My Girlfriend Wants Victory

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***

After finishing my date with Gyeouri on Sunday.

I returned to train with Geumsun High School’s soccer team after a long time.

“Hey, Jinho! How was the U-19 National Team? What do you think? Think you’ll get called up again next time?”

Director Choi Gi-hyun, grinning from ear to ear, greeted me. I looked at him with a puzzled expression, wondering what was going on with him.

“Well… it wasn’t bad. And judging by the atmosphere, I think you’ll probably call me up again.”

“Ah, yes! Then I’ll get into the national team too! Huh? I have to become the next top sports star to follow in Park Jisong’s footsteps!”

And that’s understandable.

Even though he ignored the reporting system and directly got leave from the chairman, Director Choi Gi-hyun didn’t show an ounce of irritation.

“What’s this? With his personality, I expected some kind of fit, not a tantrum.”

I looked around, still feeling something was off while conversing.

[Meet the trending figure. Geumsun High School soccer team director Choi Gi-hyun.]

[Is Choi Gi-hyun the secret behind Geumsun High School’s undefeated streak?]

I nodded as I saw the articles hanging huge on one side of the training ground.

Even while I was called up to the U-19 National Team, Geumsun continued training under the system I had designed.

Although they seemed a bit clumsy since it wasn’t fully ingrained in them yet, they displayed fairly excellent buildup soccer, maintaining their undefeated streak in the National High School Soccer League.

And because of Geumsun’s remarkable performance, Director Choi Gi-hyun has been tagged by the media as the next generation’s master who “imported” buildup soccer.

Hmm. Seeing it this way, it’s no wonder that there’s a smile on Director Choi Gi-hyun’s face.

Without doing anything, and simply being recognized as a genius by the media.

Who wouldn’t feel good about that?

‘…Or is it that doing nothing and just being idle is the hardest thing of all?’

So, a master… doesn’t quite fit. He seems more like a decent coach.

“Hey Jinho! Have you come up with any new tactics? Other schools are starting to show their countermeasures lately.”

While I was evaluating Director Choi Gi-hyun, he asked me about strategies.

“Hah…”

I sighed at Director Choi Gi-hyun’s words. It wasn’t because the director was slacking off and taking advantage of me.

The reason I sighed was that several high school soccer teams have, albeit clumsily, begun to adopt the gegenpressing tactics of Dortmund’s Jürgen Klopp lately.

Well, to be honest, adopting gegenpressing is a good thing. If managers continue to study tactics trending overseas and strive to apply them to their teams, Korean soccer will develop rapidly.

However, the problem is that we’re in Korea, and the teams I’m facing are high school soccer teams.

Right now, there’s a weekly match because it’s the weekend league, but soon, summer vacation will start.

When summer vacation begins, the high school soccer league goes on break.

During this time, various tournaments, starting from the President’s Cup, Baeknokgi, and Geumgangdaegi, will be held. Since the schedule for these tournaments is tight, games occur about every other day.

And most coaches tend to keep their main players fixed throughout the tournament, having them play every match.

The skill gap between the starters and subs in high school soccer is much larger than the national team, so it’s inevitable.

‘Honestly, this has been the same every year, so it’s nothing special…’

The issue lies with the adopted gegenpressing strategy.

Since the strategy itself relies on vigorous activity, fatigue is bound to be extreme.

When physical strength drops, the likelihood of injuries among players naturally increases as well.

“Hmm. This feels remarkably similar to the protagonist’s Qi in a martial arts novel.”

In the sense of pouring one’s life force (soccer life) for the sake of the greater good (victory), it seems quite similar.

“Or is it that quick gain of power comes with a prophesied downfall or curse?”

Then, Klopp is the Celestial Horse?

Imagining a German using a Celestial Horse-style, I shook my head.

Anyway, the crucial part is that this strategy caused players, who were key to Dortmund like Gündoğan and Reus, to be injured.

When similar problems arose in Liverpool later on, Jürgen Klopp introduced zonal pressing to tackle those issues.

If even fully grown adults suffered frequent injuries like this,

what awaits those high school students who haven’t even reached adulthood?

Moreover, these students must play in tournaments where matches take place every other day.

‘A 100% recipe for injury.’

Even if they’re lucky and don’t get injured, the fact remains that they’re investing their playing life cannot be denied.

There might be people who say that there’s no way such a foolish youth coach could mess up player fitness.

But let’s not forget. In South Korea’s sports reality, it’s just common sense to wear out talented youths for results.

It’s not for nothing that ace pitchers from high school baseball go under the knife as soon as they enter pro leagues via draft.

So, now my task is to dig up the weaknesses of “early” gegenpressing for the future of Korean youth soccer. Then the coaches in Korea will either give up on gegenpressing or strive to adopt Klopp’s zonal pressing.

“Just kick the ball forward to the winger!”

I was given full authority by Director Choi Gi-hyun to train our players on how to respond to gegenpressing.

To be honest, countering gegenpressing is much easier than transplanting buildup soccer.

The thing about gegenpressing is, once possession is regained, instead of stepping back to defend, the strategy is to forcefully press right away, naturally widening the gap between the goalkeeper and the defenders.

Right! The weakness of gegenpressing lies in the space behind.

By lowering the line and thickening the central area, while placing fast players on the flanks, targeting that backspace, teams employing gegenpressing won’t be able to hold back.

‘It’s not for no reason that Son Heung-min is called the Beekeeper.’

Starting next season, Bundesliga coaches facing Dortmund might wonder why they didn’t think of this easy countermeasure.

But that’s just how humans are.

They usually think of countermeasures only after suffering a loss. And implementing those countermeasures requires lots of trial and error.

And really, anything appears easy once you see the results and answers.

“Why didn’t I think of such an easy method?”

Just like how Director Choi Gi-hyun mumbles to himself now.

Anyhow, in my position as a reborn character, it was merely a matter of extracting the good parts without any trial and error.

Thus, we prepared an incredibly sensational tactic called bootball to confront Hojin High School, which employs gegenpressing.

***

Time flew quickly to the Saturday when the match takes place.

They say superstars draw spectators to the stadium. Ten younger brothers came to Madeul Stadium to watch Son Jinho play.

“Oh, hello. Are you by any chance Lord Bayern Ho-woo?”

“Oh yes. And who would you be…?”

“I’m Kkureho. Nice to meet you.”

“…I’m Ho-woo Madrid.”

Their first meeting was a bit awkward.

But perhaps due to their common love for soccer,

they quickly became friends.

“Is Doctor Man U not coming?”

“That guy, I think he’s just an attention seeker.”

“What’s an attention seeker?”

“It means someone who craves attention. It’s a term used by kids these days.”

Before the match started, the younger brothers spoke and laughed.

But as match time approached, they gazed nervously at the pitch.

Because Son Jinho, the player they eagerly awaited, was sitting on the bench.

“Kkure, is our hyung really playing today?”

“He’ll probably come on as a sub. Damn, if he doesn’t after I took a day off to come here, that’d be seriously bad.”

“Do you really say ‘damn’ in real life?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you hear what that idiot said in El Clásico?”

“…Those 4-3-3-3 losers.”

“This….”

At that moment, when a Real Madrid fan and an FC Barcelona fan were about to clash.

“Oh? Our hyung is coming this way!”

Son Jinho, who had risen from the Geumsun bench, approached his younger brothers.

“I’m a fan of Son Jinho─! Can you sign this for me?”

“Please say Ho-woo just once─!!”

Countless requests for handshakes flooded towards the star Son Jinho.

Son Jinho, in an incredibly familiar and friendly manner, served his fans with the same warmth as when he first greeted them, just like the first post about welcoming Son Jinho in Ho-woo gallery.

“You’ll get the Ho-woo after I score a goal later!”

“Oh wow─! Are you playing today?”

“Yeah, I think I’ll come on in the second half.”

And watching that from a distance, Han Gyeouri, a.k.a. Doctor Man U, pouted her lips.

“…Son Jinho is super popular.”

She felt a pang of jealousy seeing her boyfriend Son Jinho chatting happily with his younger brothers.

‘Jealous of guys, holy moly.’

She let out a hollow laugh and turned her back as the match between Geumsun High School and Hojin High School kicked off.