The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 208 - 60: A Game-changing Upgrade! Mainz’s Most Powerful Weapon! We’re Going to Take Down Bayern
Weak in physical duels?
Once his [Ball Sense] and [Swift] were upgraded, he could leverage the stamina from [Breathing] to constantly run into open space and create opportunities, doing his best to mask his weakness in physical duels.
Besides, unlocking the remaining three pentagons would cost 150 Passive Value points.
With the final showdown approaching, Wang Shuo felt that the benefits from upgrading [Ball Sense] and [Swift] were what he needed most urgently.
For the next week, he would focus on studying these two newly upgraded Intercontinental Level Passive Skills, striving to master and fully integrate them into his play as quickly as possible.
Then, in the DFB-Pokal final, he would give Bayern a nasty surprise!
The next morning, Wang Shuo got out of bed very early.
After washing up, he changed his clothes and headed out.
As he stepped out of his apartment and glanced at the deserted main road, an idea suddenly struck him. He took out his phone and posted his first-ever tweet.
"Have you ever seen Mainz at 5 AM?"
Pleased with his little flex, Wang Shuo chuckled and started to run.
...
There were advantages to being a small club.
Although they had made it to the DFB-Pokal final, all the attention was on Bayern.
Who was paying attention to Mainz?
After the Bundesliga season concluded, everyone was concerned about whether Bayern and Stuttgart had finalized the Gomez transfer.
If Gomez arrived, who would leave and who would stay between Luca Tony and Klose?
After all the transfer drama surrounding Podolski, which team was he planning to join?
Additionally, right after the season ended, Bayern announced the signing of Croatian forward Olic from Hamburg.
The player was a free transfer.
This was something Bayern loved to do.
Wang Shuo and Thomas Essien spoke on the phone, and they both agreed: Bayern wasn’t paying any attention to Wang Shuo at all.
It was actually quite normal.
Compared to Gomez and the free signing of Olic, Wang Shuo simply wasn’t a cost-effective option.
Furthermore, the German media reported that starting next season, Thomas Müller would be officially promoted to the first team.
He had actually played for Bayern’s first team before, but always as a substitute and only during garbage time.
But things would definitely be different from now on.
Bayern was going to start investing more in developing this youth academy player.
He was one of their own!
Compared to all the buzz surrounding Bayern, Mainz was flying completely under the radar.
Klopp had started adjusting the team’s lineup and condition long ago.
Pekovic returned from injury, and veterans like Kalhan, Lővér, and Van der Heyden were also working on their fitness and form.
It was worth noting that Marco Rose had returned.
Talk about bad luck.
He had previously torn a ligament and undergone surgery.
But before the ligament had fully healed, he fractured his metatarsal.
The recovery ended up sidelining him for the entire season.
But he had been there the whole time.
He had witnessed the team become winter champions and then watched them fight their way into the DFB-Pokal final.
But he was about to turn thirty-three.
After being sidelined for an entire season, his professional career was essentially over.
When he returned to the training ground, Nowitzki, Foyelner, Gunkel, and the others all went over to give him a warm hug.
"Hey, brother!"
"Welcome back, Marco!"
"Great to see you!"
Wang Shuo didn’t know him that well, but he had at least visited him in the hospital, so he also went over to hug him.
"Wang, you’ve played really well this season. You have to keep it going in the final!" Marco Rose encouraged.
Wang Shuo nodded emphatically.
"To be honest, I can’t play anymore, even though I’m back."
Marco Rose had a smile on his face, but it seemed a bit forced.
It was clearly a speech he had prepared in advance.
"Over the past year, I got my coaching license. I’ll probably transition to a behind-the-scenes role next, whether it’s working with the first team or the youth team. I’m open to either."
Mainz players didn’t make much money.
After retiring, they had families and children to support, so most of them chose to transition into coaching.
"I chose to come back at this specific time because I hope to win a title before I officially retire!"
Everyone was moved by his words.
Wang Shuo, on the other hand, was reminded of Manuel Friedrich.
He had told Klopp about Friedrich.
Klopp said the club would invite Friedrich to watch the match in person.
In a way, this would help him fulfill his wish.
Besides Friedrich, Mainz would also be inviting many other people.
This included some of Klopp’s old teammates and coaches.
It was rumored that Wolfgang Frank would also be coming.
This head coach wasn’t well-known on the European Football Scene, but in Mainz, he was a legend.
Wang Shuo had lost count of how many stories he’d heard about how Frank had reformed Mainz back in the day.
Look at the current situation in the Bundesliga.
Klopp’s Mainz, Rangnick’s Hoffenheim, and Labbadia’s Bayer Leverkusen were all praised as teams with advanced playstyles.
Most importantly, they all integrated the essence of Germany’s team-oriented football and pressing tactics.
With this major trend, more and more teams wanted to build their squads in this direction.
And Wolfgang Frank had already implemented this at Mainz over a decade ago.
Such foresight was truly extraordinary.
If Mainz had been Barça, Wolfgang Frank would have undoubtedly been a Cruyff-level godfather figure.
But now, outside of Mainz, he remained largely unknown.
