Chapter 21 Free kick coordination
Chu Zhongtian was knocked to the ground by Dortmund's Tinga while dribbling, and the referee gave Hoffenheim a free kick.
All the Dortmund fans were booing Chu Zhongtian, mocking him, and insulting him. However, Chu Zhongtian turned a deaf ear to these voices. He didn't understand them. On the contrary, he fully understood what those people meant. But he didn't take it to heart, just as he said to Ibisevic, if your opponent hates you, no matter what you do, it will not change their views. So instead of treating the other party's insults and attacks as an insult and indignation, it's better to treat these voices as praise for yourself, so that your mentality will be much more peaceful... It's not just these. When you treat your opponent's booing and insults and intimidation as praise, hearing such voices on the court will only make you fight with high spirits and will never retreat and fear.
So he left the booing and scolding of Dortmund fans behind his head and went to find Salihovic. He was about to take the free kick.
Salihovic's free kick is notoriously accurate in the team, so he was the team's first free kick picker. But Chu Zhongtian felt that they could also seek some changes in the free kick.
So he told Salihovic what he thought, just like they trained each other that day, he stood in the wall to create a gap for Salihovic. When Salihovic kicked the football over, he suddenly pulled away and let the football pass through the wall from his position. The advantage of doing this is that it is very sudden and the football does not have to rise to a height higher than the wall. Salihovic can devote more energy to making the football fly faster, rather than spending energy to control the football to bypass the wall, which will definitely affect the speed of the football.
Salihovic had other considerations. Because this is not a novel tactic, the exquisiteness of this coordination is not only to allow football to penetrate the sky created by Chu Zhongtian, but also to make Chu Zhongtian a chess piece that attracts the attention of Dortmund's people. When the opponent puts all his attention on Chu Zhongtian, Salihovic himself can take advantage of other tricks.
Dortmund's man walls have been lined up, and they have not been slowing down for a long time. Salihovic has not scored a free kick in the Bundesliga yet, so the opponents don't know much about his ability in this regard. Otherwise, they would regret being so obedient and lined up the man walls.
Although Dortmund lined up the walls of man, Chu Zhongtian still walked straight towards their walls. He did not squeeze into the middle of the walls. Although from the beginning of his coming, Dortmund's walls all turned their eyes to him. He walked to the side of the walls and stood still.
Seeing the back of Chu Zhongtian's opponent's man-wall, Salihovic suddenly remembered something. Just when he and Chu Zhongtian were practicing more that day, Chu Zhongtian was busy practicing free kicks and stood in the wall to cover him. He didn't say hello, but he just kicked the ball, and wanted to take a small revenge on Chu Zhongtian and let the football hit him. But unexpectedly, Chu Zhongtian avoided it beyond his expectations. It felt like... it seemed like Chu Zhongtian knew in advance that he would suddenly kick the ball.
Since that incident, Salihovic has always had this doubt in his mind - was he lucky enough to avoid it, or did he really guess something, so he did this kind of dodging action?
In today's game, he got a free kick opportunity. Looking at Chu Zhongtian's back, he suddenly thought: Why don't you try again?
The Dortmund players lined up in the wall turned their heads and looked at Chu Zhongtian standing next to them. The Hoffenheim player did not squeeze into the wall, which made them feel quite nervous before and were a little disappointed that they were ready to fight against the opponent.
Chu Zhongtian ignored the strange gazes of the Dortmund players. He had just stopped and was still adjusting his position. He did not turn around, but faced the goal.
At this moment, Salihovic suddenly assisted two steps and then took a shot!
Before the Dortmund players could take their eyes off Chu Zhongtian, they could see the abnormal movement ahead from the corner of their eyes.
Almost at the same time, Chu Zhongtian, who was facing away from Salihovic, suddenly shrank his head and bent forward while shooting!
All this happened in an instant. Before the Dortmund players could make any moves, they still kept turning their heads to look at Chu Zhongtian. This was when they saw it, it was not Chu Zhongtian, but the football flying over.
The football only stayed in their sight for less than a second, and appeared "swish" and disappeared again.
Then they heard a huge cheer coming from the stands from all directions.
Some people reacted quickly and looked back and saw goalkeeper Weidenfeller still in the air, but the football had already hit the net behind him.
Chu Zhongtian had just rushed out at this time, and his bent down became an unobstructed passage for the football. The football shot by Salihovic crossed the Dortmund's wall from his head.
Weidenfeller was in the air and looked back at the football inside the goal in despair. When Chu Zhongtian was standing on the side of the wall, he noticed the Hoffenheim player. There was a hint of sky blue between yellow and black, and it was hard to pay attention. He knew that Chu Zhongtian might let the opponent take advantage of the free kick. But he didn't expect the opponent to use it so suddenly - he hadn't reacted yet, and Chu Zhongtian had just landed, and Salihovic actually kicked the football out... "This is Hoffenheim's free kick. Chu and Salihovic said something and walked towards Dortmund's human wall... Salihovic shot!" The commentator of German TV did not expect Hoffenheim to give a free kick so quickly. Before he could finish his words, he had to shout. "The ball has entered! The ball has entered!!"
"goooooooooooooool!!! Hoffenheim scored another goal! Salihovic's direct free kick! Beautiful! So beautiful!"
Chu Zhongtian, who bent down to make way for the football, looked up and saw the football drilling into the net. He knew that his plan had been successful, so he clenched his fists, stopped quickly, turned around and went to find Salihovic, who was shooting.
"2:0! Hoffenheim expanded the score in the 24th minute. The goal came from Salihovic's free kick. He and Chu Zhongtian cooperated with a free kick, and the two seemed to have a very tacit understanding. This made all the rumors about the two of them disagree! "The Chinese commentator was also very excited. When Yang Chen was in Frankfurt, Frankfurt was the home team of the commentators. Now Chu Zhongtian has gone to Hoffenheim. This small team that was not well-known before naturally became the target of support for Chinese commentators.
Fans in the stands of Carl Mercedes-Benz Stadium jumped out of their seats when they saw the football pass by Weidenfeller's fingertips into the goal, and they cheered with their arms raised.
"Good job, Sayard! Good job!"
The Dortmund fans on the other side were silent.
The team suffered two blows in a row within 25 minutes, and they didn't know what to say for a while.
※※※On the court, Salihovic excitedly raised his arms after scoring the goal. This was not his first goal in the Bundesliga, but in his heart, he regarded this free kick as the first goal he scored in the Bundesliga. Because the previous goal was scored by a penalty kick, it was not difficult and he did not make much contribution. But the direct free kick was different. Shooting such a free kick made him feel very accomplished.
When he was cheering, Chu Zhongtian appeared in front of him.
He was stunned for a moment, but he didn't expect that he would be the first person to celebrate after he scored the goal.
Chu Zhongtian stretched out his hand to him, smiled and said, "Beautiful job!"
When Salihovic saw Chu Zhongtian, he stretched out his hand to him like a conditioned reflex. The two people's hands collided in the air and made a snap.
Immediately afterwards, the teammates rushed up and surrounded the two of them, hugging each other tightly.
"Long live our goal!"
"Beautiful job, Saiyad!"
"This cooperation is really a tacit understanding!"
The players were so excited, so did the coach Ranick off the court, who rushed out of his seat and waved his arms hard.
Of course he knows the recent criticisms of him in the media. The media believes that Hoffenheim is a team that has always been nouveau riche and can be achieved by relying solely on the investment of his boss. Such a team is not as good as his head coach.
It is not a bad thing for him to have money. If the media wants to criticize him, just criticize him. Anyway, if you don’t have money, don’t think about any great achievements in football. It is his luck to have a rich boss. Why should he refute this view?
But those who question his coaching level would like to slap these people with practical actions. He wants to make the disappeared "free man tactics" come back, he wants to train Chu Zhongtian to become the third real free man after Beckenbauer and Summer, and he wants to make the entire Hoffenheim team advance at full speed in this tactic, like a German tank with full power, charging into the front line.
Then, let’s look at the media’s faces and see if the head coach, who has created this tactic, really has no coaching level.
Now that the Bundesliga has only started five rounds, Hoffenheim's performance has surprised everyone. He believes that with the adjustment and improvement of tactics, he will surprise more people.
However, what makes him happier than this lofty goal is that the two important players in the team, Chu Zhongtian and Salihovic, showed signs of reconciliation. First of all, Chu Zhongtian and Salihovic had exchanged before this free kick, and this tactical cooperation must have been discussed by the two. Secondly, after scoring the goal, Salihovic and Chu Zhongtian squatted and celebrated. If their relationship was still as awkward and nervous as before, then they would never make such a celebration after scoring the goal.
The last unstable factor within the team was eliminated, and Rangnick could allow the team to focus all their energy on their external enemies, causing huge waves to be caused by the Bundesliga, a stagnant water that has been controlled by Bayern Munich for a long time.
※※※Hoffenheim, who scored two goals, did not stop there. This is a team that advocates offense. Rangnick taught them to score goals no matter when they are. One goal is not safe, and two goals are not safe. If they can still score, why not continue to score goals? Scoring three, four, five, and six... Who would think that there are too many goals?
Therefore, Hoffenheim, the new Bundesliga team, faced the veteran powerhouse Dortmund, and did not stop after leading two goals, but continued to bombard Dortmund's goal.
Poor Dortmund, a former Bundesliga veteran, is one of the three teams that Germany won the European Champions League. Now facing the aggressive offensive of the new Bundesliga army Hoffenheim, he can only retreat and defend to the death and become a turtle.
Just three minutes after Salihovic scored, Hoffenheim made a comeback. Chu Zhongtian passed the ball to Ibissevic. The Bosnian striker took the ball from the front of the penalty area, and Dortmund Filipe Santana, who was defending him, suddenly slipped. Ibissevic immediately turned around and broke into the penalty area, and then drifted past another Dortmund central defender Subotic who came to save him, and shot with his right foot low shot from fourteen meters away from the middle. The football was saved by Weidenfell.
In the 33rd minute, Chu Zhongtian passed the ball in the backcourt for a long pass, Salihovic used his head to ferry the football to Demba. Dortmund's defenders raised their hands to signal Demba. Ba's offside, but the lineman did not raise the flag and the referee did not whistle, and it was not offside!
Bahrain successfully counterattacked, dribbled the ball into the penalty area, and then shot eleven meters away from the goal, which was saved by goalkeeper Weidenfeller who attacked in time.
Weidenfell, who saved Demba and shot, jumped up from the ground and waved his fists, roaring loudly at his defenders' teammates: "Look at what you are doing! How can he make him break into the penalty area so easily!!"
"He's offside!" Subotic retorted.
"But the lineman didn't raise the flag!" Weidenfeller waved his arm and pointed at the lineman. "You shouldn't give up the game!" He is wearing the captain's armband now, and he has the right to scold his teammates for their poor performance on the court.
"Okay, OK..." Another defender, Lukavina, came up to smooth things over.
On the other side, Demba, who wasted this one-on-one opportunity, covered her face with both hands, looking very upset.
Dortmund fans in the stands saw their team being beaten by Hoffenheim, and their hatred for Hoffenheim became even stronger.
They kept singing songs insulting Hoffenheim in the stands and also personally attacked several key Hoffenheim players.
For example, Ibisevic and Salihovic who scored the goal, they called these two Bosnian-Herzegovina players "refugees" and asked them to go back to their country and not to go to Germany to take refuge.
As Hoffenheim's captain and absolute tactical core, Chu Zhongtian could not be spared. Moreover, he received the most boos and scolding.
Some racists called him "yellow-skinned monkey", some greeted his mother, and made fun of him from his nationality and asked where his braids were.
"Where is your pig tail, a yellow-skinned monkey?!"
In response to this behavior, Chu Zhongtian used a long shot to knock Weidenfell out of his hand. If Santana, the centre-back next to him, had he kicked the ball out with a big foot, I'm afraid Ibisek, who was ambushed, would have scored twice.
※※※ Until the end of the first half, Dortmund did not organize any decent offensives. They were completely stunned by Hoffenheim's wave after wave of offensives. Some people's eyes were even a little confused when they ended up.
Dortmund's players would never have thought that they would be two goals behind in the first half, and what hit them even more than the score was that they could not find any advantage in the field. Judging from the scene, it was good that they had only conceded two goals. If Hoffenheim's forward had not wasted opportunities, they might have fallen behind 0:4 in the first half.
Is this really a team of new teams?
All Dortmund players have a similar doubt in their hearts when they are out.
Hoffenheim players were very happy when they left the court. They were so easy to lead Dortmund at their home court that they didn't even expect them to be able to lead Dortmund twice.
What makes the background sound for the players of both teams to leave the field is the sound created by fans of both sides in the stands.
Hoffenheim fans sang: "Come on! Come on! Hoffenheim Club is the best!!"
Dortmund fans shouted and cursed: "Go to die! The Bitch Legion!!"
It's a pity that Hoffenheim is just a newly promoted team. He has not many fans and cannot suppress the voices of the visiting fans at his home court. So at the Carl-Benz Stadium, Hoffenheim seemed to be playing in a neutral field.
This is also the embarrassing situation Hoffenheim is currently facing. They are currently temporarily lent other people's courts, and they feel a little bit under the roof. In Mannheim, Hoffenheim is not a popular team, and the people here even resent Hoffenheim because they snatched away the rich man Dietma who "should belong to them". Hope - but in fact, Mr. Hope invested in Hoffenheim because he played somewhere when he was young and was at the center. If Hope's boss didn't play at Hoffenheim when he was young, but Mannheim might not be Hoffenheim, but Mannheim now.
Many Mannheim fans will also watch Hoffenheim's game, but they are in a complicated mood and it is difficult to tell what kind of mentality they are watching the game.
Amid the noise of the fans, the players on both sides quickly left the stadium and entered their respective locker rooms. They had fifteen minutes, and these fifteen minutes were more important for Dortmund, because if they wanted to save the defeat in the second half, they had to plan well within these fifteen minutes.
Can they complete a big reversal when they are two goals behind?
Chapter completed!