Chapter 97: Momentum (2)
The team has won seven in a row, Hoffenheim's players are almost full of confidence, even if they are going to Kaiserslautern's Devil's home, the players are not a little afraid, Hoffenheim's captain Matthias also has a good war of words, he said: "The opponents are stronger than the previous ones, but we are still confident to win them, the team is now playing more and more smoothly, I believe we can be promoted to the Bundesliga at the end of this season, to be able to play in the Bundesliga is a dream thing for us, The thought that we can play at the highest level makes me laugh when I fall asleep and we do our best to win every game, Fritz. The Walter Stadium is scary and they haven't lost here yet, but didn't we also play a 6-0 at home in Cologne and we're going to teach Kaiserslautern the same lesson. ”
If it weren't for the previous seven-game winning streak, captain Matthias might not have been able to reach the ears of Kaiserslautern until after the game, but now that Hoffenheim's game has become the focus of mainstream media such as Bild, Kicker and 442, news about the players and the team is always reported, so a war of words is inevitable.
As a dialogue between captains, Kaiserslautern's captain Wenzel certainly can't fall into momentum, as a former German national team international, he speaks at a much higher level than Matthia who came up from the German C, and they are all implicitly sarcastic Matthias, Wentzel said: "Speaking of waking up with a smile in my sleep, I have also experienced it, but that was when I learned that I was selected for the national team, and maybe my coach also experienced it, that was when he lifted the championship trophy in the Bundesliga as a promoted horse, and the team had just been relegated from the Bundesliga, It was sad for all of us, but most of us stayed because we believed we would be back in the Bundesliga at the end of the season. The team is in good shape at the moment, we are in fifth place, we are now gradually moving away from the pain of relegation and we are trying to move towards a return to the Bundesliga. But the current position is not what we dreamed of, we have to keep winning, Hoffenheim have been in amazing form lately, winning seven games, but we can't lose to them at home, we are more hungry for victory. “
After the captain spoke, the rest of the team's main players also came out to speak, and Sarihovic said he hoped that the team would continue to win until the end of the season, so that they could play in the Bundesliga. “
Kaiserslautern's main striker, Amanadis, said: "No team wins forever and the more games they win, the closer they are to defeat. ”
Even Li Huan, who rarely spoke before the game after returning from injury, also talked about his views on the game this time, Li Huan said: "Seven consecutive wins, counting eight consecutive wins in the German Cup, this is a great thing for any team, there is no team that is never defeated, such words are the truth, but we hope that our victory can continue longer." “
Not only the players but even the manager couldn't help but stand up at this time and say a few words, Wolf said: "We are unbeaten at home, Hoffenheim have won seven games in a row, and one of the two records will be broken after all, I believe we will have the last laugh." “
Rangnick said: "I don't care about a few wins in a row, my goal is to keep winning and winning until we reach our goal. We've got four games to go and we want to win the last four games and have a good Christmas. “
Kaiserslautern is nicknamed the Red Devils, except for the very defensive focus in the Rehhagel era, they are an attacking team for the rest of the time, and Hoffenheim manager Rangnick is also a coach who regards attack as his life, and the collision of the two teams is definitely an eye-catching event. Kaiserslautern fans, who have always been known for their enthusiasm, sold out tickets for the day's game, and the 48,000-seat Walter Stadium was flooded with 40,000 people, which is almost half of the number of people in a small town of just over 100,000 people, although it is not as good as Hoffenheim's 'Our whole village is here to play'.
After the start of the game, both teams did not disappoint the fans, they played very openly, Kaiserslautern, who had just been relegated from the Bundesliga, was a tiger who could not be defeated, and it was on his home turf, of course, he would not be conservative,; Hoffenheim will not defend intensively even if they meet Bayern Munich, Rangnick is such a person, as he himself said, "We just want to attack, maybe I will regret it after the game, but before the game we just want to attack and attack again." I believe that offense can win championships. So from the moment the referee young Kempt blew the whistle, both teams went on the attack.
However, the attacking style of play of the two teams is not the same, Hoffenheim's style of play is the kind of passionate type, their players are running all over the field, pressing all over the court, not allowing his opponent to touch the ball easily, and when he gets the ball, he immediately turns to the counter-attacking stage, as Kaiserslautern goalkeeper Ernst said after the game, "Even if I catch the ball, they don't want to make it easy for me." "You can imagine the ferocity of Hoffenheim's scramble.
Kaiserslautern came back from the Bundesliga, and their intention is to be solid and mature, with the departure of Altentop and Sarnodin's two main strikers after relegation, they have adopted a multi-point attack this season, mainly playing high in the air, with wide crosses and set-pieces being their main means of scoring. Like Russell on the left at the time, Kossovski was a good player in low crosses. In the position of the back midfield, the veteran Wenzel comes to play, the left midfielder is Kossovski, the right midfielder is Riddle, one of the two is good at attacking, and the other is better at defense. In the forward line there is the Greek Amana Des. On the back line are Mettomo, Herch, Blank, Russell. It's a very strong squad and it's been very well put together, and last season's relegation was due to corruption at the club's top brass, otherwise they would probably stay in the Bundesliga.
Hoffenheim experienced a bad start of six games without a win, the team may really be like a god, in this game with Kaiserslautern, Hoffenheim still continued his habit of scoring in the first half of the last four games, less than five minutes into the opening game, and Li Huan said that Sarihovic received a pass from Li Huan, at the moment he was still facing the goal of Kaiserslautern, but Sarichhovic did not stop the ball, directly picked up behind himself, Olhoff was inserting forward, he kept in mind Li Huan's words, Li Huan ran forward when he got the ball, there must be a chance to score, and sure enough, he saw the ball falling from the sky, and he just rushed past Kaiserslautern's back line, forming a single goal, and Orhoff, who had scored 10 goals, confidently pushed the goal and rewrote the score to 1-0.
Kaiserslautern fans and players looked at the bright red scoreline on the electronic scoreboard and couldn't believe they had been breached so quickly at home, having not conceded a goal for 270 minutes.
The visiting fans stood up with a roar and chanted an eight-game winning streak, and indeed they had reason to think so, as they had scored first in each of their previous four games.
Rangnick also seemed a little surprised to score so quickly, after all, Kaiserslautern was much stronger than his previous opponents, and they had not conceded a goal for 270 minutes. Now that he was broken by his own team so easily, Rangnick couldn't help but be overjoyed, he and Marco high-fived, and said: "This cooperation is very tasteful, Li Huan and Sarihovic are getting more and more tacit." ”
Assistant coach Marko reminded: "And Olhoff, he was inserted in a timely manner, maybe we should keep him for another year. ”
Rangnick smiled dumbly and said, "You still have this in mind at this time. But I also think that he doesn't have any potential, but he can score goals, which is a good thing, and our goal is not to cleanse, but to send players who are not suitable to play in the Bundesliga and Bundesliga to the clubs that need them. ”
Kaiserslautern's head coach Wolff was so angry that he couldn't figure out why Kaiserslautern, who had almost half of the Bundesliga squad, conceded so much. Against such a team that likes to play tailwind, it is not good news to be scored first by the opponent.
However, although Kaiserslautern conceded early, they had experienced players on all three fronts, and they were not alarmed by the surprise even without the manager's instructions, and they continued to play in an orderly manner according to the tactical arrangements they had received before the game.
Hoffenheim didn't immediately retreat and counter-attack like other teams after scoring a goal, they were still trying to find another goal, and they could often take advantage of the opponent's impatience and heavy pressure to continue scoring, but they didn't get a second goal soon today because they didn't have too good chances.
Wolf is very satisfied with the performance of the players, this is the performance of a mature team, he now believes that the relegation of the team last season was the problem of the club leadership, not the team's problem, if there is Yankel and Altentop in the front, now they should also be able to break Hoffenheim's goal, this Hoffenheim team has no characteristics in Wolff's opinion, if there is a must, that is, they are particularly able to run, I heard that Rangnick trains for 8 hours a day, These Bundesliga players are trained by him like track and field athletes, but Wolf does not agree with this, he believes that this is also because Rangnick has these amateur players under him, and if the Bundesliga players were allowed to train for eight hours a day, these players would have rebelled long ago. Wolf is not in a hurry, he believes his players can find a way to break Hoffenheim's rough guys.
Seeing their team behind, the fans of Kaiserslautern couldn't hold their breath, they stood up one after another to cheer for their players, and the applause and cheering of more than 40,000 fans made the players on the field unable to hear what their teammates were shouting, and could only see their teammates' mouths open.
Kaiserslautern's players were awakened by the shouts of the fans, ten minutes after Hoffenheim scored, they suddenly accelerated the pace of the game, the speed of passing and scrambling was significantly accelerated, this change in rhythm made Hoffenheim's players a little uncomfortable, after all, they are only players from the German second division can not be compared with Kaiserslautern players in terms of adaptability and tactical adaptability, 22-year-old Salihovic also showed his inexperienced shortcomings, and in an instant Hoffenheim's formation appeared some confusion. The chaos was seized by Kaiserslautern's players, and after Sforza left, Wenzel, who had switched from defender to midfield, suddenly stepped forward with the ball and passed a penetrating through ball, Croatian striker Bracchi burst out between the two central defenders Setz and Stoll, forming a one-on-one goal, and he scored the ball with the same ease to equalize for Kaiserslautern. Bracchi's goal was the same as Hoffenheim's, showing a good understanding between the players, and their goal was cheered by the fans. Countless fans shouted victory with bright red scarves in their hands. The momentum was ten times hotter than when Hoffenheim scored.
Seeing this goal, Rangnick snorted angrily and sat down in his seat, the two central defenders were too slow to react, and the Kaiserslautern players pulled away in a flash, and Blaki easily drilled in. Such mistakes can be made, Rangnick is angry and can't replace them immediately, the central defenders are one of the most important candidates for the team, they must be the most experienced, intelligent and resolute, but in Rangnick's eyes, Seitz and Latol are obviously not up to par.
The commentator said excitedly: "In less than 20 minutes, the two sides have scored two goals, it looks like this is another goal battle, the way of the two goals is almost the same, they are rare goals, although the two managers in this game have focused on the opponent's core players, but it is the core players who plan the goal, Sarihovic and Li Huan teamed up to create the first goal, Wenzel and Blaki made the second goal. Now let's see which star from which team scored the third goal. ”
The two teams play against each other, which naturally cheapens defenders like Li Huan who like assists, because they can get the space they need. From the beginning of the game, Li Huan and Kaiserslautern's left midfielder Kossovski on the right side, although Kossovski is an experienced and skilled player, in the Bundesliga he has also seen a lot of defenders with strong wing assist ability, but he has never encountered such a difficult one as Li Huan, this young man is super fast, very technical, and very tenacious, from the beginning of the unremitting attack on his defensive area, although under the help of his teammates, Kossovski did not make too many mistakes, But he knew that his physical strength was not as good as this young man, and under such frequent impacts from Li Huan, let alone him, no one could stand it. Kossovski's heart grew more and more as he played, and he wished that the match would be over soon, so that he would not suffer such psychological torture.
With Kaiserslautern's goal, Hoffenheim's attack became more aggressive, and Kossovski looked like he could still hold up, but in fact his position was forced back by Li Huan. A few minutes later, Li Huan ran over to pick up his Sarichovic and played a tactic close to blocking and dismantling in basketball, and while Kossovsky was stunned, Li Huan killed from the side to the middle. Kossovsky couldn't keep up if he wanted to. He can only come and defend Sarihovic, who is also a dangerous person, and Kossovsky cannot allow Sarihovic to move freely in his own jurisdiction, otherwise there will be serious consequences.
After Li Huan arrived in the middle, Riddle and Lunbi in the midfield teamed up to block him, at this time Li Huan seemed to be a little timid in the face of the defense of the two midfielders, he turned around and seemed to pass the ball to his teammates, but that was when Li Huan turned around halfway, and suddenly turned quickly and rushed between the two players who were about to close the door. Li Huan's turn was very confusing, but his turn started very fast, Riddle and Lunby couldn't keep up with this rhythm at all, and they were quickly broken through by Li Huan with the ball. Everyone thought that Li Huan would continue to dribble forward after the closing of the two players, because there was still a distance of nearly forty meters from the goal at this time. But at this time, Li Huan suddenly got up and shot.
Li Huan, who has not scored in two consecutive rounds, seems to have concentrated all his strength on his right leg, and when his instep collides with the ball, it makes a loud noise, almost making people suspect that he kicked the ball out. Under the impact of the huge explosive force, the ball was like a cannonball that was fired, and it flew out more than ten meters away in an instant, and when the goalkeeper Ernst reacted, the ball was no more than twenty meters away from him, and the direction of flight was the upper right corner of the goal. Ernst roared angrily, jumped up and tried to block the ball with one hand, but it was obvious that Ernst missed the best time to save, if he could fly up at the first time, maybe there would be a chance, but now his outstretched hand did not have time to touch the flying ball, the ball flashed away from his eyes, and when Ernst's body fell like a free fall, he heard cheers from the side of the silent Walter Stadium, the German pronunciation with a Swabian accent belonged to Hoffenheim, Ernst knew that the ball was in! The opponent is ahead again.
In the short time that the ball was in the air, the hearts of the Hoffenheim players and fans almost stopped, and they held their breath and stared at the ball without blinking until it flew into the net.
Rangnick raised his arms and shouted, Sarihovic pounced and overwhelmed Li Huan, the fans shouted wildly in the stands, and a world wave was created, and Li Huan scored his six goals this season.
(To be continued)