After scoring, De Bruyne ran toward the sideline while pointing at Lin Quan, beckoning him over to celebrate with him.
Aside from the quality of his own shot, half the credit for the goal belonged to Lin Quan's pass.
If Lin Quan had not drawn so many defenders and seized the opening to make that pass, De Bruyne would never have gotten such a comfortable shooting opportunity.
Lin Quan ran over with a smile, ruffling De Bruyne's hair as he praised him.
"Kevin, that was a brilliant shot!"
"Thanks. Your pass was great too!"
The rest of the team ran over to join the celebration, high-fiving both the goalscorer, De Bruyne, and the assist provider, Lin Quan. Captain Fritz even gave the pair an enthusiastic hug.
Lin Quan and De Bruyne's outstanding performances in this match had earned the recognition of the veteran players.
"Good work, boys!"
"Keep this form up. Score more goals and win more matches for the team in the new season!"
"Thank you, Captain. We'll work hard. Just wait and see!"
Lin Quan replied generously and confidently. Beside him, De Bruyne nodded along.
"Me too!"
The captain was very satisfied with their answer. Once the celebration was over, he loudly called for his teammates to return to their positions, reminding them not to let their guard down just because they were leading 2–0.
History was full of teams that had suffered comebacks after becoming lax in defense while leading. The most famous example was probably the premature champagne celebration at halftime on Istanbul Night.
Neither Lin Quan nor De Bruyne was the sort to get carried away after scoring. Both quickly returned to their positions.
The match resumed.
Cottbus, already two goals behind, did not resign themselves to defeat. Instead, they cast off the mental burden of fearing a loss and committed more men to the attack.
However, Werder Bremen's 4-1-4-1 formation had five midfielders when defending, severely restricting Cottbus's attack.
The battle in midfield was intense. Cottbus's players struggled even to keep possession, let alone organize an attack.
Left with no choice, Cottbus abandoned their short-passing play through the middle and began using traditional Long Ball Tactics against Werder Bremen.
This exposed the weakness of Werder Bremen's lone defensive midfielder. With insufficient protection in the half-spaces on either side, they gave their opponents two chances in quick succession within five minutes.
Fortunately, their opponents were poor at taking chances, and neither opportunity even resulted in a shot.
After recognizing the problem in the team's defense, Head Coach Schaaf called Captain Fritz over and gave him some instructions.
After returning to the pitch, Fritz dropped back a step and became a center-back.
At the same time, the midfield line shifted backward, and Werder Bremen's formation became a 5-4-1!
The change made the visiting Head Coach want to curse. A dignified Bundesliga team was actually setting up with five defenders and turtling against a second-tier side?
Did they have no shame?
Faced with the visiting coach's furious glare, Coach Schaaf remained completely composed, without the slightest trace of embarrassment.
Friendly matches existed to let teams practice different tactical approaches. If they did not dare try things because they were worried about appearances or pride, then there was no point playing such matches.
Besides, the 5-4-1 was not a turtling defensive formation. It was another attacking approach.
When they played in a 5-4-1, their opponents would inevitably push into Werder Bremen's half.
That gave the wingers plenty of space to sprint into, making them much more dangerous on the counterattack.
And coincidentally, they had a winger in their squad with exceptional individual ability.
So for Schaaf, taking a step back was actually about attacking more effectively.
The counterattacking situation Schaaf had hoped for soon appeared.
In the 78th minute, Werder Bremen launched a rapid counterattack from their own half.
Fritz, filling in at center-back, spotted the huge gap in the opposition's back line and immediately sent a long diagonal ball into their half.
Lin Quan had already started his run the moment possession changed hands. By the instant Fritz made the pass, he was level with the opposing defender.
The defender had started a step too late and could not catch him. He could only raise his hand to appeal for offside while chasing futilely from behind.
The assistant referee ignored the defender's appeal. He had seen it clearly: Lin Quan had not been offside at the moment of the pass. It only looked almost offside because he had accelerated so quickly.
The goalkeeper chose to rush out immediately. Against a one-on-one chance like this, staying near the six-yard box was practically waiting to die.
The ball was roughly the same distance from both of them, but Lin Quan was already at full speed while the goalkeeper had only just started moving.
Thus, Lin Quan reached the ball first, before the goalkeeper could touch it.
He poked the ball with the tip of his boot, and like a mischievous sprite, it slipped through the goalkeeper's legs.
With a thud, the goalkeeper dropped onto the ground. The instant he saw Lin Quan poke the ball, he had already guessed what he intended to do.
But he was half a beat too slow and could not stop Lin Quan from nutmegging him.
Lin Quan went around the fallen goalkeeper and caught up with the ball in front of the goal line.
Since the defenders were still some distance away, he stopped the ball, glanced at them, and only then kicked it into the net.
The score became 3–0, and Werder Bremen had completely secured the victory.
"Lin, you're so fast!"
Captain Fritz happily ran over and hugged Lin Quan. The goal counted as his assist, but if he had passed to anyone else, he might not have gotten that assist.
"It was your pass, Captain!"
Lin Quan answered with a grin. Beside him, Nils felt thoroughly displeased when he heard the captain praising Lin Quan.
He had actually found space just then too, but Lin Quan had been through one-on-one and had even beaten the goalkeeper. Naturally, there was no way he would pass the ball back to Nils.
Lin Quan was not selfless to that extent, especially after noticing that Nils had not joined in the celebrations when he and De Bruyne had scored earlier. He had no favorable impression of Nils.
Nils was unhappy. After all, he was the team's proper striker, and he had even been loaned from a Giant Club like Bayern.
From Werder Bremen's perspective, his arrival was beneath him, practically charity work. They should have been treating him like a treasured guest.
So after play resumed, he relied on his status to loudly demand the ball, especially whenever Lin Quan or De Bruyne had possession.
Both of those players, who had also arrived on loan like him, had scored. Lin Quan had even come on as a substitute and scored twice.
If he, the proper striker who had played the entire match, failed to score, where would he put his pride?
And if he took the ball away from them, they would have no way to keep scoring.
Lin Quan had no favorable impression of Nils and pretended not to see his gestures demanding the ball.
De Bruyne, on the other hand, was an honest kid. When he saw Nils asking for the ball, he passed it to him.
Unfortunately, Cottbus's players, having been beaten 3–0, had long been simmering with anger.
Nils had neither De Bruyne's outstanding passing ability nor Lin Quan's absurd dribbling skill.
Once he got the ball and began carrying it forward, he was quickly double-teamed and tackled. Not only did he lose possession almost immediately, he was also sent sprawling by the tackle.
His slight frame gave him no advantage at all in physical battles against the opposing towering center-backs. No one knew where he got the confidence to insist on dribbling.
Seeing Nils constantly being knocked down, Schaaf worried that he might get injured and substituted him early.
De Bruyne, who had played most of the match, was also taken off.
Though both were substituted, the fans showed no reaction when Nils left the pitch.
But when De Bruyne came off, the fans gave him a thunderous round of applause.
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