However, the victory over Mainz allowed Hamburg to consolidate their third place in the standings once again. Pen ~ fun ~ www.biquge.info but in the last five rounds of the Bundesliga, if you lose in the face of Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen, two opponents who are directly competing for a Champions League place, Hamburg, who is currently only 4 points ahead of the fourth place, is also likely to lose the Champions League qualification at the last moment.

And there's no guarantee that the team's main players won't be injured unexpectedly in training or during games. As a result, if they do not perform well in the final five rounds of the league, even Europa League qualification is not guaranteed.

Bayern Munich have already won the title after the first 29 league games (Borussia Dortmund are 20 points behind), and Bayern have already reached the final of the German Cup. So, whatever the remaining team can get another ticket to the German Cup final, they will qualify directly for next season's Europa League.

Therefore, for the semi-finals of the German Cup on April 18, head coach Fink paid special attention. As long as he can beat Stuttgart to reach the final of the German Cup, he will be able to achieve the goal set by the club for him to "enter the European stage" ahead of schedule.

Although Stuttgart is slightly inferior to Hamburg in terms of overall strength this season, the painful experience of losing at home to their opponents in the first half of the league still makes Fink dare not underestimate his opponents.

Since the format of the German Cup is a winner-or-loser, many teams that are at a disadvantage will adopt intensive defensive tactics in the game in order to be lucky enough to advance to the next round. Stuttgart, which has a poor record this season, was able to reach the semi-finals of the German Cup because of this strategy.

In the quarter-finals against Schalke 04, Stuttgart, who had only three shots on goal in the whole game, took advantage of a counterattack opportunity in the 87th minute of the game and was scored by Japanese player Shinji Okazaki.

When it came to the quarter-finals, Stuttgart dragged Bayer Leverkusen to a penalty shootout with a score of 0-0, and made it to the semi-finals with a miraculous performance by goalkeeper Ulreich.

Considering that Stuttgart will most likely continue to use a dense defensive strategy in the semi-finals of the German Cup in order to drag the game into a penalty shootout, Fink will focus on how to break down the opponent's dense defense.

Although the main offensive means of the Hamburg team is to play in small areas, it is not easy to break down the opposition's dense defense when both the individual ability of the players as a whole and the degree of tacit cooperation are limited.

Therefore, after Kachar had already proven himself to be a guest role as the "pivot of the attack" in a number of games, Fink appointed Cachar as the team's "main center" to develop an offensive lineup.

In this attacking lineup, in addition to putting Cachar at the front of the team as the offensive fulcrum, Fink also arranged Rudneves, who is good at grabbing points (picking up leaks), as his forward partner.

In midfield, considering that the opponent will not invest too much in the attack in the game, Fink is prepared to only deploy Badelli as a midfielder. Van der Vaart was then dropped back slightly, allowing him to play a "midfielder-rear" role similar to that of Italian star Andrea Pirlo.

As for the two wings, it is not surprising that they continue to arrange Feng Quan and Sun Xingmin. Moreover, since there is no relationship between the front midfielders, Fink does not require them to move on the wing, but can move freely on the wing and in the middle according to the actual situation on the field.

At the same time, in order to be more confident of winning in regular time, Fink also deliberately added nearly an hour of free kick training to his daily training.

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Just half an hour before the start of the German Cup semi-final between Hamburg and Stuttgart, Fink, who got the opponent's starting list, unconsciously showed a smile on his face.

As Fink had predicted before the game, Stuttgart fielded a defence-focused starting line-up even when playing on their home turf.

Although on the surface, Stuttgart sent out a rather "aggressive" 4-3-3 formation. However, Bruno Labbadia's three midfielders turned out to be all defensive players.

Moreover, even the two wide players on the front line are the kind of players who have good running ability and some defensive ability.

At 20:30 on the evening of April 18, the second match of the semi-finals of the German Cup, the match between Stuttgart and Hamburg officially began with the referee's whistle......

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Although he was very lucky to draw a home qualification, Labadia, who knew that his team's strength was inferior to his opponent, still chose a more pragmatic defensive counterattack strategy for Stuttgart in a very low-key manner.

In fact, Stuttgart would not have been relegated to the bottom half of the table if it weren't for the team's poor attacking prowess (just 31 goals scored in the first 29 league games). The backline, which is composed of Tashcher, Molinaro, Sakai Gaude and many other international players, has scored 39 goals in 29 league games, but ranks 8th among all Bundesliga teams.

To be able to achieve such a defensive result in a league like the Bundesliga, which is quite offensive is already a good performance. You know, even Hamburg, who is temporarily in third place in the standings, has already scored 42 goals by their opponents.

Therefore, in a game like the German Cup, if Stuttgart is bent on holding on to the draw, it may not be easy for Bayern Munich, which is significantly stronger than all other Bundesliga teams, to tear open their door.

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Although there were less than three minutes of normal time before the end of the first half, Hamburg, who had been dominating the field, still failed to knock on the door of the home team. However, Fink, who was sitting in the coach's seat of the visiting team, still observed everything on the field with a relaxed expression.

He is very confident that as long as the team can continue to maintain their current form and continue to put pressure on the Stuttgart goal, it will only be a matter of time before they break through the opposition goal.

Had it not been for Stuttgart's goalkeeper Ulreich, who made a number of world-class saves in the first half, Hamburg would have been two or three goals ahead.

Just three minutes earlier, when Ulreich had miraculously denied Rudneves' close-range deflection of a close-range finish, the German goalkeeper had paid a considerable price.

Although Rudnevs, who had completed the shooting action, saw Ulreich rushing in the direction of his own lunge, he quickly made a move in the air. However, due to inertia, Rudneves' left knee hit Ulreich's head to block the ball.

Although the accidental collision did not cause Ulreich to faint and he was re-involved in the race after being treated by medical personnel, the impact on him was clear. Because Ulreich, who has been playing at a super level in the previous game, actually chose to attack and pick up the corner kick sent by the Hamburg team, when the ball had already been confiscated, there was an unexpected situation when he landed at the point.

Unfortunately, because he did not expect such a low-level mistake by Ulreich, Rudnevs, who was very close to Ulreich's departure point, was cleared out of the penalty area by Stuttgart's central defender Tascher before he could make a follow-up shot.

Although his team missed a good chance to score, Hamburg coach Fink did not have a disappointed look on his face that "it should have been", but a subtle smile on his face.

Eventually, after three minutes of stoppage time for the first half, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the half. Until this moment, the score on the big screen in the Mercedes-Benz Arena still maintained a score of 0-0.

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Although the first half did not open the door of Stuttgart, head coach Fink praised the Hamburg players for their good performance after returning to the dressing room.

And the excellent performance of the Hamburg players is indeed worthy of Fink's praise.

If it weren't for Ulreich's "super-god" performance, coupled with the "help" of the goal post, I am afraid that Stuttgart would have fallen behind by at least three goals at the end of the half.

And the most outstanding performance in the first half of the game was Cachar, who played as the team's frontcourt fulcrum as the "main center" of the away game.

Although Stuttgart's German national Tashcher was always close to Kachar in the first half of the game, the physically strong and powerful Serb always had the upper hand when the two fought physically.

Even though Cachar's shooting ability is a little weak, he has the upper hand in the contest with Tashcher, and he can rely on his good header ability in the penalty area to help the team complete the fulcrum of the header ferry; And outside the penalty area, he can also rely on his strong strength advantage to help his teammates make the ball while holding the ball with his back.

In fact, after seeing Cachar's performance in the first half, Fink even had a big calculation of "transforming him into a pivot center next season".

So, after all the players of the team praised him, Fink also walked to Cachar's side, smiled and patted him on the shoulder and said, "Well done in the first half, Gojko, continue in the second half." ”

"No problem, boss, I'll make sure you're satisfied." As he spoke, Cachar unconsciously clenched his fists. At the same time, his eyes were full of fire.

In fact, before Van der Vaart returned to Hamburg from Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League this season, Cachar had been a regular in the team's midfield. However, with the "return" of Van der Vaart, coupled with a sudden injury in the preparation period of the season, Cachar not only lost his main position in the team, coupled with the rapid growth of Turkish player Arslan, in the first half of the Bundesliga, even the opportunity to come off the bench did not get a few times.

Now, when Fink discovers his hidden "pivot center" attribute, Cachar is determined to seize this opportunity and try to reclaim his main position......

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After praising the team's good performance and making some brief set-ups for the second half, Fink called the Asian pair of Feng Quan and Son Heung-min to him.

"When the second half starts, if the opposing goalkeeper is not replaced, as long as you get into the 30-metre area of the opponent and there are your teammates in the box, you two have to cut in resolutely and then look for opportunities to shoot from distance. You don't have to be too angle-oriented, as long as you can hit the ball within the range of the goal. After saying this, Fink's face unconsciously showed a sly smile.

Although Fink didn't say exactly why he did this, thinking of Ulreich's unexpected departure when he came out to win a corner kick at the end of the first half, Feng Quan and Son Heung-min roughly guessed the manager's intentions.

"Don't worry, boss, I'll definitely show them the color of the store." Sun Xingmin clenched his fists and said.

At the same time, Feng Quan also said with a slightly "vicious" expression: "No problem, if possible, I would prefer to let that guy fly into the goal with the football." ”

Although there was no personal grudge with Ulreich, in the first half of the game, Feng Quan managed to break through the opponent's double defense twice, and two dangerous inward shots completed on the edge of the penalty area shot to the upper corners of the left and right sides of the goal, and they were all resolved by Ulreich who was like a divine help.

Because of this, when Fink turned on the "long-range safety bolt" of the heavy cannon of Fengquan, he would make a slightly fanatical performance.

In addition, after assigning the task to the "Asian pair", Fink instructed the risky combination of Cachar and Rudneves: "When the wind and Sun take a long-range shot, you two must pay attention to the second point of contention. I believe that as long as Sven [Ulreich] continues to stay on the pitch in the second half, then as long as Feng and Sun's long-range shots can hit the goal, he will definitely get out of the way......"

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Just after Fink gave some advice to Cachar and Rudnevs, Feng Quan and Sun Xingmin walked to their side again.

"Hey, guys, since the boss has got you guys ready to pick up leaks in front of the goal, let's design a code beforehand." Feng Quan winked at the two starting forwards.

"Cipher!? How do you act like a spy? Kachar, who had a straightforward personality, asked with some confusion.

"Of course you need a code. Otherwise, if you don't show up in the box when we suddenly shoot from distance, even if their goalkeeper is out of the box, you won't have a chance to make a follow-up shot! Sun Xingmin spread his hands and said.

Because Sun Xingmin spoke loudly, Van der Vaart, who was not far away, also came over when he heard the sound.

"I think what Sun said makes a lot of sense." Van der Vaart agreed. "Since the boss has asked you to be ready to shoot at any time, then in the end, it is better to prepare in advance when the two of them are ready to shoot from a distance, so as to better seize the opportunity to make a follow-up shot."

After thinking for a moment, Rudneves, who is good at picking up leaks, also felt that it made sense. So he asked, "Then how are you two going to send us a code......" (To be continued.) )