The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 168 - 54: Major Upgrade! Secret Weapon! Winter Transfers and a War of Words! Klopp Syndrome! The Championship Dream is Shattered

Chapter 168: Chapter 54: Major Upgrade! Secret Weapon! Winter Transfers and a War of Words! Klopp Syndrome! The Championship Dream is Shattered

But even as they kept scoring, their defensive line repeatedly showed weaknesses.

Finally, in the 71st minute, Keremas, who had just made a mistake and lost possession, capitalized on a corner kick opportunity to pull one back for Freiburg.

2-1!

In the 81st minute, Wang Shuo dropped back, pulling a defender out of position. Kalhan then sent a diagonal pass into the space behind, and Schürrle, tearing forward at full speed, breached Freiburg’s goal once more.

3-1!

This scoreline held until the final whistle.

Mainz defeated Freiburg 3-1, advancing smoothly to the fourth round of the DFB-Pokal—the quarterfinals.

...

The hard-fought victory in the DFB-Pokal Round of 16 didn’t set a positive tone for Mainz in the second half of the season.

Four days later, the Bundesliga resumed.

In the match for Round 18, a home game against VfL Wolfsburg, Wang Shuo once again delivered a superb performance.

Magat even assigned a player to man-mark Wang Shuo tightly for the entire match.

But even so, in the 34th minute, Wang Shuo still managed to seize an opportunity and deliver a brilliant pass.

Kalhan made a late run into the box and scored, opening the account for Mainz.

But in the 73rd minute, a goal from Griffith leveled the score for Wolfsburg.

If not for an excellent performance from their goalkeeper, Wach, the defense would have conceded again.

The match ended in a 1-1 draw.

After the match, however, Wang Shuo once again received a rating of 2 from Bild.

"He was the only Mainz player in the match capable of threatening the Wolfsburg backline."

As for Klopp’s Mainz, Bild commented that the team was going through a cold spell.

They even came up with a name for it.

Klopp Syndrome!

...

For Round 19 of the Bundesliga, Mainz played an away game against Frankfurt.

Mainz, having performed poorly in the previous round, showed no signs of improvement in this one.

In the 33rd minute of the first half, a defensive error on a corner kick saw Bungert lose his man, allowing Frankfurt’s center-back, Ruth, to score with a header.

Mainz remained sluggish for the entire first half.

After play resumed in the second half, Helle delivered a long, diagonal pass from the right wing. Wang Shuo raced forward, getting to it just ahead of center-back Chris. He controlled the ball and drove forward, breaking through Frankfurt’s defense to score.

1-1!

But in a huge blow to their morale, just five minutes after Wang Shuo’s equalizer, young Frankfurt player Fenin scored again for the home team.

2-1!

While everyone else was still reeling from conceding the goal, Wang Shuo kept fighting up front.

In the 72nd minute, Wang Shuo dropped back to the left of the center circle on the halfway line, raising his hand to call for the ball.

When Foyelner passed the ball to his feet, Wang Shuo trapped it and turned in one fluid motion, shaking off his marker, Fink.

"A beautiful turn!"

"Wang Shuo is going on a solo run!"

"He’s charging single-handedly at the Frankfurt defense."

"It’s a one-on-one against Ruth!"

The moment they met, Wang Shuo executed a step-over at 1.2 times normal speed, instantly getting past Ruth and breaking through the middle with the ball.

"He’s beaten the second man!"

"A brilliant individual display!"

"Wang Shuo keeps dribbling forward! There are no defenders ahead of him now!"

"Chris is scrambling back desperately."

"Wang Shuo is suddenly down!"

"What happened there?"

As Wang Shuo stumbled and fell, Frankfurt’s number 29, center-back Chris, immediately threw his hands up to protest his innocence.

But the referee blew his whistle anyway.

"On the slow-motion replay, you can see Chris clearly pushes him."

"It’s a red card!"

"The referee has shown a straight red!"

"Relying on his individual skill, Wang Shuo has created a glimmer of hope for a Mainz comeback!"

"He’s constantly encouraging his teammates."

"Mainz has been suffering from the so-called ’Klopp Syndrome’ lately."

The ensuing free kick didn’t result in a goal.

The header from the young Roman Neustadter struck the crossbar.

But just two minutes later, Wang Shuo dropped back to receive a pass, turned, and sent a brilliant through ball forward.

Schürrle made a quick run from deep, collected the ball, broke into the box, and scored against Frankfurt.

2-2!

But Mainz couldn’t find another goal before the end of the match.

The match ended in a 2-2 draw.

It was Mainz’s second consecutive draw.

After the match, Wang Shuo again received the highest rating on the pitch: a 2.

...

After Round 19 of the Bundesliga came the midweek international friendlies.

By the time the international players had returned for Round 20 of the Bundesliga that weekend, Mainz’s form had worsened.

Playing at home against Karlsruhe, a team in the relegation zone, Mainz could only manage a 0-0 draw.

Wang Shuo didn’t have a great game either, only earning a rating of 3 afterward.

The reason was that Karlsruhe played an extremely defensive, park-the-bus style of football.

This put Wang Shuo at a significant disadvantage.

His physical game wasn’t his strong suit, so whenever the play became a close-quarters physical battle, he struggled.

His teammates didn’t provide adequate support either, often leaving Wang Shuo isolated and surrounded.

In such circumstances, Wang Shuo couldn’t play to his strengths at all.

Nevertheless, his overall performance still earned the respect of the media and fans.

Bild gave him a rating of 3.

"The 18-year-old was stifled in Karlsruhe’s ’forest of brutes,’ but he still showed his class with a few flashes of brilliance during the match."

In the post-match summary, Wang Shuo received 12 Passive Value points, his highest yet.