Chapter 17
***
At the time when Union Berlin's fans were feeling maximum happiness from a minimum of red flares.
Union Berlin's bench was bustling.
“Aagh—!”
One of the starting regulars suddenly clutched his thigh and collapsed.
Apparently, he'd pulled a thigh muscle.
'I told you to stop guzzling soda and eating so much fried food.'
I spat out those harsh words inwardly, but
it was unrealistic to expect a fourth-division player to care about diet in the first place.
In the future, Eden Hazard would be mocked as Burger King for his unprofessional eating habits, but at this point in time, footballers still trained while eating whatever they wanted.
In the future, balanced meals would be proven to produce much better performance, and most players would know it and put it into practice.
Unfortunately, the importance of diet management still wasn't well known among players.
Arsenal's Invincibles season had only been two seasons ago, and people were only now starting to take an interest in diet after seeing what Arsène Wenger had achieved.
Of course, there were still old-school masterminds who couldn't accept the new paradigm and continued to harbor doubts.
But as someone from the future, I knew all too well how important diet was.
“Please, stop drinking soda and drink some water already!”
I strongly insisted that Union Berlin needed to manage the players' diets.
Thomas Tuchel, who eagerly applied any new training systems or papers that came out to the club, also agreed with me.
However,
“I'm not doubting either of you.”
“Then why not?”
“The club…. doesn't have any money.”
Unfortunately, Union Berlin didn't have the money to manage diets as thoroughly as Arsenal did.
Well.
Even if the club had money, whether the players would actually follow the manager and coach's instructions was a separate matter.
It wasn't easy to give up the pleasure of eating unless you had a truly iron will.
Even Pep Guardiola couldn't stop Lionel Messi's love of soda.
On top of that, the majority of Union Berlin's players were on amateur contracts, so you couldn't expect amateur players to have the mentality of professional footballers.
Still, a few players who were strongly obsessed with success or improvement came to me, received meal plans, and followed them voluntarily.
Designing meal plans while taking into account each player's monthly food budget was a pain, though.
'Just today's match and you can already tell who's following the diet.'
Seeing the performance they were showing on the pitch made me feel proud.
'This is what it means to be rewarded for your efforts.'
Anyway.
While the volunteer local doctor—a Union Berlin fan—hurried onto the pitch to treat the injured player,
“Chan-hyuk.”
“Yes, who should I prepare as the substitute?”
“What are you doing? Go warm up.”
“…Pardon?”
Thomas Tuchel and I got ready for the substitution.
“Warm up.”
...No, why is it me again?
For the record,
I, too, was forcibly deprived of the pleasure of eating on the grounds that, as the playing 'head' coach, I had to set an example.
***
“Ohhh, he's coming out! He's coming out!”
As Park Chan-hyuk started warming up, the Union Berlin stands became noisy.
“Park! Park! Park!”
But there wasn't much time left in the match.
The moment Park Chan-hyuk was put into the game, the halftime whistle blew and the break began.
***
After halftime ended, the second half got underway.
“Park! Park! Park!”
Union Berlin's fans were still putting on a passionate show of support.
Spurred on by their home crowd, Union Berlin's players pressed Tennis Borussia Berlin hard.
It was a little hard to get used to spending the first half on the bench as head coach and the second half on the pitch.
Anyway.
Since I was already in the game, I might as well do my best and not embarrass myself in front of the fans.
“Frank! Don't push up too far! Tuchel's about to freak out!”
I began adjusting the players' positions as Thomas Tuchel wanted.
My job in this match was simple.
Reorganize the players' positions when they broke down during transitions from attack to defense,
and stand exactly where I needed to be at precisely the right moment.
In fact, Thomas Tuchel didn't expect me to make a big impact as a player either.
'Let's just set the players' positions.'
It was enough for me to serve as the field commander who translated Thomas Tuchel's tactics onto the pitch.
And occasionally break up counterattacks with fouls the referee couldn't see.
“Quit with the fucking fouls, you bastard!”
“You impudent punk! I'm the head coach and you're a player! You need to respect me!”
But as I got a kick out of the opponent's furious reactions, I couldn't stop myself from committing fouls.
On top of that, following the opening match last round, I was tearing across the pitch like a fish in water.
'Wow. And they still haven't caught on?'
If this had been the Bundesliga, I'd have been caught by the referee long ago and sent off, but unfortunately this was the amateur fourth division.
There was no way an amateur-level officiating crew could be that good, and aside from the victim left fuming in frustration, it was a perfect crime.
'Well, I haven't been doing this long enough to get caught by these guys.'
And thus, thanks to my crazy performance(?), the flow of the game slowly started shifting toward Union Berlin.
***
As Park Chan-hyuk was feeling pleased with his performance,
“Run!”
At the same moment the goalkeeper blocked Tennis Borussia Berlin's shot, Union Berlin launched a counterattack.
The ball was worked from a defender to Park Chan-hyuk, who slipped a through ball into the path of Yannik Voigt, making a run behind the defense.
It wasn't a delicate pass, but it squeezed through the defender's legs and reached Yannik Voigt safely.
But was it because of Park Chan-hyuk's clumsy pass?
'Damn, I don't have an angle for a shot.'
Yannik Voigt's touch was longer than expected, and by the time he had possession of the ball, he was too close to goal for a direct shooting angle to open up.
'Come to think of it, did the head coach say to cut it back in situations like this?'
At that moment, Yannik Voigt recalled his conversation with Park Chan-hyuk and, instead of being greedy and taking the shot himself, laid the ball off to Daniel Teixeira, who was making a run from behind.
Daniel Teixeira calmly finished the chance that had come his way.
As the net shook, the fans got to their feet and erupted in cheers.
“Unsere Liebe! Unser Team! Unser Stolz! Unser Verein! (Our love! Our team! Our pride! Our club!)”
“Union! Union! Union!”
The match between Union Berlin and Tennis Borussia Berlin ended with Daniel Teixeira's comeback winner.
***
[Union Berlin defeats Tennis Borussia Berlin and keeps its winning streak alive!]
[Yannik Voigt scores in two consecutive matches.]
[Why did Union Berlin fans boo head coach Park Chan-hyuk?]
[Thomas Tuchel remarks on head coach Park Chan-hyuk... “Our team's master key.”]
[First-half head coach, second-half field player. Two sides of Union Berlin's head coach?]
[Selected as M.O.M., Yannik Voigt on playing with Park Chan-hyuk…. “Playing with the head coach makes the game easy.”]
***
A few days after the match against Tennis Borussia Berlin ended,
[The DFB imposes a fine on Union Berlin.]
The club had been slapped with a fine for using red flares.
But President Dirk Zingler, who handled Union Berlin's finances, and I weren't too concerned.
“How much was the fine?”
“3,000 euros (about 4 million won).”
“At that level, donations would be enough.”
The flare-related fine could be fully covered by donations; in fact, the donations sent by fans were enough to pay the fine and still have plenty left over.
This wasn't because Union Berlin's fans were rich,
but because Union Berlin played in the fourth division.
“The DFB should guarantee us freedom for flares!”
No matter how much the DFB was mocked by German football fans as a bunch of old farts,
they still had a sense of moderation.
They only handed out fines at a level that a fourth-division club could afford.
Come to think of it, that was only natural. Even if they were a football association of an entire country, they weren't stupid enough to slice open the belly of the goose laying the golden eggs.
'They collect association dues every week here.'
Of course, even that kind of fine was a burden from a fourth-division club's point of view, but it wasn't enough to drive them to the point of bankruptcy.
Anyway.
Even after the match against Tennis Borussia Berlin, Union Berlin's upward momentum continued.
[FC Hansa Rostock II loses to Union Berlin at home.]
[Union Berlin crushes FV Motor 3-0 at home.]
[Union Berlin snatches a 1-0 away win over BFC Dynamo with a stoppage-time goal.]
We went on a five-match winning streak since the league opener.
Union Berlin mocked the media and the experts, surging ahead with overwhelming results.
When the media and experts were finally admitting their predictions had been wrong and beginning to seriously discuss Union Berlin as a strong title contender,
[BFC Dynamo manager comments on Union Berlin's breakout Tu-bak (Tuchel-Park Chan-hyuk) duo, the sensation of the season. “Tuchel and Park Chan-hyuk are just a bubble that'll burst soon.”]
Union Berlin's rival, BFC (Berliner Fußball Club) Dynamo, was drawing near.