"CCTV, CCTV, dear viewers, this is CCTV bringing you the semi-final of the 2012 German Telecom Cup between Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen."
"I'm the commentator, He Wei!"
"I'm Xu Yang!"
"Today, the team in red jerseys is the home team Bayern Munich, and the team in green jerseys is the away team Werder Bremen.
In this match, Bayern Munich's formation is 4-2-3-1, the starting lineup is:
No. 1 Neuer, No. 30 Gustavo, No. 28 Badstuber, No. 17 Boateng, No. 21 Lahm, No. 39 Kroos, No. 36 Emre Can, No. 11 Shaqiri, No. 25 Muller, No. 10 Robben, No. 33 Gomez.
Werder Bremen is using a 4-3-3 formation, the starting lineup is:
No. 1 Mielitz, No. 13 Schmidt, No. 15 Prödl, No. 22 Papastathopoulos, No. 23 Selassie, No. 16 Junuzovic, No. 8 Fritz, No. 6 de Bruyne, No. 11 Elia, No. 10 Lin Quan, No. 7 Arnautovic.
Both teams have young lineups, and it's worth mentioning that there is a Chinese player in Werder Bremen's starting lineup."
Xu Yang added: "Yes, his name should be Lin Quan, he was loaned to Werder Bremen from Barcelona's youth team. This is his first official match representing Werder Bremen!"
Commentator He Wei, looking at the team sheet, chuckled as he said while checking the data:
"This player is very young, currently only 16 years and 167 days old. He should be the youngest starting player in the history of the Telecom Cup. Coach Shauf seems very bold in his selection, and this game should be focused on developing young players."
Xu Yang nodded: "Indeed, for Werder Bremen, drawing Bayern Munich in the first match seems a bit unlucky."
Obviously, both of them didn't have much confidence in Werder Bremen, both thinking that Bayern would win this match.
With the referee's whistle, the match officially began.
After Bayern's kickoff, they immediately launched a fierce attack on Werder Bremen's half.
Playing in the same league, both teams knew each other's strengths well, so there was no need for testing; it was all about attacking.
In this match, Heynckes didn't send out all of his main players.
Bayern's left winger Ribery, midfielder Schweinsteiger, and forward Mandzukic were all sitting on the bench.
However, with this lineup in Bayern's starting lineup, defeating Werder Bremen didn't seem difficult either, as there was a huge gap in their strength on paper.
Although Lin Quan had prepared for this match beforehand.
But after the game really started, he clearly felt the gap.
Compared to the opponents Werder Bremen faced in the previous warm-up matches, Bayern Munich's strength was significantly stronger.
The coordination between their players, the speed of passing and receiving the ball, and the individual abilities of the players were far superior to the teams they had encountered before.
This made the pace of the game extremely fast, and a slight negligence could easily be seized by the opponent to deliver a deadly blow.
In the first three minutes of the game, Bayern had possession the entire time, and Werder Bremen's players didn't even touch the ball once.
Fortunately, Coach Shauf was prepared for this situation. After the game started, except for Lin Quan, the other players of the team retreated backward, and Werder Bremen's formation turned into a 4-1-4-1.
In midfield, they had a total of five defensive players, with one player hanging back for protection while the other four adopted a diamond formation to increase interception range and disrupt the opponent's passing lanes. They also quickly pressed the ball carrier to deny them time and space to organize attacks.
This tactic temporarily subdued Bayern's onslaught, leading to an intense battle in midfield.
On the sidelines, Heynckes, upon seeing the opponent's tactics, furrowed his brow slightly.
These tactics from the opponent surely couldn't contain Bayern's attack. Judging by their current pace of attack, breaking through would only be a matter of time.
But why did that wily old fox, Shauf, field a sixteen-year-old youngster in the front? What was he thinking? Did he expect this young player to breach Bayern's defense? Or perhaps, was he planning to exploit Neuer's tendency to come off his line?
With these thoughts, Heynckes glanced at his own goalkeeper.
Sure enough, Neuer had ventured out of the penalty area again, assuming his preferred sweeper-keeper role.
However, Heynckes didn't instruct Neuer to retreat, as he often did this in the Bundesliga and even in the Champions League. Heynckes had great faith in his abilities.
Seeing the opponent's strong presence in midfield, and realizing it would be difficult to penetrate their defense, Bayern's players quickly changed tactics and began launching attacks specifically from the wings.
In the seventh minute of the match, Kroos spotted an opening on the wing and immediately passed the ball to Robben.
To create a breakthrough opportunity for Robben, Kroos cleverly provided some lead with his pass.
Robben understood immediately, positioning himself to receive the ball ahead of the defenders.
With his speed now elevated, Robben immediately dribbled forward upon receiving the ball.
Robben's speed was remarkable, leaving Werder Bremen's defenders trailing behind, unable to catch up.
Junuzovic attempted to intercept, but was deceived by a feint, rushing in but failing to win the ball, and instead, being bypassed by Robben.
After evading the second defender, Robben promptly cut inside.
As a left-footed player, he had no issues cutting inside and could choose to shoot or pass to a teammate, posing a significant threat.
Seeing Robben cut inside to the edge of their penalty area, Werder Bremen's captain Fritz quickly came to provide cover.
As Fritz moved, a brief defensive gap appeared in front of Werder Bremen's penalty area, with De Bruyne not yet back in position.
Bayern Munich's attacking midfielder Thomas Müller was unmarked, and if Robben passed the ball at this moment, Müller could set up Shaqiri for a one-on-one opportunity or take a shot himself.
Given Werder Bremen's defensive alignment disrupted by Robben, passing to the unmarked teammate would certainly create a better chance.
Unfortunately, Robben wasn't known for being a team player; he was nicknamed the Lone Ranger.
When he created opportunities himself, he preferred to take the final shot!
So, even though Werder Bremen's captain was already closing down, Robben continued his lateral dribble, slightly shifting his angle, and then took a shot.
Fritz immediately lifted his foot to block, but didn't make contact with the ball.
Fortunately, Werder Bremen's goalkeeper was well-prepared, anticipating the shot trajectory and safely collected the ball.
Seeing the opponent's goalkeeper save his shot, Robben shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with his effort.
Meanwhile, Müller gestured to his friend Kroos, evidently expressing his dissatisfaction with Robben's decision.
Just as Bayern's players felt frustrated and annoyed at wasting this excellent opportunity, the goalkeeper swiftly ran out and made a quick throw near the penalty area, passing the ball to De Bruyne.
De Bruyne knew there was no time to waste at this moment; he had to act fast.
So, after controlling the ball, he turned halfway before the opponent's defenders could intervene, and passed it to the right.
"Lin, charge!!"
(End of chapter)