The Hoffenheim Club did hold a "China Day" event. Judging from their organizational results, it was not like a sudden decision on a whim. It seemed that it had been prepared for a long time. From this point of view, Chu Zhongtian really admired the Germans' efficiency and work style.

Hoffenheim official first announced to the media as a counterattack against those racists in the Bundesliga. They decided to set the seventh round of the league on October 3 as "China Day" to commend Chu Zhongtian's outstanding contribution to the team. According to the introduction of Hoffenheim Club, this "China Day" is not temporary and will continue to be promoted and promoted as part of the team's annual activities in the future. And it is not necessarily limited to October 3. For example, October 3 is the seventh round of the league, then this day is "China Day". If September 26 next year is Hoffenheim's home game day, then this day is "China Day". And so on, there is a day every year that is "China Day". As long as Chu Zhongtian is still in the team, there will always be "China Day".

What should I do in "China Day"?

In the week before every "China Day", the club will trigger related posters. Simply put, posters with the image of Chu Zhongtian are distributed to cities and communities with a large number of Chinese people to attract Chinese and Chinese students there to pay attention to Hoffenheim's game. In addition, the club will also customize fan scarves with Chinese characters. For example, translate German Hoffenheim into square stitches on scarves.

On this recent China Day, the team also plans to invite the Chinese Dragon Dance Team, which has been from Munich, to perform pre-match performances at the Carl-Benz Stadium on October 3rd.

In addition, we must also find a Chinese announcer who can create the atmosphere. At that time, we will lead all the fans of the audience to cheer for Chu Zhongtian in Chinese. In order to avoid everyone not knowing how to pronounce Chinese, every Hoffenheim fan entering the venue will receive a small card issued by the staff, which is marked with "Pinyin" for those Chinese cheering voices in German transliteration. It doesn't matter if you can't understand Chinese and can't speak Chinese, just pronounce it according to German. Although it sounds a bit inappropriate, this method is very easy to do, and there is no need to worry about the unstoppable accident because everyone doesn't understand it.

The Germans think so thoughtfully.

In fact, it can be seen from this series of activities that Hoffenheim set up "China Day" not entirely to satisfy the vanity of Chinese fans and make them cheer for Chu Zhongtian. At the same time, Hoffenheim is also promoting himself and promoting himself. In other places in Germany, in China outside Germany, the name of Chu Zhongtian makes the team have a deep impression in the minds of Chinese and Chinese fans in Germany.

Hoffenheim has not had enough fans now, and Chu Zhongtian just joined Hoffenheim. The official website of Hoffenheim Club was hit because of the excessive visits from China. After that, the letters from China increased day by day. All these made the management of Hoffenheim Club realize the non-football impact that Chu Zhongtian's joining brought to this small team.

If they don't make good use of it, they will all get their salary in vain.

According to the wishes of Hope's boss, if Hoffenheim wants to become a future German upstart, he must expand his popularity. An unknown team will definitely not become a giant. In addition to the team's continuous winning and winning championships, there are also some other means other than football to operate, such as such publicity activities.

Although it is nearly two weeks before the first "China Day", Chu Zhongtian has been dragged to a press conference by the club's external publicity department. At the press conference, he thanked the club for setting up "China Day" and said that he would work hard to play football and contribute a wonderful and beautiful game to the fans.

In addition to attending the press conference, I also took an afternoon to go to Sinsheim to shoot and produce posters and promotional materials.

I was tossed by the photographers for an afternoon, posing in countless positions, and making difficult moves such as volleys and inverted gold hooks on the mat, and finally I got the final say.

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

His own head coach Ralph Rangnick is definitely not an isolated case.

In addition, because of this "China Japan" and the racist remarks on the field before, the German TV station Premiere, which was responsible for broadcasting the Bundesliga, also came to interview Chu Zhongtian. At the end of the interview, it was Chu Zhongtian who interviewed him who said "Hoffenheim" in Chinese.

The reporter learned it after learning it a few times. Although he didn't say it very much, he still laughed and patted Chu Zhongtian on the shoulder, expressing his gratitude to him, the teacher.

While promoting itself, the Hoffenheim Club's "China Day" event seems to prove from another perspective that Chu Zhongtian is the number one star in the team and is the team's well-deserved banner and representative figure.

After all, Hoffenheim has many international players. Why did Ibissevic set up a "China Day"? Ibissevic is still the top scorer within the team? Why didn't there be "Bosnia and Herzegovina Day"? If it is because Chu Zhongtian was treated unfairly in the stands before, then there is no need to specifically fix a "China Day" to calm people's hearts?

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

※※Although Hoffenheim has the ambition of saying it but no one believes it, they encountered a Waterloo in the German Cup.

On September 24, the second round of the German Cup. Hoffenheim challenged the second team Freiburg away.

Hoffenheim, who just won Dortmund's big score, was full of fighting spirit, and even in the away game, they did not have a trace of fear.

In this game, Rangnick rotated the starting lineup. Obasi, who has not been able to play since he returned from the Beijing Olympics, replaced Demba Ba and partnered with Ibissevic. Louis Gustavo replaced Chu Zhongtian as the starting midfielder. Per Nilsson did not wear the captain's armband because he was also rotated, and he was replaced by Matthias_jaissle.

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

The beginning of the game was good for Hoffenheim. In the 36th minute, Freiburg's kevin_schlitte drew the ball in the penalty area and tackled Obasi to the ground and was sentenced to death. The team's top penalty kicker Salihovic took the penalty kick and scored, and Hoffenheim took a 1-0 lead.

But I didn't expect that the situation suddenly changed in the second half. In the 68th minute, Freiburg organized an attack, and the football was passed from the wing to the penalty area. Goalkeeper Ozjan chose to attack but did not get the ball. As a result, Freiburg's Turkey field, ali_günes, received the ball. The defender who was keeping his guard, had no time to do anything else. He squeezed from behind to Gunesh, who was just about to shoot. The referee awarded a penalty for the second time in this game, but this time he benefited from the unlucky side last time.

Daniel_schwaab, a young star on the Freiburg defense, took the penalty and tied the score 1:1.

Then Rangnick replaced Chu Zhongtian on the court, hoping to get a new lead. He was unwilling to be eliminated in the second round of the German Cup.

Chu Zhongtian changed the situation on the field, and the situation began to develop in a direction that was beneficial to Hoffenheim.

In the 78th minute, Chu Zhongtian initiated an offensive. Obasi and Salihovic passed one in a row and then shot. The football went straight to the bottom corner, 2:1! Hoffenheim led again!

Just when everyone thought that the game finally returned to Hoffenheim's trajectory and they would win the game, Ozjan made another mistake in the 84th minute of the game. At that time, Freiburg got a corner kick, and Hoffenheim substituted at the same time, replacing Jaisler with Per Nilsson. As a result, Freiburg's player Günesh played a trick and suddenly took a corner kick before Nilsson ran to the position. Because there was a missing central defender in the penalty area, goalkeeper Ozjan decided to attack and get the ball, but he took the

The strike was wrong and he did not encounter football. Freiburg center Mohamadou_idrissou won the first place, and he used his shoulders. Then Türker hit the football with his butt with his back to the goal... This shooting action is very unconventional, and the quality of the football shot is not high. If Ozjan had not lost his position at the time, the ball would not be able to enter. Unfortunately... the score was tied 2:2.

After the ball was lost, Rangnick was very angry on the sidelines. He rushed to the sidelines and shouted in the field, waving his arms and yelling.

In the 89th minute, Per Nilsson, who came on the bench, blocked Idrisu's shot with his hand in the penalty area and was awarded a penalty again. Idrisu personally took the penalty and Freiburg locked the score at 3:2.

Hoffenheim was eliminated from the German Cup by Freiburg.

Everyone will naturally not be happy if they are eliminated, not to mention that everyone has high expectations for the German Cup when they beat Dortmund with a big score.

Unexpectedly, the goalkeeper's two low-level mistakes were ruined.

Due to the teammates, the players were not easy to say, but coach Rangnick didn't care about that much. He called Ozjan aside and criticized him once.

Rangnick's dissatisfaction with Ozjan mainly comes from his poor control ability in the penalty area, and his two concealment of the ball was caused by unnecessary errors. Rangnick asked Ozjan to attack less when dealing with crosses.

"The goalkeeper should have used his hands to catch the ball!"

Ozjan joined the Austrian club Red Bull on loan during the winter break last season. His outstanding performance was one of the key factors for Hoffenheim to get the upgrade qualification. Therefore, Hoffenheim officially bought out the 24-year-old Austrian goalkeeper with Turkish descent this summer.

But after entering this season, Ozjan, who lacks experience in the top league, is somewhat unstable. In a friendly match against Italy in August, Ozjan made a fatal mistake - to knock his opponent's cross into his own goal, resulting in Austria being tied by Italy with a 2-0 lead.

It seems that Rangnick's criticism is not without reason. This goalkeeper, who is 1.86 meters tall, is indeed not good at handling crosses.

This season, Hoffenheim's forward line includes Ibissevic, Demba Ba, Obasi and Wellington, while Chu Zhongtian, Salihovic and Eduardo, Weiss, Gustavo, and two future German national team players, Baker and Comper, are not weak in the three lines, and only the goalkeeper is a worry-free link.

Although Ozjan is an Austrian national goal, he only had that experience of being selected for the national team. He had obvious weaknesses in interception, air control ability and attack.

He originally performed well in the second division, so the team decided to buy him. This summer, the team's strength has been enhanced by joining several heavyweight players, but his own abilities have not improved and he has gradually failed to keep up with the team's needs.

Rangnick was already thinking about it. When the winter transfer window opened, he quickly bought another goalkeeper.

After this game, the media also smelled something, and immediately the news of the unhappy transfer rumors of Hildebrand and Hoffenheim who lived in Valencia were reported to the newspapers.

I really don’t know if Hoffenheim really wants to introduce this German goalkeeper who was once highly anticipated, or if Rangnick is using this move to put pressure on Ozjan - don’t think that you are the team’s number one goalkeeper now and you can relax your requirements. I have a string of waiting lists waiting to replace you.

※※This game also made many people realize that Hoffenheim is not perfect enough. Although they beat Dortmund and won beautifully, there was no dispute that Dortmund's head coach said that he could not find any fault and could only admit helplessly that "they (Hoffenheim) had firmly controlled the game within 90 minutes." But Hoffenheim is not invincible, and they still have many weaknesses, it depends on whether the opponents can discover and exploit it.

Being eliminated made those who are still not optimistic about Hoffenheim, or who have a natural hostility towards Hoffenheim, find a reason to continue attacking Hoffenheim. But this time they changed a strategy, and they would not come up and say that Hoffenheim is not good, and they are destined to be relegated. They admit that Hoffenheim played well in some games, but - pay attention to this "but" - but in other games they played very badly, which just shows how unstable a rural team without Bundesliga experience is, and what is most needed in the league is stability.

"Maybe it would be better for Rangnick's team to play the Cup. I heard they once reached the quarterfinals of the National German Cup in 2003-04... Look, isn't that great? The Cup is where they should go! In the league, their goal is to work hard to relegate!"

But these sounds can no longer stop more people from liking Hoffenheim. In a street interview conducted by German TV One, 67% of people said they like Hoffenheim's football style, and 51% of people said they now know where Hoffenheim is.

These numbers were completely missing before the start of the season.

Everything is just like Rangnick said, as their teams perform better and better, so do their supporters.

※※※Hoffenheim, who lost the German Cup, had no time to be sad, and there was actually nothing to be sad, just a cup game. The important thing is the league.

They have devoted themselves to more "hard" training.

Last time I lost the ball, Rangnick took them to practice fencing. Later, when everyone was playing the team challenge, they thought it was quite fun. Hehe, everyone was having fun.

After losing this time, Rangnick and the team's sports director Bernhard Peters gave them a new training subject - they hired a yoga master to teach the players yoga classes. And this was not a whim. Rangnick announced on the spot that yoga training will last as a fixed program in the training subject. Players must have a yoga class every week to increase their body softness and coordination while also preventing injuries.

This training made Hoffenheim players miserable. Although the physical flexibility of professional football players is much better than that of ordinary people, it cannot be compared with software skills. Some of the difficult movements in yoga make it very difficult for players to do. Even Chu Zhongtian, who performed well in fencing practice, was no exception this time, and was tortured in dust.

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

He had the idea of ​​learning yoga, and he knew that it was really good for him. Physical changes were secondarily. He felt that practicing yoga would allow him to understand his body better, and whether it was football or being a human being, understanding himself is of great use. Only by understanding his body better can he become stronger. This is actually quite fantastic, just like practicing martial arts to be able to see inside, and he can see his physical condition at a glance. Of course, yoga would not be so magical, but it is indeed a little helpful. Stephen Chow once made a movie called "Shaolin Football", which is a nonsensical movie, which talks about how to combine Chinese Kung Fu and football. It is very popular in China, Japan and Europe. Although this combination is not realistic at the moment, practicing martial arts or yoga can indeed strengthen the body, and can improve the body's reaction speed, strength and resistance to hits.

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

Since it is good for you, why not do it? Focus the advantages of various sports in one, the movement of fencing, the coordination of yoga, and other sports, and combine these with football... What kind of monster would it be?

But this time he didn't have to go private to find a coach and practiced alone, because the club had decided to have a fixed yoga class every week.

I'm afraid Hoffenheim will still be the number one in yoga training in professional football teams.

And the players don’t know what new tricks are waiting for them after they lose the next time... The first time is fencing, this time it is yoga, will they be "triathletes" next time (swimming 3.8 kilometers in one breath; bicycle 180 kilometers; long-distance running schedule of 42.195 kilometers)?

This is really a terrifying thing to think about it... But Hoffenheim, who plays like this inconsistently, may have the hope of upending the entire Germany and even Europe!
Chapter completed!