Chapter 16: Chapter 9: Breaching Bayern’s Goal (2)

In the German youth leagues, this lineup was an absolute Galaxy Battleship.

After the match started, Mainz stuck to their usual 4-3-3 formation, with the attacking trident of Robin Medinitz, Wang Shuo, and Schürrle pressing Bayern’s midfield and defense.

But Wang Shuo quickly sensed how different Bayern was from other teams.

Faced with this kind of pressing from Mainz—especially Wang Shuo’s tireless running and hounding from the opening kickoff—other teams would usually struggle, their formations easily cracking under the pressure.

But Bayern?

The defensive line of Konstantin, Badstuber, Mario Elbu, and Bjorn Köplin remained remarkably composed in the face of such ferocious pressing.

Especially Badstuber.

The 19-year-old center-back was exceptionally composed on the backline.

At one point, even when faced with Wang Shuo’s charging press, he calmly shielded the ball before making a pass.

A player like that needs more than just nerves of steel; they also need immense confidence in their own abilities and complete trust in their teammates.

Bayern’s head coach was former Bayern player Kurt Niedermayer. He had been coaching the Bayern Munich U19 team since ’01 and knew the team like the back of his hand.

Facing an aggressive Mainz, he didn’t panic, instead keeping his team steady.

Bayern was like a reef on the shore. No matter how fiercely Mainz crashed against them like stormy waves, they remained immovable, exuding the aura of a top-tier club.

Once Mainz’s initial wave of pressure subsided without effect, Bayern gradually began to seize control of the match.

Under Kramny’s tutelage, Mainz’s defense was also exceptionally well-drilled.

They successfully neutralized several of Bayern’s key scorers.

But just as the 27th minute ticked by, with his teammates tightly marked, a relatively unknown midfielder, Dominik Rolaq, stepped up. He broke through on the right wing, dribbled past two players, and unleashed a shot from the right side of the box, finding the back of the Mainz net.

1-0!

Unbelievable!

Terrifying!

This is Bayern!

Even a young player who had never been called up to a single German national youth squad was capable of such a brilliant display.

The fans around the pitch actually erupted in applause and cheers for Bayern’s goal.

“Bayern is awesome!”

“Amazing, Bayern!”

“Mainz is completely outmatched. This looks like it’s going to be another high-scoring blowout!”

Hearing the chatter from the sidelines, the Mainz players on the pitch felt a bitter taste in their mouths.

And this was supposed to be Mainz’s home turf!

Even after taking the lead, the Bayern players remained unhurried, calmly controlling possession and the tempo of the match.

They held an overwhelming advantage in terms of raw talent.

Tactically, Niedermayer had adopted a sound, methodical approach—the classic strategy of a dominant team.

There was little even Kramny could do.

The gap in skill was too great!

With no other choice, Kramny signaled for his team to drop back and switch to a defensive, counter-attacking strategy.

It was frustrating, but they had no other choice.

They had to yield to the circumstances.

…

As Bayern’s youth team head coach, Kurt Niedermayer had a habit that went beyond just managing his team during matches.

He loved to scout the opposition’s players.

’The standard was simple: Did the player have the current ability or future potential to play for Bayern?’

If he found someone, he would recommend them to General Manager Hennes after the match.

Hennes was one of the three figures who had led Bayern for years. Despite his long-held power and influence, he remained personally involved in talent acquisition.

Niedermayer had taken notice of Mainz U19’s recent three-game winning streak.

But with no live broadcasts of their matches, his knowledge was limited.

After about half an hour of today’s match, he had already made several observations.

Truthfully, no single player had really dazzled him.

Whether in technical skill or passing ability, Mainz lacked any truly exceptional talents.

But even among this unremarkable squad, three players had caught Niedermayer’s eye.

The midfielder, Kirschhoff, was tall—over 1.9 meters—but surprisingly agile for his size.

His control of aerial balls, in particular, was impressive.

However, Kirschhoff also embodied the flaws of a traditional German player: his technique was poor, and his passing was lackluster.

That didn’t align with the current trends in German football, let alone the wider European Football Scene.

Then there were the two players up front.

These two players were the most interesting.

They were both very fast, had a strong sense of teamwork, and were very diligent about pressing high up the pitch and tracking back to defend.

Niedermayer recognized Andre Schürrle, the local striker who was making a name for himself at Mainz this season, but who had yet to be selected for any level of the national team.

The other player, the one from Asia, however, had attributes similar to Schürrle’s; neither had dazzling technical skill, but both were incredibly diligent.

What impressed Niedermayer was that the Asian player seemed to have an even greater work rate than Schürrle.

’Could he be a player from South Korea?’ Niedermayer thought of the South Korean team coached by Hiddink in the ’02 World Cup.

Regardless of whether they cheated or not, that South Korean team really could run.

However, as for the effectiveness of all that running, it wasn’t particularly noticeable against Bayern’s disciplined defensive shape.

That’s just how small teams are.

Whether it was Kirschhoff, Schürrle, or the Asian player, none of them would make the cut for the Bayern Munich U19 squad.

But at Mainz, they were starters.

They were probably even being specially groomed for the future.

But just as that thought crossed Niedermayer’s mind, Wang Shuo suddenly dropped back from the center circle, raising a hand to demand the ball.

Kirschhoff played a short pass to him.

Instead of trapping it, Wang Shuo laid it off to Schürrle with one touch, then peeled off on a diagonal run toward the front right.

Badstuber immediately closed in on Wang Shuo.

Under tight pressure from Konstantin, Schürrle couldn’t immediately play the through ball.

Wang Shuo glanced at the center, saw Badstuber’s advanced position, and knew the defender wanted to set an offside trap.

Without hesitating, he adjusted his run, moving horizontally toward the right sideline.

Badstuber was indeed trying to spring the offside trap, but Schürrle still couldn’t find a passing lane.

The Bayern center-back glanced over at Wang Shuo, only to see him running laterally, out of his defensive zone.

As a center-back who had already witnessed Wang Shuo’s speed, Badstuber immediately shifted to the right as well. He was ready to intercept any pass from the midfield aimed at Wang Shuo.

Hounded by Konstantin, Schürrle could never find an opening and was forced to pass to Robin Medinitz.

Medinitz received the ball on the left, just behind the halfway line, and turned, trying to shake off Köplin.

Though he didn’t manage to break free, his two-footed ability gave him an opening to make a pass.

Wang Shuo instantly pointed into the space ahead of him and shouted to Medinitz.

The very instant Medinitz released the pass, Wang Shuo exploded into a sprint, shooting forward like an arrow from a bow.

Badstuber was extremely focused. He had already sensed the danger the moment Wang Shuo called for the ball and pointed.

The two started their runs at virtually the same moment.

But Wang Shuo was simply too fast.

The instant Medinitz made the pass, Wang Shuo was already off, using his raw pace to tear away from Badstuber and beat the offside trap.

Wang Shuo cut inside diagonally from the right at full tilt, latching onto Medinitz’s pass ahead of everyone else.

He took a touch to knock the ball ahead of him, then accelerated to catch up. Bursting into the penalty area, he found himself near the penalty spot with the goalkeeper, Oswald, rushing out to meet him. Wang Shuo calmly slotted the ball past him and into the empty net.

Wang Shuo turned and ran toward the sideline, waving for Schürrle and Medinitz to join him.

“Come on, guys! Time to celebrate!”

“We just scored against Bayern!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep