Foyelner and Hainauer.
But Hainauer was on the other side of the D, too far away. A pass to him would likely be intercepted by Rolfes.
’Pass to Foyelner?’
Wang Shuo glanced at Castro and imdiately took another step forward with the ball.
It was this step that made Castro change his mind about marking Foyelner. He chose to close in on Wang Shuo, attempting to trap him from both front and back.
But in the next mont, Wang Shuo tapped the ball sideways with his right foot.
Foyelner made a quick diagonal run into the penalty area and hit a side-footed shot.
The ball traveled in a straight line, finding the right side of the goal guarded by Adler.
All 22,500 people in the BayArena fell silent!
The cheers of Wang Shuo, Foyelner, and the other Mainz players echoed across the pitch.
In the stands, the three young players Pasu, Reinartz, and Risse were all dumbfounded by what they saw.
’Is that Wang Shuo?’
If he didn’t look exactly the sa, they would never have believed their eyes.
Wang Shuo had trialed with the Bayer Leverkusen U19s before. Back then, he was nowhere near this good.
"We’re screwed. I think we said the wrong thing," Reinartz said, shaking his head.
Pasu and Risse both nodded in agreent.
They had given false information before the match.
"But is that really Wang Shuo? How did he improve so much? He can even hold up the ball with his back to the goal now?"
Everything had happened in the blink of an eye. Everyone still thought Wang Shuo had shielded the ball with his back to the attack before laying it off for Foyelner.
Near the halfway line, Bayer Leverkusen’s forward, Hels, watched with eyes that could have spit fire.
’Another assist!’
Although Mainz’s offense was built around Wang Shuo, making his goals and assists understandable, Hels still felt a surge of resentnt!
He would never admit that he was inferior to an 18-year-old kid!
...
The match grew more and more intense.
Playing at ho, Bayer Leverkusen was no pushover either.
Falling behind on the scoreboard only made the Pharmacy play with more ferocity.
The two forwards, Kiesling and Hels, along with the second line of attack ford by Schwiger, Vidal, and Augusto, put increasing pressure on Mainz’s midfield and defense.
The most formidable of them all was the Chilean midfielder, Vidal.
This player wasn’t tall, but he had incredible stamina and his tackles were aggressive.
On the Chile National Team, he often played as a holding midfielder, or even a center-back or left-back.
But at Bayer Leverkusen, Labbadia had unleashed him, allowing him to fully utilize his strengths in running and battling for the ball.
Vidal was like a shit-stirrer, wreaking havoc deep in Mainz’s territory.
The defensive line was under imnse pressure, but Wang Shuo didn’t drop back too often.
This was sothing the head coach had specifically instructed him on before the match.
Klopp had long anticipated that this would be a grueling battle.
Therefore, his mission for Wang Shuo was not only to try and score, but also to extend their lead as much as possible in the first half.
Everyone in Germany knew that Mainz wasn’t good in the second half of matches, nor in the second half of the season.
A 1-0 lead wasn’t safe!
anwhile, Wang Shuo was constantly looking for opportunities.
But Bayer Leverkusen’s midfield advantage was obvious, and their overall strength was overwhelming Mainz.
Several tis, Wang Shuo made a good run to get open, but the ball never ca to him.
Each ti, he could only return to his position, frustrated and empty-handed.
However, after probing their defense repeatedly, Wang Shuo got an even clearer picture of Bayer Leverkusen’s defensive problems.
At the very least, the Pharmacy’s defense wasn’t as impenetrable as it seed on the surface.
The goalkeeper, Adler, was performing exceptionally well, but the backline had so issues.
Especially the Brazilian center-back, Enrique.
He stood at 1.85 ters and weighed 78 kilograms.
Football fans would know that these are excellent stats.
A player with this height-to-weight ratio is often in a sweet spot: not so tall as to be clumsy, not so light as to be frail, and without any compromise to their speed.
Simply put, it was a perfect balance in every aspect.
For example, Pepe of Real Madrid, who was renowned for having the perfect physique for a center-back, is 1.86 ters tall.
Strength, physicality, agility, speed, technique... Pepe lacked nothing.
Enrique was also a Brazilian player, with a height and build very similar to Pepe’s.
That was why, while he was still playing in Brazil, he was scouted by Barça, who then spent 8 million euros to sign him.
For a Brazilian center-back, this was an astronomical price!
But physical hardware was only one side of the coin; Enrique’s biggest problem was his software.
Like many Brazilian defenders, he had weak tactical awareness, poor positional sense, and frequent lapses in concentration. This was why Barça didn’t keep him, instead loaning him out to Bayer Leverkusen to gain experience.
Since coming to the Bundesliga, Enrique had been gradually adapting to the European Football Scene, but the problems still remained.
Before the match, Peter Krawietz’s scouting report for Wang Shuo had listed this very clearly.
And during the match, Wang Shuo had observed Enrique’s defensive positioning and habits multiple tis, confirming the pre-match scouting report.
At the sa ti, Wang Shuo was patiently waiting for an opportunity.
Behind him, his teammates were under pressure, struggling to hold on.
Although Wang Shuo, up front, was anxious, he still remained patient.
At a ti like this, he could only trust the teammates behind him.
Finally, an opportunity appeared in the 39th minute!
Bayer Leverkusen was still trying to attack down the flanks, attempting to break into Mainz’s penalty area and play to Kiesling’s strengths.
But Subotic was a step quicker, clearing the ball away with a header.
The two teams battled for the ball in the area between Mainz’s penalty box and the 30-ter line.
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