In the first round of the German Cup, facing Rot-Weiss Essen, Jin Hayes naturally had no chance of playing.
It wasn't that he wasn't good enough; it was because he was too good.
The first two rounds of the German Cup mostly feature teams from the 2. Bundesliga and 3. Liga, and Klopp hoped to give the youngsters and substitutes more opportunities to gain experience.
Jin Hayes argued, "I'm a youngster too! I can play!"
"We have a Champions League match in four days. If you don't want to play against Juventus, I can arrange for you to start in the Cup."
"What I meant was, I can leave the opportunity to the youth academy boys. They need more practical match experience." Jin Hayes immediately changed his tune, terrified that Klopp would actually put him in the Cup squad.
The good news was that this match was at Westfalen. Jin Hayes could watch the match from the stands with the Heinrich family before flying with the team to Turin to prepare for the Champions League. Since joining Borussia Dortmund, this was the first time he would experience the atmosphere of Westfalen Stadium from the stands.
"I just saw it—Mario is in the squad!"
"Which Mario?"
"Is it Götze?"
"Exactly!"
"That's great!" Marco Reus was very happy. He remembered when he first saw that green, chubby eight-year-old standing on the sidelines of the Borussia Dortmund youth academy training ground. Reus had a premonition that this kid might be one of the most talented people he had ever seen—until Reus met Jin Hayes.
Regardless, Reus was happy for Götze to see his good friend promoted to the first team, even if it was just for one Cup match.
To prepare for the Cup and the Champions League, some youth and reserve players joined the first-team regulars for today's training session. There were many familiar but not well-known faces on the training ground.
"Hey! Mario!"
"Marco!!" Seeing Reus, Götze gave him an excited hug.
"Let me introduce you. This is my little brother, Mario Götze."
"What's there to introduce? We're all familiar faces!" Mats Hummels familiarly threw an arm around Götze and led him into the crowd. Even though Hummels was from the Bayern youth academy and only joined Dortmund last year, spending so much time with the Bumblebees' youth academy crowd gave him the illusion that he was one of their own.
"Speaking of which, Mario, you're the same age as Jin. Why did it take you so long to reach the first team?"
"Uh—"
Jin Hayes felt this was inappropriate. Hummels was such a big mouth, always bringing up awkward topics. Fortunately, Götze was a relatively introverted and honest kid. He just smiled at Hummels' words.
"I'm far behind Jin. A player like Jin is like... a 'WeiBer Rabe'." Götze scratched his head and thought for a moment, using the common German idiom "White Raven" to describe Jin Hayes—someone extraordinary and eye-catching. The surrounding teammates were stunned. They didn't expect Götze to have such a high opinion of Jin Hayes, and his expression was so sincere it didn't seem like empty flattery. Then again, Jin Hayes really was a monster, so there was nothing wrong with the assessment.
"No need to be humble, Mario. You're a genius player too, and you'll be a permanent part of the first team soon." This was Jin Hayes's turn for some mutual flattery.
"Danke." Götze was very happy to be praised by Jin Hayes.
To be fair, they were the same age, and Götze was even three days older than Jin Hayes. But Götze had been a fan of Jin Hayes since last season. He had thought Jin Hayes would be the arrogant type who looked down on everyone, but after actually meeting him, he found that Jin Hayes had a great personality and didn't fit the stereotype of the silent, reserved Asian. They were all youngsters under twenty. No matter how tiring the training was, they would laugh and joke around. The atmosphere on the training ground was truly joyful.
"By the way, I remember Jin saying that you'll play in a World Cup final in the future and score the winning goal."
"Huh?" Götze's youthful face was full of surprise.
"I can testify to that. Jin did say you would be the key man for the German team to win the championship." Nuri Şahin also remembered.
"Yes, and he also said I would miss the World Cup due to injury." In the past, Reus wouldn't have believed such things. But Jin Hayes had accurately predicted the 2008 European Cup. The moment Reus saw Fernando Torres score in the final, the hair on the back of his neck stood up.
Torres scoring wasn't the scary part; what was scary was that the way he scored was exactly as Jin Hayes had described. So, from the start of the new season's training camp, Reus paid special attention to strength training, especially for his lower body. He specifically asked the coaching staff to customise a muscle training plan for him to strengthen his leg muscles and ligaments, increase the strength around his joints, and reduce the risk of injury.
To this end, Reus spent an extra four to six hours every week on intensive training and physical therapy from the medical team. Reus had no complaints; he was terrified that Jin Hayes's prediction of him becoming a 'glass canon' would come true.
"Really?"
"Don't listen to their nonsense. I just said it in passing. Mario, your talent is beyond doubt." The other guys were about to turn him into some kind of fortune teller. Jin Hayes quickly tried to dispel Götze's thoughts. Otherwise, if the timeline changed, it would be Jin Hayes's fault.
Unexpectedly, Götze was even more motivated than he imagined: "Then I must train hard and strive to reach the heights you mentioned."
Götze's original goal was just to make appearances for the first team and secure a stable starting position. After hearing Jin Hayes's words, he really began to look forward to representing the national team in a World Cup final. In the following training sessions, Götze was indeed very hardworking.
It even left Klopp stunned: "Strange, that kid Mario actually isn't slacking off today."
"Yeah, he usually tries to cut corners when he gets tired, but his attitude today is really good." Assistant coach Krawietz clicked his tongue in amazement.
"He's probably been stimulated by Jin." Klopp rubbed his prickly beard on his chin. "Jin is three days younger than him, yet he's already a core member of the first team and trains harder than the whole squad. Mario probably feels the pressure."
Krawietz was actually a bit worried about Jin Hayes: "This kid is pushing himself a bit too hard. Look at these drills; he's completing them with full effort. He's still doing extra training on top of that; can he handle it?"
"Don't worry about that." Klopp wasn't concerned. "I've asked the medical team. All his physical parameters are very healthy, and he hasn't reached his limit. A monster cannot be explained by common sense. I can only say that the only good thing Watzke has ever done was bringing him over from Arsenal."
A specialised player who, at fifteen, could only dribble and didn't know how to pass or shoot would be hard for other first teams to accept. Choosing Jin Hayes back then truly required a certain amount of courage and vision.
…
What was it like to watch a match at Westfalen, the largest 'cauldron' stadium in Europe? Jin Hayes felt it was one of the stadiums with the best football atmosphere he had ever experienced. When he was a kid, he went with his dad to Tianhe Stadium to watch a Jia-A League match of the Apollo team.
General Fan led the Shenhua team to challenge them and dominated Apollo, winning 2–0. Despite the loss, the fans in the stands still sang 'Under a Vast Sky' loudly to cheer for the team. The atmosphere at the time left an unforgettable impression on the young Jin Hayes.
Later, from elementary school to middle school, the team changed owners several times—Xiangxue, Geely, Sunray Cave, and now GPC—Jin Hayes hadn't watched a match live in a very long time. He didn't even know if he would ever have the chance to return to Tianhe Stadium and hear tens of thousands of people singing 'Under a Vast Sky' in unison again.
This time at Westfalen, Jin Hayes rediscovered the joy of being a fan. The atmosphere was explosive for a full three hours, from before the match until after it ended. Jin Hayes held up a scarf, cheering for the team and singing the club anthem along with the Heinrich family. He sang until his voice was almost hoarse. Amidst everyone's cheers, the Borussia Dortmund youth and substitute lineup comfortably secured a 2–0 victory over Rot-Weiss Essen to take their first Cup win.
Mario Götze, who started the match, didn't score, but his performance was commendable. He repeatedly used his breakthroughs and playmaking in the final third to create threats. His flashes of brilliance drew rounds of applause at Westfalen.
"Jin, I think if he could play, the link-up between you two would be beautiful to watch." Uncle Hans was already starting to look forward to that scene. The combination of Jin Hayes, Marco Reus, and Götze in the attack would truly be as beautiful as a painting—even more perfect if they had a powerful centre-forward.
Jin Hayes also felt that Götze's agile style of play could indeed form a highly creative partnership with him. The trio could completely swap positions freely, playing dazzling passing and movement football. However, those two were slightly better at passing than he was, especially Reus, whose passing was of a very high standard. Jin Hayes felt he still needed to practice more. Without relying on 'Heartfelt Pass,' he was still a bit lacking.
Another win.
Counting the league and the Champions League qualifiers, Borussia Dortmund had started the new season with a seven-match winning streak. The team was winning on all three fronts. The departing fans were in high spirits, heading to bars in groups of twos and threes with their arms around each other's shoulders to continue the celebration.
Hans, Maria, and old man Fritz were planning to go to a bar with the 'Yellow Black Prussia' die-hard fan group. Anna had always been averse to such crowded scenes, and today she happened to have a perfect excuse.
"I'm not going. Jin said he wanted to check out the fan shop, so I'll go with him."
"Eh? I didn't—" Before Jin Hayes could finish, Anna grabbed his arm and pulled him away. She even gave Jin Hayes a threatening, 'fierce' look. He had originally wanted to go to the bar with everyone to experience the atmosphere, but he had no choice but to change his mind.
"Right, we're not going."
"Alright then, stay safe you two." Hans even gave him a deliberate wink and left laughing loudly. Jin Hayes didn't know what he was hinting at.
"Let's go."
Only after the crowd had mostly cleared from the stands and the Dortmund players had all entered the locker room, leaving only the staff cleaning up the stadium, did Anna pull Jin Hayes along to leave.
"Do you really want to visit the fan shop?"
"I— well, let's just take a look." Anna had originally just made up a random excuse, but then her eyes twinkled as she changed her mind.
Under the night sky of Dortmund, the area outside Westfalen Stadium was filled with noisy crowds. Yet Jin Hayes and Anna walked quietly side by side. It wasn't until they entered the fan shop that Anna's eyes lit up, and she headed straight for the jersey section.
"Speaking of which, I don't have your number 10 yet." Anna casually picked out a yellow Borussia Dortmund home jersey with 'Jin—10' printed on the back. Two whole rows of jersey racks were filled with Jin Hayes's kits, showing just how popular his number was. Many parents were there with their children. A boy about six or seven years old pointed at Jin Hayes's jersey and shouted in a childish voice: "I want Jin's!"
This was the first time Jin Hayes truly felt his popularity among the fan base.
"Does it look good?"
"Hard to tell. Why don't you go try it on?"
"Fine." Anna couldn't get a feel for it just by holding the hanger against herself, so she simply ran to the nearby fitting room.
Soon, she pushed open the door wearing the yellow kit. Jin Hayes's eyes immediately lit up. As expected of a future supermodel. He had seen those 'football babes' who liked to wear jerseys for suggestive photos before, but Jin Hayes hadn't really 'gotten' it back then. Now he finally understood.
A beautiful girl with a good figure wearing a jersey truly had a unique charm. The slim-fit kit perfectly outlined Anna's graceful curves. Youthful vitality and sexy charm collided, and Jin Hayes's eyes were fixed on her.
The most lethal part was that she was wearing his jersey. Jin Hayes couldn't help but imagine a scene—Anna waking up beside him in the early morning, casually grabbing his home kit and pulling it on.
He had a premonition that tonight's dreams would have some great material.