Chapter 552: No Golden Ball in the Bundesliga
As a player from a football-weak country, even though he is already a superstar, Allen's trip had a profound impact on Su Dong, because it was his first time to come to such a remote small town and get in close contact with the grassroots fans.
On the way back to Munich, Su Dong talked a lot with Heynckes. He found that many things were different from what he had understood before. This gave him a deeper understanding of the entire system of European professional football.
When Heynckes talked with Su Dong, the topic he mentioned most was football culture.
It not only includes stars, games and victories, but also every team, whether it is a giant or a team from a lower league, has been able to take root in the region for so many years because they all have a unique culture.
Real Madrid represents the high and mighty aristocracy, so even their nickname is the famous Galacticos. Atletico Madrid represents the working class, so their nickname is the Bed Sheet Army. Barcelona is destined to be the spiritual banner of the Catalonia region, and Athletic Bilbao represents the spiritual heritage of the Basque region.
This is true not only in La Liga but also in the Premier League. Every Premier League team has its own group of local diehard fans. In Manchester, the top club is Manchester United, but the club with the most local fans is Manchester City. They represent two different cultures and forces.
The same is true in the Bundesliga.
Bayern Munich has a nickname, Green Hollywood.
As the undisputed leader of the Bundesliga, Bayern is also unswervingly following the internationalization route, introducing superstars and players, and competing with other top European teams. But on the other hand, they have never forgotten their local fans.
Because in Munich, in Germany, is the foundation of Bayern Munich! Heynckes said something that left a deep impression on Su Dong.
"Bayern may not be international, it may not be the Bayern of the world, but it must be Munich, it must be the Bayern of Germany!"
"Without internationalization, Bayern will at best lose the qualification to dominate world football. If they abandon Munich and Germany, Bayern will surely die!"
Su Dong is somewhat puzzled by this point, because from the current perspective, the income brought by globalization is very considerable.
For example, in the Premier League, the sales of overseas copyrights have almost caught up with domestic copyrights.
"This is the difference between the Germans and the British in their understanding of professional football. Since the establishment of the Premier League, they have in fact been gradually abandoning their roots and becoming a game of capital. And the whole trend is intensifying with the influx of capital."
"When Murdoch wanted to acquire Manchester United, many Manchester United fans stood up to oppose it. They even formed the Red Rebels, claiming to uphold the traditions of the Red Devils. But why did the Glazer family stop doing that?"
Heynckes' questions made Su Dong a little overwhelmed.
"Because they found that when the management invested capital again and again, and even the head coach Ferguson stopped resisting, Manchester United was no longer the Manchester United in their minds."
"The global market can never replace the local market, because only in the local market are there a group of die-hard fans who identify most with the football culture of the club. They will unwaveringly support you regardless of whether you have superstars, championships or excellent results. And this support is the foundation for the team to turn around the crisis."
"The support and recognition from local fans is based on the exchanges that have accumulated over many years. The first jersey they wear may be the jersey of this team, the first player they know is the star of this club, and the first slogan they shout is to cheer for the club. These are things that globalization cannot give us."
"How loyal can the fans brought about by globalization be? How many of them admire and like you because you are strong now? When you are in crisis one day and your strength is no longer there, will they switch to another team? Not to mention, the level of spending by fans around the world on teams is far behind that of local fans."
After Heynckes' analysis, Su Dong immediately felt enlightened.
He suddenly understood why Bayern's ticket prices were the lowest among many European giants? Why did the Bundesliga teams still insist on standing tickets? Why did the Bundesliga insist on the 50-plus-1 policy? Why was Bayern so strong in business operations, but its globalization speed was obviously behind Manchester United and Real Madrid? And why did strong teams like Bayern have to start playing from the first round in the German Cup?
To put it bluntly, this is the difference in concepts.
Perhaps the Germans are conservative, but this is their philosophy, and they manage and operate their league system based on this philosophy.
What is local is global!
Heynckes suddenly smiled at Su Dong and said, "Actually, you just haven't figured it out, but you've been doing it all the time."
"Really?" Su Dong was a little stunned. What did he do? "As far as I know, over the years, many national teams have wanted to invite you to become a naturalized player, but you have rejected them all because you are only willing to play for the Chinese national team. This proves that in your heart, you have always agreed with this view and practice. Also, your attitude towards Chinese fans and reporters is obviously completely different from that towards others. It is a kind of intimacy that comes from the heart and cannot be hidden, such as that time in Hong Kong."
Su Dong smiled awkwardly. He really hadn't thought about these things. He just simply believed that he was a Chinese.
He is a professional player and playing football is his profession.
He is a Chinese first, and a professional football player second! "You may not realize that it is your persistence that makes you stand out from the crowd!"
Heynckes' words made Su Dong fall into thought again.
He is a person who likes to think a lot, and he is also a Virgo who likes to be entangled.
…………
…………
November 3rd afternoon, Allianz Arena, Munich.
In the twelfth round of the Bundesliga, Bayern will face Frankfurt at home.
Just fourteen seconds into the game, Frankfurt took the lead, but the ball was intercepted by Bayern's midfielder. Ribery made a diagonal pass behind him from the left, Su Dong quickly followed up, stopped the ball with his chest into the penalty area, and volleyed with his left foot, scoring the first goal for Bayern.
One to zero!
The goal lasted until the end of the game.
Bayern beat Frankfurt 1-0.
…………
…………
In the middle of the week, in the fourth round of the Champions League group stage, Bayern will challenge Lazio away.
The game was very intense. Bayern scored a goal in the first half, with Su Dong opening the scoring for Bayern.
But in the second half, Bayern's defense and goalkeeper Rensing made mistakes, allowing Lazio to equalize with two goals.
Just before the end of the game, with a corner kick opportunity, Su Dong headed the ball to Pepe, who jumped high and headed the ball into the goal, equalizing the score for Bayern.
In the end, Bayern drew 2-2 with Lazio away.
In another match that was taking place at the same time, Real Madrid drew 0-0 with Olympiacos away from home.
…………
…………
This weekend, in the 13th round of the Bundesliga, Bayern will challenge Stuttgart away.
Although both teams participated in the Champions League, Stuttgart's performance this season has not been satisfactory. It is currently only ranked eleventh in the Bundesliga and suffered four consecutive defeats in the Champions League group stage, which has forced Stuttgart to concentrate all its forces on the league.
On the other hand, Bayern consumed more energy in the Champions League, especially the impact of continuous two-line battles and injuries, which finally caused the team's condition to fluctuate.
Demichelis, who replaced Pepe in the first half, made two consecutive mistakes. First, he headed the ball and Gomez scored a goal. Then he failed to clear the ball and passed it to the opponent, resulting in the second goal.
At the beginning of the second half, Lucio was too anxious in defense, his movements were too big, he elbowed his opponent and was sent off with a red card.
To make matters worse, Bayern had to adopt a defensive stance with one man down.
It was not until the 76th minute that Su Dong scored a goal for Bayern through a quick counterattack, dribbling past two players.
But Su Dong's goal could not prevent Bayern from losing 1-2 away.
…
Bayern lost!
The winning streak ended at round twelve!
After suffering the first draw of the season in the middle of the week, Bayern suffered their first league defeat at the weekend, which made everyone realize that after a brilliant start, Bayern's form had declined.
Su Dong continued to perform stably, but his teammates around him, including Ribery and Modric, were in declining form. Lucio's elbow also proved that his form was problematic.
After the game, Heynckes said that he was responsible for the defeat, but he refused to admit that Bayern was in crisis. He only thought that it was a normal ups and downs in the players' condition and believed that the team would recover soon.
…
After the 13th round of the Bundesliga, the European league was suspended again and two weeks of national team match days were ushered in.
It was also during this period that FIFA announced the top three candidates for the 2007 World Footballer of the Year award.
What was extremely surprising was that Su Dong was not elected!
Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi!
When the top three candidates for FIFA's World Player of the Year were announced, the whole world was shocked.
Why was Su Dong not selected? A FIFA spokesperson quickly came out to explain that the reason why Su Dong was not selected was that he only won one league championship with Bayern in the past year. Although he did perform well throughout 2007, he still lacked something.
Not only that, the French media also broke the news that Su Dong was not shortlisted in the top three in the Golden Ball Award selected by French Football Magazine. However, the French media said it more bluntly, that is, Su Dong's performance in the Bundesliga was not convincing.
To put it bluntly, the Bundesliga’s influence is not enough!
Regarding this situation, the media, fans, and even professionals were quickly divided into two camps. Some believed that Su Dong should be selected, while others believed that from the day Su Dong left Barcelona, he had lost hope of winning the Ballon d'Or and the FIFA World Footballer of the Year.
"In the history of the Bundesliga, no player has ever won the FIFA World Player of the Year award. In the past 11 years, the Bundesliga has not won a single Ballon d'Or award, and in the past 26 years, it has only won one Ballon d'Or award."
"If Su Dong wants to win the award, he must leave the Bundesliga as soon as possible!"
Such remarks were heavily criticized by the German media and Bundesliga fans, especially Bayern fans.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
