Football: Invincible starting from krypton gold

Chapter 85
Mainz, who had a good start in the UEFA Cup, returned to the club and turned their attention back to the league again. Currently, Mainz ranks third in the standings with 27 points, ranked first by Schalke 35 with 04 points, and Hertha Berlin with 31 points.

The No.16 round of the Bundesliga will start on October 10th. This round is a critical moment for Mainz to chase points, because Mainz will go to the Olympiastadion in Berlin to challenge Hertha Berlin, which is currently ranked ahead of them. Schalke 29, who ranks first, will have a desperate battle with Bayern Munich, which has just changed coaches, at the Allianz Arena.

Since Bayern lost to Mainz at the Allianz Arena and Hitzfeld resigned, after two league rounds, Bayern officially announced that Klinsmann will be the team's head coach, and this home game against Schalke 04 will be Klinsmann's first game after taking office.

According to the current ranking of the standings, Mainz hopes that Schalke 04 will lose to Bayern, so that they can narrow the gap of 8 points to 5 points, and the match between themselves and Hertha Berlin is also very important.

So these two games are the focus of this round of the league, and there are many things to watch, such as whether Mainz can continue its dark horse qualities, whether Schalke 04 can retreat in the Allianz Arena, whether Klinsmann can stage a good start, etc. These are the focus of media attention.

What is beneficial to Mainz is that Mainz was eliminated from the German Cup early, so Mainz can rest longer than Hertha Berlin, which also allows Mainz's main lineup, which is a little tired, to recover a little bit.

To be honest, this season's Hertha Berlin ranked second in the standings after 15 league rounds, which really surprised many people. Hertha Berlin ranked 12th last season, and this summer. The team did not make too many adjustments to the lineup, so it is really incomprehensible to be able to rank second at the end of half the season.

A week before the start of this round of the league, the German Football Association began to hype the two focus games of this round. Various German media were dispatched to interview the team's head coach, players and even some staff members, making the atmosphere before the game very tense.

People from all walks of life stood up to express their views on these two games, among which Mainz was as low-key and humble as ever.

The time soon came to the day of the game, and the match between Mainz and Hertha Berlin was scheduled to officially start at 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

At 4:30 p.m., in the locker room of the visiting team at the Berlin Olympic Stadium, Klopp looked around his disciples and said calmly: "Everyone, the league is almost halfway through now, and we are currently ranked third. Maybe we can narrow the gap today. When we were interviewed by reporters before, we all said that our goal this season is to relegation. That is because we are not yet ready to be the target of all teams. If we can win this game today, then from today we can bravely speak out our championship declaration loudly. Well, there is a Kaiserslautern myth in the Bundesliga, and a Greek myth in this year's European Cup, so why can't we create a Mainz myth through our own efforts, who said that a newly promoted can't win the championship. Guys, starting from today, starting from this game, let us use our own strength to tell those who underestimate us, tell them how good we are, and slap them hard. From today, tell everyone that we want the Bundesliga champion. Are you ready?"

"Get ready!" Klopp's pre-war mobilization instantly made the players excited and their morale high.

Then, under the leadership of the referee, the starting players of both sides came to the court, and the game was about to start.

"Friends from the audience, good evening, everyone. This is the 16th round of the Bundesliga brought to you by CCTV Sports Channel. Mainz will play away against Hertha Berlin. I am the host Huang Jianxiang. Sitting next to me is today's guest commentator Hao Haidong. Haidong will introduce the two sides of this match."

"Hi everyone, I'm Hao Haidong. It's a great pleasure to meet you again. The game we saw today is one of the highlights of the 16th round of the Bundesliga. Mainz played away against Hertha Berlin. I believe everyone should be very familiar with Mainz. To be honest, this year's Bundesliga is really a dark horse. It can be said to be a melee. Hertha Berlin ranked 12th last season. The biggest dark horse in the Bundesliga this season, ranked third as a newly promoted horse, it can be said that it has not appeared since the myth of Kaiserslautern, and the Chinese player Chen Xiao is the dark horse among the dark horses, currently Chen Xiao ranks first in the Bundesliga scorer list with 15 goals in the league, and Chen Xiao also ranks third in the Bundesliga assist list with 8 assists, such data is a proper superstar data." Hao Haidong said.

"Yes, Chen Xiao, who is only 17 years old, can be said to have broken many historical records in the Bundesliga this season. I just don't know when Chen Xiao will be able to put on the national team's jersey to compete in the international arena. I heard that many countries are now inviting Chen Xiao to join, especially Germany." Huang Jianxiang continued Hao Haidong's words.

"This matter probably depends on the person involved. Jianxiang, let me introduce the lineup." Regarding Chen Xiao's participation in the national team, Hao Haidong did not express any opinions. As a former national team player, Hao Haidong saw some twists and turns in it very clearly.

"Okay, let's introduce the starting lineups of both sides before the start of the game. Mainz Klopp continued to use his strongest lineup without making any changes, while Hertha Berlin's lineup today is like this. The goalkeeper Federer, the four defenders are Friedrich, Simunić, Van Brick, Schroeder, the midfielder is Basturk, Boateng, Gilberto, Marcelinho, Kovac, and the forward striker Cairo. From the roster, it should be the formation of 4231, which is also the absolute main lineup of Hertha Berlin this season. It seems that Hertha Berlin attaches great importance to Mainz."

"I have to pay attention to it. Many teams have taught everyone the lesson of blood. Anyone who doesn't pay attention to Mainz has already been defeated. I heard that there is a saying in the Bundesliga that Mainz is the head coach's harvester, because Mainz has already had three Bundesliga head coaches dismissed this season."

"Okay, now we see that the players on both sides are all in place. The home team Hertha Berlin is wearing the blue and white jersey, and the visiting team Mainz is wearing the red jersey. What you see now is that Mainz will attack first."

(End of this chapter)