Chapter 16: A stroke of genius
Fixtures arrive on 15 September as scheduled for the first round of Group F of the 2016-17 Champions League, with Legia Warsaw hosting Borussia Dortmund. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoAlthough there was still an hour before the start of the game, the stadium was already full of fans, and it was very lively.
Weidenfeller told the fat man that the Poles did not like the Germans because of World War II, so the fans of Legia Warsaw would certainly not be friendly in this game. Sure enough, when the fat man was warming up on the sidelines, there were constantly fans yelling at the fat man with fierce expressions; Before the start of the game, the home fans even lit fireworks, and the stadium was suddenly filled with smoke, but fortunately, the security in the stadium was good, and the fans' behavior was stopped in time, otherwise the two teams could only play in the "haze", and the fans of Legia Warsaw used a lot of means to put pressure on Dortmund.
Tuchel's coach on the sidelines was a little restless, constantly talking to his assistants. Thomas Tuchel is now very concerned about his players being affected by the home fans, but he also knows that this is inevitable and can be regarded as a "negative benefit" for away games.
Today's commentators are still Borussia Rupert and Norbert Dicker, Dortmund's special commentators, and when they arrived at the Polish Legion stadium, their expressions were serious, because they knew that Dortmund would have a tough battle today.
'Today is our first game in the Champions League and it's very important. Borussia Dortmund is in Group F of the Champions League, which includes not only the strong Real Madrid, but also the strong Sporting Lisbon, so the Warsaw Army will be the focus of Dortmund's points, because the Warsaw Army is the weakest team of the four teams, so we must win today's game and make a good start for the Champions League. Dicker was the first to speak.
"Yes, Real Madrid are the team with the most Champions League trophies; Sporting Lisbon is also a regular in the Champions League and is strong; Borussia Dortmund's easiest game to pick up points is against Warsaw, so we have to go all out to win even away today. Rupert chimed in.
"Boris, do you think Dortmund have a good chance of winning today?" Dicker asked.
"Man, I don't think it's a big problem for the team to win, after all, Dortmund is a lot stronger than their opponents. But it's going to be a tough one because Borussia Dortmund haven't been in good form lately, they're away from home, and if you look at the horrible atmosphere here, it's definitely not an easy opponent to play against. Rupert replied earnestly.
'Boris, I'm not worried about the Warsaw team in today's game, I'm more worried about Coach Tuchel. Today was his first Champions League game, and it was away from home, so I don't know if he can command the team well. Dicker looked worried.
'It's true that Tuchel lacks Champions League experience, but I'm more concerned about his line-up for this game. Rupert continued: 'The last time we lost away to promoted clubs, it was Tuchel's line-up that went wrong and he put Pang on the bench and it was his biggest mistake of command. Not only did I think so, but so did most of the German media after the game. ”
"That's right, we won all the games that Pang played. Only this one, Pang didn't play, we lost. This tells us that Pang is important for Dortmund now, and it also tells us that Dortmund must activate other attackers as soon as possible, relying only on Pang and Aubameyang, the team will not be able to win for a long time. Dicker analyzed.
"There have been a lot of inside stories exposed during this time, and I just learned that it is incredible that Dortmund brought in Pang without the consent of Coach Tuchel." Rupert shook his head.
'It's not a big deal, the club and the manager are always both cooperative and antagonistic. In recent years, as the manager's tenure has become shorter and shorter, this dichotomy has become more and more obvious. It's just a hope that Coach Tuchel won't be biased against Pang because of this, even if Pang is not his advocacy, but as long as Pang can help the team, it will help Coach Tuchel's coaching. Dicker explained.
'Hopefully Pomp can start this game, Pang is still indispensable for Dortmund at the moment, because now he is the only one who can share the pressure of Aubameyang's goal. Rupert said seriously, "By the way, I just received the news that Pang has just been selected as the best player of the month in August by Eurosport, which is really remarkable. ”
"Pang did perform very well in August, especially in the German Super Cup, which made Pang famous in Europe, and this time he was voted the best, and it is also the first time that the media outside of Germany have recognized Pang's performance." Dicker praised: "I don't think Coach Tuchel can find a reason not to start for Pon. ”
While both commentators agreed that the fat man should start, Thomas Tuchel didn't think so. Coach Tuchel initially put the fat man on the bench and was ready to put the fat man on in the second half. It wasn't until just around half an hour before the game that Thomas Tuchel changed his mind and scheduled the fat man to start. The atmosphere at Legia Warsaw today was terrifying, and Tuchel eventually changed his mind at the suggestion of his assistant coach.
"Wow, what's going on, I have two starting lists for Dortmund here, the first one didn't start, and the second one started for Poon." Rupert found it strange that 'Coach Tuchel suddenly changed his team's starting XI half an hour before the game, and the only thing that changed was that Guerrero was replaced by Poon. ”
'Haha,' Dicker delighted, 'it seems that Coach Tuchel is more entangled than the two of us, but in the end he chose to 'follow the will', which is a great choice, now is not the time to gamble, winning is the most important thing. ”
"Yes, winning is all that matters." Rupert chimed in, "Both Pang and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang started this game, as long as these two are on the pitch, even if we play away, I have full confidence that the team will win." ”
"For this game, the starting line-ups of both teams are ......" Dicker read out loud, "Dortmund, goalkeeper: No. 38 Burki, defenders: No. 26 Piszczek, No. 25 Papastathopoulos, No. 5 Baltra and No. 29 Schmelzer, midfielder:
No. 33 Weigel, midfielders: No. 9 Pang Hao, No. 22 Pulisic, No. 10 Gotze and No. 7 Dembele, forward: No. 17 Aubameyang...... Coach Tuchel fielded a 4141 formation ......; For Legia Warsaw, goalkeeper: No. 1 Malaz, defenders: No. 19 Berechinski, No. 4 Chervinsky, No. 5 Dabrowski and No. 6 Guilherme, midfielders: No. 3 Yodrowitz, No. 8 Ogea Ovei and No. 75 Mullin, forwards: No. 7 Rangier, No. 99 Prijovic and No. 9 Kazaishvili, Coach JaciekMagiera lined up a 433 formation......"
'It was a bold decision for Thomas Tuchel to give his players a chance in this game by only having one midfielder. Rubeer commented, "However, Dortmund is a team that is known for attack, and this kind of formation may work wonders, as the so-called attack is the best defense, and Dortmund should have done so." ”
The fat man didn't expect to start, and when assistant coach Webb announced the starting list, there was no fat man's name, so the fat man and Weidenfeller made it to the bench early. Unexpectedly, before the players were ready to play, the fat man was suddenly called by Coach Webb, it turned out that the fat man was arranged to start, and it was Guerrero who was replaced by the fat man.
At eight o'clock in the evening in Warsaw, the game started on time. The fat man was fully engaged at the beginning and ran very actively, because the fat man knew that he could not play the whole game at all, so the fat man went to the forty-five minutes of the game at the beginning.
After a few minutes of trial play, the two teams went head-to-head. Dortmund's 4141 in this game was originally an offensive formation, and Legia Warsaw was more daring, directly discharging a 433 formation, and in their own home stadium, Legia Warsaw obviously did not choose to be conservative.
"This game is good, the two teams have the intention of playing against each other, and the offense is not conservative." Dicker said excitedly, "The first goal of this game was very crucial, and that team was the first to score the opponent's goal and would have a very big initiative. ”
In the sixth minute of the game, Legia Warsaw had the first chance to shoot. Midfielder Jodrowitz found striker Rangier with a penetrating pass that went wide of the left-hand post.
"Legia Warsaw's attack is very simple and direct, that is, the main Dortmund defender Weigel's defensive area, and Weigel will face a big test at both ends of the pitch today." Rubeer commented.
As soon as the attack of Legia Warsaw ended, Dortmund launched a counterattack. Goalkeeper Bilki quickly drove the ball out of the door and passed it to Baltra, who handed the ball back to Weigel, who barely adjusted, and found the fat man with a mid-to-long pass.
The fat man took the ball and moved on the wing, and the right-back No. 19 Berechenski of Legia Warsaw followed not far away. Due to the speed of Dortmund's counterattack, the Legia Warsaw backline players have not yet been fully seated. Berechinski opted for a break rather than a pass, as Aubameyang was not far from him.
'Ponne was playing on the flank, and Aubameyang was there to ......pick it up,' Dicker explained.
The fat man wanted to pass the ball to Aubameyang, but ultimately gave up on that option. Because the fat man saw the gap behind Aubameyang. Legia Warsaw took into account Aubameyang's threat and sent heavy troops to defend. When Aubameyang cruised to the front of the opponent's penalty area to pick up the fat man, the defenders were also brought over, and there was a big gap in the defense in the middle.
The fat man passed the ball without hesitation, and almost at the moment when the fat man passed, a yellow figure in the middle suddenly stepped forward into this gap, and then jumped high and shook his head to attack the goal.
"The ball is in, the ball is in! Gotze's header is the goal! Dicker was very excited, "Dortmund scored in the first goal of this game, congratulations to Götze for scoring the first goal of the Champions League this season, which is also the first time in 1250 days that Gotze has scored for the Hornets again!" ”
'Congratulations to Gotze, he finally scored. This player, who was expected by Dortmund fans, finally scored his first goal for Dortmund. Ruber was also very excited, "However, Gotze should be grateful to Pong, who provided him with the assist, and Pong's pass was so precise that the ball almost landed on Götze's head." ”
"Poon's pass was really accurate and just right, the only gap in the opponent's penalty area was found by Poong, and of course Götze's forward was also very timely, and the two worked together to score Dortmund's first Champions League goal this season." Dicker commented.
Götze was very excited after scoring the goal, he first ran in the opposite direction of the fat man, but soon changed direction and rushed towards the fat man, and finally the two hugged each other tightly.
"Mario, congratulations, you scored your first Champions League goal!" The fat man said.
"Pong, thanks for the assist, perfect pass!" Gotze was quite excited.
The fat man was sincerely happy for Götze, and the fat man knew that Götze had trained quite hard during this time. Changing from the past style of merry and often arriving early and returning late, this goal is also a reward for Gotze's hard work.
Thomas Tuchel was even happier than Gotze, who was almost excited to hit the pitch. It was too big for Borussia Dortmund, who scored after seven minutes on the road and couldn't have started the game better. The most important thing is that it is Gotze who scores the goal, the player he has been waiting for, and finally starting to play. No one cares more about Götze than Tuchel because Gotze is a player that Tuchel has recommended for a sign.
On the pitch, the game continues. Legia Warsaw, who conceded the goal, launched a frantic counterattack, they took the initiative to increase their running, and they were more aggressive in scrambling. However, they did not score on the counter-attack, only receiving two shots on goal, both of which were missed. It didn't take long for Legia Warsaw to slow down and Dortmund regained the initiative and took control of the pace of the game.
'Legia Warsaw has to understand that unless they keep running at the same intensity, it's going to be very difficult to pose a threat to Dortmund.' Dicker commented, "Because Dortmund almost every game runs 10 kilometers longer than their opponents, and these 10 kilometers is the average distance that a player runs throughout the game!"
Seeing that the opponent's offensive rhythm slowed down, the fat man began to turn defense into offense. Fifteen minutes into the game, the fat man picked up the ball near the midfield and was about to pass to his teammate Pulisic in the middle, but was bumped by the opponent's defender, and Legia Warsaw significantly strengthened the defense against the fat man. Borussia Dortmund win a free-kick up front.
'Poon, Sokratis and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang are all in the box and this set-piece could be an opportunity. 'Coach Tuchel has clearly learned the lessons of the last game when he sent centre-back Sokladis to fight for a header. ”
Christian Pulisic took the free-kick and it lobbed it into the opposition box. The fat man instantly judged the approximate location of the ball's landing point. The fat man rushed directly in front of Warsaw Legia central defender No. 4 Chervinsky, and was blocked by the suddenly moving Chervinsky, but the fat man still grabbed the landing point. The other central defender of Legia Warsaw, who was not far from the point where the ball landed, was No. 5 Dabrowski, and did not come over to compete with the fat man for the header, making it easy for the fat man to put the ball into the opponent's goal.
"Is Pang offside?" Rupert asked suddenly.
"The linesman didn't raise the flag, the goal was not offside, congratulations to Pang for scoring his first goal in the Champions League!" Dicker looked at the big screen and said loudly, "Legia Warsaw deviated when playing offside, and when the central defender No. 4 Chervinsky retreated from the offside position, he was blocked by the suddenly moving Pong, which caused Pong to not be offside when he topped the ball." ”
"One goal, one assist, that's the value of Pang." Rupert said excitedly, "Although there was a lot of luck in Pang's header, he still helped Dortmund to take a two-goal lead away!" ”
'I have to say that coach Tuchel really made the right bet this time.' Dicker commented, "The change of starters half an hour before the start of the game was really a stroke of genius. ”