96 Top

On August 1, 1997, the Munich Olympic Stadium.

In the opening game of the first round of the Bundesliga 97/98 season, Kaiserslautern challenged Bayern Munich away.

The time on the scoreboard jumped back to 0, but the scores on both sides of the Big Red scoreboard did not change at all. The box representing the home team on the left is 0, and the box representing the away team on the right is 2.

The entire Olympic stadium was booing, and many fans even stood up excitedly and threw tissues, plastic bags and other kinds of debris at the Kaiserslautern player celebrating his victory in the stands to vent their dissatisfaction.

0:2, Bayern Munich, who is determined to win the championship this season, lost!

Before the season, the team's slogan to strive for multiple championships was still in my ears, but the two games made everyone question the team's plan!

The first league cup champion in history was lost in the previous game, and the next game lost the opening game of this season's Bundesliga, and the goal was black, and both games were lost to the same opponent.

2:0! Kaiserslautern defeated the powerful Bayern with goals from Fanny and Barack!

He scored 3 goals in two games and did not concede 1 goal. Kaiserslautern's performance was amazing, and the victory in the two games was unquestionable.

Van Nie, the Dutch shooter, showed an unparalleled form at the beginning of the season. He first scored twice against Stuttgart and scored the only goal in the game in the finals. His goal in this game broke the deadlock.

Just as Yang Cheng expected, as long as Kaiserslautern's midfield can create opportunities, Van Nie can turn the opportunity into goals, because he is the kind of shooter who survives specifically for goals!

Trapatoni was completely depressed. This was his third consecutive defeat by Yang Cheng. He was helpless. Especially in this game, the team was obviously suppressed by Kaiserslautern. They were completely suppressed in both fighting spirit, morale, and even tactics. If it weren't for his good defense, the score would be more than 0:2.

Turning his head and looking at Yang Cheng with joy after winning, Trapatoni wanted to congratulate the young head coach, but he couldn't do it because he lost two consecutive games and had no power to fight back.

But can he blame his players?

He knew very well that he could not, not only could he not blame him, but also to restore morale as soon as possible, because the first three rounds of the league were reduced to 8 days, and time did not allow him to keep the team going too far.

After three rounds, the league will begin to enter the preparation period for the national team competition, with two weeks of rest, and two more rounds, allowing the national team to play two European competitions in the 1998 French World Cup qualifiers.

So at the post-match press conference, Trapatoni did not get angry like he did the last time, but gave a certain positive evaluation of the team's performance, believing that the players performed very hard, but Kaiserslautern adjusted his condition better.

"This is the case with football matches. The early league games are always very difficult, because every season we will take a few players and introduce several players, and we need to get a little bit of a fit. After a long vacation, the players' physical condition needs to be adjusted, so I am not surprised at all to lose to Kaiserslautern!"

"Evaluate Kaiserslautern?" Trapatoni tried hard to squeeze out a smile when facing the reporter's question. "This is a young team. Vanny, Denilson, Desler, Barack and others are all very good. Moreover, this team plays a very different football. Their fighting in the frontcourt and the oppression in the midfield have caused us a lot of trouble and made us very uncomfortable. Their flexible interspersed and run in the game have caused our defense to encounter huge difficulties!"

"If I were asked to evaluate this Kaiserslautern, I would say that this is not a promoted team, this is a strong team with the top strength of the league, and they can even win the league championship!"

Speaking of this, Trapatoni suddenly changed his tone, "Of course, the league is a long process. Most of the players in Kaiserslautern have no experience in the top league, and their head coach has not led the team into the top league, so I still don't like this team!"

"Then what kind of team do you think is the most promising to win the championship?" a reporter asked with a smile.

Trapatoni smiled, "First of all, this team must have excellent strength. Secondly, I think it is impossible to win the championship with a single lineup, so the bench thickness of this team must be sufficient so that the impact of injury can be minimized. Third, the team's goals, including the management, must be consistent, and support the work of the head coach. Finally, and the most critical point is to have a head coach who is familiar with the Bundesliga and knows how to deal with various emergencies at any time!"

"These conditions are very important. Only when these conditions are met can this team win the championship!"

As soon as Trapatony finished speaking, the reporters at the scene were in an uproar.

"You're talking about Bayern Munich, Mr. Trapatoni?" a reporter said with a smile.

Trapatoni shrugged without comment, signaling the reporter to speculate at will.

If we look at these requirements, Bayern is indeed the only team that meets these conditions.

Dortmund was also a hot spot, but with Heathfield's resignation and Nibaum invited Scala, the head coach who was not familiar with the Bundesliga team, Dortmund's prospects for winning the championship were not favored. At least many people were worried that this team would have internal conflicts, because Scala might not be able to suppress the big-name stars in the team.

As for another popular team, Leverkusen, it meets the requirements in all aspects, but Dom is not good at using the team's bench. Although Leverkusen's main lineup is very strong, he does a bad job in rotation. It was because of this that Leverkusen lost in many key games last season, resulting in the final championship losing.

As for Stuttgart, although Lov's team is very glorious in the Bundesliga, the problem of strong offense and weak defense is that Stuttgart has a very weak championship appearance, and its state is too high to be stable.

Looking at all the teams that win the league, almost all of them are teams with stable condition and rarely have major fluctuations in their state. Even if the players have ups and downs, there will definitely be substitutes who rise and fall quickly, take responsibility, and ensure the team's combat effectiveness.

Stuttgart has done a bad job in this regard, and leaving Elber this season has a great impact on Stuttgart, so if this team wants to win the championship, Bayern alone may not be able to overcome it.

It is precisely because of this that all media unanimously believe that Trapatoni's declaration is to build momentum for Bayern to win the championship.

As for Yang Cheng sitting next to Trapatony and Kaiserslautern behind him, no one would think that this newly promoted team has the strength and opportunity to intervene in the championship team!

"Mr. Yang Cheng, what do you think of Mr. Trapatony's words?" A reporter immediately shifted the topic to Yang Cheng because he felt that although this gentle and gentle Chinese always kept polite attention, he actually didn't care about the topic of Trapatony at all.

"Totally agree!" Yang Cheng answered without hesitation, with a sincere smile.

The reporters were a little surprised by his answer, and were originally looking forward to Yang Cheng refuting Trapatoni's words.

"Kaisslautern returns to the Bundesliga this season, with the glory of the four-champ last season. Many people think that Kaisslautern can do something in the Bundesliga this season. What do you think?"

"I hope so too, but I think we are back to the Bundesliga with a normal heart, because we are a young team, we still need to learn, grow and improve!"

"But you defeated the powerful Bayern twice before the season and won the first League Cup!" There was a reporter's ill-intentioned reminder.

As soon as this sentence came out, Trapatoni next to him immediately turned dark, obviously he was worried about Kaiserslautern's defeat of Bayern. At this moment, the scar was revealed by the reporter and he felt angry.

"If you beat Bayern, it means you can win the championship. There will be too many Bundesliga championships, because it is difficult for Bayern to remain unbeaten for a season. Besides, I will never equate to defeating Bayern with strength surpassing Bayern. In my opinion, Bayern is still the strongest team in the Bundesliga this season, no doubt about it!"

Yang Cheng's words made Trapatony's face look better. The look of looking at the young man was also a little emotional. It was obvious that Yang Cheng knew the general, and at least in this case he knew how to take care of his face.

"What about Kaiserslautern?"

Yang Cheng smiled, "We are the team with the lowest average age in the Bundesliga. We are a youth team. I will not make predictions about our performance, nor will I put pressure on my players. I will tell them to do their best and try to show their best self, that is enough!"

The reporter seemed to have no idea how to deal with this ambiguous answer, but he was helpless.

"Many players expressed their appreciation and gratitude to you after the game. I heard that you played the relegation game at Hubran Stadium in the 1995/96 season in the locker room before the game to inspire the players' fighting spirit. You used this move before when you played against Dortmund. Is this a way to fight against the enemy? Are you not worried about being counterproductive?"

Yang Cheng smiled and spread his hands, but did not answer.

But the meaning of his smile is very obvious, that is, look, we won the final championship!

The reporters were immediately amused by Yang Cheng's funny behavior and burst into laughter.

"Mr. Yang Cheng, is there anything you want to say to the Kaiserslautern fans?" Grannak finally found the opportunity. In this place in Bayern, he did not have the privilege of being at the Fritz Walter Stadium.

Yang Cheng smiled at his old friend, and the spotlight flashed frequently, but he said word by word to the microphone: "I want to tell all of us Kaiserslautern fans, I can guarantee you that you will see a Kaiserslautern that is constantly improving and powerful! Our Red Devils Chariot has just been on the road!"

I don't know if the league just started, but there were 4 draws in the first round of nine league games. The highest score was Karlsruhe defeated Werder Bremen 3:1 at home, with the most goals being Cologne defeated Duisburg 3:2 at home, and then Kaiserslautern defeated Bayern 2:0 away, which caused a big upset in this round. The remaining two games were Leverkusen lost 1:2 away to Schalke 04, and Bochum defeated Bielefeld 1:0 at home.

In this way, Kaiserslautern is ranked second in the league, second only to Karlsruhe, but everyone knows that the ranking of the first round of the league is not enough to explain anything.

Four days later, Kaiserslautern returned to home to welcome the newly promoted Hertha Berlin.

Both teams are promoted teams this season. Both teams recruited troops in the summer to strengthen their strength. Hertha Berlin even tied Dortmund at home in the first round of the league. This made Hertha Berlin very ambitious and hoped to step on the shoulders of the newly promoted team brothers from Kaiserslautern to a higher level.

When visiting Fritz Walter Stadium, she tried to attack instead of defending. Hertha Berlin was undoubtedly in a funny head.

Yang Cheng also used active offense as his tactic at home. Fanny broke through Hertha Berlin's goal in just one and a half minutes at the beginning, and led 3:0 in the first half. Fanny scored twice and Nedved scored a heavy shot.

After the second half of the game, Kaiserslautern frequently created opportunities. Hertha Berlin wanted to counterattack, but in the 55th minute, Desler scored another goal, 4:0!

Later, Yang Cheng replaced Klose with his outstanding Dutch striker Van Nie, who was even more enthusiastic and cheered by the fans of the Fritz Walter Stadium and enjoyed the heroic treatment.

Klose performed very hard after playing, but he seemed to be unable to keep up with his teammates. He had both running and awareness, but he failed to score, wasted at least two excellent opportunities. There was even a knockback that was almost counterattacked by Hertha Berlin. Fortunately, Kosch continued his outstanding performance in the previous two games and tackled at critical moments to ensure that the team did not concede the ball.

The 4:0 score also remained at the end of the game, and Kaiserslautern won two consecutive league wins!

But what really caught Yang Cheng off guard was the next day. After all nine games in the second round of the Bundesliga, Kaiserslautern ranked first in the league, and was alone, leading other competitors with a 2-point advantage.

Leverkusen defeated Bochum 3:2, Karlsruhe drew 2:2 with Munich 1860 away, Dortmund defeated Cologne 3:0 at home, Duisburg defeated Schalke 04 1:0 at home, and another highly-watched game, Bayern drew 1:1 away with Borussia Mönchengladbach.

In this way, after two rounds of games, teams with 4 points gathered together, but only Kaiserslautern won 2 consecutive victories and 6 points, ranking first in the league. Moreover, their record of scoring 6 goals and conceding 0 goals is also the best in the Bundesliga.

This immediately made Kaiserslautern a little fluttering, and Yang Cheng even began to wonder if his team is really qualified to win the championship?

After defeating Bundesliga powerhouses such as Stuttgart, Bayern Munich, and being inspired by the history of winning the championship in the previous life of Kaiserslautern, Yang Cheng immediately became a little excited.

But three days later, the team challenged Cologne away, and a 0-0 awkward score immediately made Kaiserslautern look extremely embarrassed. Larson, who replaced Van Nie, performed poorly and had only one shot in the game. The weak front line caused Kaiserslautern's midfield to become the main offensive firepower.

Barack and Nedved alone contributed 6 and 4 shots respectively, most of which were long shots, but Kaiserslautern, who fought continuously, seemed a little tired and could not grasp the feet, and they all turned into anti-aircraft guns.

Although the advantage was obvious in the game, Kaiserslautern could only accept a 0-0 draw in the end.

After the 90-minute game, Yang Cheng returned to the locker room and said a laughing scolding.

"Look, I've said it a long time ago. The Bundesliga is not that simple. Do you believe it now?"

The players were stunned for a while, then they shook their heads and laughed.

"I have to bear the main responsibility if I failed to win this game, but you don't want to escape, and you all have to bear the responsibility. So during the two weeks of the league break, you have to cheer me up and don't get hurt. Otherwise, you will feel better when you come back, do you understand?"

"I understand, boss!" the players shouted in unison.

Then a burst of laughter broke out in the locker room, greatly dispelling the depression caused by being forced to scatter.

The most surprising thing in the third round of the league is Bayern Munich's outbreak.

Both of them were promoted and were also visiting the Olympic Stadium, but Wolfsburg's experience was very different from that of Kaiserslautern. The latter defeated Bayern 2:0 with courage and blood, and escaped without being so lucky, but Wolfsburg was not so lucky.

5:0, every goal was bloody, which made people shocked when they saw it. Especially Elber's double score, Trapatoni was so happy. I believe that the forward combination of Elber and Yankel will become a magic weapon for Bayern to attack the city and capture the village.

Although he was tied 0:0 by Cologne away, Kaiserslautern still tied for the top spot with 7 points, but he had an advantage in goal difference, so Kaiserslautern still ushered in a two-week league suspension period as the league number one.

Currently, there are many international players in the team such as Nedved, Salihamidic, Larson, etc. Barack and Kyle have also been selected for the German training roster with their outstanding performance in Kaiserslautern. In addition, Peron, DeNilson and others have also been selected for the Argentina and Brazilian national teams respectively and are going to South America to participate in the competition.

Due to the suspension of the league, the team's training was also suspended. Yang Cheng disbanded the team the day after the third round of the league, and went directly to Paris, France.

The selection of the best coaches of French Football Magazine has come to an end. In order to maintain a sense of mystery, it was not announced to the public before. Instead, it will be announced in the TV evening program on the evening of the 9th, and all well-known European head coaches were invited to attend the witness, hold a simple award ceremony, and then introduce it in the French Football Magazine the next day.

Nowadays, it is an era where you value stars but ignore the role of coaches, so the awards for the best coaches are very different from those for the European Golden Globes. Fortunately, Yang Cheng does not have much covetousness for this award.

Others may not be the case, but Heathfield, who led Dortmund to win the Champions League, is definitely worthy of winning!
Chapter completed!