did they suppress Hainauer in the midfield, but Wang Shuo also found himself completely bogged down.

Karlsruhe's head coach, Edmund Becker, had studied Wang Shuo in meticulous detail.

From the 2nd Bundesliga to the Bundesliga, although Wang Shuo's performance had been outstanding, all his goals were scored with his right foot.

He was poor in physical confrontations and had never even shown a precedent of being a threat with headers.

In the Bundesliga, a league dominated by big center-forwards, this was extremely rare.

Focusing specifically on this point, Becker made tactical arrangements to target Wang Shuo.

Hainauer had started his career at Karlsruhe, so Becker naturally knew how to neutralize him.

And so, in front of 30,000 fans at Wild Park Stadium, Karlsruhe repelled wave after wave of Mainz's attacks.

To make matters worse, in the 30th minute of the match, the veteran Belgian player Van der Heyden, who had been performing well since the start of the season, was subbed off due to injury.

The team doctor's diagnosis was a torn ligament in his left ankle.

It was better than Marco Rose's situation; Van der Heyden's tear was minor, and he was expected to be out for a month.

After this round, there was a two-week break for national team training camps.

So, strictly speaking, he would only miss two matches.

But for Mainz, this was undoubtedly a very bad sign.

Having experienced an injury crisis for two consecutive seasons, everyone was terrified of injuries.

After his surgery, Marco Rose was practically in a state of semi-retirement and had even started taking coaching courses.

Now, the 32-year-old Van der Heyden was injured too.

This terrible mood even shook the morale and fighting spirit that had been built up from their two consecutive Bundesliga wins.

It was a repeat of the torment Mainz had endured for the past two years!

The first half ultimately ended 0-0.

But things still didn't improve in the second half.

Klopp was anxious on the sidelines, but he didn't make any substitutions.

Instead, it was the home team, Karlsruhe, who made a change in the 63rd minute, subbing off holding midfielder Michael Mutzel for the forward Caprani.

This was a signal that they were strengthening their attack.

Klopp's team had a well-known weakness!

The home team, Karlsruhe, wanted to take advantage of Mainz's depleted stamina in the final half-hour and crush Klopp's team in one fell swoop!

Clearly, Becker had come prepared.

But just then, in the 72nd minute, Mainz won the ball with a tackle in their own half.

Subotic successfully tackled the ball away from the tall Australian center-forward, Joshua Kennedy.

After winning the ball, the Mainz center-back saw no good passing options around him and chose to charge forward with the ball himself.

Subotic wasn't fast, but he was tall and powerfully built, crossing the halfway line in just a few strides.

At almost the exact same moment, Wang Shuo had already run into open space, raising his hand to call for the ball.

The two had done special training together for over a month and had played together for so long that they had already developed a strong chemistry.

Subotic immediately launched a long pass, sending the ball behind Karlsruhe's defensive line.

"Tim, you lost your man!" 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

"Dammit, stop number 9!"

Karlsruhe's coach, Becker, was closest to the action. He watched as Wang Shuo, who had somehow slipped past the two center-backs, Tim Sebastian and Stol, made a darting run at top speed through the left channel, straight into the space behind the defensive line.

In their haste, Karlsruhe's two center-backs couldn't find their man. Only then did they realize Wang Shuo had run past them, and they immediately turned to give desperate chase.

But how could they possibly catch up?

As Wang Shuo charged forward, he looked back to judge the trajectory of the ball.

It was a decent long pass from Subotic.

Although the arc was a little high and the ball was a bit slow, it was easy to control.

On the left side, at the edge of the penalty area, Wang Shuo controlled the ball with his chest, bringing it into the box. He caught up to it in a couple of quick strides and immediately poked it towards the goal.

The ball slipped past the onrushing goalkeeper, Miller, and into the Karlsruhe net.

Without breaking stride, Wang Shuo turned and ran toward the sidelines to celebrate.

"GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!"

"It's in!!!"

"In the 72nd minute, Mainz uses a long ball from their own half to launch a quick counter-attack and score against Karlsruhe."

"1-0!"

"That was hard-earned!"

"Let's take another look at the slow-motion replay of the entire goal."

"Before making his run to beat the offside trap, Wang Shuo first made a lateral move and then suddenly darted forward."

"A very intelligent run."

"Subotic's long pass was perfectly placed as well. The chemistry between those two is excellent."