The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 188 - 57: The Secret Weapon Worked! A One-Sided DFB-Pokal Semifinal! No Dark Horses in the Second Half of the Bundesliga
"He should have taken Wolle’s advice and changed the way he works and handles problems."
"His recent criticism of Mainz and mockery of Wang Shuo, for instance, was a very classless thing to do."
Of course, some media outlets also publicly supported Labbadia.
To many, the idea of an 18-year-old Chinese player appearing near the top of the Bundesliga’s scoring charts was simply unbelievable.
However, the most interesting part of the whole affair was that no one at Mainz, from top to bottom, had made any comment.
When reporters, eager to stir up trouble, came to interview the Mainz players, General Manager Heidel relayed Klopp’s decision.
The entire team was refusing all media interviews!
Clearly, Mainz wanted no part in such a media storm.
On the training ground.
After every training session, in addition to his routine extra work on free kicks, Shooting, and other skills, Wang Shuo added training for a new secret weapon.
And he received the full support of his teammates, including Neustadter, Bungert, Helle, Lővér, and Van der Heyden.
That’s not to mention Schürrle, Foyelner, and the others who were already training with him.
Upon learning that Wang Shuo was training a unique skill, Kramny also stayed behind to help him strategize.
Eventually, it got to the point where even Klopp and Buvac were helping out, offering plenty of their own ideas.
Even the U19 head coach, Tuchel, came over to join in on the excitement.
As a German international-caliber center-back, he took on the role of the defender, offering plenty of professional opinions to help with improvements.
After synthesizing everyone’s opinions and suggestions, Wang Shuo discussed them repeatedly with his teammates and finally drafted several plans of attack.
All that remained was to practice them repeatedly.
As the saying goes: one minute on stage takes ten years of practice offstage.
Every passing combination on the pitch had, in fact, been rehearsed countless times off the pitch.
Exactly how effective it would be, no one could say for sure.
They could only wait for an actual match to see how well it worked in the heat of the moment.
But this time, Wang Shuo had the wholehearted support of everyone at Mainz, from top to bottom.
In the words of captain Nowitzki, "We’re not going to get into a war of words with Bayer Leverkusen."
"We at Mainz aren’t good at arguing."
"But we’re great at delivering a slap in the face on the pitch!"
...
As April began, Mainz’s schedule only got tougher.
To make matters worse, the team’s form still hadn’t improved.
In the 27th round of the Bundesliga on April 11, Mainz played away from home. Despite Wang Shuo scoring in the opening 10 minutes to give them the lead, Dortmund came back with three consecutive goals.
In the 29th minute of the first half, Subotic converted a corner kick, scoring a header for Dortmund to tie the game. This left a bitter taste in the mouths of Wang Shuo and his Mainz teammates on the pitch.
After play resumed in the second half, Dortmund scored twice more.
The last of which was an own goal by Neustadter.
In the end, Mainz lost 1-3 to Dortmund away from home.
When the match ended, Subotic came over to hug Wang Shuo.
On the pitch, they were fierce rivals, but once the game was over, they were friends.
"You brat, you didn’t even know to go easy when scoring against your old club!" Foyelner grumbled.
Subotic gestured toward the stadium. "Over 80,000 people are watching, you know."
Wang Shuo took the opportunity to glance around Westfalen Stadium. The stands were high and steep, and the atmosphere was truly electric.
No wonder it was hailed as the most terrifying ’devil’s home ground’ in the Bundesliga, and even in the entire European Football Scene!
"Bro, I saw Labbadia’s interview. That guy is totally classless. You’ve gotta be the one to teach him some class!"
Subotic was talking about the DFB-Pokal semi-final.
And when he heard that Wang Shuo was secretly practicing a unique skill, Subotic looked regretful. "It’s a shame. If I were still there, I’d definitely lend a hand!"
At the mention of this, Subotic, Wang Shuo, Schürrle, and the others all looked regretful.
They were all in their early twenties, had similar interests, and were always hanging out together. Having battled their way up from the 2nd Bundesliga, they shared a truly great bond.
"Enough about that. Get me tickets for the match, and I’ll bring my girlfriend to cheer you on in person!"
With that, Subotic quickly ran off.
Dortmund’s head coach, Dom, was calling for him from the other side of the pitch.
In this round, VfL Wolfsburg defeated Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 away from home, with a goal from Dzeko.
Since the start of the second half of the season, Wolfsburg was now on a nine-game winning streak and undefeated in ten rounds.
This round, Hoffenheim lost 0-3 at home to Bochum.
The two biggest dark horses from the first half of the season had both run into problems during the second half.
Mainz had gone five rounds without a win before enjoying a three-game winning streak, but now they were on a two-game losing streak.
After losing to Dortmund, Mainz was overtaken by Bayern on goal difference and dropped to third place.
Everyone knew that continuing their challenge for the league title was now basically unrealistic.
The team began to concentrate its forces and prepare for the DFB-Pokal semi-final.
...
A week later, in the 28th round of the Bundesliga, Mainz hosted Stuttgart.
Klopp made significant rotations to the squad.
Wang Shuo, Hainauer, Schürrle, and others were all placed on the bench.
Klopp’s strategy was the same as always.
If the team could hold their own, he would sub Wang Shuo in during the second half for an offensive push.
If they couldn’t, then they would just focus wholeheartedly on the DFB-Pokal.
Unexpectedly, however, in this match Mainz found themselves staring right down the barrel of Mario Gomez’s gun.
