Cologne won last season's German Cup and earned a place in this season's UEFA Cup.

Unlike the Champions League, the UEFA Cup, as the second tier of European clubs, has a more complex format.

The first is the first qualifying round, with two legs of home and away matches before the teams that advance to qualify for the group stage.

The group stage is a single round-robin tournament with five teams in a group, with the top three advancing to the knockout rounds, and the Champions League with the best group finishes and thirds, together with 32 teams.

Then there is a one-on-one knockout round, which finally reaches the final.

The first round of the draw to decide the fate of Cologne is about to take place, Stevens and the Cologne manager are coming to Monaco, who is Cologne's first opponent? It's about whether or not the team can qualify for the group stage, and Stevens doesn't want the team to be a first-round tour of the League Cup.

In the end, Cologne's first opponent came out, and it was Odense from Denmark.

Coming out of the draw site, Stevens was surrounded by German journalists.

"Odense? Sorry, I didn't really hear of this team before, only the Danish team. ”

"Cologne is playing away first, on September 14th, will it be bad for the team?"

Stevens shook his head, "Playing in the UEFA Cup is an unknown challenge, it's a European level confrontation and I think it's going to be difficult, every game is going to be tough. ”

"If I can't make it to the group stage, will it affect the team's budget?"

Stevens smiled and shook his head, "Anyway, we definitely can't afford to buy 10 million stars, so it won't make a difference." ”

"I interviewed Tang Zhenglong yesterday and he said that Cologne's goal is to win the League Cup."

“……”

"I'm sure Don was joking."

*****

The start of September is the national team break, there will be a two-week break, Cologne has contributed very few internationals, except for Podolski to report to the German team, the rest can stay, for the team, it is a rare rest for the team.

At the end of August, Tang Zhenglong received a call from the head coach of the national team, Dujkovic.

"Doy?"

"Don, the national team is ready to call you up."

"Okay."

"But you don't need to come back this time."

Asian teams are like babies for foreign players, and they will basically not be recalled except for important tournaments such as World Cup qualifiers.

Tang Zhenglong was a little disappointed, I heard that the national team was called up to reimburse the round-trip air ticket.

"Alright, Boss Doy."

"Just call me Dooy."

"Don, what number do you want to wear?"

"Number 99, this is my lucky number."

"No problem, number 99 is for you to keep, Don your task is to help the team during the World Cup qualifiers."

"I know, I like to play sticks the most."

"What do you mean by hitting a stick?"

Sweat.

"I mean to hit South Korea, and stick is our honorific name for South Korea."

"I see."

Dui is a Serb and doesn't understand anyway.

"The top 10 match against South Korea, it's up to you."

"Don't worry, I must work very hard to beat South Korea, even if we can't enter the World Cup, it will be worth it if we can pull the stick down."

The translator next to Du Yi was dumbfounded, what Tang Zhenglong was talking about, he couldn't translate.

"Okay, then I won't bother you, Don, the national team supports you."

"Thank you, Doo."

In fact, there is another reason why Du Yi did not summon Tang Zhenglong to participate in the friendly match, that is, he does not know how to use Tang Zhenglong for the time being.

Winger?

Tang Zhenglong is too lazy.

Striker?

Tang Zhenglong doesn't seem to like being in the forbidden area.

Front waist?

Joke.

Therefore, looking at Tang Zhenglong's proud goal data, Du Yi didn't know how to use this player, which is also strange.

Du Yi decided to fly to Germany to watch Tang Zhenglong's game live after the friendly match, and if he had the opportunity to communicate with Stevens, how to use Tang Zhenglong is more appropriate.

*****

"Don, I'll ask you out alone, will Claudia be upset?" Meyer said with a smile that after the World Cup, it was the first time she asked Tang Zhenglong for a manuscript.

Tang Zhenglong took a sip of coffee, looked at his phone, and said casually: "It's okay, you don't pose any threat to Claudia." ”

Meyer is angry, what does that mean? Am I inferior to Claudia?

"Don, this is the manuscript I wrote, you can take a look."

Tang Zhenglong looked at it, and with the translation software, he could probably understand.

"Tang Zhenglong scored so many goals because of diligent training?"

"What's wrong?"

Tang Zhenglong shook his head, "I don't like the word diligence very much, it's a little weak, there are too many hard-working people in this world, but there are a few who have become stars, I think it's better to replace it with talent." ”

Sweat.

Tang Zhenglong's brain circuit is really different from ordinary people.

Meyer smiled, "Okay, I'll change to talent." ”

Tang Zhenglong continued to watch.

"He's not social because he's a shooter, and shooters sometimes need the temperament of a lone ranger."

"Where am I out of place? Cologne liked me up and down. ”

"But I've interviewed players in Cologne and they've shown that you're a very popular player in the team."

"Who said that?"

"I have to keep the people I interview confidential."

Tang Zhenglong said unhappily: "If you don't say it, I know, it must be Schultz's guy." ”

Tang Zhenglong pointed to the laptop screen, "This sentence must be changed, it can be written like this." ”

"He is loved by his teammates in Cologne because he was born to be a leader."

Meyer was a little sick to his stomach.

"Don, we're 'kickers', and we have to be responsible when we speak."

Tang Zhenglong slapped the table, "What do you mean?" ”

"I ......"

"Okay, I can delete this sentence, but I won't write what you said, it's too numb."

Tang Zhenglong was a little unhappy, but he still accepted it.

Continuing to look at it, Tang Zhenglong's face became more and more wrong, "This sentence must be changed, what does his goal be to become the No. 1 star in Asia?" ”

"I'm the number one player in Asia now."

"This sentence can be changed to say that his goal is to become the number one star in the world."

Meyer was dumbfounded, "Don, you haven't won the Asian Footballer of the Year, how can you be called Asia's No. 1 star?" ”

"I don't care, I score so many goals in a year, of course I'm the number one star in Asia."

"Okay, I've deleted that sentence too."

"I like this sentence, he is actually a sunny big boy in private."

After thinking about it, Tang Zhenglong said: "I can hint that in fact, he is still single, and German girls have a chance." ”

Meyer rolled his eyes widely, "Don, don't overdo it. ”

"Just to imply, do you have to kill the illusions of female fans about me? That's a cruel thing. ”

Meyer held his notebook, "I'm leaving, and the manuscript will be posted in the next issue of Kicker." ”

"Remember to watch."

"Remember to hint!!"