Chapter 57
Chapter 57
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Preseason -3
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***
I turned my head and couldn't help but freak out just like the Union Berlin players.
Thomas Tuchel was glaring at me from behind my back.
Philipp Lahm, whom I'd connected with back in Stuttgart, was desperately holding back his laughter.
“Thomas!”
I spotted Tuchel and greeted him warmly.
It was a desperate bid for survival.
Well, Tuchel had been glaring, but he soon let out a light chuckle.
We shared a quick embrace, and Thomas Tuchel whispered in my ear.
“Come see me after it's over.”
Probably because it was awkward to chew me out openly in front of the squad when he had to keep up managerial dignity.
If it had been the old days, Thomas Tuchel would've ripped into me without a second thought, but he seemed to have mellowed out quite a bit from spending time with me.
‘Who am I? The guy who taught Thomas Tuchel some social graces.’
The Union Berlin players stared at me in amazement, wondering how I'd trashed Thomas Tuchel and lived to tell the tale.
***
Things took an unexpected turn during my Thomas Tuchel takedown, but the outcome was the same.
The players seemed to have their tension melt away from the shock of Tuchel's sudden appearance.
“Do you all want to live under Tuchel's thumb?!”
“Nein!!”
The new signings for Union Berlin looked puzzled, but I rallied morale around the core players.
I glanced around and spotted cameras everywhere in the stadium.
The Bayern Munich vs. Union Berlin match was set to be broadcast.
And apparently, it was going out in Korea and Japan too.
‘Korea makes sense, but Japan?’
I couldn't wrap my head around my popularity in Japan, but hey, popularity was a good thing.
Personally, I was all for preseason games being televised. We'd negotiated a nice broadcast fee.
Anyway, moments later.
The Bayern Munich vs. Union Berlin preseason friendly kicked off.
***
Thomas Tuchel.
He'd scheduled this preseason friendly with Union Berlin to earn some authority over Bayern Munich's star players.
Bayern's squad brimmed with pride in their own abilities.
They couldn't fathom taking orders from Tuchel, who had been a lower-league manager.
Plus, some in the club hierarchy acknowledged Tuchel's potential but felt it was too soon to hand him the reins of a behemoth like Bayern Munich.
For Tuchel to establish his managerial authority, he needed to prove that even a lower-league side wasn't a pushover.
In that sense, Union Berlin was a perfect matchup.
A heavy loss to Union Berlin would drive the point home to the club and players alike.
Tuchel turned his gaze toward Union Berlin.
The team he'd left behind was now seen as a relegation-threatened weakling in the 2. Bundesliga.
‘Idiots can't see the truth.’
Tuchel himself had consistently praised Park Chan-hyuk in the media, but the press still doubted whether an Asian manager could truly lead the team.
It stemmed from Europe's deep-rooted racist view that Asian soccer figures couldn't succeed in Europe.
‘Shame. I should've brought him to Bayern.’
What Tuchel valued most in Park Chan-hyuk wasn't tactics or squad management.
It was his insane ability to get impossible tasks done, no matter what.
Truth be told, assistant coaches rarely got as much responsibility as Park Chan-hyuk.
Tuchel had been amazed by how Park grudgingly powered through every assignment, so he'd kept piling on more work until the assistant coach role naturally expanded.
For the record, Union Berlin's president Dirk Zingler had been equally impressed and snuck some of his own tasks onto Park Chan-hyuk's plate.
‘Looking back now, those were some fun memories.’
Even Thomas Tuchel, who prided himself as Park Chan-hyuk's biggest supporter.
‘…What the hell is that guy doing?’
Couldn't make sense of deploying striker ‘Thomas Mayer’ as a defensive midfielder.
***
Putting Thomas Mayer at defensive midfield wasn't some grand strategy.
I'd tried it once in training, and he did surprisingly well.
His tackling stats were a bit lacking, but his work ethic made up for it.
Truthfully, the role of defensive midfielder on our team wasn't all that different from central midfielder.
Facing a giant like Bayern Munich, it just felt wrong leaving that spot empty, so I slotted him in.
The formation was essentially a 4-2-3-1 optimized for high pressing.
I had no intention of playing passively against Bayern Munich, cowering and hoping for a counter.
No interest in a boring game of sitting deep and waiting for one breakaway chance.
Today, we were going to press Bayern Munich aggressively.
It was preseason, after all.
Even a thrashing would be worth it if the players gained something from it.
When else would Union Berlin's squad get to go all-out against Germany's powerhouse, Bayern Munich, without a care for consequences?
“Even if we take ten on the chin, landing one punch makes it a win. Don't fear conceding— just attack!”
I shouted at the players to give 'em hell, win or lose.
“Eisernen!!”
“Union!”
The players grinned and shouted back.
***
At the same time.
[Hello, soccer fans across the nation.]
[Today's match is the preseason friendly between Union Berlin and Bayern Munich. Bayern Munich needs no introduction as one of Europe's top teams. And despite being in the 2. Bundesliga, Union Berlin has gained quite a following among Korean soccer fans.]
Even in the dead of night, more viewers than expected tuned in for Union Berlin vs. Bayern Munich.
- Let's promote to the top flight like this…!
- Honestly, back-to-back-to-back promotions seem tough.
- Think positive! We can do it!
Interest in Union Berlin's preseason was higher than anticipated. Soccer fans poured out passionate support.
- Bayern Munich, though—this one's gonna be rough, right?
- If you're Korean, cheer for Union Berlin!
- It's just a friendly, not official. Hope for no injuries and a good game.
Union Berlin felt like a ‘Korean’ team to them.
Korea was in its era of nationalistic chest-thumping, with public broadcasters yelling ‘Do you know kimchi?’
The Korean economy had surged with the Miracle on the Han River, boasting several world-famous conglomerates.
Yet Korea's national brand recognition still lagged.
Ask a Westerner about Korea right now, and nine out of ten would go, “A country like that exists?” Three would mutter ‘Rocket Man,’ and one might say, “The place between Japan and China.”
In that climate, Koreans harbored a deep yearning for recognition.
The public's fervor had erupted in the cringe-worthy form of ‘Do you know kimchi?’
Enter Union Berlin, which showed pro-Korea vibes.
It started as a coincidence from Thomas Tuchel's recommendation, but they'd hired a Korean assistant coach, and that coach built a Korean-language website.
With a Korean managing the site, celebrating Korean holidays was natural, but it hit Korean fans like a breath of fresh air.
- Holy crap, a German club remembering March 1st Independence Day…! (tears)
- Germany celebrating Korea's independence?
And Union Berlin had romance too.
Fans selling blood to save the club evoked Korea's IMF gold-collecting drives for fans.
All this gave Union Berlin a stellar image among Koreans.
- As expected from a company founded by GL independence fighters—different from the root up.
- Helping folks like Park Chan-hyuk put our country on the world map is patriotism too.
- Cheering is how I show my patriotism!
News that GL Group was helping build Union Berlin's stadium boosted their image back home too.
Union Berlin already had a great rep among Koreans for all these reasons.
When word spread that a Korean assistant coach had become manager, support escalated beyond declarations—it felt like Union Berlin was Korea itself.
[Park Chan-hyuk, another pride of Korea, is now leading Union Berlin!!]
[At just 20 years old, Park Chan-hyuk has become the youngest manager ever. Personally, I think it's a record that'll never be broken.]
Before long, Korean soccer fans started watching the Union Berlin vs. Bayern Munich clash like a national team match.