The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 55 - 36: Bundesliga, Here I Come

Foyelner’s goal allowed Mainz to successfully take the lead.

But Mainz soon made a costly mistake.

The players’ mentality grew conservative!

After the score became 2-1, the mindset of some Mainz players shifted.

They wanted to defend this lead.

And Cologne?

They went for broke, throwing everything they had into the attack!

And so, after Mainz took the lead, the dynamic of the game completely changed.

Cologne pushed forward in droves, hounding Mainz across the pitch.

Mainz, meanwhile, was forced into a passive defense.

Klopp was fuming on the sidelines, repeatedly yelling at his players to push up.

Wang Shuo became even more isolated up front.

Then, in the 66th minute, Cologne seized another opportunity.

Once again, it was Ozat, making a forward run down the right, who sent in a cross that found the tall center forward, Novakovic.

In the penalty area, Subotic jumped to clear the ball.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t get much distance on the clearance.

At the crucial moment, Helmes won the second ball and laid off a brilliant pass.

Antal once again surged forward from deep and, with a long shot from outside the penalty area, found the back of Mainz’s net.

2-2!

The tables had turned yet again!

The roar from the 50,000 fans washed over the Mainz players, completely engulfing them.

The joy of their comeback had lasted less than ten minutes before cruel reality plunged Mainz back into the abyss.

Klopp couldn’t sit still any longer.

In the 68th minute, he made his second substitution of the match.

Amri came on for Demetraz.

This was an audacious substitution.

Demetraz himself had come on in the first half to replace the injured Marco Rose.

And both of the goals Mainz conceded had originated from attacks down Demetraz’s flank.

But this substitution was a huge gamble.

Klopp sent his latest instructions onto the pitch with Amri.

Build the attack around Wang Shuo!

Amri would play on the left, Foyelner in the middle, and Balik on the right.

Mainz now looked something like a 3-3-3-1 formation.

...

"Mainz right now is like a beast caught in a trap. They look ferocious, but they pose no real threat."

In front of the home team’s dugout, a smirk touched Dom’s lips as he watched Klopp bring on Amri for Demetraz.

He strode to the edge of the technical area and gestured to his players on the pitch, signaling for the team to press a little higher.

He wanted his midfielders and forwards to smother Mainz, to apply more pressure.

At the same time, he had the Macedonian center-back Mitnitsky start warming up on the sidelines, preparing for a substitution.

"Matip’s energy is just about spent."

It was an incredibly draining match; both sides were leaving everything on the field.

Assistant coach Roland Koch understood the intent behind the substitution, but he was perplexed by Dom’s signal for the team to press forward.

"Haven’t you noticed?"

Dom smiled at his baffled assistant.

"That seventeen-year-old forward for Mainz hasn’t scored a single goal from outside the box. Every single one has been from inside it."

"And look at him today. His aim on shots from outside the box has been terrible."

After hearing this and recalling the match data he had just seen, Roland Koch felt like he was on the verge of understanding, but he couldn’t quite grasp the point.

Sensing his assistant’s questioning gaze, Dom chuckled. "Because he’s still young, he lacks the muscle strength. Every time he makes a move to create a shooting angle for himself, his shot lacks power."

"Inside the penalty area, it’s not so bad. But with his long-range shots from outside, they’re either off-target or lack any real force. They’re not much of a threat to Mondragon."

Roland Koch’s eyes widened in realization.

’He’s only seventeen, he hasn’t done enough strength training yet. His muscles aren’t fully developed.’

"For us, a draw is as good as a win. But Mainz can’t afford that; they have to win."

"So, we’ll just wait for them to attack!"

Dom had great confidence in the team he had spent two years painstakingly coaching.

...

The flow of the match seemed to confirm Dom’s theory.

After conceding the equalizer, Mainz tried to push forward several times.

But the presence of Novakovic and Helmes up front kept the Mainz defense constantly on edge.

This was especially true in the period around the 70th minute, when Mainz was hit by two counter-attacks in quick succession.

The three defenders—Subotic, Nowitzki, and Hogland—struggled to contain Novakovic and Helmes.

In the 72nd minute, Helmes nearly broke through into the box to score. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

Hogland had no choice but to commit a foul.

Fortunately, Subotic had tracked back in time, so Hogland wasn’t the last man back and only received a yellow card.

Although they had dodged a red card, it was a huge scare for everyone on the Mainz side.

They couldn’t push forward, yet their defense was repeatedly breached.

As a result, Mainz was forced to play more cautiously.

After bringing on Mitnitsky for Matip, Cologne quickly made a second substitution.

Defensive midfielder Kevin Schauneberg came on for Broich.

This was also a like-for-like substitution.

However, Schauneberg was more defensively-minded than Broich.

Dom’s strategy was obvious: hit Mainz on the counter.

He was turning his defense and midfield into an iron wall, baiting Mainz into attacking, and then planning to hit them on the break.

Mainz, for their part, still hadn’t made another substitution.

The players on the pitch ran tirelessly, constantly searching for an opening.

Especially Wang Shuo.

’He knew Klopp had no better options left.’