The God of Football Starts With Passive Skills-Chapter 196 - 58: Into the Final! A Personal Tragedy! The Bundesliga’s Strongest Rookie! Another Victim at Wang Shuo’s Feet

Chapter 196: Chapter 58: Into the Final! A Personal Tragedy! The Bundesliga’s Strongest Rookie! Another Victim at Wang Shuo’s Feet

His teammates rushed over one after another, swarming around Wang Shuo.

They were going crazy with excitement!

"What a golden goal!"

"Wang Shuo scores a brace!"

"This magical young player, Mainz’s arrowhead, seized the opportunity at a critical moment."

"Mainz now has a two-goal lead!"

The Mainz players were ecstatic.

Whether in the match two weeks ago or tonight, they had been brutally suppressed by Bayer Leverkusen.

Every single one of them had been holding in a pent-up energy, a simmering fire.

Now, Wang Shuo’s two goals had finally unleashed that fire.

So satisfying!

...

If the goal before the end of the first half had damaged Bayer Leverkusen’s morale, then this second-half goal threw the Pharmacy completely into disarray.

Just as Labbadia had said before the match, he looked down on Mainz, and so did Bayer Leverkusen’s constellation of stars.

In fact, almost all the Bundesliga giants and powerhouses looked down on Mainz.

’How could an insignificant little team possibly win the half-season championship?’

’Pure dumb luck!’

They had no money and no one of note. Their head coach was even scorned by Bayern for being too scruffy. They were so poor they couldn’t even pay salaries on time, forced to sell players just to keep the club afloat.

The vast majority of their first-team players were valued at less than one million euros.

The team was a mix of has-beens and upstarts, many of them cheap cast-offs picked up from bigger clubs.

Some were players others didn’t want—discards, free transfers.

’What kind of competitive edge could a team like that possibly have?’

And yet, it was this very team that had stubbornly shouldered all the pressure, snatched the half-season championship, and now, in a crucial semi-final, breached Bayer Leverkusen’s goal twice! 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Labbadia completely lost it.

He was completely out of control on the sidelines.

After being shown a yellow card by the referee, he substituted Greek striker Charisteas for Helmes.

Helmes’s performance hadn’t been ideal, it was true, but he had at least been trying.

As he was being substituted, he kicked a water bottle on the sideline and walked straight to the locker room, completely ignoring Labbadia.

Clearly, he felt the head coach was making him a scapegoat.

After the substitution, Bayer Leverkusen had two towering strikers up front, both over 1.9 meters tall.

But their offense still failed to pick up.

Time was slipping away, and there was less and less of it left for Bayer Leverkusen.

The Pharmacy was growing increasingly desperate.

Labbadia soon made his second substitution.

In the 73rd minute, he brought on Baneta for Tony Kroos.

Bayer Leverkusen wanted to attack from both flanks, to leverage their two strikers inside the box.

For a moment, Bayer Leverkusen looked like Mainz from the first half, constantly sending crosses in from the wings.

Was it effective?

A little, but not by much.

Now with a two-goal lead, Mainz defended with even more confidence.

Captain Nowitzki tirelessly rallied his teammates, leading the squad in tenaciously fending off Bayer Leverkusen’s repeated assaults.

Klopp started making substitutions in the 75th minute.

Hogland came on for Schürrle, with Helle pushing up to strengthen the right-flank defense.

In the 80th minute, Van der Heyden replaced Foyelner, and Lővér moved into a more advanced position.

Mainz’s flanks were now both covered by a pair of full-backs.

Of course, both Lővér and Helle were versatile players, capable of playing as wide midfielders.

The final substitution came in the 84th minute.

Gunkel came on for Hainauer.

At this point, Mainz’s formation resembled a 4-5-1.

Wang Shuo was left isolated up top.

But even so, Bayer Leverkusen’s two center-backs, and even the deeper-lying Rolfes, didn’t dare let their guard down against him.

After conceding two goals, they had no idea if the next time Wang Shuo got the ball would result in another scoring threat.

As a result, Bayer Leverkusen couldn’t commit everything to their attack.

Finally, after a pass from Charisteas led to a low shot from Kiesling that slid just wide of the post, the referee, Michael Vinaer, blew the final whistle.

All 50,000 Bayer Leverkusen fans in Sjie Sports Stadium fell into a dead silence.

Only the few hundred Mainz fans who had traveled for the away game were cheering their hearts out.

Inside their own penalty box, the Mainz players collapsed into a celebratory huddle.

"Let’s congratulate Mainz!"

"This team from the west bank of the Rhine River has, for the first time in their history, reached the final of a national cup tournament."

"This was an incredibly difficult achievement!"

"In over a hundred years of Mainz’s history, their greatest achievements have been championships in regional and amateur tournaments."

"They had never even reached the final of a truly national professional cup competition before."

"This is their first!"

"But this season, Mainz’s performance has left an indelible impression on us all."

"Not only did they win a historic Bundesliga half-season championship, but they have now also fought their way into the DFB-Pokal final."

"For many big clubs—giants like Bayern, Bayer Leverkusen, and Dortmund—this might not be a rare feat. But for the fans of this team, who have waited painstakingly for over a hundred years, this could be a once-in-a-lifetime moment!"

While his teammates were huddled together in the penalty box, some even crying and shouting, Wang Shuo stood alone at the edge of the center circle. Hands on his hips, he panted heavily, watching them with a smile.

"Thank you, Wang!"

Friedrich suddenly appeared at Wang Shuo’s side and said softly.