"China Central Television, China Central Television. Dear viewers, this is the semifinal of the 2012 German Telekom Cup, brought to you by China Central Television: Bayern Munich versus Werder Bremen."
"I'm commentator He Wei!"
"I'm Xu Yang!"
"Today, the home side Bayern Munich are wearing red, while the visitors Werder Bremen are in green.
For this match, Bayern Munich are lined up in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Their starting lineup is:
No. 1 Neuer, No. 30 Gustavo, No. 28 Badstuber, No. 17 Boateng, No. 21 Lahm, No. 39 Kroos, No. 36 Emre Can, No. 11 Shaqiri, No. 25 Muller, No. 10 Robben, and No. 33 Gomez.
Werder Bremen, meanwhile, are using a 4-3-3 formation. Their starting lineup is:
No. 1 Mielitz, No. 13 Schmitz, No. 15 Prödl, No. 22 Sokratis Papastathopoulos, No. 23 Serey, No. 16 Junuzovic, No. 8 Fritz, No. 6 De Bruyne, No. 11 Elia, No. 10 Lin Quan, and No. 7 Arnautovic.
Both sides have very young squads. Worth noting is that Werder Bremen have a player of Chinese descent in their starting lineup."
Xu Yang took over beside him.
"That's right. His name should be Lin Quan. He was loaned to Werder Bremen from Barca's youth team, and this is his first official match for Werder Bremen!"
He Wei stared at the starting lineup in his hand, checking the information as he smiled.
"This player is extremely young, only sixteen years and 167 days old. He should be the youngest starting player in Telekom Cup history. Coach Schaaf seems very bold in his selections. He is probably focusing on developing young players in this match."
Xu Yang nodded. "Indeed. For Werder Bremen, drawing Bayern Munich in their very first match means their luck has been rather poor."
Clearly, neither of them thought much of Werder Bremen, and both believed Bayern would win the match.
With a blast from the referee's whistle, the match officially began.
After Bayern kicked off, they immediately launched a fierce assault on Werder Bremen's half.
The two sides played in the same league and knew each other's strength inside out. There was no need for probing—just attack.
For this match, Heynckes had not sent out all of his starters.
Bayern's left winger Ribery, midfielder Schweinsteiger, and striker Mandzukic were all on the bench.
Even so, Bayern's starting lineup still seemed more than capable of defeating Werder Bremen. There was an enormous gap between the two sides on paper.
Although Lin Quan had prepared for this match beforehand,
once it truly began, he could still clearly feel the difference.
Compared with Werder Bremen's previous preseason opponents, Bayern Munich were clearly on an entirely different level.
Their coordination, the speed of their passing and receiving, and their individual ability all far surpassed the teams they had faced before.
That made the pace of the match extremely fast. The slightest lapse could allow the opponent to seize an opening and deliver a fatal blow.
For the first three minutes, Bayern kept possession the entire time. Werder Bremen's players did not touch the ball even once.
Fortunately, Coach Schaaf had prepared for this situation. Once the match began, everyone except Lin Quan dropped back, turning Werder Bremen's formation into a 4-1-4-1.
They had five defensive players in midfield. One sat deep as cover while the other four formed a diamond, expanding their interception range, cutting off passing lanes, and quickly pressing the ball carrier without giving them time or space to organize an attack.
This approach temporarily contained Bayern's offensive momentum, and the two sides became locked in a fierce midfield battle.
On the touchline, Heynckes frowned slightly when he saw the opponent's tactics.
This setup certainly could not stop Bayern's attack forever. At their current attacking tempo, scoring was only a matter of time.
But that old fox Schaaf had placed a sixteen-year-old youngster up front. What was he trying to do?
Did he expect this youngster to break through Bayern's goal?
Or was he planning to exploit Neuer's tendency to rush far off his line?
With that thought, Heynckes glanced at his own goalkeeper.
Sure enough, Neuer had once again run outside the penalty area, playing the sweeper-keeper role he loved so much.
However, Heynckes did not tell Neuer to retreat. Neuer often did this in Bundesliga matches and even in the Champions League, and Heynckes still had great faith in his ability.
Seeing that the opponent had packed the midfield and that it was difficult to punch through their defense, Bayern's players immediately changed tactics and began deliberately attacking down the flanks.
In the seventh minute, Kroos spotted space on the wing and immediately passed to Robben.
To create an opportunity for Robben to break through and help him shake off his marker, Kroos cleverly put some lead on the pass.
Robben understood at once and immediately started his run, reaching the ball ahead of the defender.
With his speed already built up, the Flying Dutchman burst forward with the ball the moment he received it.
Robben was incredibly fast. Werder Bremen's defenders chased desperately from behind, but they simply could not catch him.
Junuzovic tried to step up and intercept, but he was fooled by the feint. He lunged in recklessly, failed to win the ball, and was instead beaten.
After getting past the second defender, Robben immediately cut inside.
He was left-footed, so cutting inside did not put him on his weaker foot. He could either shoot or pass to a teammate, making him extremely dangerous.
When Robben cut in toward the edge of Werder Bremen's penalty area, their captain Fritz immediately came over to cover.
As Fritz moved away, a brief defensive gap opened directly in front of Werder Bremen's penalty area, and De Bruyne had not yet tracked back into position.
Bayern Munich's attacking midfielder Thomas Müller was completely unmarked. If Robben passed the ball to him now, Müller could feed Saric making a forward run to create a one-on-one chance, or he could shoot directly.
With Werder Bremen's defensive shape already pulled apart by Robben, passing to an unmarked teammate would certainly have created a better opportunity.
But unfortunately, Robben was not much of a team player. He had a nickname: the Lone Ranger.
An opportunity he created himself naturally had to end with his own shot!
So, even though Werder Bremen's captain had already moved in to block him, Robben still carried the ball laterally, shifted it slightly to open an angle, and fired.
Fritz immediately lifted his leg to block it, but he did not get a touch on the ball.
Fortunately, Werder Bremen's goalkeeper was fully prepared. He read the path of the shot and gathered the ball cleanly.
Seeing the opposing goalkeeper save his shot, Robben shook his head, clearly dissatisfied with his attempt.
Muller, meanwhile, spread his hands at his friend Kroos, obviously unhappy with Robben's decision.
Just as Bayern's players were frustrated and annoyed at wasting that excellent chance, the goalkeeper quickly ran out and, near the edge of the penalty area, threw the ball to De Bruyne.
De Bruyne knew there was no time to waste. They had to attack quickly.
So after controlling the ball, he half-turned and, before the opposing defenders could interfere, passed it diagonally forward to the right.
"Lin, run!"
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