Grassroots Glory

The Champions League group stage is still more than half a month away. For teams with ideas in multi-line combat, they will do their best to grab points in the league. Schalke 04 is one of them. They reached the quarterfinals last season and created the best record in team history in Europe. Slomka also knows that with the team's lineup configuration, he wants to go beyond the quarterfinals. It's difficult, but we can still try our best to tie the record of the quarter-finals, and qualifying from the group is only the goal of guaranteeing the bottom line.

Back in the league, in the third round of the Bundesliga, Schalke beat Bochum 1-0 at home and won three consecutive victories. Peruvian striker Farfan scored the only goal of the game. However, this small victory is also due to Zhou Tiancheng. At the last moment, he contributed a key block in front of the corner kick defense and tried his best to secure the three points in hand.

At the same time, Bayern beat Hertha Berlin 4:1 at home, and the Munich media were delighted with the victory. Bayern's queen media Süddeutsche Zeitung declared after the game in a high-profile manner: The familiar Bayern is back! The Bundesliga giants will start the crushing and defending mode!

But the media with a little brain can see that Schalke 04 is the team with the most dazzling statistics in the standings. Scored eight goals in three rounds of the league and kept a clean sheet. The latest issue of Kicker magazine on the second day raised the question with the biggest headline: Who can break Schalke's goal?

This is a bit of a tit-for-tat rhythm with the Süddeutsche Zeitung. However, Kicker is the oldest authoritative football magazine with a history of 80 years. Their point of view has a huge influence on the public opinion circle, and many professional newspapers and sports radio stations will learn from their articles. At the same time, most media believe that the Ruhr Derby in the fourth round will be the real touchstone. Dortmund had two wins and one tie in the first three rounds, and they ranked second in the standings after Schalke. The momentum is equally ferocious. Derby, which was already full of gunpowder due to historical grievances, coupled with the situation of the top battle. Everyone is looking forward to it, it will definitely be a battle where sparks hit the earth.

At the same time, most media believe that the Ruhr Derby may be full of variables, because there will be half a month of FIFA national team match days between the third and fourth rounds of the league. The qualifiers for the World Cup in South Africa have started one after another on all continents. There are five international players in the Schalke team. Westermann and Kuranyi were recruited by the German team, Rakitic played for Croatia, Altintop was in the call-up list for Turkey, and Farfan, who scored the winning goal in the last round, will represent Peru in the South American qualifiers against Uruguay.

With so many people recruited, Slomka was a little worried that after half a month, there would be no injury reports sent to his desk.

The FIFA virus, which is avoided by countless coaches around the world, has an impact on clubs that cannot be ignored. But Slomka is definitely not the only one who is anxious. Bayern and Borussia Dortmund have more national footballers.

At the same time, Slomka was fortunate that he searched twice in the national team recruitment letters from various countries, and there was no recruitment letter from China, which made him really relieved. What he is most worried about is that Zhou Tiancheng will return to China to participate in the competition. If something happens to him, it will be a big loss.

Not to mention scoring goals, Zhou Tiancheng's running distance in the past three games accounted for nearly 20% of the team's total running distance. If he cannot continue his good form, the impact on the team will be immeasurable.

Huh? Since when did I rely on a rookie player so much? Slomka couldn't help laughing and talking to himself when he thought of how much he valued Zhou Tiancheng's state.

...

For Zhou Tiancheng, the international competition day is a period of adjustment. He still insists on coming to the base every day to do a small amount of training to maintain his condition, but he did not expect that Chu Yunling would suddenly call him at this time to visit the camp.

Xiao Ling, if you want me, call me and I will come over. Why are you running over here?

Chu Yunling sniffled: Why, you're not welcome? You've been in the first team for so long, and I haven't seen your work environment yet. But it's so different from what I imagined, why does it look so old?

Zhou Tiancheng smiled: This is originally the old stadium,

You're not used to being here, let's go somewhere else.

Unexpectedly, Chu Yunling simply shook her head: No. Ah Cheng, the school will start to divide majors next semester. I have made up my mind that I will be a sports reporter in the future, so I am also adapting to the future working environment in advance.

Zhou Tiancheng was taken aback, and answered with a smile, It's not because of me, is it? I object. Don't chase after me for interviews with reporters from the University of Chu. I hate these things the most.

Objection is invalid. My parents agree that I can make my own decision, and my future is up to me.

Zhou Tiancheng had no choice but to stop and look at her, and persuaded him earnestly: Xiaoling, I'm serious. I don't want you to work so hard. My annual salary is more than 100,000 yuan now. I won't be short of money in the future...

I'm willing, you can control it? Chu Yunling glanced at him with a willful expression.

Zhou Tiancheng had expected that persuasion would be ineffective. Chu Yunling's personality was not strong, but she was very independent. He could only shake his head with a wry smile.

...

Ten days later, several international players who participated in the national team game returned one after another. Among them, Westerman can be said to be the happiest. As a central defender, he scored one goal and two assists in two national team games, helping the German team 6 :0 defeated Liechtenstein and 4:0 won Azerbaijan. Farfan also gained something. He sent a key assist to help Pizarro score. Peru beat Uruguay 1-0 at home.

Slomka smiled from the bottom of his heart when he saw that all the international players were alive and well. As long as everyone is healthy, he will have confidence in the next Ruhr Derby.

As the Derby day approached, the number of media outside Schalke's base increased significantly, and Slomka generously allowed everyone to watch the training. This openness surprised everyone.

In which Ruhr area derby, shouldn't the media be strictly guarded? Could it be that Schalke swelled after a wave of three consecutive victories at the beginning?

The Dortmund reporter keenly seized the opportunity to attack the deadly enemy. Unexpectedly, Slomka responded with a smile: Closed training? That's what the weak do. I don't mind telling you that FIFA match days are not for us. Any repercussions. We're ready for that. But I seem to hear that Jurgen Klopp is in trouble?

This question made the other party's expression change in an instant, which indirectly showed that Schalke's intelligence work was accurate. Dortmund did have the FIFA virus. Their situation is quite different from that of Schalke. There is only Hummels in Germany, but there are many international players in other national teams around the world. Korean international Lee Young-pyo, Croatian international Kovac, Polish international Jakub Braszczykowski, Egyptian striker Zidan...Almost half of the main lineup has been emptied, and more favorable news for Schalke Yes, they have all experienced tough battles for the national team, and now they are more or less in a state of problems.

Although Dortmund refused to admit it from the team to the media, the person Klopp brought to the press conference before the game was actually goalkeeper Weidenfeller. He was neither the captain nor the tactical core, but he came to the press conference. It has already explained the problem.

Naturally, the Gelsenkirchen media will not miss this opportunity to make things difficult for the opponent. Although Klopp repeatedly emphasized: So what about the away game? The Ruhr Derby, the team will unite and fight until the end!

But in Schalke's view, Dortmund is like a boiled duck, only the mouth is hard.

Many neutral reporters who watched the game from a third party joked in private that the timing of FIFA's assist operation is just right!