Freiburg's head coach, Streich, sat on the bench, watching the game.

Before the match, he had carefully studied Dortmund and Zhou Yi, who had suddenly emerged in Dortmund this season. He was fortunate that Dortmund had found such a midfield core, as Freiburg's current tactics could perfectly counter Dortmund. There was no need for any specific targeted training.

He only needed to sit on the bench and watch Freiburg use their signature cage to trap Dortmund, the beast.

The first ten minutes of the game showed that Freiburg's high pressing forced Dortmund to deal with the pressure in their own half, making it difficult to get the ball forward.

This proved the tactics were successful and effective.

Next, Freiburg needed to score as soon as possible.

After all, no matter how much advantage they gained on the field, it would be useless if it couldn't be converted into goals.

And scoring was precisely what Streich was most worried about.

He wondered when Freiburg's first goal would come...

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In the first ten minutes, Dortmund experimented with Freiburg's tactics, and they found that their opponents were indeed pressing high and fiercely.

If they hadn't done targeted training in the past week, they might have been at a loss now.

But now it was different.

They had targeted training, and they also had the trident.

During a dead ball situation, Zhou Yi, Götze, and Mark gathered together.

"How does it feel?" Zhou Yi asked the other two.

"I feel like it's not as difficult as the 'game' in training," Götze said truthfully.

"Uh, it's not as difficult as I thought either..." Mark also said.

"It seems that the three of us feel the same way. Our usual special training is perfect for dealing with them, so let them see how powerful we are!" Zhou Yi said. "Quick passes and quick runs!"

"Okay!" Mark responded.

Then the three of them quickly separated and returned to their respective positions.

The game resumed, and the ball was quickly passed to Zhou Yi.

A Freiburg defender was closely marking Zhou Yi.

This was Streich's tactical arrangement.

Someone had to mark Zhou Yi closely, preventing him from receiving and passing the ball comfortably.

But Streich probably didn't know that during Yebala's usual training sessions, two people followed Zhou Yi every step of the way...

So Zhou Yi, who was used to that kind of treatment in the game, felt that it was easy with only one person following him...

He didn't wait in place to receive the ball, but ran towards it. The Freiburg player responsible for marking him had to chase after him.

Zhou Yi didn't stop the ball, but passed it sideways.

He passed it to Götze, who was not far from him.

Then he turned and ran forward.

The Freiburg player following him had just run over and had to turn back to chase.

As soon as he turned around, he saw Götze pass the ball back to Zhou Yi, who was surging forward, so he accelerated towards Zhou Yi.

But before he could get there, Zhou Yi passed the ball again... He passed it to Mark in front.

Mark had his back to the direction of the attack, and Freiburg's center-back, Sorge, was pressing against him, making it difficult to turn around.

But he didn't intend to turn around with the ball, but directly passed the ball back to Zhou Yi.

Then he turned and ran forward.

Sorge, who was pressing against him, didn't run back with him, but ran forward, towards Zhou Yi.

He completely left Mark behind.

He wasn't worried at all that the ball would be passed to Mark later, or rather, he hoped Zhou Yi would pass it that way, because that would mean Dortmund's attack would end there!

He ran forward as requested by the coach, because Freiburg's high-pressing tactics meant that their defensive line was often very far from the goalkeeper, which required them to use offside traps more often when defending.

This way, if the opponent was anxious to launch a counterattack, they would easily fall into Freiburg's offside trap.

With an offside trap and a goalkeeper with a wide range of movement, Streich had tried his best to make up for the weaknesses of high pressing. From the league, the effect was not bad.

Sure enough, when Sorge went to press, he saw Zhou Yi pass the ball behind him, so he raised his arm high, signaling that Dortmund's number twenty-five was offside.

But he didn't hear the referee's whistle... Looking back, the ball didn't fly to the number twenty-five in the center, but to the wing, where Mario Götze received the ball!

A cry of surprise rang out from the stands!

Sorge was stunned - even if it was Götze, Götze was offside!

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Freiburg's head coach Streich, who had been sitting on the bench, was originally prepared to watch how Dortmund would be trapped by the cage he had prepared.

But now he saw Zhou Yi pass the ball behind Sorge!

The ball landed at Götze's feet!

He also thought he would hear the referee's whistle.

But no, he turned his gaze to the linesman and found that the linesman was not raising the flag, but was running along!

Streich was so shocked that he stood up directly from his seat!

This ball was actually... not offside!

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"Good ball, a wonderful pass from Dortmund's midfielder, Zhou Yi, not offside!" said Marcel Reif, the commentator in charge of commentating on the game.

He saw it clearly from the commentary box. If Zhou Yi passed the ball to Mark, it would of course be offside, but Götze was coming from behind. After Mark attracted the attention of Freiburg's defenders, he suddenly cut inside from the wing, a diagonal run, avoiding putting himself in an offside position.

This series of continuous passes by Dortmund's midfield caught his eye. As a commentator who usually commentates on Bundesliga and Champions League matches, he had seen many beautiful combinations. In his opinion, Dortmund's attacking combination was not worse than those played by first-team players.

Dortmund's three small players caught Reif's attention.

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After receiving the ball, Götze did not hesitate. Although he was not sure if he was offside, whether he was offside or not was up to the referees. As long as the referee's whistle didn't sound, he would keep dribbling forward until he put the ball into the goal.

He looked up and looked ahead - it was boundless, as vast as a prairie...

What was there to hesitate about?

Let's gallop as much as you want!

Götze dribbled towards Freiburg's goal!

The Freiburg fans in the stands let out terrified boos, but they were quickly drowned out by the shouts of the Dortmund fans.

When Götze was dribbling, Freiburg's goalkeeper, Oliver Baumann, also chose to abandon his goal and attack.

In fact, when Zhou Yi passed the ball over, Baumann rushed directly out of the goal.

Regardless of whether the ball was offside, this was what he had to do. If it was offside, it would be nothing more than a false alarm. But what if it wasn't offside? His move could buy him a little more time. After all, if he waited until he saw the opposing player receive the ball before attacking, the opponent would be very calm.

Baumann's habit could effectively increase his defensive range, allowing him to clear those balls that were missed by the defensive line in time.

But this time...

Even if he attacked in time, he was still a little overwhelmed...

When Götze, who received the ball, saw Baumann choose to abandon his goal and attack, he directly chose to chip the ball!

When Baumann ran to the vicinity of the penalty spot, Götze shot!

The ball was spun into a parabola by him, flying towards the goal in the air.

Baumann quickly retreated, then jumped into the air, raised his arm, trying to push Götze's chip out...

Unfortunately, he didn't touch anything. The ball shot by Götze passed over his palm and went straight into the goal!

1:0!

The game had only started for twelve minutes, and Dortmund u19 was already one goal ahead in the final!

※※※

Seeing the ball fly into the goal, Götze turned and ran towards the bench.

Zhou Yi stood in place, raising his arms high, Mark turned and pounced on him, and the two hugged each other.

"Good job!"

Zhou Yi was not surprised by this goal. In the matches simulated in the virtual system, Zhou Yi initially found it difficult to deal with, but after getting used to the opponent's high pressing, Zhou Yi felt that scoring against Freiburg was not a difficult task.

The space behind the opponent's defensive line was so big, a through ball was all space...

However, scoring so early still made Zhou Yi feel a little unsatisfied - the opponent in the German Youth Cup final was so vulnerable...

He increasingly felt that he couldn't stay in the youth team any longer. He wanted to go to the first team as soon as possible, only there could he continue to improve his strength, otherwise, staying in the youth team would not increase his strength much.

Therefore, although he had completed another assist, Zhou Yi was not too excited, far less than Götze and Mark. He raised his arm, more like a necessary ritual.

But his teammates were very excited, they surrounded him and ran towards the bench, and joined the teammates and coaches on the sidelines, and everyone celebrated together.

Originally, they thought the opponent was a tough bone to crack, and this game might turn into a hard fight.

They were ready.

But who would have thought that they would be leading after only twelve minutes of the game.

The Dortmund u19 players were completely surprised and delighted.

※※※

The Dortmund players who scored were celebrating, while the Freiburg players who lost the ball surrounded the referee, protesting and appealing to him.

They believed that it was an offside goal, and Götze's goal should be invalid.

But both the referee and the linesman insisted on their judgment.

They saw it very clearly that when Dortmund's number twenty-three passed the ball, the number twenty-five was indeed offside, but Götze was not, he was coming from behind.

The timing of the pass and the run were just right.

So, regardless of whether the Freiburg players accepted the reality that "Götze was not offside", they had to accept another reality, that was... they were behind in the final!

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ps, It's the last day of December, the double monthly ticket is still going on, please vote for me!