With a swish, the ball flew straight into the net, splashing up white waves.
"GOALLLLL~~~!"
"The ball's in!"
"The scorer is Mark Lane!!!"
"He created the set piece and then finished it himself right in front of the goal! What a perfect outcome!"
"Wolfsburg has taken the lead at Westfalen!"
After scoring, Mark went to a nearby camera and danced a samba he had only recently learned.
Watching him dance with such a flamboyant flair, the home fans booed him loudly:
"Damn it, he's just showing off!"
"He snuck in another one… annoying…"
"And I even defended him online! Damn it!"
Following his assist to De Bruyne in the last League match to force a draw against Dortmund, he faced Dortmund again in this German Cup match and scored again!
However, Löw in the stands wasn't focused on his simple, opportunistic goal, but rather on how and why the goal happened.
This goal perfectly showcased Mark's huge tactical importance!
His breakthroughs on the wing often won good set-piece opportunities for the team.
With Mark, the team had a stable source of set pieces.
And set pieces are one of the two great tools for breaking a deadlock!
At this moment, Löw had already made a decision:
"Hans, add this kid's name to next month's roster!"
Hearing this, Flick, who was standing nearby, smiled slightly:
"No problem!"
Meanwhile, Mark, who had just finished his samba, didn't know that his performance had already conquered the national team coach.
He was simply lost in the charm of his own dance moves:
"How was it? Pretty cool, right, bro!"
Thanks to Mark's header, Wolfsburg returned to the locker room with a one-goal lead.
"Hoo-ha… Hoo-ha…"
Sitting in front of his locker, Mark, shirtless, covered his head with a towel, panting heavily.
Although his stamina had increased by five points to sixty after this period of training, he made many breakthroughs on the wing in this match, which consumed a lot of energy.
Although it looked very easy, he had to frequently stop and change pace to completely shake off Drmic, whose speed was very fast, thus consuming even more energy.
He clearly felt that starting this half was much more tiring than the last round against Nuremberg.
However, helping the team score first in the first half made all the energy expenditure worth it!
At this moment, Hecking also came up to him and patted his shoulder:
"Mark, well done!"
"However, in the second half, I need you to play smarter, to be more cautious in choosing when to break through."
"We are leading now, we can completely control the tempo, no need to rush…"
"I want you to attract defenders on the field, creating space for Kevin, Bas (Dost), and the others…"
Facing Hecking's tactical instructions, Mark, too tired to reply, just nodded repeatedly, indicating he understood.
In the home team's locker room on the other side, Klopp looked serious:
"Such a performance in the first half is unacceptable!"
"Absolutely no one should be left unmarked during set pieces!"
Hearing this, young Drmic couldn't help but lower his head.
Although Klopp didn't call him out by name, he was clearly unhappy with Drmic's lack of concentration during set-piece defense.
"In the second half, we must strengthen our attack!"
"Remember, this is our home ground!"
After a short halftime break, the second half began with a change of sides.
Klopp was decisive, immediately substituting young Drmic, who had been tormented by Mark in the first half and was carrying a yellow card.
He brought on "Big Cross" Großkreutz and also switched Piszczek to the right wing again.
Clearly, this was to limit the very active Mark in the first half.
As play resumed, the trailing Dortmund intensified their attack, and their overall formation pushed higher.
However, they quickly realized something was wrong!
Whenever Dortmund had possession, Wolfsburg's overall formation would contract into a 4-5-1, leaving only Dost at the very front, with everyone else retreating to their own half, leaving no space for Dortmund to play passing combinations.
Whenever Wolfsburg had possession, they would try to pass the ball around in their own half as much as possible, opting for short passes and not easily attempting long passes.
And Mark, who had been very active in the first half, after receiving the ball, did not try to break through Piszczek, but instead waited in place for a Dortmund defensive midfielder to come over to assist in defense before passing the ball away.
Both the Dortmund players and the fans of both teams in the stands realized that Wolfsburg was deliberately controlling the pace of the game!
In response, Dortmund fans began to emit a huge buzzing boo and started shouting:
"Despicable!"
"Are they already time-wasting in the second half?"
"That's outrageous…"
However, for the Wolfsburg players, no matter what method they used, whoever won the match was the victor!
Besides, whoever was trailing would be anxious.
Anyway, they had a one-goal lead and didn't need to rush to attack.
Of course, Dortmund's high press was not to be underestimated.
Lewandowski, Reus, Aubameyang, and Mkhitaryan in the front all showed a willingness to press.
However, the previous match against Bayern had been extremely draining, which resulted in Dortmund's front-line pressing intensity not being too high in this match.
Even so, Wolfsburg's build-up play from the back was still somewhat affected.
However, Wolfsburg's players also had a solution:
That was to give the ball to Mark!
If there were a team vote on who was best at shielding the ball, Mark would certainly win unanimously!
With Ronaldinho's ball control ability, he rarely lost possession when he had the ball.
Even if he lost the ball, it was due to a passing error.
So, whenever they were pressed and didn't know who to pass to, passing to Mark was always the right choice!
And Mark did not disappoint their expectations.
Aside from pulling or fouling, Dortmund players simply couldn't take the ball from his feet.
Moreover, whenever two players surrounded him, he would pass the ball out in time to avoid being fouled.
As a result, Wolfsburg consistently maintained possession.
And the Dortmund players, already exhausted from their previous match, could only grit their teeth and squeeze out what little strength they had left to continue pressing.
Klopp on the sidelines looked grim.
He began to regret why he hadn't rested more key players in the previous Der Klassiker against Bayern.
After all, with the League title already decided, why bother fighting Bayern for those insignificant three points out of temporary anger?
Or perhaps, he had underestimated Wolfsburg, and he had underestimated Hecking and Mark.
In desperation, he could only use substitutions to increase the vitality of the front-line press.
"The match has reached the sixty-eighth minute, and Dortmund has used up their remaining two substitutions at once!"
"Captain Kehl and Mkhitaryan have been substituted, with Sven Bender and Hofmann coming on!"
At the same time, as Dortmund's formation pushed forward comprehensively, a huge space was exposed behind them.
If they could play an over-the-top ball behind the defense, combined with a counter, they could definitely cut through Dortmund's backline and go one-on-one!
And De Bruyne, as the midfield orchestrator, keenly noticed this.
So, taking advantage of Dortmund's substitutions, he approached Mark, covering his mouth with his hand, and whispered:
"Mark, they're pressing very high, there's a lot of space behind them. Later, I can play a through ball to Bas, and then you can make a run from behind!"
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