Free Web NovelChapter 520: Chapter 104: Wang Shuo Has Made It! The Golden Ball Award List! Dortmund’s Limit! A Worldie Contending for the Puskás Award
In Wang Shuo’s opinion, when it came to Inter Milan’s treble last season, especially their Champions League title, Mourinho deserved the most credit, with Diego Milito a definite second.
Sneider?
He could only come after Diego Milito.
Of course, considering Sneider had also reached the World Cup final, it was no surprise that he became a hot favorite for the 2010 Golden Ball Award.
But why couldn’t Milito even make the 23-man shortlist?
Wang Shuo had heard one theory: because it was a World Cup year, the selection for the FIFA Golden Ball Award focused on World Cup performance, and Diego Milito and Argentina had not performed well.
But that clearly couldn’t explain why Cesar had made the 23-man list.
Both Brazil and Argentina had made it to the World Cup quarter-finals.
’Was Brazil’s 2-1 loss to the Netherlands really any more respectable than Argentina’s 4-0 loss to Germany?’
All in all, Diego Milito’s failure to make the 23-man shortlist caused a huge uproar.
Fortunately, Wang Shuo had made it.
He was also the only player on the 23-man list who hadn’t played in the World Cup.
The other 22 had all played in the South Africa World Cup.
This also made Wang Shuo feel a bit awkward.
...
「Afternoon of October 31st, Mainz Bruehl Road Stadium.」
As Wang Shuo walked out of the locker room and into the player tunnel, he went over to greet the head referee, Michael Vinaer, and his assistants.
But he was soon swarmed by the Mainz ball kids.
They were all pestering Wang Shuo for his autograph.
"Ha, to be this popular on our turf... even I’m jealous."
Schürrle had also come into the player tunnel, and upon seeing Wang Shuo mobbed by the ball kids, he spoke with a mix of envy and jealousy.
Wang Shuo smiled and walked over. They high-fived, then shared a powerful hug.
When Wang Shuo’s right shoulder slammed into his chest, Schürrle reeled from the impact.
"Michael, that’s a foul! Red card!" Schürrle wailed at the referee.
Everyone burst into laughter.
But they could all feel the deep friendship between Wang Shuo and Schürrle.
After all, they had been playing side-by-side since their days in the Mainz U19 squad.
The Mainz of today had undergone drastic changes since Wang Shuo left.
But many familiar faces were still there.
For example, the captain, Nowitzki; the center-back, Bo Svensson; and Bungert, who was also starting this match at right-back.
Kalhan was a substitute midfielder.
It was worth mentioning that Holtby from Aachen, whom Wang Shuo had thought was a good player back in the day, had now also come to Mainz and was even in the starting lineup for this match.
Interestingly, Witeklo had been at Mainz for so many years, always as a substitute goalkeeper, making a pitifully small number of appearances.
But this season, with Dimo Wahe’s departure from Mainz and Heinz Müller suffering a torn cruciate ligament, he had become the team’s starting goalkeeper.
The most amazing part was that in the past nine league matches, Mainz had a record of eight wins and one loss.
On the current Bundesliga table, Mainz was ranked second, just behind Dortmund.
So this match was also a clash between the first and second-place teams in the Bundesliga.
If Mainz could defeat Dortmund in this match, they would be level on points.
Third place?
Sorry, but Hannover 96 only had 16 points, far behind these two teams.
Bayern had even fewer, with just 12 points, sitting in 11th place.
As for Dortmund, if they could take down Mainz, their lead would quickly expand to six points.
Therefore, both sides were determined to win this match.
As Wang Shuo and the others walked out of the player tunnel, holding the hands of the ball kids, a small section in the upper left of the single-tier stand directly opposite them was filled with Dortmund fans.
They were very neat and easy to spot, with a border of yellow shirts surrounding a black center.
The rest of the stand was filled with Mainz fans, a sea of red.
So, it was all very easy to distinguish.
To Wang Shuo’s surprise, when he walked onto the pitch and the stadium announcer called his name, the home fans erupted in cheers for him.
Clearly, they still remembered how Wang Shuo had fought and scored for them on this very pitch, bringing them countless moments of joy and excitement.
After the team photo, Wang Shuo also raised his hands above his head and applauded all the fans in the stadium.
Even though he was wearing a Dortmund jersey for this match and had to fight with all his might for Dortmund.
But before the whistle blew, he could still interact with the Mainz fans.
"You’d better be careful later."
As Wang Shuo and Götze stood in the center circle preparing for kickoff, Schürrle, who was now playing on the left wing, stood to the right of the circle and spoke to Wang Shuo.
"We’re definitely taking all three points tonight!"
After hearing this, Wang Shuo smiled and nodded. "What a coincidence. So are we!"
The battle for the top of the table was about to begin!
