The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Chapter 461 - 96: Leader Wang Shuo! Winning the Super Cup! I Got Bullied at Bayern! Turns Out Stat-Padding Is This Easy

The moment they saw her, Gao Huairen and the others felt their eyes light up.

What a beautiful girl, especially when she smiled!

"My name is Shen Qinghe. I’m Wang Shuo’s personal assistant. Here are your tickets. I’ll take you to the stands."

Gao Huairen, Ma Yongcheng, and Jiang Pengju exchanged glances, a peculiar look in their eyes.

Jiang Pengju had met Lina Gerk before, so upon seeing Shen Qinghe, he felt not only stunned by her beauty but also a little curious.

’Is she really just his personal assistant?’

"Are you still a student, Miss Shen?" Jiang Pengju asked with casual concern.

"Yes, at the London School of Economics and Political Science. I have one more year until I graduate."

"You’re from Hu City?" Ma Yongcheng, being more observant, immediately picked up on her accent.

"Yes."

Shen Qinghe was clearly unwilling to say more, so they didn’t press the issue.

Upon entering the Augsburg Arena, they found the stands already teeming with people.

The Dortmund fans in their yellow and black jerseys and the Bayern fans in their red jerseys were clearly separated, occupying distinct sections.

You could tell the cheers from the Dortmund fans were much louder.

"The Bumblebee fans are as passionate as ever!" Gao Huairen couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration.

"It’s been decades, and they haven’t changed a bit," Thomas Essien said with a smile.

"Is there a lot of pressure for tonight’s match?" Jiang Pengju asked with concern.

"Hard to say. Bayern isn’t fielding their full-strength squad. National team players who were in the World Cup, like Ribery and Robben, aren’t in the starting lineup. They’re not even on the roster."

"Besides, it’s the first match for both sides, so they’re definitely still in an adjustment phase," Shen Qinghe explained.

After everyone found their seats, the starting lineups for both teams were announced.

Bayern was using a 4-4-2 formation.

Goalkeeper: Craft;

Defense: Konstantin, Badstuber, Van Bitten, and Lahm;

Midfield: Thomas Müller, Schweinsteiger, Tymoshchuk, and Hamit Altıntop;

Forwards: Klose and Olic.

Aside from some of their domestic players, the other national team members who had participated in the World Cup were not playing in this match.

This included key offensive players like Robben, Ribery, and Gomez.

Dortmund, on the other hand, was fielding its full-strength lineup.

Goalkeeper: Weidenfeller;

Defense: Schmelzer, Hummels, Subotic, and Piszczek;

Midfield: Shahin and Sven Bender playing deep, with Grosskreutz, Götze, and Kuba in front of them;

Forward: Wang Shuo.

Unlike Bayern, Dortmund was fielding its strongest team.

Piszczek, a newcomer, had replaced Owomoyela to become the team’s starting right-back.

Although the German Super Cup had been revived after a 14-year hiatus, it still wasn’t considered a high-stakes match.

Both opposing teams were treating this match like a friendly, a chance to drill their squads.

Lina Gerk was also at the stadium to watch the match, but she was sitting with the wives and girlfriends of the Dortmund players.

When she saw Jiang Pengju and the others arrive, she made a point of coming over to greet them.

They had shared a meal together before in Dortmund.

Furthermore, Lina Gerk and Jiang Pengju had met a few times in China.

She was also well aware of Wang Shuo’s respect for Gao Huairen, Ma Yongcheng, and Jiang Pengju, so she was especially polite.

But Jiang Pengju couldn’t shake the feeling that even though Lina Gerk and Shen Qinghe seemed to get along well, there was a strange tension between them.

He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

...

The match began with Bayern Munich kicking off.

But it was Dortmund who struck first.

Wang Shuo, leading the charge, immediately put pressure on Bayern.

The Bundesliga champions had expected this, but they were still unable to handle the press and were forced into a long ball upfield, which resulted in them losing possession.

After winning the ball back, Dortmund immediately shifted it to the right flank.

Konstantin’s side of the field was Dortmund’s primary target for attack today.

Thus, from the very beginning, nearly every Dortmund attack came down the right wing.

Klopp’s strategy was to use Grosskreutz on the left to pin down Lahm, while creating threats with attacks from the right.

The first real threatening attack of the match came in the 5th minute.

On a Bayern counter-attack, Lahm charged down the right flank with the ball and sent a cross into the box.

However, Klose, waiting at the far post, couldn’t get to the ball, which was headed clear by Subotic.

Following the clearance, Dortmund quickly launched a counter-attack of their own.

Piszczek made a quick overlapping run on the right flank.

In Bayern’s half, to the right of the center circle, Wang Shuo received the ball with his back to the goal and laid it off for Sven Bender.

Sven Bender played a through ball forward.

Kuba, in the right half-space, played another ball in behind for Piszczek, who was making a high-speed overlapping run. Piszczek caught up to the pass on the right side of the box and whipped in a cross directly to the near post.

Just then, Wang Shuo, who had sprinted all the way into position, met the ball without even jumping, snapping his head to direct a powerful header at the goal.

Wang Shuo made solid contact, sending the ball flying toward the far post.

But in the end, it was just inches wide, grazing past the left post and out for a goal kick.

Only then did a collective gasp erupt from the crowd.

"This kid is the real deal! His improvement is incredible!" Ma Yongcheng couldn’t help but applaud for Wang Shuo.

"Yeah, taking a shot directly from that cross was incredibly difficult, and he only just missed," Gao Huairen added in praise.

To meet a teammate’s cross after a full-speed run and execute a snapping header with such quality—it was a true display of skill!

"Forget comparing him to other Asian players. Even on a global scale, his abilities are outstanding. Most importantly, he’s so well-rounded, which makes him practically impossible to defend against!" Thomas Essien said with a laugh.