The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills

Chapter 459 - 96: Leader Wang Shuo Wins the Super Cup

"Of course they’d be willing. No matter how you look at it, the working environment in China can’t be worse than back in their home countries, can it?"

Wang Shuo had heard a few things about Eastern Europe. It wasn’t just the corruption—the bigger issue was how shady and chaotic things were.

For example, Mandzukic came from Dinamo Zagreb, the same Croatian powerhouse that Modric came from. The chairman was said to be very shady, and crucially, he kept the annual salaries extremely low.

There were even rumors that they were constantly involved in match-fixing.

Wang Shuo immediately went to learn more about the situation from Klopp.

As a player, he was in the dark about many things. But Klopp, having been in the football world for so many years and being a renowned German manager, certainly had access to far more information than Wang Shuo.

In fact, he told Wang Shuo to ask Lars Ricken for help with this matter.

Why?

Because Lars Ricken was now Dortmund’s youth academy director.

Never mind anything else—just look at the present. How many youth coaches from Eastern Europe were working in Germany?

And then there was assistant coach Zeliko Buvac. He was from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, and he had plenty of connections in places like Serbia and Croatia.

Wang Shuo made some inquiries. Upon returning to Dortmund, he immediately called Gao Huairen back in China.

"Wang Shuo, you’ve really done us a huge favor this time!"

On the other end of the line, Gao Huairen was so excited he practically jumped for joy.

The training cage was a high-tech piece of equipment. Wang Shuo only had access to it because he was in one of the world’s top industrial powerhouses.

Never mind whether they could make full use of it—just importing a system like this would inevitably give the domestic football industry a massive boost and make everyone aware of the development gap.

Hearing this, Wang Shuo got excited too. "In that case, I’ll make a call later and order an extra set. It’ll be convenient for research back home."

And who was Gao Huairen?

Of course he understood what Wang Shuo meant by "research."

But what excited Gao Huairen the most was the topic of youth coaches.

"You have no idea. Everyone says we lack a pool of young players, that kids just don’t play football anymore. But no one stops to think that what we’re really missing is coaches. Excellent youth coaches."

"Even when it comes to developing football in schools and communities, our biggest obstacle is still the lack of youth coaches."

"If, as you say, the youth coaches from Eastern Europe are both high-quality and affordable, then given our relationships with those countries, it shouldn’t be a problem to bring them over. We could then use their advanced training methods to guide and develop our own coaches."

As soon as he opened his mind and saw the bigger picture, the problem that had been troubling Gao Huairen suddenly became clear.

"Alright, I’ll start preparing on my end immediately. I’ll organize an investigative delegation and find a time for us to go to Europe and take a look."

Of course, importing the training cage wouldn’t be that simple.

After all, it was imported equipment, so all the necessary procedures and paperwork had to be completed without fail.

Wang Shuo also explained that there was no rush, as the training cages were all custom-built.

Now that they had reached an agreement, Wang Shuo prepared to get things moving on his end.

However, he delegated all of these matters to Thomas Essien.

If Gao Huairen’s investigative delegation came to Europe, Thomas Essien would be in charge of liaising with them as well.

His top priority was to focus on training and playing in matches.

This whole affair made him truly appreciate the importance of being a trailblazer.

The higher he climbed, the more access he had to advanced information.

What might seem like a simple matter to him could serve as a crucial catalyst for the development of the football industry back home.

So, he had to keep pushing himself, to keep climbing higher.

The higher, the better!

...

Goalkeepers: Weidenfeller, Fuerher, Langelaak;

Defenders: Subotic, Hummels, Santana, Mark Hornschuh, Schmelzer, De De, Owomoyela, Piszczek;

Midfielders: Shahin, Gundogan, Sven Bender, Kael, Foyelner, Klinger, Götze, Antonio Da Silva, Letalek;

Forwards: Wang Shuo, Reus, Kuba, Grosskreutz, Lewandowski, Daniel Ginczek.

After the Dortmund squad was trimmed down, the 26-man list above was the team’s roster for the Bundesliga and Champions League competitions.

But as the summer pre-season began, and especially after Dortmund played a few friendly matches, Wang Shuo could clearly sense some changes within the team.

First, the players’ confidence and ambition had grown.

Winning the Bundesliga and UEFA Europa League double last season had been a massive morale boost. Everyone was ambitious, eager to make their mark on the Champions League stage this season.

This was especially true for Wang Shuo.

For him, the UEFA Europa League was nowhere near enough.

The stage he truly craved was the Champions League.

To go head-to-head with top-tier giants like Real Madrid, Barça, Inter Milan, and Manchester United!

The other Dortmund players felt much the same way.

As a result, everyone was especially fired up during training.

Secondly, with the arrival of players like Piszczek, Gundogan, and Lewandowski, Dortmund’s overall strength had improved, and competition within the squad had started to intensify.

The starting lineup was largely a continuation of the one from last season.

Goalkeeper: Weidenfeller;

Defense: Schmelzer, Hummels, Subotic, and the right-back;

Midfield: Shahin and Sven Bender forming a double pivot, with Reus, Götze, and Kuba in front of them;

Forward: Wang Shuo.

Even after recovering from his injury, it would be difficult for De De to dislodge Schmelzer from the starting left-back position.