Chapter 149 Breaking the Balance

When Dortmund challenged Mainz away from home, Zhou Yi unexpectedly did not start. The most disappointing thing was the Chinese fans and Chinese commentators.

Because not only did Zhou Yi not start, Yan Min also did not start. This is a relatively rare situation where not a single Chinese player is on the court in Dortmund's game.

Mainz is happy. Because Dortmund's most threatening players are not on the court and they are playing at home, they can naturally do whatever they want.

Not long after the game started, Duan Xin was still introducing the "original relationship" between Dortmund coach Klopp and Mainz to the audience.

"... This is the fourteenth meeting between Mainz and Dortmund in the Bundesliga. And in these fourteen meetings, Dortmund's current head coach Klopp has participated in all... Among them, he has coached Mainz in six games and coached Dortmund had eight games. When he was coaching Mainz, he led Mainz to the West End Stadium for the first time and lost 0:3. However, that was also the only time he lost to Mainz when he was coaching Mainz. Dortmund game…”

"After coaching Dortmund, I only lost to Mainz in my first season. In the last two seasons, Dortmund has won four consecutive games against Mainz in the league, including two away games against the old club. , Klopp’s team always comes back to win... I wonder if it will be another comeback this time?”

Mainz has already launched a fierce attack on Dortmund's goal.

It can be seen from the first minute of the game that Mainz deliberately wanted to play fast in this game. However, Dortmund made many mistakes due to the consumption of the Champions League in mid-week and the rotation adjustment of the lineup, and was suppressed by Mainz. Living.

In the ninth minute, Mainz full-back Pospech shot a long shot 25 meters away from the goal. The ball bounced off the ground, making the save more difficult, but Weidenfeller still saved the ball. go out.

Two minutes later, Mainz midfielder Gass shot another long-range shot from outside the penalty area. The ball rebounded again, but Weidenfeller performed steadily and saved the ball.

A few minutes later, Mainz's Japanese international Shinji Okazaki received a pass from his teammate in the penalty area and took a very difficult overhead kick. However, it missed the target and was not powerful enough. Weidenfeller, who was in a good position, hugged him directly.

Although he did not score a goal, Okazaki Shinji's overhead kick still won the cheers and applause of the fans in the stands of Mainz's home stadium Coface Arena.

The commentators also exclaimed: "Shinji Okazaki made a beautiful overhead kick! It's a pity that he couldn't hit it! Although there was no goal, Mainz's offensive was very fierce during this period, while Dortmund only Being able to cope with it...it seems that the Champions League match against Naples in midweek really had a great impact on them..."

Duan Xin believes that the biggest impact may not be the game against Naples, but Zhou Yi's absence: "Dortmund's midfielder was a little out of control. They were confused by Mainz's fast attack and fierce pressing, and they were very uncomfortable with this game. Mkhitaryan, who replaced Zhou Yi in the starting lineup, was completely unable to control the situation in the midfield..."

Although Dortmund also got some offensive opportunities, they were not able to truly threaten Mainz's goal.

Mainz, on the other hand, took advantage of Dortmund's offensive opportunities and made several counterattacks that were quite threatening and performed impressively.

Mainz got a golden opportunity in the 42nd minute.

After their corner kick, center back Stefan Bell headed the ball in the penalty area. Weidenfeller could do nothing about the goal, but the football hit the goal post and bounced out!

"Ohhhhhhh!!" Marcel Leif exclaimed. "Oh my God! Stefan Bell! His header was so powerful! It's such a pity that the goal didn't go in! Mainz had a chance to take the lead before the end of the first half!"

A huge sigh also sounded in the Coface Arena at the same time. This was the sound made by the Mainz fans in unison.

The TV broadcast then showed some close-up shots of players from both sides. In the shot, Bell held his head in his hands and looked up to the sky, screaming, very regretfully. Dortmund's players generally feel a sense of exhaustion after a disaster.

When the football flew toward the goal, Weidenfeller could only watch in despair, unable to reach the football at all.

If it weren't for the goalposts, they would be dead.

"Goalpost! It seems that Mainz's home goal is not friendly enough to the home team..." Duan Xin half-joked.

Stefan Bell's header into the center post was the last decent offensive opportunity for both sides in the first half. Not long after, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

During the halftime break, Klopp criticized the team's performance, believing that they were too cowardly in the face of Mainz's fierce fighting and did not dare to make moves or fight.

"... You have to fully show your courage to them, otherwise they will think you are soft persimmons that can be pinched casually!" Klopp clapped his hands and said loudly.

He then decided to make a substitution at the start of the second half.

But this time, he still did not choose to replace Zhou Yi.

He used up two substitutions in one go, replacing Kyle with Royce and replacing Shaheen with Sven Bender.

Mainz's head coach Tuchel also decided to make substitutions just at the beginning of the second half.

He replaced midfielder Nikolai Müller with forward Maxime Choupo-Moting.

Obviously, Tuchel was also dissatisfied with his team's performance in the first half - dissatisfied that although they had the advantage, they failed to seize the opportunity and score even a goal. So he brought on another striker.

Both sides want to strengthen their offense and break the current deadlock.

In the second half, as both sides made substitutions and adjustments, the situation finally changed. Compared to the first half, when Dortmund was suppressed and had no power to fight back, it was much better.

Just at the beginning of the second half, Choupo-Moting, who came on as a substitute, fired an angry shot from 25 meters outside the left side of the penalty area, and the football went slightly wide.

Dortmund then fired back. Grosskreutz also took a long shot near the left penalty area line, but it was too high.

Next, the two sides exchanged offense and defense, but neither one could break the other's goal.

The score seemed to have frozen, still 0:0.

On the Dortmund bench, everyone is watching the game very seriously. This game can be considered difficult at this point. But why it was so difficult to play, many Dortmund players had their own ideas in their minds - they thought it had something to do with Zhou Yi sitting on the bench.

If Zhou Yi can start, why play so hard against Mainz away from home?

Everyone knows why Zhou Yi did not start the game. It must be related to Zhou Yi's performance in the resumption of training that day. But why did Zhouyi behave like this? This is something that everyone doesn’t know but is very curious about…

So Yan Min, who was sitting next to Zhou Yi, asked Zhou Yi gossipingly: "Hey, Zhou Yi, what happened in that training? I've never seen you behave like that in training before..."

Faced with Yan Min's inquiry, Zhou Yi wanted to pretend not to hear it at first and remained focused on watching the game. But Yan Min always had a way to make others unable to ignore him - he poked Zhou Yi next to him.

Zhou Yi could no longer pretend, so he turned around and asked with a confused look, "What did you just say?"

"I said it was strange. What happened to your recovery training?" Yan Min was completely unaware.

Of course Zhou Yi couldn't tell the truth directly, because he had a three-hundred-round battle with Cortana the night before, and he was exhausted, right? Let’s not talk about whether this is a privacy issue, let’s just say that if others knew about this, what would they think about their ability in that area...

So Zhou Yi had no choice but to find excuses: "That time... I just didn't have a rest..."

"Didn't you rest well?" Yan Min looked at Zhou Yi with some suspicion. He didn't quite believe his explanation. He wanted to ask more questions. Suddenly, he saw assistant coach Buvac coming to them. Yan Min immediately stopped and continued to ask. thought, looking up at the assistant coach.

Dortmund has already replaced two players in one go, and now there is only one substitution left. Who will they play?

Of course Yan Min hopes that he can come on as a substitute and then once again complete his role as substitute savior.

But this time, Buvac's eyes did not fall on him at all, but hooked his hand at Zhou Yi next to him: "Zhou Yi, go warm up!"

This is for Zhou Yi to appear.

Zhou Yi got up and ran out very actively, looking high-spirited and confident.

But in fact, he just wanted to leave Yan Min quickly, lest he break the casserole and ask the truth, and then he might be exposed...

Seeing Zhou Yi running to warm up, everyone else was relieved and sat back in their chairs - the three substitutions had been used up, and they would not have another chance to play in this game.

※※※

When Zhou Yi was called up from the bench to warm up, the TV broadcast quickly gave him a close-up shot.

"Zhou Yi went to warm up!" This scene caused a small commotion in the commentary box.

"Dortmund was never able to break the deadlock, but they did not concede a goal. This was both a danger and an opportunity. So Klopp decided to send in Yiyi to give Mainz the final blow!"

"This is a substitution that will break the balance! Klopp decided not to wait any longer... Of course, there is not much time left for Dortmund... If they are tied by Mainz away from home, Then they are further away from Bayern Munich and the league championship..."

"That's right. The team's offense is at a stalemate and the scene is ugly. To solve the problem at this time, of course you have to use Zhouyi! I think these dozens of minutes of the game are not nothing. From the negative There are still positive things that can be seen in the things, which fully illustrates that Dortmund can live without anyone, but it can't live without Zhou Yi! Dortmund without Zhou Yi is like a headless fly in the offense, relying entirely on luck. . If you are lucky, you may win, but if you are unlucky, you will definitely not win. Is this like the situation when Zhou Yi was out for more than a month due to injury?"

Duan Xin started talking excitedly.

Chinese fans online also became active, and the amount of discussion about this game on social networks suddenly surged.

"Zhou Yi is about to appear!"

"We should have let Zhou Yi play a long time ago... The two previous substitutions were completely wasted!"

"I really don't understand why Klopp used Zhou Yi so conservatively in this game?"

"It is said that the recovery condition was not good after the last game against Naples?"

"Zhou Yi's physical fitness rarely has problems now, right? Is this really the reason?"

…

※※※

Seeing Zhou Yi warming up on the sidelines, Mainz suddenly stepped up its offensive, which put Dortmund's defense immediately under increased pressure.

Marcel Leif also saw this change in Mainz, and he knew very well why there was this change: "Tuchel kept waving his hands on the sidelines to ask the players to press forward and strengthen the attack. Obviously Zhou Yi is going to play this The news stimulated him and made him feel the crisis. If Mainz cannot score and take advantage before Zhou Yi comes on the court, and still maintain this delicate balance, then Zhou Yi comes on the court and may break the balance..."

Although Dortmund is under great pressure, they are not surprised by Mainz's changes.

The players on the court had one idea - before Zhou Yi came on the court, they must not let the opponent change the score!

So the game, which had been dull before, suddenly became better to watch.

The offensive and defensive rhythm of both sides has become faster, especially Mainz's offense, and the threat has also increased.

In fact, there is not much time left for Mainz. It is impossible for Zhou Yi to warm up all the time, five minutes at most.

If they cannot score within five minutes, they may have to adjust their tactics.

※※※

Five minutes later, Zhou Yi was called to the sidelines, and Buvac arranged tactics for him... In fact, there was nothing to say. Zhou Yi knew what situation he would face after the court and what he should do.

And now there is no time for Zhou Yi to waste time on the sidelines, so let him play quickly.

So Buvac gave a few brief instructions and asked Zhou Yi to go find the fourth official.

But just ten meters away from Zhou Yi walking towards the fourth official, the situation on the court suddenly changed!

Mainz's continuous bombardment still put a lot of pressure on Dortmund's defense. Under this huge pressure, Dortmund's center back Papastathopoulos made a mistake and tripped in the penalty area. Downed Japanese player Shinji Okazaki.

"Penalty kick!!" Marcel Leif exclaimed. "The balance on the field is broken!"

Huge cheers erupted from the Coface Arena, Mainz's home ground.

Zhou Yi was also attracted by the sudden situation on the court. He turned his head and cast his gaze on the court, and saw Papastathopoulos holding his head in his hands, and being pulled up from the ground by his teammates and hugged again. Japan international Shinji Okazaki.

"Damn it!" On the Dortmund coaching bench, Klopp punched the bench block next to him.

When he was about to replace Zhou Yi to break the deadlock, the opponent took the lead to break the deadlock, and it was because of the mistakes of Dortmund's defense...

The quality of Bundesliga television broadcasts is really high, and the directors know football very well.

After showing the scene on the court, he even took the time to give Zhou Yi a close-up shot on the sidelines. Zhou Yi in the shot was also surprised by such an unexpected situation and stared blankly at the court.

"Ah, Dortmund's luck is so bad... when Zhou Yi was about to be replaced, he was awarded a penalty kick!" Although Duan Xin said this, there was not much disappointment in his tone. The mood is rather... full of expectation?

I don’t know if it was the illusion of the TV audience... but they soon felt that they must have heard correctly, because Duan Xin followed up and said loudly: "This is a severe test for Zhou Yi!"

He didn't mean to worry about Zhou Yi at all, but was very excited.

It’s as if the teacher asked a very, very, very difficult question in order to stimulate the fighting spirit of a super academic...

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