Although the matches in the Telekom Cup were only two, they were scheduled very closely together.
According to the fixture, after advancing to the next round, they would face another opponent, Borussia Dortmund, away on the next day, which was August 6th.
In the match against Hamburg, Borussia Dortmund secured a narrow victory with Lewandowski's goal, advancing smoothly to the final and becoming Werder Bremen's opponent.
Due to the tight schedule, after defeating Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen had to immediately fly to Dortmund, the location of their next opponent.
By the time they got off the plane and arrived at the designated hotel by bus, it was already 2:30 in the morning.
At this point, there were only 17 hours left until the start of the match.
"Hurry, everyone go back to your rooms and get some sleep. We'll meet for training at 10:30 tomorrow morning!"
The coaches sent the players to their rooms to rest, leaving them with little time.
If they didn't sleep well tonight, they might not even have the energy to run on the field tomorrow.
"What kind of schedule is this? It's arranged so closely, there's not even time for rest!"
Coach Rolf complained after settling the players.
"The Telekom Cup has always been like this, but it's indeed unfair to us!"
As the visiting team, Werder Bremen had to travel all over Germany, while Borussia Dortmund could stay at home and wait comfortably. This would pose great difficulties for Werder Bremen, whereas their opponents didn't face this issue.
But as supporting characters invited to accompany the prince's studies, being able to participate in the match was already good enough. They shouldn't expect too much.
"Alright, everyone, go rest. Keep yourselves in good shape, we still have a match tomorrow!"
Coach Schaaf clapped his hands and sent everyone off.
Meanwhile, he opened his computer and started reviewing the match between Hamburg and Borussia Dortmund during the day.
As the team's head coach, it wouldn't be responsible not to study the upcoming opponent before the match.
There have been some changes in Borussia Dortmund's lineup this new season. They brought in a batch of players and let go of some.
The biggest signing for Borussia Dortmund this summer was spending 17.1 million euros to bring in the promising young talent Royce from Borussia Mönchengladbach, replacing the Japanese midfielder Kagawa who was bought by Manchester United.
Additionally, they spent 5.5 million euros to bring in the forward Szalai from Stuttgart.
Szalai was bought by Klopp as a substitute. Their backup striker, Barrios, was bought by the Chinese Super League club Guangzhou Evergrande for 8.5 million euros.
Although Barrios had performed well at Borussia Dortmund in the past, when the Polish striker Lewandowski secured his position in the team and became the main striker, he didn't have many opportunities to play.
If Barrios was willing to be a substitute, it would be fine.
But he wasn't willing to be a substitute, and his temper wasn't good. In a situation where his potential was almost fully tapped, keeping him in the team would be a big problem for the locker room.
Therefore, facing the poaching from the Chinese Super League tycoon, Klopp decisively sold him off to cash in.
Overall, Borussia Dortmund's lineup didn't suffer too much loss this summer.
Although they lost their main midfielder, Kagawa, the newcomer Royce has even greater potential. With good integration into the team, he might contribute more to the team than Kagawa did in the future.
Unlike Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund is a passionate and energetic young guard. Their style of play is bold and aggressive, stirring up a youthful storm on the Bundesliga stage.
Last season, riding on this youthful storm, they defeated the Bundesliga powerhouse Bayern Munich three times, winning both the league and cup titles, leaving Bayern completely powerless
Facing opponents who play aggressively with pressing and active movement, Werder Bremen couldn't rely on the tactics they used against Bayern Munich.
Allowing a young team like Borussia Dortmund to besiege their own goal is extremely dangerous because once they get going, not even top-tier teams can stop them!
So, what tactics should they use to deal with them?
Coach Schaaf rubbed his temples, deep in thought.
...
Perhaps winning against the powerful Bayern Munich had many young players in the team feeling excited.
Although they went to bed early as instructed by the coach, they couldn't fall asleep easily.
By the time they finally drifted off, they didn't even know what time it was.
The next morning at 10:30, it was time for the team to gather for training.
However, less than half of the players showed up on time, and most of those who did were veteran players; the young players were almost entirely absent.
"I'll go wake them up!"
Seeing the coach's displeased expression, assistant coach Henebach offered to speak up.
"How about letting them sleep a bit longer, and we start training first?"
The fitness coach opposed the idea, believing that waking up the young players at this time would result in insufficient rest, greatly affecting their performance in the evening's match.
However, Coach Schaaf nodded to Henebach, allowing him to go fetch the players.
"I'd rather lose this match than not teach these young people a lesson. In my team, I don't welcome those who don't follow the rules!"
He had already postponed the team's gathering time, giving them plenty of rest. It was the players' failure to adjust their own mindset that led to oversleeping.
Of course, he also bore responsibility for not preemptively addressing the players' mental state, calming their emotions, imparting experience to them, and so on.
But now, he couldn't overlook the players breaking the rules; not addressing it would undermine his authority as head coach and even give the young players the wrong impression:
That not adhering to the team's rules wasn't a big deal and wouldn't be punished.
If they were to develop such a mindset, it would not only affect the team's tactical arrangements in the future but also potentially impact these young players' careers.
Lin Quan and Debruyne exchanged a glance, gaining a deeper understanding of their coach.
Coach Schaaf might be reasonable at times, but when it comes to work, he also has a strict and tough side, with strong principles.
Indeed, anyone who can hold the position of head coach in a team for so long is definitely not simple!
Due to the incomplete attendance of players, the morning training was straightforward.
Lin Quan had been practicing free kicks with Debruyne during this time. One practiced powerful shots while the other practiced curling shots with the outside of the foot.
Debruyne's free-kick skills were already high, but he lacked a bit of variation in front of the goal.
Therefore, when facing experienced goalkeepers, his free kicks were often easily saved.
So, he planned to add some variation to his free kicks, similar to the "elevator balls" often taken by Cristiano Ronaldo.
Making the ball suddenly drop halfway through its trajectory could catch the opponent off guard.
However, mastering this technique wasn't easy. Besides requiring ample strength, it also required controlling the angle of force and the point of contact with the ball.
After kicking an elevator ball, the goal was to make the ball spin as little as possible. This way, the air resistance on the ball in flight would be much greater than that of a spinning ball.
When a player kicks the ball forcefully, it gives the ball a high initial velocity. When the initial velocity exceeds the final velocity, the Magnus effect becomes evident.
When the ball reaches its peak, instead of descending like a normal parabola, it suddenly drops like an elevator.
That's the principle of the elevator ball!
This principle was later concluded by professional kinematics and mechanics experts hired by Milan's sports newspaper after precise calculations.
According to the experts' formula, to achieve the effect of the elevator ball, the initial velocity of the ball must exceed 100 kilometers per hour, which places extremely high demands on the kicking player's strength.
(End of this chapter)