Chapter 111
***
Hamburg SV
In the original timeline, Son Heung-min grew up here and became a world-class soccer player.
As a soccer fan who had laughed and cried while watching Son Heung-min’s performances in my previous life, this was a club I owed more than enough gratitude to.
[Hamburg SV President Criticizes Union Berlin Manager Park Chan-hyuk: “You Need to Learn to Respect Other Teams….”]
However, Hamburg took my heartfelt words of thanks as provocation.
Well. I could understand.
After all, a true gentleman needed the magnanimity to understand even misunderstandings like this.
If everyone pointed at me and called me a bad person, I could simply become a truly bad person.
‘You… You’ve humiliated me.’
After Hamburg SV’s interview turned me into a bad person, I removed the cast I had kept sealed away that day.
***
Early morning.
Union Berlin’s Eisern und Blut training ground.
“What? Boss, you took off your cast?”
Yannick Voigt gave Park Chan-hyuk, who had removed his cast at the training ground, a puzzled look.
Park Chan-hyuk had supposedly torn his hamstring, yet he had taken off his cast after just one month.
‘……Considering the boss’s recovery ability, I suppose it isn’t impossible.’
Yannick Voigt nodded as he watched Park Chan-hyuk walk around perfectly normally.
He had already seen Park recover quickly and throw away his crutches after tearing his cruciate ligament and undergoing surgery, so he considered this possible as well.
And a little while later.
Thirty minutes before training.
Every single one of Union Berlin’s players had gathered at the training ground.
In fact, latecomers rarely appeared at Union Berlin.
There was a strict rule: anyone who was late would be removed from the squad list.
This policy placed strong pressure on the starting players.
If it became known that a player had been left out of the squad because he was late, soccer fans would immediately shower him with criticism.
And if one or two such cases arose, people would start thinking that the player’s work ethic was a problem. Naturally, that would affect his market value as well.
In fact, considering Park Chan-hyuk’s personality, it would have been easy to expect the rules to be applied loosely.
But at Union Berlin, enforcement was just as strict as the rules themselves.
- No, you crazy bastard, what if you miss training?!
- Discipline… must be upheld!!
- Yannick, you can’t call the boss a crazy bastard!
- Don’t argue about that right now—stop the boss first!!
- Discipline… must be upheld!!!!
When Park Chan-hyuk was late to training because he was in a club meeting, he had even seriously tried to remove his own name from the squad list.
‘I thought I was really going insane back then.’
Recalling the scene, Yannick Voigt let out an involuntary, hollow laugh.
The players had only barely managed to let Park Chan-hyuk play after promising not to use what happened that day as an excuse.
And in the first place, even without strict discipline, Union Berlin’s players were generally highly professional.
With team captain Yannick Voigt and soccer legend Cafu training while drenched in sweat, the rookie players who had only just debuted couldn’t exactly slack off.
Those moments gradually came together to form the team’s atmosphere.
Naturally, Union Berlin’s youth players had no choice but to give their all in every training session while watching the veteran players.
In a way, this could also be called the secret behind Union Berlin’s prospects’ rapid growth.
After all, it would be strange for their skills not to improve when they gave their all at every training session.
Anyway.
Those Union Berlin players were talking about Park Chan-hyuk today.
“Why is training tougher than usual today?”
“The boss said Hamburg trampled on his pure feelings, so he was going to get revenge.”
“What does that mean?”
“He thanked them in an interview, but they told him to show some respect.”
“That was supposed to be a thank-you? Wasn’t it provocation?”
“I don’t know. I guess the boss was sincere.”
It was because training was tougher than usual.
***
The Bundesliga teams’ views of Union Berlin this season were generally similar.
Until the beginning of the season, the Bundesliga teams hadn’t seemed particularly concerned about Union Berlin’s sudden surge.
They thought it was simply a lower-division team riding high after promotion and temporarily achieving good results.
A newly promoted team beating Bayern Munich had been a little surprising, though.
But soccer balls were round, and Bayern Munich losing was certainly within the realm of possibility.
However, with the halfway point of the season approaching, the situation was completely different from before.
The Bundesliga managers were desperately analyzing Union Berlin’s tactics so they wouldn’t be caught off guard by the storm Union Berlin had stirred up.
‘Tsk. They’ve only realized the danger now that the fire is at their feet.’
Hamburg SV manager Martin Jol had analyzed Union Berlin’s tactics since his days in the second division. Park Chan-hyuk was a manager Martin Jol had continued to watch closely ever since Thomas Tuchel came to prominence.
[Martin Jol Lavishes Praise on Park Chan-hyuk: “When people talk about Chan-hyuk’s talent, they talk about his leadership in commanding the squad or his eye for players. But in my view, the most astonishing thing is his well-structured tactics, as though he had come back from seeing the future.”]
In any case, Martin Jol was a manager who held Park Chan-hyuk in such high regard that he had even praised him lavishly. He had watched Union Berlin’s matches whenever he could.
However, after taking over as Hamburg’s manager, he had been too busy to examine Union Berlin’s tactics.
Naturally. Hamburg were currently putting together good enough results to challenge for the UEFA Cup, the Pokal, and the Bundesliga title.
In such circumstances, analyzing Union Berlin’s match tactics as well was difficult.
Ahead of the match, Martin Jol played back video of Union Berlin’s recent games to analyze them for the first time in a while.
‘Soccer tactics only change in small details, while the tactical philosophy remains similar. It can’t be changed all at once—.’
And at that moment, Martin Jol could only let out a hollow laugh.
“Fuck! This is a completely different team from last year!”
***
[Union Berlin’s Starting XI Revealed.]
Roberto Lewandowski - Yannick Voigt.
Shinji Kagawa
Yuto Nagatomo - Lee Seong-jae - Luka Modrić - Cafu.
Dante - Thiago Silva - Virgil van Dijk.
Manuel Schmidt.
└ Wow. But I think I get why people call Union Berlin a kindergarten.
└ How is the average age of the starting eleven 22? lol
└ They even have 38-year-old Cafu lol
└ The youngest players on the team aren’t bad at football either—they’re all pulling their weight.
└ Virgil van Dijk << This guy is fucking incredible;;
└ Wow, Lee Seong-jae is starting today?
└ Yeah. Son Heung-min is out instead.
└ Looks like they rested Son and Thomas Meier because they were tired.
└ Thomas Meier can honestly take a little rest….
└ Looking at how far Thomas Meier runs every match, they really need to make sure he gets some rest.
└ Seong-jae, play well today and expand your roleㅠㅠ
└ But honestly, there didn’t seem to be any room for him in the starting lineup….
└ For real, why is Luka Modrić so damn good?
└ Until the last match, people were all going “Agh! Modrić!” but they disappeared after he assisted Son Heung-min’s goal lol
└ Ugh, I hate nationalist fanboys.
└ Union Berlin itself is one giant dose of national pride, so of course I support Union Berlin, tsk tsk.
***
‘Got it!’
After Union Berlin’s starting lineup was announced, Hamburg’s Martin Jol inwardly let out a cheer.
All of Union Berlin’s players possessed excellent talent.
But the most troublesome of them was undoubtedly Thomas Meier, who served as the heart of the midfield.
The combination of Thomas Meier and Luka Modrić was terrifying enough to bring Gattuso and Pirlo to mind.
Hamburg SV’s manager was pleased by the fact that Thomas Meier was absent—at least for a moment.
Then the match between Hamburg SV and Union Berlin began.
‘……Who the hell is that guy now?’
Martin Jol’s gaze became fixed on Lee Seong-jae.
His work rate was impressive enough, but his ability to cover for the defenders was insane.
He seemed remarkably accustomed to anticipating the opponent’s next move and following it.
Above all, Lee Seong-jae was running as though his life depended on it in order to catch the manager’s eye during this match, showing more than his abilities on paper.
Anyway.
The twenty-second minute of the first half.
Lee Seong-jae intercepted the ball and began a counterattack. After passing it to Luka Modrić, he sprinted into the open space.
The ball was played to Cafu, and Cafu swung his right foot while watching Lee Seong-jae penetrate the penalty area.
Cafu’s delivery, still backed by his sharp kicking ability, flew precisely toward Lee Seong-jae’s forehead.
Lee Seong-jae met Cafu’s cross with his forehead and sent it straight into Hamburg’s net.
After scoring his debut goal, Lee Seong-jae stood there in a daze for a while.
“Seong-jae! Snap out of it! Run, quickly!!”
The Union Berlin players on the bench shouted urgently at him.
That was because Union Berlin’s sealed celebration monster was breaking free.
Fortunately, Lee Seong-jae successfully protected his debut-goal celebration.
“Boss, you fucking bastard! I started working out again because of you. Please, just let me have my debut-goal celebration!”
Daniel Teixeira, who had recently started strength training again, had barely managed to restrain Park Chan-hyuk.
“No, I wasn’t planning to steal it this time!!”
Incidentally, Park Chan-hyuk had repeatedly insisted that he wasn’t planning to steal the celebration, but no one believed him.