Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 165

< The Lazy Genius Striker - Episode 165 >

< Episode 164 – Rejuvenation >

Johan neatly outplayed Munich’s captain and fired a shot with fantastic form, beautifully curving the ball into Munich’s goal net.

“Waaaaaaah-!”

“Yeeeeees!”

Everyone on the West Ham bench jumped up and cheered.

And among them, Coach Schmidt reacted the most intensely.

“Khaaaaa-!”

The moment Johan’s goal went in, Coach Schmidt felt as if the cells in his entire body were rejuvenating.

Literally, rejuvenation.

“Come on! Come, on!”

Coach Schmidt ran onto the field inside the touchline, roaring and throwing uppercuts several times.

The fourth official standing nearby tried to stop him, but,

“Khaooooot-!”

“Ouch!”

Coach Schmidt didn’t care and threw an uppercut, and the fourth official almost got punched in the jaw.

It’s a relief he didn’t get hit.

If he had, it would have been a knockout.

“C, come in! Please!”

Coach Jamie hurriedly ran over and struggled to pull Coach Schmidt back in.

Even in the midst of that, Coach Schmidt repeatedly threw uppercuts into the air, showing off his undiminished energy.

“Ugh, how can this old man still have so much strength? Here, have some water.”

“Kheuugh-”

Coach Schmidt chugged down a bottle of water handed to him by Coach Jamie and let out a hearty burp.

It felt like all the indigestion he had been holding in was gone.

It was so refreshing.

“If another goal goes in like this, our old man might collapse.”

“Good. Even if he collapses, he’ll have no regrets, so let’s score three more goals!”

“No, what will we do without you, Coach? It’s only been 10 minutes.”

“What are you talking about? I’m not needed. All we need is Johan. Why else would I be called a coach who relies on his players?”

Coach Schmidt grinned.

Coach Schmidt looked at Johan returning to his position after scoring with loving eyes.

In the meantime, there had been a lot of talk about him being a coach who relies on his players.

But he doesn’t care about those words.

If he can have a player like that, he doesn’t care what he hears.

“You bastards. How does it feel?”

Coach Schmidt looked at the Munich bench and laughed as if he felt relieved.

Honestly, in the past, Coach Schmidt had also thought that way about the Munich coach.

That he was getting everything done by relying on his players.

But now that he’s experiencing it in reverse, how does it feel?

Huh?

“They were having so much fun with this all along.”

Those guys who were in charge of Munich were probably having fun. Even if they did just enough, the players would have taken care of everything.

But even Munich probably didn’t have a guy like that, right?

A player who actually scores when you tell him to score.

*

Bayern fans were very displeased.

No, they felt humiliated, not just displeased.

First of all, conceding a goal in just 7 minutes at this place, the Allianz Arena, was already bad enough.

The fact that the old West Ham coach came out to the field to celebrate was also frowned upon.

But more than anything, the scene of Jerome Stranier collapsing against Johan was so humiliating.

Munich’s captain, and the former captain of the German national team (although he has now retired), was an icon of this team.

He is the spirit of Munich and one of the figures who represents Munich’s football philosophy.

Seeing him collapse pathetically and crawl on the ground was not just infuriating, but also heartbreaking.

“···”

Of course, the most painful one is Stranier himself.

It was the first time he had faced such a bewildering attacker.

An attacker with a speed that he couldn’t even follow with his eyes.

No, of course, he knew it in his head.

That Johan is a player with tremendous speed and also has smooth dribbling skills.

He is a Ballon d’Or winner [an annual football award presented by French news magazine France Football] and West Ham’s undisputed ace.

While preparing for this quarterfinal match, he had watched and analyzed Johan’s videos more than any other Bundesliga [German professional league] attacker, so of course, he knew.

But when he faced him directly, all of those things were useless.

If he had known this would happen, he should have postponed his retirement from the national team by just one year.

If he had, he would have met him at last year’s Euros [European Football Championship], and he wouldn’t be so bewildered now.

“···”

The problem is from now on.

Stranier looks at the scoreboard.

The replay of Johan’s goal is being shown.

Stranier couldn’t even see how he was beaten, so he had no choice but to re-examine the situation on the scoreboard.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

“The grass is a bit slippery, right? Let’s all be careful.”

“It was a mistake. It couldn’t be helped.”

The players comfort their captain.

He is grateful to his teammates, but on the other hand, his pride is hurt.

As a captain, he should be leading his teammates, but he has been disgracefully humiliated.

But now is not the time to think about that.

Pride is not the issue; the problem is what comes next.

Even after watching the replay,

He couldn’t figure out how to stop him.

*

At least for Munich, it was an unexpected start.

Munich is not familiar with the score of 0 to 1 itself. Especially not at this early time.

Munich, who had always shown a perfect game-dominating operation, was now in an unfamiliar situation where they had to follow their opponent.

This season, Munich had no moments that could be called a ‘crisis’, so there are question marks about their ability to cope with crisis situations.

That was West Ham’s expectation.

However, since it is literally a question mark, it is impossible to know whether Munich’s crisis management ability is GOOD or BAD.

What can be confirmed is from now on.

When the first half passed 15 minutes.

Munich quickly realized the problem after seeing Stauter repeatedly recording turnovers in the process of smoothly continuing the build-up from the rear and then connecting to the front.

They had figured out what West Ham was aiming for.

They are putting strong pressure on the left and right sides,

And after deliberately creating a gap for the ball to go to Stauter, they devour it as if they had been waiting for it.

In short, they throw bait and immediately catch it when it is bitten.

From here, there are several ways to modify the attack development in any direction.

Either lower Stauter completely below the half-line.

Or develop the attack using both sides rather than the center.

Or break through head-on, but trust Stauter’s individual ability and make him overcome it somehow.

There were various options to consider, and Munich had to make a choice.

What is clear is that this tournament is not a single match.

There is still a lot of time left today, and there is one more 90-minute game left.

There was still room to try various things.

Munich continues to knock on West Ham’s goal with new routes.

However, West Ham was also building a solid defense to prevent it from leading to a decisive scene.

In any case, Munich figured out West Ham’s intentions before the end of the first half, or even before 20 minutes of the first half had passed, and was showing a willingness to improvise and adapt their tactics.

Munich’s coping ability, which was a question mark.

Based on what we have seen so far, it was a quick move that could never be said to be bad.

Anyway, Munich is Munich.

No matter how much Munich has never been in a crisis this season, it would be even stranger if they were to fall apart in confusion after only a few attacks failed and one goal was conceded.

Clearly, the current situation was not in Munich’s plan, and it was a situation that could be called a crisis.

However, minimizing the crisis.

Furthermore, immediately changing and turning the crisis into an opportunity.

It would be absurd if a team like Munich did not have such a system in place.

Munich’s crisis management system seemed to be working well.

Besides, there is plenty of time.

The power of a strong team is revealed as time goes by.

Rather, conceding a goal early seemed better for Munich.

Because the performance after conceding the goal was good.

Because everyone knew Munich’s appearance was coming out.

Thanks to this, the Munich players did not look like players who were being dragged down 0-1.

The attitude of the fans watching the game is the same.

They are very relaxed.

It seems like they don’t even think that they can turn it around at any time, or that they are being dragged down in the first place.

It seemed like the current situation was not even a situation to use the word crisis.

But that’s the point.

The situation is not even a crisis right now.

In other words, Munich has not yet been put to a real test.

31 minutes into the first half.

West Ham’s counterattack started with Guimarães’ cutting.

Guimarães gave the ball to Gordon, and Gordon passed it to Capello with one touch.

Immediately, Munich’s pressure headed towards Capello, but

Buh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-!

Before the pressure reached, Capello also succeeded in continuing the flow of the pass by returning Gordon’s pass with one touch.

Shuuuuuuuuung-

The ball is connected to the front with just three passes.

The ball heads to Johan.

The right space is empty because Stranier went up for overlapping.

Paah-!

Johan, who had lightly held the ball, began to rush towards the box without delay.

Tatatat-!

Philip Passbender desperately follows.

Passbender also knows that he cannot cleanly stop Johan’s advance with his defensive power, so his hand inevitably went out.

Passbender grabs Johan’s shirt.

However,

“Keuk···!”

Passbender soon regretted it.

That he had only reached out with one hand.

Johan’s strength was so great that it was questionable whether it would be possible to stop him even if he grabbed him with both hands.

Kudangtang-!

Rather, it was Passbender who fell forward,

Tatatat-!

Johan, who shook off Passbender, continued to rush into the box.

Inside the box, Munich’s defenders are waiting with their hands behind their backs.

Because Johan doesn’t hesitate to shoot if he sees an angle anywhere, they are trying to block the shooting angle.

In fact, it was a defensive posture that can be seen as textbook for defenders to put their hands behind their backs in the box.

If they don’t put their hands behind their backs, the opponent’s shot may hit their hand and become a PK [penalty kick awarded for a foul in the penalty area].

Even if it is not intentional, if it results in obstructing a clear effective shot, they cannot avoid the PK.

Therefore, putting your hands behind your back like this is a natural thing.

But the posture of those Munich defenders suddenly made Johan think like this.

It would be difficult to block even if they used both arms freely, but are they thinking that they can block even while sealing both arms themselves?

‘It’s a bit offensive.’

If it’s offensive, I have to punish them.

Tatat-!

With the defenders in front of him, Johan slightly slowed down and pulled his right foot back greatly.

A posture that looks like he’s about to shoot at any moment.

Naturally, the defenders’ bodies turned slightly.

However,

“···!”

“···!”

Johan’s shot did not come out, and the moment the players who had turned their bodies realized that they had been tricked and turned their bodies again.

Johan was not in their sight.

Johan had already changed direction and escaped,

Buh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-uh-!

The shot came out only then.

Chwaaaaaaaaah-

The heavy shot that swept across the grass and headed towards the far post,

Thud-!

Shook Munich’s goal net.

32 minutes into the first half.

The moment West Ham took a 2-0 lead with Johan’s two goals.

It was the moment when Munich fell into a ‘real’ crisis for the first time.