Field Commander - Chapter 65

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 65.

Chapter 65.

Chapter 65.

Lucien Favre, the manager of Borussia Mönchengladbach who uses the 4-4-2 diamond formation, had a similar background to Freiburg manager Streich.

 

He took over as manager of a team facing relegation with the worst performance in the 10/11 season and barely managed to keep the team in the league, then in the 11/12 season, he brought them to 5th place in the Bundesliga and qualified for the UEFA Europa League.

 

– Freiburg’s recent turnaround is because of this guy.

 

Lucien Favre was watching the Asian player wearing number 5.

 

– His defensive ability is considerable, and he’s the core of the back build-up. And he has cross and pass abilities that rank among the top three in the Bundesliga. If we can just target this guy, I think we can easily take this match.

 

And he had found a way to target him.

 

The tactics Mexico used during the Olympics.

 

If you prevent him from getting the ball at all, his performance drops significantly.

 

– Luuk.

 

Luuk de Jong was a Dutch striker they brought in as a free transfer last season.

 

With his 188cm height and 86kg physique, he was known as a forward who was good at winning headers even in the Bundesliga.

 

The team’s main striker who had played in all 10 matches this season and scored 4 goals.

 

– You need to mark this guy one-on-one.

 

– You want me to play defense?

 

– You’re the only forward who can match this guy’s physicality.

 

– I came to this team to attack, not to defend.

 

– You need to sacrifice for the team just for this match.

 

– Damn it.

 

– What? What kind of way is that to talk to your manager?

 

Although he eventually got an answer through force, Favre couldn’t help but feel dissatisfied.

 

‘Selfish bastard.’

 

Borussia Mönchengladbach tends to continue their attacks by inducing mistakes through strong high pressing, and they’re a team that maintains an incredibly high work rate.

 

Freiburg is a team that sits back, wins possession in their own half, and then scores with a single cross, so in terms of matchup, Borussia Mönchengladbach is at a disadvantage.

 

To overcome this disadvantage, they had to prevent crosses from coming up from number 5’s feet as much as possible.

 

‘I’m betting the fate of this match on you right now, don’t you understand?’

 

A truly deadly attacking route where 3 out of 5 crosses from number 5 succeed, and 1 leads to a goal.

 

While Favre was glaring at the back of Luuk de Jong’s head.

 

Freiburg manager Streich was looking at Borussia Mönchengladbach’s defensive midfielder.

 

There was one player who had played a major role in this team’s incredible surge and upsets since last year.

 

Marco Reus.

 

There was a player who played the attacking midfielder role in that diamond formation, but he had transferred to Dortmund this time.

 

Marco Reus was a crack (referring to an outstanding player who can turn a match around with his own power) based on his fast pace and dazzling technique, and he also actively participated in defense and had good defensive skills.

 

He played a role in helping the defensive midfielder whose weakness was physicality, but looking at Borussia Mönchengladbach’s recent matches, the newly deployed attacking midfielder didn’t participate much in defense.

 

‘That’s the weak point.’

 

Jung Joo-young was about 180cm tall with an average build, but he was strong for his size, had good jumping power, and was fast on his feet.

 

If the opposing team’s manager had overlooked Jung Joo-young’s abilities, that defensive midfielder could face a very serious situation today.

 

‘However, for that to happen, Kim’s long passes need to come through.’

 

Because there was no player on the team who could put through passes into the opponent’s empty spaces like Kim Sang-hyuk could.

 

Coach Streich’s gaze shifted to Kim Sang-hyuk.

 

‘Against Gladbach, who are said to have the strongest high press even in the Bundesliga where gegenpressing is popular, how much can you do?’

 

Peep!!!

 

The match began with the referee’s whistle.

 

* * *

 

“The match begins now. Borussia Mönchengladbach’s name is so long that even the commentators use the nickname Die Fohlen (The Foals). I’ll also use the nickname Foals in this match. Of course, I’ll call Freiburg by their nickname too – the Brazilians of Breisgau, or BraBra for short.”

 

Choi Do-hoon, who was about to do live commentary, briefly frowned as he looked at the chat window.

 

– Is this the channel that defends school violence players?

 

– Is the host here also a school bully?

 

– Wow, a player who should be expelled playing Bundesliga football. The world is going to hell.

 

– School bully get lost.

 

…

 

…

 

“Ah, wait a moment.”

 

Choi Do-hoon began to kick out all the people bringing up school violence stories.

 

Sports entertainment journalists had published articles without verification based on suspicions that started as comments, making it seem as if the school violence was fact.

 

However, Choi Do-hoon had some evidence that Kim Sang-hyuk might not be a school bully.

 

But since this was also unverified, he wasn’t taking any stance on the school violence issue.

 

– Ah, you trash, let’s just watch football. Football!

 

– It’s finally quiet now.

 

– Still, shouldn’t we hear the host’s position? He’s the only one among football channels who uploaded Kim Sang-hyuk’s growth videos.

 

Choi Do-hoon looked at the comments for a moment, then turned his attention to the broadcast screen.

 

“Now, Borussia Mönchengladbach is still running today. Incredible pressure. Even Bayern Munich conceded goals to that pressure and lost. What solution has Freiburg brought today?”

 

Borussia Mönchengladbach’s fierce high press.

 

Freiburg was holding out in the back against that pressure.

 

“Uh… the Foals’ number 9 player keeps sticking to Kim Sang-hyuk. This is similar to the tactics the Mexico coach brought out in the Olympic final. Ah!!! The shot flies high again. The Foals’ finishing isn’t good today.”

 

As expected, Borussia Mönchengladbach was dominating, and Freiburg looked like reeds in a storm, barely hanging on to their lifeline.

 

“Ah, the ball just flows away again! If number 9 Luuk de Jong had rushed in, it would have been a threatening scene, but since Luuk is stuck to Kim Sang-hyuk and being held back, it’s difficult for him to join the attack in such situations.”

 

After about 15 minutes of continuous battering, the chat window started getting ugly.

 

– He’s nothing against strong teams. What savior of Korean football?

 

– What? I didn’t come to watch football at this dawn to see defense.

 

– Wow, the skill difference is too big. Frustrating. So frustrating.

 

– It’s a miracle they haven’t conceded. What’s with the shot count being 8-0? Freiburg get lost.

 

…

 

…

 

However, Borussia Mönchengladbach also seemed to have physical burden from pressing for the full 90 minutes, so they slightly loosened their pressing.

 

A lull continued in this situation.

 

Seeing real-time subscribers dropping rapidly, Choi Do-hoon opened his mouth on a different topic.

 

“Actually, I received a message two days ago. It was about Kim Sang-hyuk’s school violence.”

 

With that one sentence, the chat window filled with profanity was miraculously cleaned up.

 

“I can’t tell you the exact content, but according to that message, the school violence by Kim Sang-hyuk known to the public is not true.”

 

– Not true?

 

– It’s not the first or second time we’ve seen the host side with Kim Sang-hyuk.

 

– Come on, really? It’s even in the news articles.

 

…

 

…

 

“The person who sent the message said they were sorry to Kim Sang-hyuk and really grateful. They said that incident made them come to their senses, and they studied hard, got into the university they wanted, and are living diligently.”

 

– Is there really something there?

 

– Would a host with 200,000 subscribers lie at the risk of destroying his channel?

 

– Stop beating around the bush and tell us quickly.

 

– Hey, let’s watch football. Football! Freiburg is counter-attacking!

 

At those words, Choi Do-hoon also quickly turned his gaze to the broadcast screen.

 

* * *

 

‘Wha… wha…’

 

I felt like I’d been desperately defending for I don’t know how the first 5 minutes of the match passed.

 

‘They’re really running like crazy.’

 

What’s really annoying is that this Dutch guy with a similar build to Jang Jin-woo keeps sticking to me and constantly interfering with my movements.

 

Just like Raúl Jiménez from the Mexico match.

 

The slight difference was that Raul, that bastard, really charged at me with the expression of a clear-eyed madman squeezing out everything, while this guy had an expression full of complaints.

 

‘I don’t want to defend, but the manager made me do it!’

 

That’s what it seemed like he was saying.

 

True to European standards, his body was incredibly solid with great strength, and his jumping power was tremendous too.

 

However, he was just as slow as me.

 

For the first time since coming to Germany, I had to grit my teeth and engage in physical battles and aerial duels.

 

My teammates couldn’t pass me the ball because of this bastard.

 

I wasn’t just standing around either – I was running around like crazy, dragging this guy along to open up space for our side.

 

‘It’s a miracle we haven’t conceded a goal.’

 

In 15 minutes, there were 8 shots, but the shooting was quite inaccurate.

 

And every time his teammates’ shots were thwarted, Player 9’s expression became more distorted.

 

‘Right. This bastard. He’s being forced to defend because the manager told him to.’

 

From what I remember, this guy had scored the most goals on the team.

 

4 goals and 2 assists in 10 matches.

 

The star forward was ignoring attack and only defending, so complaints were bound to build up.

 

Since he was sticking right next to me, defending was relatively easy for me too.

 

I kept rubbing against him with my body to prevent him from running, pulling him, nudging him with my knee…

 

This guy probably had just as few ball touches as me.

 

‘This is a bit of a problem.’

 

If this was their way of targeting me, then all teams would definitely play this kind of match from now on.

 

When about 15 minutes of the match had passed, the opponent’s pressure loosened a bit.

 

You’d wonder if there was any team that could beat this team if they ran explosively for the full 45 minutes, but there are limits to human stamina.

 

‘This guy was slow, right?’

 

Thinking about it, Raul from the Mexico match was fast too.

 

That’s why I couldn’t shake him off at all, but if he’s slow, that’s a different story.

 

The pressure continued, but there was enough time for our team players to pass the ball around.

 

Since I couldn’t receive the ball anyway because of Player 9, I decided to just sprint forward.

 

Of course, I gave him an upper body feint first, and twisted my legs once to delay his start.

 

“Ugh!”

 

The guy who was fooled and got his legs tangled let out a shout mixed with anger.

 

At that moment, Gunter, who was receiving the pass, sent a one touch pass into the space in front of me.

 

‘He has no manners but he’s good at soccer. Wide field vision and good sense too.’

 

Player 9 was running hard from behind, but somehow I felt a bit faster?

 

‘Oh, so this is how fast players play soccer. They play soccer so easily.’

 

When I want to do something, I have to think until my brain hurts and set up everything.

 

I had the speed, Player 9 who was following me couldn’t keep up, and eventually the guys in front started charging at me.

 

But our forwards who weren’t ready for the counter attack were just now starting to rush out, so I needed to buy some time.

 

‘A back pass is…’

 

It would be difficult because of Player 9 running from behind.

 

There’s no player helping on the side since they’re running out.

 

‘We’re definitely at a lower level than the opposing team in this aspect.’

 

I turned my head left to look at Gunter running out.

 

As I slightly turned my body left, the two guys charging like runaway trains flinched and reacted.

 

At that moment, I tapped the ball with the outside of my right foot and stretched my leg out.

 

That move I’d been learning from Coach for the past two days!

 

With their center of gravity shifted left, it looked difficult for them to block me kicking the ball and going right.

 

One guy swung his hand, but I also used my hand to deflect it.

 

One guy fell flat while changing direction, and one guy staggered after getting caught by my swinging arm.

 

– Tap!

 

After hitting the ball once more and going out, a space as vast as the universe opened up before my eyes.

 

– Waaahhhhh!!!!

 

The fans’ cheers rang out loudly.

 

And for good reason, since the only opposing team player visible in the distance was the goalkeeper.

 

Forwards Jung Joo-young and Antonio were running in two directions, each being followed by the last defenders.

 

‘Keep my back straight.’

 

I ran while hitting the ball like chanting a spell.

 

As if I was going to go all the way to the goal post and take a shot.

 

I heard something chasing from behind.

 

– Swoosh…

 

As soon as I heard that sound, I lifted the ball and jumped forward.

 

A player slid past below me, sweeping the grass.

 

– Waaahhhhh!!!

 

The home team fans’ shouts continued to ring out, and I was able to reach about 15 meters in front of the goal post.

 

‘Shooting?’

 

I really wanted to greedily fire off a refreshing shot.

 

But Player 3, who was following Antonio, turned direction and ran toward me, and I couldn’t ignore Antonio who had become completely free.

 

– Tap.

 

A lobbing pass over the head of the running player.

 

Player 3 jumping as if flustered.

 

But there’s no way it would hit his head.

 

The goalkeeper running toward Antonio and reducing the angle.

 

I didn’t miss that gap and ran toward the goal post again.

 

Antonio’s gaze turned to me, and he passed to the space in front of me without hesitation.

 

I looked once at the goalkeeper’s desperate gaze.

 

I measured once the distance of the guy running from behind me.

 

I looked once at the meaningless body movement of the guy defending Jung Joo-young.

 

‘You’ve become quite calm after gaining experience in the Bundesliga?’

 

Expressing gratitude to Antonio, I fired a powerful shot at the empty goal post.

 

– Bang!

 

The net swayed and shook greatly like laundry fluttering on a rooftop in a typhoon.

 

In the Bundesliga…

 

I ran straight in and kicked the ball that fell from the net into the goal post once more.

 

‘First goal.’

 

Yes, my first goal!

 

That goal that defenders can’t easily taste…

 

“Waaahhhhhhh!!!!”

 

Indescribable excitement dominated my entire body and I ran toward the stands where the fans were gathered, shouting so loudly I didn’t know what sounds I was making.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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