Chapter 11 Their Cooperation

Although Zhou Yi was surprised and puzzled by Mark's unexpected failure to make the starting lineup, he knew very well that he couldn't let this emotion affect his performance on the field.

After all, he also needed to use the game to win more attention, and the U19 game was a ticket to the first team.

If he didn't perform well in the U19, what was there to talk about the first team?

So when the game started, Zhou Yi focused all his attention on the game.

Essen U19 was indeed not a very strong opponent. Even without Zhou Yi, this Dortmund youth team could defeat the opponent.

It's just that with Zhou Yi, they might win more easily.

From the beginning of the game, the midfielder in the middle frequently received passes from his teammates, and then he distributed the ball.

After a week of training and team games, his teammates had seen Zhou Yi's ability. Although they couldn't explain why, Zhou Yi could quickly find the open space in the game and then pass the ball to the right person.

Head Coach Jebara asked Zhou Yi to be the team's midfield hub, and no one in the whole team opposed this arrangement.

The same was true for Götze, who originally played as an attacking midfielder.

After all, Götze was the first to recognize Zhou Yi's ability.

And Zhou Yi's arrival also changed Götze's position on the field.

He was originally in the middle, but now with Zhou Yi, he was placed on the wing by Head Coach Jebara.

Although Götze was not fast, his dribbling and breakthrough ability was very outstanding, so putting him on the wing could give full play to his advantages in this regard. After reducing the requirements for him to organize the offense, he could free up his ability in breakthroughs and scoring.

It was also a good thing for the Dortmund youth team that Götze didn't have to play multiple roles on the field.

Before that, the Dortmund youth team without Zhou Yi had always used Götze as an all-around player. He was required to organize the offense in the middle, break through on the wing, and finally shoot and score.

Götze's ability was indeed very outstanding among the youth team players, but even if he was outstanding, using one person as three would inevitably weaken Götze's performance on the field.

Now that Zhou Yi had arrived, at first glance it seemed that he had taken Götze's position in the middle, but in fact it had liberated Götze.

So Götze himself was also willing to hand over the right to organize—someone specializing in this job could make him closer to the opponent's goal, which was exactly what he wanted!

As the most skilled player in the youth team, Götze also consciously cooperated more with Zhou Yi, because he found that Zhou Yi was the teammate who could best understand his intentions.

Although he didn't understand why, cooperating with Zhou Yi did give Götze a feeling that they had worked together for many years.

Zhou Yi seemed to know him very well, a feeling that Götze had never felt when he was in the U19.

Although he was a U19 player, he had only arrived two months earlier than Zhou Yi.

He had previously played for the U17 for a long time, and was then directly transferred from the U17 to the first team. After staying in the first team for a while, he was demoted to the U19 because he couldn't play in the games.

When it came to the degree of understanding, his understanding with this group of U19 players was certainly not as good as with the U17.

Most of the time, Götze relied on his super personal ability on the field to drive his other teammates. Fortunately, his teammates were also strong enough to keep up with his rhythm, so he wouldn't be fighting alone. If that were the case, he really wouldn't be able to carry them.

This situation would inevitably gradually improve as Götze's understanding with the other U19 players increased. But it was impossible to say how long it would take, but it certainly wouldn't be too short.

But Götze didn't want to stay in the U19 for too long.

He still wanted to return to the first team as soon as possible and play games in the first team.

How could a person who had already seen the most beautiful scenery on the top of the mountain be willing to stay at the foot of the mountain?

Götze had this idea now.

He came to the U19 to show a better performance, so as to impress first team coach Klopp again, so that he could play in the first team.

He was doing his best to show himself, also for this reason.

But in fact, this approach was not a long-term solution. If he played like this for a long time, he would collapse sooner or later, because his body couldn't bear it.

He had been in the U19 for more than two months, and had already scored eight goals, and also had four assists. His performance could not be said to be bad.

But after all, he was a player who was not yet seventeen years old. In the U19 with this intensity of competition, relying on personal ability alone would not take him far.

He also needed help.

Now Zhou Yi was here.

He could finally unload some of the burden, which was a good thing for him.

Moreover, the ability Zhou Yi showed in training also made Götze more willing to seek cooperation with Zhou Yi.

At the same time, for Zhou Yi, cooperating with Götze also reduced the defensive pressure he faced. He didn't always have to control the ball at his feet and fall into a melee with the opponent. In the most heavily defended area, he could pass the ball to Götze, let Götze attract the opponent's defensive attention, and then receive Götze's pass and quickly pass the ball into the open space.

In this way, the chances of the situation in the Ruhr derby against the U17, where he was annoyed by being followed closely by Peter Lack, would be greatly reduced.

Götze frequently passed the ball to Zhou Yi.

And Zhou Yi also frequently passed the ball to Götze.

Although their first meeting in the U19 was a bit fiery, this did not affect their relationship on the field.

※※※

At Zhou Yi's first U19 game, Lars Ricken, the youth training director who watched the game from the sidelines, couldn't help but sigh after watching only twenty minutes of the game: "The performance and feeling of the two of them are simply beyond the reach of their other teammates. I'm not surprised that Götze has such a performance, but I'm really surprised that Zhou Yi can also have such a performance in the U19..."

Jebara said: "In terms of football awareness, Zhou Yi's level is very high. Now what is restricting him is only his physical condition."

Ricken nodded and imagined in his mind what a Zhou Yi with qualified physical strength would be like… He felt that he could go directly to the first team.

So he asked: "How is Zhou Yi's strength training going?"

" Wang Le said he is working very hard. Fortunately, this kid is in the development stage, and his body is changing a lot. As long as the strength training is correct and scientific, it will have good results. Unfortunately, precisely because he is in a period of rapid physical development, he must be especially careful of injury. Once injured at this time, it is easy to cause frequent injuries, which will affect his entire career," Jebara said.

Ricken stroked his chin: "But with the position and role Zhou Yi plays, he will inevitably be targeted by the opponent in the game, and the chance of injury is higher than that of ordinary players..."

"So we have to protect him. In addition, Zhou Yi himself is very smart. You see, he doesn't let the ball stay at his feet for too long during the game," Jebara pointed to Zhou Yi and said.

Zhou Yi passed the ball away just before an Essen U19 player rushed up. He did not fall into the encirclement, and controlled the ball from being passed out, so he would only attract the siege of several players from the other side, and it would be hard to say what would happen in the melee.

In fact, not only this time, nor only this game, Zhou Yi rarely stuck the ball to his feet in other games. Although his ball control skills were not bad, otherwise he would not have been able to break through from the national selection with so many people participating. At that time, the selection assessment projects were all the most basic football skills, such as passing, shooting, and ball control.

Zhou Yi's ability to win shows that he is not bad in this regard.

But Zhou Yi himself was not the kind of player who liked to keep the ball at his feet all the time, then pass several people in a row, either to kick the ball into the goal, or to be intercepted by the opponent.

He wasn't like that when he was a forward, and even less so after he switched to midfield.

He obviously knew very well that as a midfield organizer, it was not a good thing to always control the ball at his feet.

Zhou Yi's academic performance was average, but that didn't mean he wasn't smart. He was still willing to use his brain when it came to football.

※※※

Götze's personal strength was strong enough, and now Zhou Yi was added.

The two people's tacit cooperation in the frontcourt allowed Dortmund U19 to completely suppress Essen U19.

At the end of the first half, Dortmund led the opponent 2:0 at home.

However, Schneider didn't score, and Götze scored one goal. This goal was assisted by Zhou Yi.

The other goal was scored by Daniel Ginczek.

It wasn't that Zhou Yi didn't deliberately pass the ball to Schneider. If Schneider had a good chance, Zhou Yi would indeed pass the ball over, but Schneider himself was disappointing, so he couldn't blame others for not scoring.

Schneider was tall and burly, with a height of one meter ninety. He was excellent at heading the ball, but his offensive methods were too simple. Apart from heading the ball, his other abilities were not strong.

And Zhou Yi himself was not good at crossing, so he would not pull to the wing to send crosses to Schneider. Basically, he gave him some through balls or horizontal passes. When facing this kind of pass, Schneider was not very good at handling it.

Of course, maybe Schneider would think that Zhou Yi was deliberately making things difficult for him?

After all, his relationship with Zhou Yi was not very good…

But in fact, Schneider was overthinking it.

He was able to enter the U19, not because he was really outstanding in strength, but because Marco Stiepermann, one of the original main forwards of the U19, was seriously injured and absent for the entire season, so he was transferred from the U17.

However, Schneider was used to feeling good about himself, so he thought it was because of his outstanding strength that he was favored by the U19 coach…

※※※

After the halftime break, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half. Dortmund U19 still controlled the initiative on the field.

They scored two more goals. Schneider finally had a goal, which was scored by heading the ball in the corner kick.

Seeing Schneider score, Mark on the bench looked dim.

In the sixty-ninth minute of the game, Zhou Yi was replaced by Jebara.

Although Zhou Yi's physical strength had been greatly improved, there was no need for him to insist on playing the entire game for this kind of non-critical game. On the other hand, Jebara was also worried that there would be a risk of injury if Zhou Yi continued to stay on the field.

In fact, this was also Jebara's positioning for Zhou Yi.

If it wasn't a very difficult game, he didn't intend to let Zhou Yi play the entire game. Although his physical strength was better than before, it was still a bit difficult for him to complete a ninety-minute game without difficulty.

Jebara did not insist that Zhou Yi must play the full ninety-minute game. There was nothing wrong with replacing him early.

When Zhou Yi left the field, some Dortmund fans applauded.

As Zhou Yi's first show in the U19, his performance was still good. Although his assists were not as dazzling as in the U17, with only one assist, he participated in almost all four goals.

His ability to control and organize in the midfield was obvious to all fans.

With him, Götze was also liberated and could concentrate more on attacking, so Götze scored two goals in this game.

This thin No. 23 player was a stranger to the U19, but he was not stage fright at all.

So when he left the field, the Dortmund fans generously gave their applause.

When he left the field, Jebara also shook hands with Zhou Yi.

As the head coach, he was also very satisfied with Zhou Yi's performance.

Apart from being thin and weak and having poor physical strength, he had nothing to complain about for such a player.

※※※

After leaving the field, Zhou Yi sat next to Mark. He also wanted to comfort Mark.

But when he saw him coming, Mark took the initiative to reach out and said to Zhou Yi with a smile, "You performed really well, Zhou Yi!"

Looking at the smile on Mark's face, Zhou Yi was a little surprised—had this kid recovered?

Seeming to understand the meaning of Zhou Yi's expression, Mark explained: "I wasn't idle when you were playing on the field. I thought about it carefully. It's indeed a bit... too optimistic to want to play as a starter after only being in the U19 for a week. So I think as long as I continue to train hard, I will definitely get the chance to start."

Zhou Yi didn't expect Mark to be able to say such a thing. He was happy for Mark, and he also breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. It seemed that Mark had not been knocked down by this blow.

So he patted Mark's shoulder hard and said to him: "That's right, keep working hard!"