Chapter 12 He Is the Core

When Hoffmann scored, the parents of the Dortmund youth team players in the stands cheered. Naturally, the loudest cheers came from Hoffmann's parents.

The Wagners were also happy for Zhou Yi, since he had assisted on the goal. As seasoned fans, Mr. and Mrs. Wagner could also see how important Zhou Yi's role was in this team.

He was the core of the team's midfield.

This was the first time they had witnessed Zhou Yi play in person. Recalling what their son, Mark, had vividly described at the dinner table after returning home, they realized that Mark hadn't been exaggerating…

Cottana wasn't as excited as her parents. While they jumped up and cheered, Cottana simply clapped her hands.

She didn't care how well Zhou Yi played. She was here to support her brother. It wasn't her brother who scored, so what was there to be happy about?

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Dortmund's celebration didn't last long. Everyone just gathered around to congratulate Hoffmann, who scored, and Zhou Yi, who assisted.

After all, it was just a friendly, and the opponent wasn't that strong. There was no need to celebrate wildly after scoring a goal.

On the way back to his own half, Zhou Yi replayed the entire attacking process in his mind.

This goal proved that the experience he had accumulated in the fifAoL3 world was effective.

After battling the Düsseldorf youth team eight times in fifAoL3, Zhou Yi discovered that the team always had some problems between their left center back and left back.

Their left back had good attacking ability compared to their right back. Therefore, when attacking, the Düsseldorf youth team coach definitely consciously asked their left back to go forward. This already left hidden dangers on the left flank, coupled with their left center back's weak awareness of covering, which meant that once the left back went up to assist, their left flank became relatively empty.

These things couldn't be seen just by looking at player data, you had to play against them and analyze their performance in the matches.

Every time after a match in the virtual system, it didn't just end there. Zhou Yi would also analyze the match with Chu Ling, discussing his performance and the opponent's performance.

One of the benefits of having a system assistant was that if he wasn't very confident about the situation at the time, he could have Chu Ling directly replay the match, turning it into a game video for him to watch.

And it was a video with no blind spots from various angles. He could observe from any angle he wanted, as if cameras were placed all around the player.

These post-match analyses also helped Zhou Yi improve his ability to read the game.

He was sure that the Düsseldorf youth team's biggest weakness in this game was the space between their left center back and left back.

So Zhou Yi said to Mark, who was next to him, "Mark, next time you can try to move around in the area between their left center back and left back, look for opportunities. I think there will be more chances than you staying between the two center backs."

Mark wasn't surprised by why Zhou Yi would say that, and just nodded. "Okay."

After spending more than a month with Zhou Yi day and night, and more than half a month of special training in the game, he already understood that Zhou Yi's ability to read and analyze games was extremely strong.

Besides, he himself had actually seen some signs, because Hoffmann's goal was scored on that side.

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When the game restarted, Mark really did switch to the area between the opponent's left center back and left back to roam and move.

And Zhou Yi also consciously passed the ball to that side more often.

After he organized the attack there multiple times, without him shouting and yelling, the Dortmund youth team players naturally regarded that side as their breakthrough point. Full-backs, wingers, plus forwards… everyone took turns attacking that side.

Making the Düsseldorf youth team flustered and very embarrassed to deal with.

Then, in the eleventh minute, Zhou Yi orchestrated an attack on this side. He was originally going to cut inside, but suddenly passed the ball out.

Mark ran cleverly, received Zhou Yi's pass without being offside, turned and broke into the penalty area, then shot, the ball hit the inside of the post and bounced into the net.

2:0!

Mark was stunned for a moment after scoring, then ran excitedly towards Zhou Yi.

"Quick! Pinch me!" He said to Zhou Yi. "Let me see if this is a dream!"

Zhou Yi grabbed Mark's cheeks with both hands and said to him, "Idiot! Of course this isn't a dream!"

"Ahahaha!" Hearing Zhou Yi say that, Mark happily hugged Zhou Yi. He hugged him so hard that Zhou Yi was almost out of breath.

"If you don't let go… no one will assist you anymore, Mark! You still have two goals to score!" Zhou Yi had to remind Mark.

Mark then let him go, but still had an uncontrollable smile on his face, and didn't know what to do with his hands, so he simply gesticulated wildly.

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In the stands, Mark's parents and his sister jumped up from their seats at the same time as Mark scored, cheering for their son and brother.

"Mark scored! He scored in his first start! This is really a good sign!" Mrs. Wagner shouted excitedly.

Old Wagner was also very excited, his face was flushed, he clapped his hands hard, and kept repeating in his mouth: "Good! Good! Great!"

Cottana was a little calmer than her parents. After jumping up and cheering, she changed to clapping.

After all, she still didn't want her brother to really take the path of professional football.

But her brother scoring a goal was always something to be happy about, and it would be too much to say if she was indifferent.

So although she felt conflicted, Cottana still applauded for her brother.

But then she found that her inner entanglement was getting deeper and deeper.

Because her brother… scored another goal ten minutes later, a brace!

And the person who assisted her brother was still Zhou Yi!

The score on the field was 3:0, and Zhou Yi also completed an assist hat-trick.

Cottana still applauded for her brother, but felt a little wrong in her heart…

Ever since her brother could play as a starter in the team when he was a child, he had always been a substitute. This was also an important reason why she persuaded herself to give up her dream of professional football - your talent is actually not suitable for playing professional football, instead of wasting youth and time, it is better to make plans early.

But now, her brother started in this game and scored twice!

Even if she wasn't a hardcore fan, how could she not understand football in a country with such a strong football culture?

She knew very well what a brace meant.

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Fortunately, her brother didn't score any more goals after that.

After leading by three goals, Zhou Yi slowed down the speed and rhythm. As the speed of this core slowed down, Dortmund's rhythm also slowed down. But this didn't mean that the Düsseldorf youth team had a chance - in the beginning, they really thought they had a chance, but seeing Zhou Yi, who had slowed down, suddenly speed up, Dortmund launched a counterattack and almost scored, the Düsseldorf youth team became much more honest.

Seeing Zhou Yi deliberately slowing down the pace, coach Eckel nodded.

This was a smart move. Maintaining a high pace for a long time, although the game would look good, would consume a lot of physical strength and it would be difficult to recover in the future. Moreover, when leading by three goals, there was no reason to continue to maintain a fast pace.

Zhou Yi's approach showed that he already had experience in dealing with official matches. He knew how to control the team's rhythm and how to save energy.

The Dortmund youth team ended the first half with a three-goal lead.

After changing sides in the second half, they again passed the ball back and forth at the beginning, first firmly controlling the ball at their feet, and then slowly looking for opportunities.

Under continuous passing, it was easy to create some gaps.

In the fiftieth minute, Dortmund scored another goal, 4:0!

This goal… was still assisted by Zhou Yi!

Four assists, orchestrating all the team's goals, in addition to creating seven shooting opportunities, but his teammates didn't seize them. Under his command, the Dortmund youth team was running smoothly. Although this was also due to the Düsseldorf youth team's poor strength, Zhou Yi's importance to the Dortmund youth team was self-evident.

Looking at Zhou Yi's performance, a thought suddenly appeared in Eckel's mind - perhaps, this Chinese boy, won't stay under his command for too long…

Just three minutes after the Dortmund youth team scored their fourth goal.

Zhou Yi once again sent a beautiful through ball in front of the penalty area. At the same time as he passed the ball, Mark also ran into the gap, turned to receive the ball and cut inside in one go, then shot!

The ball flew into the Düsseldorf youth team's goal for the fifth time!

"I did it! Zhou Yi! I did it!!" Mark ran madly towards Zhou Yi after scoring, and then hugged him. "Thank you!"

"Don't thank me, you scored this goal yourself!" Zhou Yi patted him hard on the back, and was also happy for Mark.

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"Hat-trick!!" Mrs. Wagner raised her arms and shouted, then hugged her husband. "Mark completed a hat-trick!! Great!!"

But Cottana stood there blankly, without cheering or clapping.

Hat trick?

Her ten-thousand-year substitute brother actually completed a hat-trick after starting?!

What… is going on?

Looking at the ecstatic expression on her brother's face after scoring, Cottana could feel her brother's joy even from dozens of meters away.

She could almost see something churning in the depths of her brother's heart, permeating out through every pore of his body, surrounding him in a soft halo.

And looking at the smile on his face when her brother hugged Zhou Yi…

This smile struck Cottana, making her stunned - how long had it been since she had seen such a confident smile on her brother's face?