Chapter 147 We are the champions!

At 7:30 pm on June 1st, the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the capital of Germany, was brightly lit.

Two huge team flags were unfurled on the north and south stands, occupied by fans of Werder Bremen and Stuttgart respectively.

Before the game started, fans of both teams had already started fighting.

The singing continued from the stands on both sides, and the stadium that could accommodate 76,000 spectators was filled with loud singing all the time.

This game is very important for both teams. Both teams have not won a championship for many years. As long as they can win this game, they can rewrite this history.

Therefore, fans of both teams flocked to Berlin, hoping to witness their team win the championship.

In addition to those fans who were lucky enough to buy tickets and enter the stadium to watch the game, there were tens of thousands of spectators outside the stadium who arrived late and were unable to buy tickets.

Both teams encountered some minor troubles when their buses drove into the stadium.

However, unlike when they were surrounded by fans of opposing teams in away games, this time, it was their own team's fans who surrounded their team bus.

"Come on, kill them!"

"Go Werder Bremen!"

"Come on Lin Quan, come on De Bruyne, come on Werder Bremen!"

The fans' enthusiasm infected the players on the bus, and a big tournament atmosphere that can only be found in a final began to permeate the team.

"Don't be nervous, just treat this game as a normal one!"

Head coach Schaff keenly sensed the change in the players' mentality and immediately tried to calm them down.

However, this kind of thing cannot be solved with just a few words of comfort.

Werder Bremen's lineup is very young. Except for a few veteran players such as Fritz, other players have not experienced such an important game.

The unstable mentality of young players seems to have become a hidden danger for the team at this moment.

When facing such an important game, young players can't help but wonder: What if I lose this game? Will the fans blame me? Will I regret it for the rest of my life?

This kind of thing cannot be avoided by trying hard not to think about it, because before the game starts, my head is filled with these questions.

So much so that they couldn't even listen to the tactical arrangements made by the head coach! "Pa pa!"

Seeing that the players were too nervous, Schaff clapped his hands, attracted everyone's attention, and said, "I know you are very nervous, but the more nervous you are at this time, the worse your performance will be. You have to believe in your own strength and the strength of your teammates. Look, Lin Quan is not nervous at all!"

Schaff had originally planned to ask a few veteran team members to share their experiences in the competition, but when he saw Lin Quan's nonchalant look, he instantly changed his mind.

Lin Quan is the youngest player in the team, so letting him speak from his own experience would be much more effective than asking the older players to speak.

All the team members turned to look at Lin Quan, and seeing that he looked confident, the tension in their hearts subsided a little.

Lin Quan is the tactical core of the team. If he is not nervous, then why should I be nervous? If the sky falls, there will be someone taller to hold it up! "Lin, can you tell your teammates why you are not nervous?"

Shaf was also very curious, why Lin Quan had such a good attitude?

It is rare to see young players with such a mature mentality.

"The reason is simple. Our opponents are weaker than us, so they should be the ones who are nervous!"

This simple sentence was like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's heads, making them feel as if everything had suddenly become clear.

yes!

We are stronger and have a better chance of winning, so why should we be nervous?

When I think of the two wins against Stuttgart this season, I realize that in the 21st round they faced each other away from home, they even defeated their opponent with a score of 5:1.

The players of Werder Bremen suddenly felt confident! Stuttgart, just a defeated opponent! Schaff saw that the mentality of the players gradually returned to normal, and he breathed a sigh of relief and secretly gave Lin Quan a thumbs up.

Good boy, you have a way!

However, the players seemed to have slipped from one extreme to another. They were nervous before, but now they seemed a little arrogant! "Ahem, the final is different from ordinary games. The intensity of the final is higher. The opponent will definitely do everything they can to prevent us from winning the championship, so we can't be careless. After the opening, we need to score as soon as possible and keep the initiative of the game firmly in our hands!"

Schaff took out the tactical board and explained his tactics again.

He formulated a tactic of attacking at the beginning of the game, retreating immediately after success, and retreating to his own half to launch a defensive counterattack.

Werder Bremen is inherently stronger than Stuttgart. If they are willing to lower their stance and play a defensive counterattack, Stuttgart will really have no chance at all.

Of course, this kind of tactics may be criticized by the outside world after the game as utilitarian football, with only victory in mind.

But Schaff didn't care. No matter how good the game was, it would be useless if he couldn't win the game: "There's no name in the final. Don't worry about whether the game was good or not, as long as we can win!"

The team members did not object to this statement.

This is the last game. If we win, we can go back on vacation happily. If we lose, I’m afraid I won’t be in a good mood for the whole summer.

Moreover, this game was the last time they fought side by side with the twin stars of the team, and no one wanted to leave any regrets.

…

At 19:45, the players began to leave the locker room and walked into the player tunnel, preparing to enter the field.

Before the game, Stuttgart players couldn't help but sneak a peek at their opponents. The ones who were watched the most were Werder Bremen's twin stars Lin Quan and De Bruyne.

They had previously received a rumor that De Bruyne had not shown up with the team and might miss the game.

Unexpectedly, the other party finally came, which made them feel very disappointed.

It would be great if the other party didn’t come!

In that case, they might really be able to steal the championship trophy from Werder Bremen.

But now…

Seeing the strong opponent, Stuttgart's players lost confidence.

After the entrance ceremony, pre-match handshake and coin toss.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, under the attention of the public, the final of the German Cup in the 2012-2013 season officially kicked off.

Werder Bremen, wearing green jerseys, attacked from left to right, while Stuttgart, wearing white jerseys, attacked from right to left.

The moment the whistle sounded, the five players in the frontcourt of Werder Bremen rushed towards Stuttgart's half.

The Stuttgart player who had just passed the ball back was startled and was caught off guard and was intercepted by the opponent in the frontcourt.

"Danger!"

In the commentary booth, before the commentator had time to finish introducing the players of both teams, he had to interrupt his introduction because of the sudden change in the situation on the field.

"Werder Bremen pressed hard in the frontcourt, and Maxim's pass was indecisive and was intercepted by the opponent!"

"De Bruyne has the ball and he is watching his teammates run!"

“He passed the ball!”

"Danger!"

“The ball goes in!”

"Oh my God, it's unbelievable. Just 15 seconds into the game, Werder Bremen took advantage of the opponent's mistake and took the lead!"

The ball went in so quickly that the commentator didn't have time to keep up with the pace, and he couldn't even fully describe the process of the goal.

It was not until the slow-motion replay on the scene began that he fully explained the entire process of Werder Bremen's attack.

"Stuttgart's carelessness at the start was the primary reason for the goal. They were caught off guard by the opponent's attack at the start."

"Maxim had just received a pass from his teammate, but before he could pass the ball, he was double-teamed by two opponents!"

"The twin stars of Werder Bremen, De Bruyne and Lin Quan, worked together to complete the steal. After the steal, Lin Quan immediately moved forward to attract the attention of the defensive players, creating space for De Bruyne to pass the ball."

"De Bruyne was very smart and didn't choose to pass the ball directly to Lin Quan. Instead, he passed it diagonally to central midfielder Hunter, who passed it to Lin Quan who was in a wider position. Lin Quan then assisted Elia who cut in from the wing and broke into the penalty area to score the goal."

The entire offensive process only used four passes, and a huge loophole appeared in Stuttgart's defense. They all rushed to Lin Quan who had the ball, thinking that the opponent would shoot.

Unexpectedly, Lin Quan passed the ball!

After the goal, Werder Bremen's players rushed to the front court frantically, knocked the goal scorer Elia and Lin Quan who assisted him to score to the ground, rubbed their heads frantically, and slapped their bodies.

Before the goal was scored, they were still a little nervous.

But after scoring this goal, their nervousness completely disappeared! They thought it would take some effort to break through the opponent's goal, but they didn't expect to break through the goal in the first attack! The opponent was just as Lin Quan said, not vulnerable at all!

Coach Schaff on the sidelines did not expect the goal to come so quickly. After seeing Elia score the first goal, he excitedly rushed out of the coaching seat and hugged every colleague and even the substitute players around him to celebrate.

On the other side, everyone in Stuttgart's coaching booth was stunned by the result.

They were behind after only 15 seconds. How could they continue the game? A desperate atmosphere began to spread among them! What made them even more desperate was that after the restart, Werder Bremen stopped attacking and retreated to their own half, leaving only one striker in front.

The other party actually set up an iron bucket formation!

The head coach of Stuttgart wanted to curse after seeing this scene!

Isn’t this too shameless?

You are the second place in the Bundesliga after all, and you defeated us in two rounds of matches. What are you afraid of?

Come out and fight us!

Werder Bremen said, only a fool would play a head-on game with you!

We are leading in the score, so why don't we just focus on defense and counterattack?

Stuttgart ranks 13th in the league this season and is a mid-table team in the Bundesliga.

One of the biggest problems that bothers them is that their forwards are weak!

In 34 Bundesliga games this season, Stuttgart has only scored 33 goals, averaging less than one goal per game.

This data ranks second from the bottom in the Bundesliga, only slightly more than Shamrock Fürth's 26 goals.

Precisely because of the weak forwards, Stuttgart's tactic before the game was to play defensive counterattacks to see if they could take advantage of the opponent's mistakes to steal one or two goals.

If we can't steal the ball, we can't let the opponent score a goal and try to drag the situation to a penalty shootout.

They are very clear that they are not as strong as their opponents. In this game, they need to adjust their mentality and put themselves in the position of the weaker team.

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But plans can't keep up with changes! Before they could get into position defensively, the opponent scored a goal.

Now they can’t defend anymore and have to go out and attack, which they are not good at.

The Stuttgart players launched an attack on Werder Bremen timidly.

Then……

I was hit back!

In the 9th minute, Rudiger made a cross from the right, and Maxim's left-foot shot was slightly off the goal.

Werder Bremen launched a quick counterattack, and De Bruyne passed the ball directly to Lin Quan in the penalty area.

Lin Quan didn’t have a very good shooting angle, so he chose to cross the ball from the bottom left.

Arnautovic leaped high, overpowered Stuttgart defender Molinaro and headed the ball into the goal.

This ball was very close to the goal and Arnautovic's header was of very high quality.

It seemed like a sure goal! However, Stuttgart goalkeeper Ulreich was like a god possessed at this moment, contributing a god-level save, bravely blocking the close shot.

When Arnautovic saw the ball fly out, he held his head in disbelief.

After heading the ball, I felt it was a success, but the opponent actually managed to save this ball?

Is this still a human being? Heading the ball is much harder to save than shooting with the foot!

Such a close distance and such a sudden shooting action really tests the goalkeeper's reaction speed and basic skills.

Not to mention Arnautovic who felt unbelievable, even Lin Quan couldn't help but take another look at the goalkeeper.

As expected of a goalkeeper chosen by Bayern, this guy is really capable.

The goalkeeper's amazing save seemed to give Stuttgart's players a little courage.

They became bolder in their subsequent attacks!

In the 24th minute of the game, Stuttgart got a good offensive opportunity.

Maxim's free kick flew straight into Bremen's penalty area. Bremen's defender headed the ball, giving the opponent's forward a chance to score with a header.

It's a pity that Ibisevic seemed unprepared. His hasty shot was too straight and was directly confiscated by the goalkeeper.

After confiscating the ball, Milic quickly launched a counterattack.

He threw the ball to the center circle and found Lin Quan near the center circle.

After receiving the ball, Lin Quan dribbled past Boca who was trying to steal the ball and dribbled to the front of the opponent's penalty area.

After observing Ulreich's position, Lin Quan swung his legs as if to shoot.

The two Stuttgart defenders did not suspect anything and immediately stepped forward to block the shot.

But Lin Quan did not shoot, but gently knocked the ball to the left side of the penalty area.

De Bruyne, who came in from behind, shot the ball into Stuttgart's goal again without being marked.

Ulreich had no way to save the ball, even though he had made a saving move and even touched the ball.

But De Bruyne's shot was too powerful, and he was unable to change the direction of the ball, and could only watch the ball fly into his own net.

The score became 2:0, and Werder Bremen already had one foot on the podium!

The Stuttgart players were very frustrated. It was clearly their turn to attack, but they didn't score a goal while the opponent did.

Werder Bremen's terrifying quick counterattack ability made Stuttgart's players feel at a loss.

Most of their players were still in the opponent's half. They had just participated in the attack and had no time to withdraw, but the opponent launched a quick counterattack.

If they continue playing like this, they will probably lose the ball again.

As a result, the Stuttgart players did not dare to continue attacking.

In the following time, they became much more conservative. They did not attack, and Werder Bremen, who had a two-goal advantage, was not in a hurry.

The first half of the game ended quickly and Werder Bremen returned to the locker room with a 2-goal lead.

During the half-time break, Schaff did not adjust his tactics and was determined to carry out the defensive counterattack tactics to the end.

This made Stuttgart very disappointed, and their fans started cursing!

The other team was too shameless. A strong team was playing against a weak team. They were leading by two goals, but they still played so conservatively! Not to mention them, even the neutral fans on the field couldn't stand it anymore.

They came here because of Werder Bremen's reputation for being good at playing offensive football, but what they saw was Werder Bremen parking the bus.

Where is that team that often launched gorgeous offensive plays in games?

It seemed to satisfy the fans' wishes! In the 65th minute of the second half, Werder Bremen changed its defensive counterattack style.

Suddenly, they launched a crazy pressing in the frontcourt and launched a fierce attack on Stuttgart.

This sudden change caught Stuttgart off guard, as they were used to their opponents hiding in their half waiting for them to attack.

Unexpectedly, the opponent suddenly changed his strategy!

As a result, they were a little lax in their awareness and soon suffered the consequences.

After Werder Bremen successfully intercepted the ball in the frontcourt, they passed the ball to the right in just two or three steps.

After getting the ball on the right, Lin Quan cut into the penalty area and suddenly made a straight pass to De Bruyne.

De Bruyne made a low cross that was very penetrating.

He directly passed the goalkeeper and found Lin Quan!

Facing the empty goal, Lin Quan easily pushed the ball into the goal, changing the score to 3:0. This goal completely killed the suspense of the game.

After falling behind by a large margin, Stuttgart lost all fighting spirit and the initiative on the field was completely controlled by Werder Bremen.

In the 81st minute, Schaff chose to make a substitution.

He replaced Lin Quan, the hero of the victory who had provided two assists and scored a goal, and let him accept the cheers of the fans.

Lin Quan trotted towards the bench and applauded the fans in the stands.

Thank you for your support and companionship this season!

After this game, he may never have the chance to wear the green jersey of Werder Bremen again.

The fans at the scene were also very respectful. Except for the fans of Stuttgart, more than 40,000 fans stood up and applauded Lin Quan.

Two minutes later, Schaaf replaced De Bruyne again.

Let him also accept the applause from the fans at the scene.

This was also De Bruyne's last game for Werder Bremen.

His eyes were a little red when he left the court. After hugging Ekizi who came on as a substitute, he stood on the sidelines, looking at the court and his teammates on the field, and was reluctant to return to the bench.

Although Stuttgart tried to change the score after Werder Bremen's two main players left the field.

But their attack failed to gain any results.

In the end, Werder Bremen won the German Cup final with a score of 3:0 and became the champion, winning the first championship trophy in nearly four seasons!

To the sound of Queen's classic song "We Are the Champions", all the players of Werder Bremen stepped onto the podium.

In the 2012-2013 season, Werder Bremen's golden generation was frozen at this moment.

A new journey is about to begin! (End of this chapter)