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The Hoffenheim Club did hold a "China Day" event, and judging from their organizational results, it does not seem like it was decided to do it suddenly on a whim, as if it had been prepared for a long, long time. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 From this point of view, Chu Zhongtian really admires the efficiency and work style of the Germans.

Hoffenheim officials first announced to the media that as a counter-attack to the racists in the Bundesliga, they decided to designate the seventh round of the league on October 3 as "China Day" in recognition of Chu Zhongtian's outstanding contribution to the team. According to Hoffenheim FC, this "China Day" is not temporary, and will continue to be promoted and carried out as part of the team's annual activities in the future. And it is not necessarily limited to October 3, for example, October 3 this year is the seventh round of the league match day, then this day is "China Day", and if September 26 next year is Hoffenheim's home match day, then this day is "China Day", and so on, there is a day every year is "China Day", as long as Chu Zhongtian is still in the team, there will always be "China Day".

What to do on China Day?

In the week leading up to each "China Day", the club will send out posters, simply put, posters with the image of Chu Zhongtian, which will be distributed to German universities and cities and communities with a large number of Chinese, so as to attract Chinese and Chinese students there to pay attention to the Hoffenheim competition. In addition, the club will also customize fan scarves with Chinese characters. For example, the German word Hoffenheim was translated into square words and embroidered on a scarf.

On this recent China Day, the team also plans to invite the Chinese dragon dance team, which has always been from Munich, to perform a pre-match performance at the Karl Benz Stadium on October 3.

In addition, we must also look for a Chinese announcer who can render the atmosphere, and lead the fans to cheer for Chu Zhongtian in Chinese. In order to avoid everyone not knowing how to pronounce Chinese, every Hoffenheim fan who enters the stadium will be given a small card issued by the staff, which is transliterated in German to mark those Chinese cheering shouts with "pinyin". It doesn't matter if you can't read Chinese or speak Chinese, just pronounce it according to German. Although it may sound a bit nondescript, this method is very convenient, and you don't have to worry about the accident of being cold because everyone doesn't understand.

The Germans are really thoughtful.

In fact, it can also be seen from this series of activities that Hoffenheim's establishment of "China Day" is not entirely to satisfy the vanity of Chinese fans and make them cheer for Chu Zhongtian. At the same time, Hoffenheim is also promoting itself and promoting itself, in other parts of Germany, in China outside Germany, through the name of Chu Zhongtian, the team has made a deep impression in the minds of Chinese and Chinese fans in Germany.

Hoffenheim doesn't have enough fans now, and Chu Zhongtian has just joined Hoffenheim, and the official website of Hoffenheim FC has crashed due to too many visits from China, and since then the number of letters flying in from China has increased day by day. All of this has made Hoffenheim's management aware of the non-football impact that Chu Zhongtian's arrival has had on this small team.

If they don't make good use of it, they will all get their wages for nothing.

According to the wishes of Hope's boss, Hoffenheim will have to expand its popularity if it wants to become a German upstart of the future, and an obscure team will definitely not become a giant. In addition to the fact that the team keeps winning and winning championships, there are also some means other than football that can be operated, such as such promotional activities.

Although there are still nearly two weeks before the first "China Day", Chu Zhongtian has been dragged by the club's external publicity department to attend a press conference, in which he thanked the club for setting up the "China Day", and said that he will work hard to play football and dedicate a wonderful game to the fans with a good and good result.

In addition to attending the press conference, I spent the afternoon in Sinsheim taking photos of the posters and promotional materials.

After an afternoon of tossing by the photographers, posing in countless poses, and making difficult movements such as volleys and upside-down golden hooks on the mat, it was finally a mistake.

Chu Zhongtian deeply felt the enthusiasm of the Germans for work.

Own head coach Ralph. Rangnick is definitely not alone.

In addition, because of this "China Day" and the racist remarks on the field before, Premiere, the German TV station responsible for broadcasting the Bundesliga, also came to interview Chu Zhongtian, and at the end of the interview, Chu Zhongtian taught the reporter who interviewed him to say "Hoffenheim" in Chinese.

The reporter learned it after studying it a few times, and although he didn't say it very similarly, he still laughed and patted Chu Zhongtian on the shoulder to express his gratitude to him as a teacher.

Hoffenheim Club's "China Day" activities, while promoting themselves, seem to prove that Chu Zhongtian is the number one star in the team and a well-deserved banner and representative of the team.

After all, Hoffenheim has a lot of international players, why is there a "China Day", and Ibisevic is still the top scorer within the team, why is there no "Bosnia and Herzegovina Day"? If it was because Chu Zhongtian had been treated unfairly in the stands before, then he couldn't have made a special "China Day" to appease people's hearts, right?

Now it seems that no matter what some people think, Chu Zhongtian's position in the team cannot be shaken.

Despite their ambitions that no one believes, Hoffenheim suffered a waterloo in the German Cup.

September 24, the second round of the German Cup. Hoffenheim travel to second division side Freiburg.

Hoffenheim, who had just won Borussia Dortmund, were in high spirits, even away from home, and they were not afraid of it.

In this game, Rangnick rotated the starting lineup. Obasi, who has not been able to play since returning from the Beijing Olympics, replaces Demba. Ba started the game and partnered Ibisevic. And Louis. Gustavo replaced Chu Zhongtian as the starting midfielder. Pell. Nelsson didn't wear the captain's armband either, as he was also rotated and replaced by Jaisler (matthias_jaissle).

The captain's armband was eventually worn on Salihovic's arm.

The opening phase of the game was in Hoffenheim's favor. In the 36th minute, Freiburg's Schleet (kevin_schlitte) was sentenced to death for tackling Obasi with the ball in the penalty area. Salihovic, the team's top penalty taker, scored from the penalty spot and Hoffenheim took a 1-0 lead.

But I didn't expect that in the second half, the situation suddenly changed. In the 68th minute, Freiburg organized an attack, the football was passed from the side to the penalty area, goalkeeper Ozcan chose to attack but did not get the ball, as a result, Freiburg's Turkish midfielder Güneş (ali_gunes) received the ball, and the defender who marked him did not have time to do anything else in a hurry, and squeezed directly from behind to Güneš, who was just about to shoot, and the referee awarded a penalty for the second time in the game, but this time it benefited from the unlucky side last time.

Freiburg's young star in the backline, Schwab (daniel_schwaab), converted the penalty to level the score at 1-1.

Rangnick then brought Chu Zhongtian on the field, hoping to regain the lead. He was not willing to be eliminated in the second round of the German Cup.

Chu Zhongtian's arrival on the field changed the situation on the field, and the situation began to develop in Hoffenheim's favor.

In the seventy-eighth minute, Chu Zhongtian instigated an offensive, Obsi and Salihovic shot after two consecutive one-twos, and the football went straight to the bottom corner of the goal, 2:1! Hoffenheim leads again!

Just when everyone thought the game was finally back on the trajectory of Hoffenheim and they would win the game, in the 84th minute of the game, Ozcan made another mistake. At that time, Freiburg won a corner kick and Hoffenheim made a substitution at the same time. Nelsson replaced Jaisler, only for Freiburg's Günes to play a trick and suddenly take a corner before Nelsson could get into position. With a centre-back missing in the box, goalkeeper Ozcan decided to attack and win the ball, but he made a mistake and missed the ball. Freiburg centre-forward Idrissu (mohamadou_idrissou) fought for the first point, using his shoulders. Turker then slammed the ball in with his butt with his back to goal...... The shot was unconventional, the quality of the ball was not high, and it would not have been possible if Ozcan hadn't lost his position at the time. Pity...... The score was drawn 2-2 by Ben Freiburg.

After the ball was conceded, Rangnick was furious on the sidelines, and he rushed to the sideline and shouted at him waving his arms into the field.

In the eighty-ninth minute, substitute Pell came on. Nilsson blocked Idrissu's shot with his hand in the box and was awarded a penalty again. Idrissu himself took the spotkick and Freiburg locked the score at 3-2.

Hoffenheim were thus eliminated from the German Cup by Freiburg.

Everyone will naturally not be happy to be eliminated from the competition, not to mention that in the context of winning Dortmund by a large score before, everyone has high expectations for the German Cup.

Who would have thought that the future would be ruined because of two low-level mistakes by the goalkeeper.

The players were embarrassed by their teammates and had some things to say, but manager Rangnick didn't care so much, he called Ozcan aside and criticized him once.

Rangnick's frustration with Ozcan stems from his poor control of the penalty area, with both goals conceded being the result of unwanted attacking errors. Rangnick asked Ozcan to play less when dealing with crosses.

"The goalkeeper should use his hands to catch the ball!"

Ozjan, who joined on loan from Austrian club Red Bull Salzburg during last season's winter break, was one of the key factors in Hoffenheim's rise to promotion and the 24-year-old Austrian goalkeeper of Turkish descent was officially bought this summer.

However, after entering the season, Ozjan's form has been somewhat inconsistent due to his lack of top-flight experience. In a friendly match against Italy for the Austrian national team in August, it was Ozcan who made the fatal mistake of punching an opponent's cross into his own goal, which led to Austria being held to a 2-0 draw by Italy.

In this way, Rangnick's criticism is not unreasonable, and the 1.86-meter-tall goalkeeper is really not good at handling crosses.

Hoffenheim's forward line this season includes Ibisevic, Demba. Ba and Obasi and Wellington, the midfield has Chu Zhongtian, Salihovic and Eduardo, Weiss, Gustavo, and the backline has Beck and Comper, two players of the future German national team, the three lines are not weak, only the goalkeeper is an uneasy link.

Although he is an Austrian international, Ozcan has only been selected for the national team once, and he has obvious weaknesses in intercepting crosses, aerial dominance and attacking.

Originally, he did well in the second division, so the team decided to buy him. This summer, the strength of the team has been strengthened by the addition of several heavyweights, but his own ability has not improved, and he has gradually failed to keep up with the needs of the team.

Rangnick is already thinking in his mind that when the winter transfer window opens, he will hurry up and buy another goalkeeper.

After this game, the media also smelled something, and immediately the news of transfer rumours from Hildbrand (timo_hildebrand) and Hoffenheim, who had not had a very happy time in Valencia, came to the newspapers.

I don't know if Hoffenheim really wants to bring in the once-highly-anticipated German goalkeeper, or if Rangnick is using the trick to put pressure on Ozcan - don't think that you can relax your demands now that you're the team's number one goalkeeper, I have a waiting list waiting to take your place.

※※※ This game also made many people realize that the current Hoffenheim is not perfect enough, although they won Dortmund, and the win was beautiful, undisputed, so that the manager of Dortmund said that he could not find fault with it, and could only reluctantly admit that "they (Hoffenheim) were firmly in control of the game in 90 minutes." "But Hoffenheim is not invincible like this, they still have many weaknesses, it depends on whether the opponents can find them and take advantage of them.

The elimination gave those who were still not optimistic about Hoffenheim, or who had a natural hostility towards Hoffenheim, a reason to continue attacking Hoffenheim. But this time they changed their strategy, they didn't come up and just said that Hoffenheim can't do this and that, and it's doomed to be relegated. They admit that Hoffenheim have played well in some games, but - note the "but" - but in others they have played very badly, which illustrates just how inconsistent a rural team with no Bundesliga experience can be, and what is most needed in the league is consistency.

'Maybe it would be better for Rangnick's team to go to the cup. I've heard that they reached the quarter-finals of the German Cup in the 03-04 season...... You see, isn't that great? The Cup is where they should go! In the league, their goal is to try to stay relegated! ”

It's just that these voices can't stop more people from liking Hoffenheim, with 67 percent saying they like Hoffenheim's style of football in a street interview with ARD, and 51 percent saying they now know where Hoffenheim is.

These statistics were completely absent before the start of the season.

As Rangnick said, when their team is getting better and better, their supporters are growing.

※※※ Hoffenheim, who lost the German Cup, didn't have time to be sad, in fact, there was nothing to be sad about, just a cup game. It's still the league that's important.

They threw themselves into more "hard" training.

The last time they lost, Rangnick took them to fencing practice, and everyone thought it was fun when they played that team challenge later, and everyone had a lot of fun.

This time the ball was lost, and Rangnick and the team's sporting director, Bernhard. Peters gave them a new training discipline -- they hired a yoga master to give yoga classes to the players. And it wasn't a whim, Rangnick announced on the spot that yoga training would be a permanent part of the training program, and that the players would have to take a yoga class every week to increase their flexibility and coordination, while also preventing injuries.

However, the training was a miserable problem for the Hoffenheim players. Although the physical flexibility of professional football players is much better than that of ordinary people, it cannot be compared with soft body skills. There are some difficult movements in yoga that make it very difficult for the players to do it. Even Chu Zhongtian, who performed well in fencing practice, was no exception this time, and was tossed with a disgraced face.

Yoga is different from fencing for him, it is a completely different and new experience.

He came up with the idea of learning yoga, and he knew it would really be good for him. Physical changes are secondary, and he feels that practicing yoga can help him understand his body better, and whether it is football or being a person, it is very useful to know himself. Only by knowing his body better can he become stronger. This is actually quite mysterious, just like cultivating to the point where you can see inward, and you can see your physical condition at a glance. Yoga isn't that magical, of course, but it does help. Stephen Chow once made a movie called "Shaolin Football", which is a nonsensical movie about how to combine Chinese kung fu and football, which is quite popular in China, Japan and Europe. Although this combination is not realistic at present, practicing martial arts or yoga can indeed strengthen the body, and can improve the body's reaction speed and strength, as well as the ability to resist blows.

Although the expressions are different, the essence is the same.

If it's good for you, why not do it? Combine the strengths of various sports, such as the pace of fencing, the body coordination of yoga, and other sports, and combine them with football...... What kind of monster would that be?

Only this time he didn't have to go to a coach privately and practice alone, because the club had decided to have a regular yoga class every week.

When it comes to yoga training in a professional soccer team, Hoffenheim is probably still number one.

And the players don't know what new tricks await them when they lose the next time...... The first time it was fencing, this time it was yoga, and the next time will it be a "triathlon" (swimming 3.8 kilometers in one go; One hundred and eighty kilometers by bicycle; The 42.195-kilometre race)?

It's something that makes you tremble and feel terrible just thinking about it...... But Hoffenheim, who plays his cards so unconventionally, may have the hope of turning the whole of Germany and even Europe upside down!

(To be continued)