Chapter 56: Defending Champions Fall into Relegation Zone
Lin Quan's teammates seemed surprised that he could score directly from a free kick, so they paused for a moment after the ball flew into the net before rushing over to celebrate with him.
"Well done, lad! That outside-foot curve was really impressive!"
"Haha, but isn't the most exciting part the tactical collaboration between Lin Quan and De Bruyne? Look at Dortmund's players, they're completely bamboozled!"
"Haha, if I were Weidenfeller, I'd be fuming for sure!"
"Hahaha..."
Equalizing the score away from home, the teammates were all delighted.
They had thought they were destined to lose this match, but to their surprise, they managed to draw level. It was beyond their expectations!
"But we can't relax yet. Including injury time, there's still about five minutes left. In these five minutes, we must defend well and not waste the opportunity Lin Quan worked so hard to create!"
"You're right. In the final five minutes, we absolutely cannot let them score!"
"Hehe, why don't we give the ball to Lin Quan more after we win possession? Maybe he can pull off another free kick like that, and then we might even get all three points!"
The Werder Bremen players were chatting and laughing, discussing their next tactics.
Meanwhile, the Dortmund players were speechless and frustrated.
They kept being pegged back after taking the lead.
Why was Werder Bremen so difficult to deal with?
Weren't they a weak team to be bullied last season?
It had only been one summer, and they had evolved like this?
Was it all because of those two kids?
...
As the game resumed, with little time left, Dortmund increased their attacking intensity, trying to score and secure all three points in the final stages.
But faced with Werder Bremen's united defense, their attacks came to nothing.
During this time, Lin Quan attempted to replicate his previous strategy of dribbling past defenders to draw fouls and then take a free kick. However, the opponents were clearly wary.
While marking Lin Quan tightly, they also kept a close eye on several passing options in Werder Bremen's attacking third, especially keeping a tight watch on De Bruyne.
After De Bruyne was marked out, nobody passed the ball to Lin Quan.
Although other teammates had the idea, their ball control wasn't delicate enough to deliver good passes, so Lin Quan couldn't receive the ball at all.
He thought about dropping deeper to receive the ball, but whenever he did, the opponents immediately fouled him, and the fouls were too far from the goal to take a direct shot.
As a result, neither side could change the score, and the match ended in a 2-2 draw, with both teams taking one point each.
This outcome was completely acceptable for Werder Bremen, but for Dortmund fans, it was a bit hard to accept.
Failing to secure all three points against a mid-table team like Werder Bremen meant they would start the new season behind Bayern.
Bayern's opening match was against newly promoted side Mafelt, and they couldn't expect Bayern to lose to a team that had just been promoted from the 2. Bundesliga, could they?
Sure enough, in the league match the next day, Bayern Munich secured a 3-0 away victory against Mafelt, extinguishing the last glimmer of hope for Dortmund fans.
On August 26th, with Hannover drawing 2-2 against Schalke 04 at home, the first round of Bundesliga matches ended.
Aside from Werder Bremen's away draw against Dortmund, which could be considered a minor upset, the biggest upset of this round came from newly promoted 2. Bundesliga team Frankfurt.
They defeated last season's Bundesliga fifth-placed team Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 at home.
Leverkusen was a long-standing powerhouse in the Bundesliga, while Frankfurt had only finished third in the 2. Bundesliga last season.
Leverkusen losing to them surprised many.
However, this season's promoted teams all seemed quite fierce. Apart from Frankfurt, the other newly promoted team Dusseldorf also secured a 2-0 away victory against Augsburg.
Among the three promoted teams, besides Bundesliga champions Mafelt, the other two teams all won.
...
On the night the match ended, Werder Bremen chose not to stay overnight in Dortmund but returned to Bremen overnight.
Because the next round of matches wouldn't be until September, the head coach gave the players a day off.
When Lin Quan returned to his host family's house, it was already past two in the morning.
He quietly opened the door and tiptoed back to his room, not wanting to disturb the others who were sound asleep.
Lying in bed, drowsiness washed over him, and in less than a minute, he fell into a deep sleep.
He slept until half-past ten the next morning, and after washing up, he came to the living room to find Mrs. Anna had specially prepared breakfast for him.
Feeling with his hand, it was still warm.
"Hehe, you're awake. Eat while it's hot. It's freshly made, bacon sandwiches, just the way you like them!"
Mr. William was reading the newspaper, and seeing the smile on his face, he seemed to be in a good mood.
"Mr. William, is something good happening today? You seem to be in a very good mood. Did you close a big deal in business?"
Mr. William Viktor shook his head with a smile: "No, something that makes me even happier than business matters, Lin, take a look at this!"
Saying so, he handed Lin Quan the newspaper.
Curious, Lin Quan took it and found that there were actually three newspapers: the Bremen Citizen, the Bremen City News, and the Bremen Daily.
The headline on the City News read: "YunDa Bremen Holds Defending Champions to Draw, Team's Rising Star Scores Twice to Reverse the Game!"
Below the headline was a close-up photo of him wearing the number 10 jersey, taking a free kick. The German journalists sure had some skills; the photo was exceptionally well-taken, and even Lin Quan found himself impressed by his own silhouette.
The headline on the Citizen read: "A Night of Records, YunDa Bremen Superstar Sets Two Bundesliga Records!"
It went on to detail the youngest appearance and youngest goal records he broke, as well as mentioning that he also set these records within YunDa Bremen.
However, compared to Bundesliga records, YunDa Bremen's records didn't seem that noteworthy.
Compared to the previous two newspapers, the Daily's report was slightly better, but it still praised him sky-high.
No wonder Mr. William was so happy early in the morning; it turned out he had read these flattering newspapers!
"Ahem, these newspapers are the voice of our team, so naturally, they'll always find ways to say good things..."
"Take a look at this!"
Lin Quan was about to speak, trying to explain a few things, when William smiled and handed him another newspaper.
Another unknown small newspaper making wild reports again!
Lin Quan glanced at it, and the bold letters of the Bild headline caught his eye.
Well, I'll just pretend I didn't see that.
As Germany's largest-circulation and most influential newspaper, Bild was definitely not some third-rate tabloid.
Lin Quan was curious about their evaluation of him, so he opened it and saw that the headline read: "Three Matches, Six Goals, Future Football King Rising in YunDa Bremen!"
...
As it turned out, being praised to the skies by Bild had serious consequences.
In the second round, when YunDa Bremen hosted Hamburg at home, Lin Quan received special attention from the opposition.
In this match, no matter where he went, even when he returned to his own half, there was always an opponent marking him closely.
The level of attention was comparable to that given to superstars.
However, Hamburg's strength was still too weak. Although they kept Lin Quan at bay, they were torn apart by Lin Quan's teammates.
In the 52nd minute, seeing that the opponent was marking Lin Quan too tightly, De Bruyne chose to pass to winger Alen Hunter on the other side.
After receiving the ball, Hunter quickly broke into the penalty area. Just as he was about to shoot, he was tripped by a defending player.
YunDa Bremen was awarded a penalty.
Hunter took the penalty and scored, making the score 1-0. Five minutes later, almost from the same position, Arnautoovic received a pass from De Bruyne, shot at a tight angle, and scored, making the score 2-0. Conceding two goals in succession, Hamburg was a bit bewildered.
What's going on? Wasn't this kid supposed to be the biggest threat from YunDa Bremen? How come we froze him, but his teammates turned us into amateurs? So, they relaxed their defense against Lin Quan and strengthened their defense against other YunDa Bremen players.
Lin Quan, who had been marked almost the entire half by the opponent, finally found a chance to shine.
In the 88th minute, he received a pass from Elia and dribbled straight into the penalty area.
Facing the interception of the entire Hamburg defense line, Lin Quan put on an incredible performance near the edge of the penalty area.
He continuously dribbled past defenders, changed directions, and dodged...
From the right side of the opponent's penalty area to the left, he almost passed through the entire defense line.
After breaking into the penalty area, facing the onrushing goalkeeper, he delicately chipped the ball, rewriting the score to 3-0. This goal made Hamburg's players start to doubt life; was this guy even human? Was there anyone else who could dribble like him? The entire defense line seemed as fragile as paper in front of him, and the opponent was like an emperor inspecting his troops, reviewing their defense line.
With morale plummeting, Hamburg couldn't pose a threat to YunDa Bremen in the remaining time of the match, and the score remained at 3-0.
Lin Quan continued his streak of scoring in every match!
YunDa Bremen also secured their first win of the season.
The second round of the Bundesliga matches also saw an upset: defending champions Dortmund were held to a draw by Nuremberg, earning only 2 points in two matches and ranking 13th on the table, almost falling into the relegation zone.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich thrashed Stuttgart 6-1 at home, securing 6 points in two matches and sitting firmly at the top of the table.
It's worth mentioning that the three promoted teams continued their dark horse performance this round.
Fuerth narrowly defeated Mainz 1-0 away, Frankfurt thrashed Hoffenheim 4-0 away, and Duesseldorf drew 0-0 against Moenchengladbach.
With two consecutive wins, Frankfurt ranked second on the table only by goal difference, just below Bayern at the moment.
On the other hand, last season's champions Dortmund seemed to be falling behind in the league after just two rounds of matches.
(End of Chapter)