The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Chapter 283 - 71: Absolute Dead Corner! Bayern’s Nemesis! Unrivaled Hero! Dortmund’s Great Opportunity! Make Bayern Regret It

"Haha, that foul from Holger was very decisive."

The referee blew his whistle, giving Badstuber a yellow card and awarding a free kick in a dangerous position upfield. But up in the executive box, Rummenigge just laughed and applauded.

When you’re up against a player like Wang Shuo, you have to be decisive and commit to the challenge. If you have to foul, you foul.

Any hesitation, and he would have gotten past you.

"Wang Shuo gave that kid a terrible time back in the U19s. He probably learned his lesson," Hennes added with a laugh.

"See? Our players aren’t bad at all. As long as we trust them, they can develop quickly."

Rummenigge wasn’t just talking about Badstuber. He was also referring to Gomez, Thomas Müller, and all the other homegrown German players.

Hennes nodded, completely agreeing with that sentiment.

From Ribery to Robben, Bayern’s current team-building strategy was to rely on high-level foreign talent to foster the development of their homegrown players.

This was a strategy employed by nearly every top-tier European club.

Take Ferguson’s Manchester United, for example. Their long-standing success was built on a foundation of homegrown talent supplemented by high-level foreign players, wasn’t it?

Last season’s "Dream Team" Barça, when Guardiola won an unprecedented treble—wasn’t that also a mix of homegrown players and foreign talent?

Why did the first era of Real Madrid’s Galaxy Battleship collapse so quickly?

Many people point to a host of reasons: aging superstars, the "one superstar per year" policy, and so on.

But it all boiled down to one thing: a lack of cohesion in the locker room!

Football is a team sport of eleven players. It doesn’t matter how many superstars you have; if they can’t come together as a unit, it’s useless!

So how do you build that unity?

You need a core.

And that core must be built around homegrown players.

When Florentino returned for his second term, many people focused on the signings of Ronaldo, Kaka, and Benzema. And they weren’t wrong to do so.

But what else was there?

There were also homegrown stars like Harvey Alonso and Alvaro Arbeloa, in addition to players like Ramos, Albiol, and Raul.

Chelsea was able to form a powerful team so quickly, and Mourinho deserves immense credit for that.

But their squad was built on the backbone of a group of homegrown players led by Terry and Lampard.

So why couldn’t Arsenal succeed?

Wenger’s teams played beautiful football, but they lacked a foundation of homegrown players.

Of course, Wenger is now pursuing a different path: relying on his own youth academy.

Football is a funny thing. It can be incredibly difficult, but in some ways, it’s actually quite simple.

Both Rummenigge and Hennes understood perfectly well how crucial homegrown players were to a powerhouse club like Bayern.

That was why they had chosen Gomez over Wang Shuo.

So when they saw Badstuber decisively foul Wang Shuo, they were genuinely pleased.

"Dortmund’s best free kick specialist right now is Shahin, but he’s really only good at indirect ones."

Compared to the free kick masters at Bayern, Shahin’s ability was really quite ordinary.

Scoring from a direct free kick?

To the uninitiated, it might seem simple enough—just a matter of practice.

But in reality?

Hard work is just the most basic prerequisite.

To a certain degree, scoring from a direct free kick is a high-level skill, a fusion of exquisite technique, mental fortitude, physics, and the art of football itself.

It’s nowhere near as simple as it looks.

That’s one of the most magical things about football.

It’s counterintuitive!

Many skills that seem ordinary, nothing remarkable, are actually the most difficult and complex ones.

Take running, for example.

Everyone can do it.

But running is paradoxically one of the most difficult, yet most important, skills in football.

At this thought, Hennes couldn’t help but turn to glance at Wang Shuo again.

’He really is a very, very good player!’

’It’s not just that he can run; he knows *how* to run, and he runs well.’

’It’s just a shame he showed up at the wrong time.’

’Otherwise, I would have done whatever it took to bring him to Bayern!’

...

As Wang Shuo took Reus’s hand and climbed up from the turf, Shahin came running over.

He was the team’s designated taker for corners and free kicks.

That went without saying.

But the spot was fairly central, and the distance was good.

"Let me take a shot."

Wang Shuo stopped Shahin.

He remembered what head coach Klopp had told him before the match.

With Captain Kael out and Weidenfeller being the goalkeeper, Klopp wanted Wang Shuo to step up and take on more responsibility.

Shahin was very surprised.

"You want to take a direct shot?"

As far as he could remember, Wang Shuo had never taken a free kick. He wouldn’t even take penalties.

Wang Shuo had once explained in the locker room that he was a Virgo, born on September 13th, and he just didn’t like taking penalty kicks.

The other players certainly didn’t object; in fact, they were happy to take them instead.

’But Wang Shuo, on a free kick? Could he really do it?’

The worry flashed through Shahin’s mind, but he immediately nodded in agreement.

Although they hadn’t known each other for long, Wang Shuo had made a very good impression on him.

’Wang Shuo wouldn’t have offered if he wasn’t confident.’

Besides, many on the team knew that Wang Shuo stayed after every practice to work on his free kicks.

"I’ll be your decoy," Shahin suggested.

Wang Shuo nodded. "Everyone will probably think you’re taking it. I’ll take the shot."

’Smart!’

A flicker of admiration showed in Shahin’s eyes as he nodded in agreement.

The two of them discussed their plan as they walked over to the spot of the foul.

After setting the ball, Wang Shuo slowly backed away, counting his steps and the distance.