Chapter 325: Chapter 77: Bellwether Wang Shuo! Great Bundesliga Revolution! The Strongest Passive Skill: Foundation! Dortmund’s New Captain

Wang Shuo spent Christmas in Mainz.

Lina Gerk, of course, was heading home for Christmas.

Wang Shuo followed her car south to Mainz.

Aside from Zhao Yifan, several other players from the Huairun Football School also gathered in Mainz.

Although their current situations varied—some, like Wang Shuo, were already famous, while others had yet to find a suitable team.

But in a foreign land, this group of young men, all harboring dreams of football glory, came together to celebrate Christmas.

For three straight days, Wang Shuo was with them. When they weren’t out having fun, they were talking about football and their futures...

Although Wang Shuo was fundamentally different from them, many of his experiences were still incredibly valuable to them.

At least in Wang Shuo’s view, the skill level of most young players in the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga wasn’t much higher than that of his teammates from the Huairun Football School—in fact, some might even be worse.

You should never overestimate the level of young players in the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga.

The reason people used to have the misconception that they were so strong was mainly due to survivorship bias.

It was simple: the players whose stories got spread back to China through the media were obviously the ones considered newsworthy.

Naturally, those were all exceptionally talented stars, like Thomas Müller or Schürrle.

But you have to understand, in the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga, exceptionally talented young players like Schürrle, Thomas Müller, and Marco Marin are extremely rare.

Looking across all of Germany, how many outstanding young players like them are there?

But in the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga, how many young players do they need each year?

Zhao Yifan originally didn’t have much confidence.

But after Wang Shuo paved the way for him and helped him integrate into Mainz, he was now a core starter on the second team. He gradually built up his confidence and came to agree completely with Wang Shuo’s words.

They were no worse than most of their peers in the Bundesliga and 2nd Bundesliga.

So where was the gap?

Wang Shuo believed it came down to two things: one was tactical discipline, and the other was simply not playing enough matches.

Football is a skill where practice makes perfect. No matter how much you train, if you haven’t been tested in real matches, you’ll still get nervous on the pitch. And nervousness prevents you from playing at your true level.

Therefore, Wang Shuo felt the most important thing for them was to be patient. As long as they had games to play, they should play as many as possible to get accustomed to and integrate into the European football environment, improving themselves step by step.

The players from the Huairun Football School all came from poor families.

This wasn’t surprising.

What child from a wealthy family would be willing to be sent to a remote place like the Huairun Football School to undergo its closed-off management and training?

They were all brothers who had played together for years. Wang Shuo promised everyone that as long as they were playing in Europe, he would do everything in his power to help them with whatever they needed.

For instance, Wang Shuo was still the one paying the rent for the house in Mainz.

Wang Shuo was also covering the expenses for many of his teammates during their trials, giving them money through Thomas Essien.

"This Christmas was my first time participating in community and fan events with a powerhouse club like Dortmund. I’ve truly realized that we have so much catching up to do."

"But we can’t just develop slowly like them, spending a hundred years to build everything up."

"Times are different now. Look at Japan and South Korea. They didn’t take that long, and hasn’t their footballing level improved a lot?"

The principle behind this was the same as leapfrogging in economic development.

You can’t just follow the old European path. You have to adapt to the times, find a path that suits China’s specific circumstances, learn from Europe’s advanced experience, and establish a comprehensive football development system tailored to China.

Take a simple example.

What Jiang Pengju and the others were doing—developing school and community football.

Was it a good thing?

A very good thing!

This is building the Foundation, and it will take a very long time.

Coach Gao has always said that he’s waiting for the right moment to make a comeback and finish the second half of the professionalization effort that was left incomplete last time.

This meant establishing a professional league!

And that was absolutely right.

Wang Shuo had personally experienced the benefits and advantages of industrialization.

But there was actually one more very important thing.

Confidence!

Everyone needed to have the confidence and determination to improve Chinese football.

At this stage, with the gloomy atmosphere surrounding domestic football, the most important thing was to rebuild confidence!

Build the Foundation, push for reform, and boost confidence!

Wang Shuo believed that as long as they tackled all three fronts simultaneously and persevered, there was still a chance.

But until when would they have to wait?

Without a doubt, this group of players was Gao Huairen’s source of confidence!

When they succeeded in Europe, Gao Huairen would have more confidence and more hope back in China!

As the leader of the flock, Wang Shuo’s success brought more confidence and hope to everyone!

...

Wang Shuo woke at the crack of dawn, prompted by his internal body clock.

The familiar ceiling, the familiar bedroom furniture, the familiar sheets and bed, and the sleeping woman beside him.

They had returned to Dortmund from Mainz last night.

Concerned about Wang Shuo, Lina Gerk had rushed to Mainz to find him around noon on the 26th, right after celebrating Christmas with her family.

After meeting Zhao Yifan and the others and having dinner, they returned to Dortmund.

This Christmas was especially cold in Germany.

But the winter break was especially short.

Due to the upcoming 2010 World Cup in South Africa, all the leagues had to compress their schedules.

The German Football Association had announced early on that they wanted to secure more training time for the national team, so this year’s winter break had been significantly shortened.