Chapter 1 Heaving Breaths

He Ying, panting, looked toward the path the soccer ball took as it slid past the goalpost.

He hadn't expected to miss that shot.

But…

He turned his head to look behind him, at Zhou Yi, his roommate, standing some distance away, giving him a thumbs-up.

What surprised him even more was that the pass had come from Zhou Yi… the guy he had such low expectations of.

Was it luck or…?

He was so caught up in that question that he even forgot to return the thumbs-up, a gesture of sportsmanship he normally took seriously.

It seemed Zhou Yi's pass had really taken him by surprise.

And indeed, it had. He truly hadn't expected Zhou Yi to pass the ball to him.

Because Zhang Tao had been the one running furthest ahead at the time, and he'd even raised his hand. Anyone who saw that would have passed the ball to Zhang Tao, right? It was the natural choice.

And Zhou Yi had even glanced in Zhang Tao's direction before passing. But he'd passed it to him anyway, into that open space directly in front of him.

He only saw so much, but Coach Hao Dong, watching from the sidelines, saw even more.

He noticed that Zhou Yi had received Guo Nu's header in a wide-open space, allowing him to receive the ball easily. Given his weak physique, any interference would have made it impossible to control the ball.

Then, he noticed that Zhou Yi hadn't passed the ball immediately after stopping it. He'd paused for a moment.

That pause had given the Borussia Dortmund youth team players a chance to react, and they rushed toward Zhou Yi.

But by then, Zhou Yi had already passed the ball, and he turned to run forward without the ball.

A player without the ball wasn't going to be the focus of the Dortmund youth team's attention.

Zhou Yi ran into open space, received Yang Muge's pass, and sent the ball into open space ahead, for He Ying.

His work in that attack was done, but Hao Dong was still thinking about it.

During practice, Hao Dong had noticed that Zhou Yi had a special talent: he seemed to effortlessly find open space on the complex, ever-changing field.

He had demonstrated this ability during the final tryout when he was forced to play midfield.

That was why Hao Dong had suggested that Zhou Yi play midfield.

He believed Zhou Yi would perform better in midfield than he would as a forward.

Now it seemed his suggestion had been correct.

※※※

As Zhou Yi ran back, he saw Guo Nu, who was also looking at him, so he gave Guo Nu a thumbs-up.

Guo Nu flashed him a smile.

Zhou Yi shivered—that smile was really creepy…

But it meant Guo Nu was feeling confident now.

That was a good thing.

Two people sitting on the bench weren't feeling so good. Liang Qiqi and Yang Fei exchanged glances, then consoled each other, "It must have been a fluke!"

※※※

Zhou Yi had an idea. Based on his experience playing against this team thirty-two times in the FIFA Online 3 world, he knew it was highly unlikely that the Chinese team could beat the Dortmund youth team. But scoring a goal… that was definitely possible.

At least seventeen of those thirty-two matches had seen the Chinese team score a goal, and four had even seen them score more than one.

Those statistics were the source of Zhou Yi's confidence.

So he hoped to help the Chinese team score in the game, one goal at a minimum, and more if possible.

Whether he scored himself or helped someone else score, as long as they scored, that was all that mattered.

※※※

Dortmund was dazed by China's counterattack. They hadn't expected the first threat on goal to come from these Chinese kids they looked down on.

But they quickly recovered and became angry—how dare you be so arrogant?!

After the game restarted, the Dortmund youth team launched a fierce offensive against the Chinese goal.

Götze was extremely active, running back and forth, trying to get possession.

Yang Muge became the busiest man on the field, as he was constantly matched up against Götze.

During those duels, Yang Muge realized… Zhou Yi was right!

Götze's dribbling was sharp, and his passing was good, but he wasn't fast enough. He relied more on technique than speed.

Yang Muge was secretly shocked—he hadn't expected Zhou Yi to be able to read faces!

Besides Yang Muge, Guo Nu was the best defender for the Chinese team.

Coach Hao Dong had assigned him the task of aggressively pressing the attack, which suited his strengths. And after Zhou Yi's encouragement at the start of the game, he was practically "reckless" in his pressing.

But that also allowed him to use his explosiveness and agility. Compared to his nimbleness, Dortmund's center forward, Schneider, was clumsy as a rusty tin man.

Though pressing high often led to mistakes, that was why Hao Dong had arranged for Liu Nian to play as a sweeper. Otherwise, why would he have made that arrangement?

At first, the Dortmund youth team looked down on China and didn't have many offensive ideas. They simply passed the ball to their tall center forward, Schneider, and let him shoot.

But they soon found that Schneider was ineffective against Guo Nu's relentless, dogged defense…

His height advantage wasn't obvious against Guo Nu, who was more than a head shorter than him, and his shots were often off-target due to Guo Nu's close marking.

Even if he managed to shoot the ball toward the Chinese goal, it was difficult to get past Sun Pan's fingers. The special training had helped Sun Pan; his reactions were faster and his focus was better.

Sun Pan used to have trouble focusing on the ball. But through the special training, he could now concentrate easily, because if he didn't, Guo Nu might kick the furniture in their hotel room to pieces…

Ten minutes into the first half… China hadn't conceded a goal! Dortmund's youth team had bombarded them with attacks, but to no avail. Even the Chinese team themselves hadn't expected this.

"The two new players are more motivated," Assistant Coach Xu Yang said with feeling. Guo Nu's performance was outstanding, everyone could see that. Another good performer was Zhou Yi. Although he didn't have many chances to organize attacks under the Dortmund youth team's bombardment, whenever he got the ball, he could use smart passes and runs to move the ball away from their own goal and waste time. At least the Chinese team knew how to pass the ball in midfield now.

"Calves don't fear tigers," Hao Dong said. But he didn't smile. It had only been ten minutes, and the game was ninety minutes long, with eighty minutes to go. He knew both players' weaknesses. Guo Nu seemed to be pumped up with adrenaline, buoyed by his early clearance, but he doubted he would perform as well if he made a critical mistake that led to a goal.

And Zhou Yi?

His problems were stamina and strength. As the game progressed, his stamina would decline, and his style of play required a lot of running. Once he couldn't run anymore, his performance probably wouldn't be as consistent…

But… despite that, the two of them had brought a fresh breeze to the team, and this was a rare moment when the Chinese boys were playing well in Europe…

So, enjoy it while it lasts.

※※※

Jürgen Klopp picked up the phone and asked for the club president's office. The call was answered by President Rauball's secretary. "I'm sorry, Mr. Klopp, the president is not in the office at the moment."

"He's not?"

"No, he's attending an event at the youth team today." The secretary explained.

"The youth team? What event?" Klopp was surprised.

Although he was the head coach of Dortmund's first team, he valued the youth team greatly, and he had begun promoting young players from the training camp as soon as he took office. So he paid a lot of attention to the youth team. How could there be a youth team event that he didn't know about?

Rauball's secretary could hear the surprise in Klopp's voice, so she explained, "It's a commercial event. Apparently, there's a game between a youth team from China and our U17 team."

"Okay, I'll go to the youth team to find Mr. Rauball. Thank you, Ms. Susan."

"You're welcome. Glad I could help, Mr. Klopp."

Klopp hung up the phone, thought for a moment, then got up and walked towards the youth team's training ground.

As he approached the youth team's training ground, he heard shouts and the thud of a ball being kicked from the training ground.

It sounded like a real game.

He walked further, to the edge of the field, and immediately saw Götze, the youth team player he had been paying close attention to.

Mario Götze was actually there…

Klopp suddenly changed his mind. He didn't go straight to President Rauball. Instead, he stood on the sidelines, intending to watch the game.

Mainly to watch Götze's performance.

Under his gaze, Götze dribbled past a Chinese player in white, then suddenly took a long-range shot. The ball was low, skimming just above the grass as it flew toward the goal.

The Chinese goalkeeper dove to the side and tipped the ball out of bounds.

"Wow!" Klopp exclaimed softly. Götze's shot was cunning and clever. He hadn't used too much power, but focused on the angle, and the ball had also dipped in front of the goal, making it awkward for the goalkeeper to save.

Just from that shot, it was clear that even though Götze was only sixteen, there was a reason he was playing in the U19. He was head and shoulders above the other players in the U17, even those who were a year older than him.

Klopp stroked his stubbly chin and began to consider whether he should bring this kid to the first team for training…