Free Web NovelChapter 516: Chapter 104: Wang Shuo Strikes It Rich! The Golden Ball Award List! Dortmund’s Limit! A Worldie for the Puskás Award (3)
That was why most of them wore Adidas, Puma, or Nike, and some even wore Umbro.
Some were freebies, while others they had bought themselves.
Wang Shuo’s exclusive cleats weren’t particularly expensive, costing around three hundred euros.
Adidas was constantly sending clothes, sneakers, and accessories to Wang Shuo’s home, so why would they charge him for this one pair?
"Wang, get me a pair," Subotic was the first to respond, and he even told him his size.
"I want to wear this model, too," Reus chimed in excitedly.
"Count me in," Foyelner said as well.
Wang Shuo turned no one down.
"Let me tell you, Wang, I’ve gotta say, these new cleats of yours feel incredible on my feet. My passing is much more accurate. We’re all going to work hard together and make sure we get you into the top ten for the Golden Ball Award!"
Of everyone there, Subotic knew Wang Shuo best.
The two of them had played together at Mainz, coming all the way up from the 2nd Bundesliga.
He knew exactly what Wang Shuo was trying to achieve right now.
And once he brought it up, Foyelner, his old friend, immediately chimed in.
The same went for Reus, Götze, and the others.
Everyone, one by one, pledged their support.
"We’ll give you our full support!"
Wang Shuo, in turn, thanked them profusely.
This year was a World Cup year, a major tournament year.
Even though Wang Shuo was currently scoring a flood of goals and making a big name for himself, he was still in the Bundesliga, and at a club like Dortmund.
The Bundesliga’s influence simply couldn’t compare to La Liga or the Premier League; that was an inherent disadvantage.
And within the Bundesliga, Dortmund was a far cry from Bayern Munich.
He lacked media connections, had no one to build hype or give endorsements, and the club didn’t have the power to campaign for him. Under these circumstances, the only things Wang Shuo could rely on were his performance on the pitch and a constant stream of goals.
But this year was different.
In the South Africa World Cup, Spain had taken the title, making Spaniards like Iniesta, Harvey, and Casillas all top contenders.
In the Champions League, Sneider was the World Cup runner-up and the Champions League champion, while Robben was the runner-up in both the World Cup and the Champions League.
For Wang Shuo, who hadn’t been able to participate in the World Cup and had also missed out on the Champions League, breaking into the top ten would be incredibly difficult!
Not to mention someone like Diego Fran, who also scored plenty of goals but was also a World Cup semi-finalist.
Thomas Müller, Lahm, and Schweinsteiger?
They were Champions League runners-up and had finished third in the World Cup.
And Wang Shuo?
The European Golden Boot Award winner, the Bundesliga champion, and the UEFA Europa League champion.
Wang Shuo felt the pressure, so he knew he needed to perform even better and score more goals!
He had placed 11th in last year’s European Golden Ball Award rankings.
This year, the Golden Ball Award and the World Footballer of the Year had merged, and his greatest ambition was to break into the top 10.
That was probably the limit for a player from Dortmund!
When no one else was around, Wang Shuo entered the Ball God System.
On his Personal Attribute Panel, the Passive Value column showed: 217 points.
Of that, 67 points had been accumulated since the UEFA Super Cup.
The other 150 points were a reward for winning the European Golden Boot Award.
In other words, the reward for winning a European Golden Boot Award was the same as winning the Bundesliga title.
’It costs 500 Passive Value to upgrade from Intercontinental Level to World-level, and another 1000 to go from World-level to Legendary Level. How long will it take me to save up that much?’
Now he was discovering that the stronger the team he played for, the greater his ability to earn Passive Value, and the more avenues he had to do so.
’If I just save up a little more, I can upgrade another Domain Skill!’
The thought filled him with motivation.
...
On the afternoon of October 16th, the Bundesliga action resumed.
In Round 8, Dortmund faced Cologne in an away match.
So far this season, Dortmund had played 13 matches, and Wang Shuo had been in the starting lineup for 12 of them.
He had played the full match in most of them, too.
Had it been any other player, they would have been rested long ago as part of the squad rotation.
The 1-1 draw against Lyon in the first round of the Champions League group stage made the upcoming third and fourth-round matches against Spartak Moscow exceptionally important. That was why Klopp decided to rest Wang Shuo.
He needed to conserve his energy and prepare for the midweek Champions League match!
Therefore, Klopp didn’t have Wang Shuo in the starting lineup for this match, putting Lewandowski on instead.
The two-week international break, with players traveling back and forth for training, had taken a heavy toll.
Although Wang Shuo didn’t have national team duties, his training schedule had also been irregular.
Cologne was currently 17th in the Bundesliga, so Dortmund could use this match to get back into rhythm and prepare for the third round of the Champions League group stage next Wednesday.
In the 20th minute of the first half, Lewandowski assisted a goal by Kuba.
After that, following Klopp’s instructions, Dortmund slowed the tempo slightly to conserve energy.
In stoppage time, Götze, who had come on as a substitute, scored another goal.
In the end, Dortmund defeated Cologne 2-0 in the away match.
Meanwhile, Mainz, who had also started the season with a seven-game winning streak, finally lost this round, falling 1-0 at home to Hamburg.
After this round, Dortmund became the only team in the entire Bundesliga to maintain an eight-game winning streak.
In fact, looking across all of the Five Major European Leagues, Dortmund was the only team to maintain a perfect winning record.
In the ongoing rivalry for the top player spot, Messi’s Barça defeated Valencia 2-1 at home this round.
The Argentine started and played the full match but had no goals or assists.
Ronaldo, on the other hand, had his first explosive performance of the season in an away match against Malaga.
He scored two goals and provided two assists, helping Real Madrid defeat Malaga 4-1 on the road.
Ronaldo was in excellent form recently. In two European Cup qualifiers for the Portuguese national team, he had a goal and an assist in one match, and scored another goal in the second.
