Chapter 961: DFB Pokal! (II)

Well, as Higo expected, this wasn’t a fair game at all.

No, even though Schalke put their benchwarmers on the pitch, they were still at a Bundesliga level, completely different from their opponent, who only played in the country’s fourth division.

It also didn’t help that Schalke played like a pack of hungry beasts today.

They swarmed into the opponent’s territory so quickly, launching one attack after another with the fierceness of desperate people wanting to prove themselves at this stage.

It seemed that what Frohling said worked. Those who wanted to leave the team were eager to increase their worth, knowing that this was the only way a better team would look on them.

As a result, this turned into a personal massacre for the home team.

They couldn’t even move or cross the center line, for fuck’s sake! Whenever they got a ball, they would’ve been surrounded by at least two players with the blue jersey before they had to be forced to clear the ball away from their territory.

In the end, the first goal came in the 16th minute of the game.

After intercepting a half-assed pass from the opponent’s defender, Luca Schuler didn’t even blink here. He just pushed the ball once with his left foot to open up space, and from outside the box, the boy sent a curler that went straight to the bottom corner of the goal.

BAM!

The goalkeeper couldn’t even move, still too shocked after watching how the mistake happened so close in front of him.

This gave the team the first lead of the game, which only made them go crazier than before.

"Come on! Luca has already done it; this time give it to me!"

"Hell, nah! I haven’t scored a goal since last season; at least give me a chance to show off a little bit, okay?"

Yeah, once the goal was on the board and they felt like the win was secured, all the frontline players started to fight for a chance to put their name on the scoresheet.

It couldn’t be helped, since at the end of the day, the most important stat for a frontline player was their goal contribution.

Still, with how chaotic everything turned out to be, especially since all the players suddenly were so eager to show off their individual skill while also sacrificing the whole game plan, Frohling couldn’t help but frown, feeling dissatisfied.

"Move the ball quicker! Don’t just hog it on your own!"

"Flank! Flank! What are you doing?! You are not going to beat him! Pass the fucking ball, for Fuck’s sake!"

Fortunately, before the first half was over, they managed to secure another goal to de-escalate the coach’s anger.

It all started with someone trying to force his way through from the middle and failing, just as the ball fell on Jonas Hofmann’s foot.

The defensive midfielder tried to take his chance with a long shot, and while the route was bad, the power was still decent, at least enough to make the opponent’s goalkeeper fail to catch it perfectly.

The rebound fell directly on Luca Schuler’s foot, so the striker didn’t think twice to tap the ball into the back of the net, giving him the second goal of the game.

This was also the last action in the first half before the referee blew the whistle, letting both teams have a break before the fight continued later.

In the locker room, though, to everyone’s surprise, they came back panting heavily, as if they had just done a full marathon and came back for another one.

It seemed that the enthusiasm of being able to play made them forget that they were doing it in a snowy terrain, where the ball’s movement was often restricted by the snow on the ground.

This made a dribble move way more draining than usual, with them having to fight against the snow as well.

Not only that, the stadium didn’t have anything to control the temperature, so it was freezing cold outside.

It was no wonder that they were already so close to their limit even though the first half had just finished, with some even having his face turning so pale, as if they suffered from hypothermia.

Still, of course, that didn’t mean they could escape Frohling’s hair dryer treatment. No, if anything, this only made the boss angry, since the man contributed to their exhausted state due to their lack of discipline.

"What the fuck are you doing?! You know that the pitch is snowy, and you still insist on trying to fight it?! Just pass the ball quicker, for God’s sake! If you cannot even follow a simple order and always insist on showing off, which stupid team would want to get you?!"

’Ouch...’ Higo cringed for a moment, feeling pity toward the players.

Still, this had to be said in this break, as the team indeed didn’t play as a unit like the coach expected.

No, they were just like a bunch of random players gathering at the same time, playing together without knowing each other. As a result, they just moved on their own, only passing the ball when they were pushed too far by the opponent.

Honestly, they were lucky that they had already gained a two-goal lead.

That was just because the opponent’s level was too low, and if the home team was just slightly better, at least at the level of a third division team, Schalke would suffer a lot at this point, and the coach would be too angry to deal with the current situation right now.

"Next, I don’t care what is in your mind." Frohling took a deep breath, seeming to have had enough of everything he had witnessed so far from this team.

"I give you a degree of freedom not to make you do anything stupid, but to let you show your creativity to help the team. Highlight the last part, okay? To help the fucking team! If you cannot even do that, don’t forget that I can send you back to the bench in a heartbeat!"