Frankfurt is just a short name for the city, just as the Chinese sometimes refer to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou only as Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Frankfurt's full name is wordy – Frankfurt am Main.

Around the time of the Three Kingdoms in China, the Roman Empire built a great wall near Frankfurt that stretched for thousands of miles, connecting the Rhine and Danube rivers to form a moat to protect against barbarians from the north. Time has passed, and now, except for the book lovers of "Golden Green", even the vast majority of Europeans do not know that there was once a low-copy version of the Great Wall here.

Today, Frankfurt is not only Germany's largest transport hub, but also one of the most important air transit cities in Europe and the world. It is also home to the German Football Association, and Schneysstrasse, not far from the Football Association offices, is a quiet and leafy place to visit the management technology center of the German national team.

During the international break, the German team did not play an official match, but played a friendly match with the visiting Ecuadorian national team in Nuremberg as scheduled, and after the game, the players were disbanded on the spot, and the head coach Joachim Loew and the national team manager Oliver Bierhoff also returned to Frankfurt, where the technical center has a full range of intelligence gathering, data analysis, and other necessary departments.

Since succeeding Jurgen Klinsmann as national team manager after the World Cup, Loew has been in charge of his new role in recent months, with a 13-0 win over San Marino in the qualifiers of the 2008 European Championship and an embarrassing 1-1 draw by Cyprus.

Loew's appointment was controversial in German football, as he was not well known.

Throughout the nine coaches before him – yes, in the more than 80-year history, the German national team has had only nine coaches, and they have been very stable – Beck, Vogts, up to Worrall and Klinsmann, all of them have made a name for themselves as coaches. But Loew's resume as a professional player is really shabby, having only spent his entire life in the Bundesliga, and his two attempts to test the waters in the Bundesliga were devastated and disgraced.

After retiring as a player, he became a coach, a runner-up in the FA Cup and a Cup Winners' Cup, which is not worth mentioning in the eyes of many of Germany's most decorated veterans, and the fact that he was twice dismissed early because of poor results at a bad club in Karlsruhe and Turkey is the ridicule of his coaching career.

But Klinsmann is Loew's nobleman, the two studied in the same football coaching school, Klinsmann knows that Loew's football skills and tactics and football theory are extremely attained, so after serving as the national team coach, he invited the little-known Loew to become his chief assistant coach.

Klinsmann has been praised by the industry for bringing German football to the last four of the World Cup and for taking effect on the rejuvenation and technical transformation of the national team. It is precisely because of his strong recommendation that Loew can become the new head coach in danger, because Klinsmann knows very well that Loew has played a great role in his series of successes. On a technical level, Loew has a high enough level to be the head coach of the national team. But Loew's temporary inability to convince the public is also inevitable, and there are many fierce eyes staring at him to find fault.

Loew is now walking a tightrope, with no room for deviation. And now in the German Football Association, the biggest supporter behind him is the national team leader, Bierhoff.

If you think of the national team as an office, the head coach is the designer and the team leader is the chief of staff.

Internally, Bierhoff, with his brilliant resume and strong aura, intimidates all players who try to challenge and defy Loew's authority. Externally, because of his strong Serie A background, Bierhoff is relatively detached in German football, and he is very comfortable in all aspects, overriding the various factional struggles in German football. And Bierhoff also has a good relationship with UEFA and can talk to many bigwigs.

Loew's organizational skills and conducting skills were fine, but he had to rely on Bierhoff's support to gain a foothold in the early stages. Bierhoff was also very professional at this point, and he held up an umbrella for Loew to block all gossip and speculation, for which Loew was grateful, and he respected Bierhoff very much.

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"Oliver, what do you think of Jurgen's prospects at Bayern Munich?" In the office of the technical center, Loew asked Bierhoff. On this leisurely afternoon, the two of them chatted with coffee, and it was very comfortable for the winter sun to shine on their bodies through the glass.

Former German coach Jurgen Klinsmann has taken over at Bayern Munich to replace interim coach Summer. In the 1996 European Championships, it was the main center Klinsmann who spared no effort to promote Bierhoff, which made him rise rapidly in the German national team, and left the magical legend of the first golden ball in world football in the final of that European Championship, and the German team also won the championship with Bierhoff's golden goal.

Bierhoff is a bureaucrat, but he is also a man of the rivers and lakes, and his temperament will not be less hot-blooded with pleasure and revenge. He misses Klinsmann's good very much, and it is precisely Klinsmann's entrustment when he leaves office, and he does not hesitate to support Loew now.

"Honestly, it's a bit hard to say. I think Jurgen should go to Italy or the Premier League first, Bayern has been a bit impetuous in the past two years, too much of an indicator of competitive performance. Bierhoff said. A former football superstar and now a high-ranking official, Bierhoff has an insightful perspective on football issues.

"Well...... that's what I see too. Speaking of which, this is all because of Madiburg, who have completely messed up the situation in the Bundesliga in the past two years, forcing Bayern to be in a hurry, and the long-term planning is also chaotic. Loew said.

Bierhoff picked up the pot and filled the cup of coffee for Loew. "Hehe, it's not because of Madiburg. Isn't Madiburg in a slump this year? It was because of Zhuo Yang that Zhuo Yang disrupted the entire Bundesliga, which made Bayern Munich panic. Now this kid has gone to Milan with a slap on the butt, leaving Madiburg dizzy and the Bundesliga in disarray. ”

This year's Bundesliga situation is very chaotic, Stuttgart, Bremen, Schalke and other teams want to be strong but not weak and weak but not strong, and they are staggering to occupy the top of the standings, but the two heroes Bayern and Madiburg in the previous two years are in decline, and the ranking of about ten places is like a-stirring stick.

"Yes, it's all because of Zhuo Yang, this kid. The Bundesliga lost Zhuo Yang, the loss is very large, and it will take a while to find a new order. Loew sighed, but his eyes sparkled. However, Zhuo Yang does not seem to be very comfortable in Milan, and his goals are not as exaggerated as in previous years. ”

"It takes a while to get used to, he's too young after all. But I'm very optimistic about him, and Serie A will definitely be difficult to stop Zhuo Yang. "Bierhoff is very fond of Zhuoyang.

"Serie A, Oliver, you're an expert, and if you say it's okay, it's going to be fine. But ......" Loew suddenly changed his words: "Then ......, Oliver, do you think we can put the matter of recruiting Zhuo Yang on the agenda?" Can the national team take the initiative? ”

Loew finally said the true purpose of this small talk he had carefully planned today.