Soccer: I have the attributes of Messi in his Prime

On July 29th, Werder Bremen headed to face their final opponent of the month in a friendly match, Paderborn, from the German second division.

In this match, Coach Shauf did not make any changes to the lineup in the midfield and upfront, but instead focused on adjusting the defensive arrangements.

Paderborn finished fifth in the German second division last season, not far from the promotion zone.

So, their club president was ambitious, hoping to achieve the dream of promotion.

To this end, they made significant signings this season, bringing in many strong players.

Therefore, in terms of overall strength, they were slightly stronger than Werder Bremen's previous opponent, Cottbus.

Both Werder Bremen and Paderborn are teams strong in attack but weak in defense, making this match quite intense.

In the 13th minute of the first half, Paderborn, playing at home, scored the opening goal.

Just five minutes later, Werder Bremen equalized with a counterattack goal.

In the 28th minute, Werder Bremen scored again directly from a free kick in the front court, making it 2-1.

In injury time of the first half, Werder Bremen had a great opportunity, but De Bruyne's shot hit the post and bounced out.

After halftime, the teams resumed play.

In the 53rd minute, substitute Lin Quan dribbled into the opponent's penalty area and was fouled by a defender, leading to a penalty kick awarded by the referee.

Since team captain Fritz, the usual penalty taker, was rested, Shauf let Lin Quan take the penalty himself.

Taking a penalty kick is a test of a player's mental toughness, and Shauf wanted to observe Lin Quan's ability to handle pressure and mental toughness.

With eight years of professional experience like Messi, Lin Quan was accustomed to taking penalty kicks.

He stood at the penalty spot, observed the goalkeeper's position, and began his run-up.

As he approached the ball, he suddenly changed the rhythm, causing the goalkeeper to move prematurely, and then kicked the ball.

Seeing Lin Quan's contact with the ball at the tip of his foot, Coach Shauf stood up abruptly.

"This kid is so bold! He dares to take a penalty kick like this!"

The ball flew high with not much speed but a high arc.

It sailed over the diving goalkeeper's head and smoothly into the goal.

Lin Quan scored with a spoon penalty, changing the score to 3-1.

"This kid has such strong mental resilience, huh? Most players would play it safe, but he dared to take a spoon penalty..."

Seeing the ball go in, Coach Shauf breathed a sigh of relief.

After sitting back down, he couldn't help but comment to his colleagues beside him.

"Yeah, I wonder, could it be that a spoon penalty is the safest approach in this kid's mind?"

Hennebach's words silenced everyone...

In the following tens of minutes, neither side managed to change the score.

The final score remained 3-1 until the end, and Werder Bremen secured their third consecutive victory in the preseason matches.

And Lin Quan, who played in all three matches, also earned three valuable points economically.

Unfortunately, before the end of the second phase of training, there were no more preseason matches.

This meant that he wouldn't have any games to play for the next half month, which left him feeling a bit melancholic.

The days of acquiring top talent still seemed distant!

...

Just as Lin Quan was worrying about the lack of matches, at the headquarters of the German Football Association, officials were discussing the invitation quotas for the German Telekom Cup this season with the sponsor telecommunications company T-Home.

The German Telekom Cup was founded in 2009, formerly known as the German League Cup.

This event is sponsored by the well-known telecommunications company T-Home and is held once a year.

The participating teams are four in total, consisting of the previous season's Bundesliga champions and runners-up as well as one team each invited from mid-table and relegation-threatened teams.

Because there are relatively few participating teams, the rules of the competition are also quite simple.

The German Telekom Cup follows a format of randomly drawing two semifinal matches first, with the winning teams advancing to the final, while the losing teams play in the third-place playoff, totaling four matches.

As a result, the prize money is not high, with the champion receiving only €300,000.

However, before the start of the season, such high-level contests provide a convenient way to test the success of each team's signings, which still holds a certain appeal for the invited teams.

To avoid affecting the teams' preparations, the Telekom Cup matches are relatively short, with all four matches scheduled to be completed within two days.

Moreover, there are time limits for each individual match, with both halves lasting only 30 minutes.

If the match is still tied after 60 minutes, it proceeds directly to a penalty shootout.

Due to this unique format, upsets are common in the Telekom Cup.

Even powerhouses like Bayern Munich often stumble. Since its inception, Bayern Munich has never won the cup.

For this season, the first three invited teams for the Telekom Cup have already been confirmed: last season's Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund, runners-up Bayern Munich, and relegation-threatened Hamburg, who narrowly avoided relegation by one point last season.

These three teams are solid choices, but which mid-table team to select?

The German Football Association and the sponsor have differing opinions on this matter.

According to the German Football Association, considering there are 18 teams in the Bundesliga, the mid-table teams would likely be in ninth or tenth place.

And these two teams are Werder Bremen, who finished ninth, and Nuremberg, who finished tenth.

However, the sponsor dislikes the smaller size of the cities where these two teams are located, which is not conducive to promotion and marketing. They prefer to select Stuttgart, a team from a larger city.

Stuttgart is the sixth-largest city in Germany, with a larger population and greater commercial value.

Hosting the Telekom Cup matches here would have a stronger advertising effect for the sponsor.

With both sides unable to reach a consensus, the German Football Association insists on maintaining the rules.

Football is a national sport in Germany with enormous commercial value, so there is no shortage of sponsors.

The reason for collaborating with T-Home is solely because they are a local company, and their past cooperation has been pleasant, hence the choice.

If they become arrogant and start interfering with the work of the Football Association, the German Football Association wouldn't mind switching sponsors, Volkswagen, for example, would be a good choice.

Upon hearing this, T-Home immediately backed down, expressing respect for the Football Association's decision.

Seeing the other party compromise, the German Football Association also gave them face and selected Bremen, a slightly larger city than Nuremberg, between Werder Bremen and Nuremberg.

Soon, the invitation from the German Football Association was delivered to the club's head coach, Shauf.

Seeing this invitation, Shauf hesitated a bit:

Should he accept or decline?

Accepting the invitation would give them a chance to win the €300,000 prize money and a share of ticket sales revenue.

However, it would disrupt the team's training schedule.

Moreover, playing two matches in two days would be a challenge for the players.

While the veteran players might handle it, it would be a huge challenge for young players, especially those who have not played in Bundesliga matches before.

Especially since they might end up facing strong teams like Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund.

If they were to suffer a heavy defeat, it would likely shatter the confidence they had built up from their three consecutive preseason victories.

So, instead of making the decision himself, he convened the coaching staff and called in Lin Quan and De Bruyne, the two young players who had performed the best, to ask for their opinions.

Upon hearing that there was still a match to play, and against the Bundesliga champions and runners-up, Lin Quan's eyes lit up.

This is a game worth two points!

They must go!

(End of chapter)