Chapter 123 – Europa (1)

123

The victory against Munich changed the atmosphere of the team.
The team, which had enthusiasm but lacked confidence, was filled with confidence with just one victory.

After the game, everyone, from the coach to the players and even the club staff, was in a state of confidence… To be honest, I was a bit shocked after the game against Munich.

I was mistaken in thinking that this was enough.
After all, the walls of Wallcle are high… The result of the match was a 2:1 victory, but I felt the lack of it in the face of the Munich players.

Especially Maxim Meyer.
The confrontation with the guy who constantly faced each other in terms of position reminded me how great a truly world-class defender is.

From the outside, it looks like my victory.
He scored both of the goals that led to the team’s victory, and the first goal was scored by fooling Maxim Maier.

However, having stuck with him several times, I can tell.
Except for the technique I was confident in, everything was lacking compared to him.

I’m definitely better at technique.
But I can’t say that even that is a huge gap. As a rule of thumb, a 4-6 stat difference?

Except for technique, everything is inferior.
Debt ability?

Early game.
Even with one goal scored, Munich did not hesitate and actively raised the line to attack.
He could have rushed into the attack to score a comeback goal, but from my point of view, he believed in Maxim Maier’s ability to cover.

In fact, Maxim Maier successfully stopped me and proved that belief.
An ally’s pass that flew like a miracle into the open space behind Munich.

When I started sprinting in the waiting situation, Maxim Mayer came right up to me and the speed competition began.
I was confident in my speed, so I ran as it is… Pushed

To others, it would have looked like he was pushed and fell in a shoulder fight.
My lack of physical fighting ability is a well-known weakness, and I’ve often broken and tasted myself to induce fouls to make up for my lack of competitive ability.

But back then it was different.
At that time, I didn’t really fall for the foul inducement, but I fell down with the feeling of trying to induce a foul after realizing that I was falling behind in the speed competition.

Perhaps Maxim Mayer felt it too.
It’s not a big difference, but we could tell when we competed shoulder to shoulder for speed.

Even though they seem to be running equally, he is faster.
In the end, if he had competed in speed until the end, he would have caught the ball.

At least the speed is a bit, if you go with physical fights or air supremacy… From here, it is clearly pushed.

But most of all, I was pushed by him… Judgment.
Speed ​​of thought, accuracy, football intelligence… Maxim Maier, who quickly made the best choice at every moment of choice, no matter what he called it, was literally a wall.

I haven’t felt much of it until now.
The striker only needs to succeed once or twice out of countless opportunities. A difference in position, different from being criticized for making 1 or 2 mistakes when a defender does well 8-9 times.

But even though it was just one game, I felt it while playing in the first division.
That there won’t be many opportunities for me in the future.

If you try 10 times and succeed 1 or 2 times?
Will our team be able to create 10 good chances?

At most 3-4 times in one game… It would be nice if there were at least 6 or 7 chances.
Success 1 or 2 times out of 10 means that you succeed after 10 attempts, but what if the chances are 5 or 6?

Now I have to make an attack with fewer chances.
It’s a part that can’t be helped unless you play for a weak team.

It only felt bigger because the opponent was Munich, but it wouldn’t be like this in matches against other teams.
Against a mid-table team, they still have 10 chances.

But… As long as I faced Munich, the limit of my standards was set to Munich.
If you look at a mid-level team, you won’t be able to fill the castle.

My goal is to reach the pinnacle of football.
Because we can’t use a mid-tier team as a standard.

Perhaps thanks to his genius, he did a great job against Munich this time, but if we meet again next time… To be honest, I don’t have the confidence to break through Maxim Mayer.

At least for now.

In a situation where the teams have switched, you can win with the help of your teammates and countless opportunities, but isn’t that true?

‘I need to collect points in preparation for the World Cup, but… It’s still not enough to just collect them.’

Collect half of it, but invest the other half mainly in your physical abilities and raise your mental stats.
Physical ability is difficult to raise at once. How strange would it be if a player who had been running at this speed until yesterday, or with this level of physical fighting and jumping ability, changed drastically the next day?

So, your physical abilities should be raised slowly, little by little, over time.
After suddenly growing taller, it is also suitable to make an excuse that my record improved as I got used to my body.

And the mental part, this time, I realized while working with Wolkle.
It is essential to become a first-class player, a world-class player.

No matter how good the technique is, no matter how fast and strong it is, it doesn’t matter if the software is third-rate.

Now that we have established a point distribution plan for this season, all that remains is to execute it.
You need to collect a lot of points.

* * *

The 33/34 season started earlier than usual in preparation for the World Cup.
The opening day of this year’s Bundesliga is August 9th. Although the opening schedule was about two to three weeks early, a tight schedule was waiting for the World Cup to be held in mid-June.

It was because we had to play 4 league games and the round of 64 in the Pokal Cup for about 20 days, starting with the match against Munich on August 9th.
It seems tolerable if you think that it is played every 5 days on average, but since the schedule is not so rigid and average, some games have to be played after 3-4 days of rest.

In particular, when the Focal Cup round of 64 was between the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the league, there were 3 games in 11 days, so the coach had some concerns about the rotation.

At least, the opponent in the Focal round of 64 was Mannheim in the 3rd division, so the rotation was easy.

You can’t give up the tournament you won last year right from the start, and even more so, you can’t give up the league.

Fortunately, thanks to my performance and the propaganda of the enthusiastic players, our team’s record in August was 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in 5 league matches and advanced to the round of 32 in Focal.

I started all 5 league games and continued my excellent performance with 8 goals and 1 assist.
Starting with 2 goals against Munich, he scored 1 goal and 1 assist against Mainz, 1 goal against SC Freiburg, 3rd round opponent, and 2 goals against VfL Wolfsburg, 5th round opponent, showing steady performance.

It’s encouraging that it’s not an ups and downs play that flashes explosively once, dives, and then flashes again, but at the same time, I also felt that part 1 is part 1.

‘I want to spend a lot of points… ‘

Points to collect to prepare for the World Cup… The thought of whether to just use this comes up several times a day.
Also, the absolute amount of acquisition is insufficient. Are there any good girls out there?

As soon as I started acting in earnest, people’s attention increased and no woman could touch me.
Being famous is another problem.

How can I get a girl who is pretty, has a heavy mouth, and gives a lot of points?
First of all, finding such a woman is a problem. You have to have a woman to work on, but this is because there is no time or opportunity to meet a woman.

But what are the conditions for a woman who gives a lot of points… ?
When in deep reflection,

“Start!!”
“Hong, Hong! What are you doing! The lottery has started!!”

The long-awaited search for the truth was hindered by the fuss of both sides.
Chicharo and Bruno’s fuss seems to have been transmitted, and the huddled squad becomes noisy.

A room with a large beam projector that is usually used as an image analysis room.
The fact that not only the players, but also the coaching staff and even some club executives are gathering and watching,

“Pot 1’s Lyon will enter Group B.”

It’s the Europa League final group stage draw.
As a true European competition, the second most famous after the Champions League, there were many clubs with prominent names that anyone who has seen soccer would know.

“But why is there a final in the group stage?”

The director answered someone’s murmur.

“It’s because there are so many participating teams.”

The Europa League has a huge number of participating teams.
How many countries are there in Europe and how many leagues are there?

It’s a European competition, but isn’t it not possible to participate only in the top 5 leagues, which are considered major leagues, or in the top leagues?

Of course, even minor leagues that light soccer fans have never heard of are participating, so there are bound to be a lot of participating teams.

Let’s ignore it, they are members of Europe and minor league champions, and it doesn’t appeal to the public if you stick with major league teams.

Let’s see the face right now.
Protatrima A Catigorias winners AC Omonia, Meistriliiga winners FC Flora, Armenian Premier League winners FC Alashkert, Gibraltar National League winners Lincoln Red Imps FC.

They are the champions of the Cyprus, Estonia, Armenia and Gibraltar leagues respectively, but no one is interested.
These are teams I have never heard of in my life, so who would be interested in playing against them?

The main viewers of the Europa League, the main sponsors, and the main marketing layer, well-to-do Europeans and Asians, are really unheard of, and their performance is too low compared to major leagues, so even if they advance to the finals, it is useless in terms of performance and marketing.

So, the teams from the minor leagues that have advanced to the Europa League, even though they have won their home league, play qualifying matches between late July and mid-August, when others are still enjoying summer vacations or are just convening for pre-season training.

Unusually, due to the structure of the Europa League, which starts immediately with the 3rd qualifier without the 1st and 2nd qualifiers, teams in the minor leagues go through the 3rd qualifier and playoffs to advance to the true ‘final’ group stage.

If you go into detail, the 3rd qualifying round is divided into the champions route, the main route, and the playoffs.
On top of that, teams ranked 5th to 7th in major leagues, or teams from ambiguous leagues located between the big leagues and minor leagues, such as Turkey, Greece, Scotland, and Eastern European leagues, will join and play a preliminary match… The Europa League is really unnecessarily complicated.

Shall we say that it is a harm caused by trying to have all of Europe’s countries and leagues participate?
Fortunately, our team did not go through this schedule as we immediately joined the group stage of the finals as the winner of the domestic cup competition of a big league ranked in the top 5 of the league association rankings evaluated by UEFA.

‘I’m glad, really. I was called up needlessly early, so who knows if I score 4 goals or 5 goals when I play against the Latvian League champions.’

It’s a harsh word for that team, but it’s a goal bombing against a semi-pro level team, not a proper professional level, but it’s a big help to your career.

It’s fortunate that I started the season earlier than others and it doesn’t spread in the middle.

‘Also… This is why people have to play in big water. I have to play in the Champions League next year.’

I was watching the lottery in a daze, thinking about miscellaneous things, but finally our team logo appeared.
The Red Eagles belong to Group D.

‘Dra… They are the size of our Elena and Heeyeon noonas. You’re lucky.’

For reference, Harin is E.
Also great.

“Frankfurt! You’re in Group D!”

Above and below the red eagle logo, a familiar logo occupied the seat.

‘It’s a red shield on the crown. What? It’s a logo I’ve seen many times.’