The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Chapter 460 - 96: Bellwether Wang Shuo! Winning the Super Cup! I Was Bullied at Bayern! Turns Out Stat-Padding Is This Easy

But if Kael returned, Sven Bender would probably have to give up his spot.

As for Gundogan, he still couldn’t displace Shahin.

It was the same reason that Lewandowski could only serve as Wang Shuo’s substitute.

The bigger question mark was at right-back.

At first, everyone thought Owomoyela would be the starter, as he had performed quite well over the past two seasons.

But to everyone’s surprise, as soon as Piszczek arrived, he began to shine on the right flank.

The Polish player had started his career as a winger and a forward. Though he’d suffered a serious injury that had slowed him down a bit, he was still faster than Owomoyela.

His ability and awareness for making overlapping runs on offense were excellent, and his individual skills were strong as well.

In the tactical system Klopp designed, overlapping runs from the full-backs were a crucial component.

With Wang Shuo as the core, his extensive movement drove the three players behind him: Reus, Götze, and Kuba.

Reus and Kuba both tended to drift into the half-spaces, leaving the flanks open for the full-backs to push up.

This made it easy to create numerical superiority on the flanks and in the half-spaces.

During an attack, the front four, joined by an overlapping full-back on that side, would use their numerical superiority to create threats.

In defense, they would immediately launch into a counter-press.

Therefore, the overlapping runs from the full-backs were extremely important.

Especially their speed.

Schmelzer’s brilliant performance last season was due to his frequent, high-speed overlapping runs down the left flank.

If they couldn’t break through on one side or their attack was stifled, they would immediately switch play to the weaker defensive side.

This allowed them to create numerous scoring opportunities up front and gave their attack incredible fluidity.

In a tactical system like this, a full-back’s stamina to run up and down the pitch, along with their speed on forward runs and defensive recoveries, was especially vital.

After the summer training camp, Piszczek’s performances in a few preseason friendlies were all very impressive.

This allowed Piszczek to quickly gain the upper hand in his competition with Owomoyela.

Wang Shuo also got a taste of the brutal competition in Europe’s top leagues.

Owomoyela had been the team’s starting right-back for the past two seasons.

But now, with the arrival of Piszczek—who wasn’t necessarily stronger, but was a better fit for the team’s tactics—Owomoyela was immediately pushed to the side.

...

「Afternoon of August 7th, in the South Suburb of Augsburg.」

A black Mercedes-Benz MPV, heading south, took the exit for Highway 17. It went straight through the tunnel under the main road and continued south into the Augsburg Arena parking lot.

It was a match day, so the traffic in the parking lot was very heavy.

After slowly making their way into Parking Lot 4, Gao Huairen, Ma Yongcheng, Jiang Pengju, and their group slowly got out of the MPV.

Thomas Essien, who was in the front passenger seat, also got out.

"German teams are the same as always, putting their training facilities right next to the stadium with a huge parking lot in between."

As Gao Huairen got out, he looked around. First, he saw several football pitches to the west of the parking lot, and then he turned his gaze to the magnificent Augsburg Arena to the east.

The stadium’s capacity wasn’t large—only 30,000, and that included the standing sections.

But from the outside, it looked really impressive!

To his surprise, Thomas Essien let out a laugh. "You’ve got that wrong, Old Gao. That’s not Augsburg’s training ground, just a row of three pitches for the youth players."

"Really?" Gao Huairen wasn’t offended in the slightest. In fact, he started laughing too.

’It didn’t matter that he was wrong.’

’Germany was full of memories for him.’

After Wang Shuo called Gao Huairen, he spent a month preparing before deciding to lead a delegation to Germany for an exploratory tour.

Their first stop was Berlin, where Thomas Essien picked them up at the airport.

They first visited the football robotics lab, where they saw the training room Wang Shuo had raved about, as well as a variety of other high-tech equipment. It was truly a sight to behold!

Everyone came to a profound realization: the gap between Chinese and German football wasn’t just in the sport itself, or even in the leagues, but was all-encompassing, extending to the entire football industry.

After leaving Berlin, they first went to Dortmund, where they met with Wang Shuo and watched a Dortmund training session.

Through Wang Shuo’s connections, they held meetings with Chairman Laubal, Watzke, Zorc, and other club officials. They also toured Dortmund’s new training facility and had an in-depth conversation with Lars Ricken.

The trip was incredibly fruitful.

Chairman Laubal, in particular, promised to help them arrange a visit to the German Football Association and the German Professional Football League, both headquartered in Frankfurt.

This was to gain further insight.

Germany has done an outstanding job in terms of professionalization, especially in club financial management and youth training.

Although Gao Huairen currently held no official position or title, he was already starting to make his move.

The purpose of this leg of their trip was to watch the German Super Cup match between Bayern and Dortmund, which was being officially reinstated after a 14-year hiatus.

After watching this match, they would also pay a visit to Adidas Headquarters and Munich, before heading north to Frankfurt.

Their itinerary, it was safe to say, was packed.

On match day, the parking lot was a bustling, unending stream of cars and people.

Accompanied by Thomas Essien, the group crossed the vast parking lot and arrived at the Augsburg Arena.

"Hello, Mr. Gao."

Shen Qinghe was already waiting at the entrance closest to the parking lot. As soon as she saw them, she walked over to greet them.