When Zhou Yi and Mark went out to warm up, Mrs. Wagner immediately shouted, "Mark! Mark! Look here! Here!"

She stood up in the stands, waving her arms vigorously and shouting towards the field.

She wanted Mark to know where they were sitting, so he wouldn't have to be distracted looking for them during the game.

Sure enough, after hearing her shouts, Mark looked up at the stands and found his mother, father, and sister. He waved to them excitedly to show he had seen them.

Zhou Yi next to him also waved a greeting.

Seeing both teenagers waving to her, Mrs. Wagner sat down contentedly.

The mission was accomplished, and now they just had to wait for the game to begin.

※※※

While warming up, Zhou Yi glanced around the stands. The Berlin Olympic Stadium, which could hold 75,000 people, looked empty. He estimated that there were probably no more than five thousand spectators present.

Although he saw cameras and broadcasting equipment by the field, Zhou Yi didn't think many people would be watching the game live on television.

The television broadcast was just to show the importance attached to the Junior DFB-Pokal final, but the TV station couldn't control whether viewers tuned in or not.

Zhou Yi asked himself honestly, and he wouldn't even be interested in a Junior DFB-Pokal match.

Everything would be better once he reached the first team.

How could he get to the first team?

Simple, perform well.

What counted as performing well?

Winning the championship!

Wasn't this a great opportunity right in front of him?

Zhou Yi wasn't planning on letting go of this Junior DFB-Pokal title, no matter how difficult it was to win.

It could be said to be his first stepping stone into the first team.

For this game, Zhou Yi had been preparing in the virtual system for more than a week. He hadn't even been this serious for the last two Revierderbys.

※※※

Back in the locker room, head coach Jebara's expression was still quite serious.

"Our opponents are strong, they were the champions of last season's U19 national league. But remember, you are strong too!" he encouraged the players.

"No team that makes it to the final is weak, so if you think your opponents are strong, try thinking about yourselves. You are very strong too. We have been preparing for their tactics for a week, and everyone has worked hard during that week. I believe that as long as you can perform in the game as you have been in training, it is not impossible to defeat your opponents."

Then, Jebara spoke about the tactics for this game: "...Their tactic is high pressing, and we have practiced specifically against this in training. The main thing to remember is that in this game, you need to be more adventurous, you need to dare to go forward and cooperate with Zhou Yi."

Speaking of this, Jebara turned his gaze to Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi was now the core of Borussia Dortmund U19's midfield. Although Götze was more famous, even Götze himself had no objections to this arrangement.

Zhou Yi was responsible for controlling the tempo with his passing. To be more adventurous meant more direct passes.

But it was useless if only Zhou Yi was making direct passes. It also required the cooperation of the whole team, otherwise, he would only be making passing mistakes again and again.

So whether or not to be adventurous was not just one person's business, but the whole team's.

Jebara was bringing it up specifically in this game because if the cooperation wasn't good enough, the terrible consequences of choosing to be adventurous would immediately appear.

Freiburg's high-pressing tactics determined how fast their counterattacks would be after they won the ball.

Freiburg were experts in this area.

After reminding the players of this point, Jebara also tried to reduce the pressure on them.

"Of course, we don't need to worry too much. After all, we are the attacking side. As long as you can do your best and play at your own pace, Freiburg will always be forced to react passively."

※※※

At the same time, in the Freiburg U19 locker room, their head coach, Streich, was also emphasizing the tactics for this game to his players.

"Based on our observations and analysis of their previous games, we can see that the real core of this team is not Götze. It's him." Christian Streich pointed to the name above the center circle on the tactics board.

"Zhou Yi. He is the core of the Borussia Dortmund team, and Dortmund's passing and organization rely on him. This is different from when we met them last season. This person's strengths are that he is good at short- and medium-range passing, good at spotting gaps and opportunities on the field, and has flexible movement. But his weaknesses are also obvious. He looks very weak. So his physical confrontation ability is not strong. As long as you can stick to him in the game and use your body to interfere with him, you can affect his performance."

Streich only said so much to his players about Dortmund's core.

Because there really wasn't much to say. Zhou Yi's strengths were very prominent, but his weaknesses were equally obvious. It was also very simple to deal with him - just stick to him.

He had more to say about Götze next.

Because Mario Götze was more well-rounded than Zhou Yi. He could pass the ball like Zhou Yi, and although his passing in positional warfare might not be as good as Zhou Yi's, it was still good. He could also dribble through, and he could also shoot and score.

There was a reason why such a player could become a talent that the whole of Germany was paying attention to.

Just last summer, Götze had also won the U17 European Championship with the German U17 national team, which was enough to show his strength.

Unlike Zhou Yi, who had distinct characteristics but was also easy to deal with, Götze was more well-rounded, and it was not easy to simply contain him.

So Streich spent almost all of the following time talking about Götze.

Freiburg's players were obviously listening more carefully to what he had to say about Götze...

※※※

Although this was a Junior DFB-Pokal final that not many people were paying attention to, all the procedures that a final should have were still followed.

The starting players from both sides had to wait in the player tunnel, waiting for the referee team to lead them onto the field.

And when the players from both sides were waiting in the tunnel to enter, who was attracting the most attention?

Not Borussia Dortmund's talented player Mario Götze, but... Zhou Yi, who was standing behind Götze.

As the only Eastern face on both teams, Zhou Yi had a high rate of turning heads.

Whenever a Freiburg player passed by him, they would think of what their coach had told them, that this thin person was Borussia Dortmund's midfield core, and they couldn't help but turn their heads to look at him, wanting to see what secrets there were in this kid's weak body that allowed him to become the core of Borussia Dortmund.

They had always thought that Borussia Dortmund's core should be Götze.

But only after Borussia Dortmund had entered the Junior DFB-Pokal final and become their opponents did they first know that such earth-shaking changes had already taken place in the Borussia Dortmund youth academy - a Chinese person had replaced Götze and become the core of this team!

Wouldn't Götze have any objections to this?

Zhou Yi initially responded with a smile, but later, when people looked at him again, he simply said in German: "Want to take a photo? Not expensive, five euros a time." He also held up five fingers.

The other party all showed expressions of "Are you crazy?" and then walked away from him.

"Hey, Zhou Yi, five euros a time isn't cheap." Götze, who was standing in front of him, turned around and said to him. "It only costs less than one euro to use a public toilet."

"Mario, are you saying that taking a photo with me is the same as going to the toilet?" Zhou Yi rolled his eyes.

"That's not what I meant..." Götze defended. "But if a fan asks me to take a photo, I won't charge them."

Zhou Yi patted Götze on the shoulder with an expression like a caring older sister and said, "Mario, you can't do that. You are a German football prodigy, you can't degrade yourself like this..."

Götze looked confused: "What's wrong?"

"If you do that? Then people will say in the future: 'Taking a photo with Mario is cheaper than taking a piss!'" Zhou Yi said seriously.

Hearing this conversation between the two, the Borussia Dortmund U19 players around them couldn't help but burst into laughter. The unease and tension of participating in the Junior DFB-Pokal final for the first time disappeared more or less in the laughter.

The Freiburg players next to them were confused - were these two really teammates? The final hadn't even started yet, and the opponents seemed to be having internal strife...

They suddenly thought of their previous speculation - it seemed that Götze was still brooding over the fact that Zhou Yi had taken his core position!

The only thing that puzzled them was why the other Borussia Dortmund players could still laugh when these two were having internal strife?

Were they all heartless!

Looking more closely at the expressions between Zhou Yi and Götze, it didn't seem like they were joking at all...

※※※

ps, During the double monthly ticket period, continue to ask everyone for monthly tickets!!