On September 23rd in the evening, at Fritz-Walter-Stadion in Kaiserslautern, a German Cup first round elimination match was being played.

  The current DFB-Pokal draw rules are roughly the same as in 2011, with strong and weak teams separated into groups A and B for the draw. However, since there are a total of 36 teams from the Bundesliga and 2. Bundesliga, four teams are randomly drawn to group B, where they will be matched against third-tier teams from group A.

  Kaiserslautern unfortunately became one of the randomly drawn teams, and their opponents were also unfortunate, namely Bielefeld, with whom they had a deep grudge from last season.

  Arminia Bielefeld, led by Ernst Middendorp, has performed well in the Bundesliga this season, including impressive victories over Werder Bremen 3-1 and Stuttgart 2-0. Middendorp has also gained recognition as one of the top young coaches in the Bundesliga.

  However, it seems that this narrow-minded German still holds a grudge against last season's grievances, especially towards Yang Cheng for snatching his Coach of the Year award. He is even more resentful when he learns that his team will face Yang Cheng's Kaiserslautern in the German Cup, and suddenly becomes very excited.

  Before the match, he frequently fired shots in the media, saying that Bielefeld had a firm grasp on winning this game.

  Yang Cheng also attached great importance to this game, and formulated a detailed competition plan before the game. However, in the game, Kaiserslautern, who played at home, showed tenacity and took the initiative to attack, but Bielefeld was not easy to deal with either.

  The first half ended 0-0, and in the second half, Kaiserslautern continued to dominate, while Bielefeld remained defensive and counterattacking, with neither side seeming to have the upper hand.

  "It seems that the 3-month Bundesliga trip has brought about a metamorphosis in the overall strength of this team!" Paul Bayer sighed.

  Yang Chen and he both believe that the current Kaiserslautern's strength can steadily suppress Bielefeld, but this team has been tempered in the Bundesliga for a period of time, and its overall strength has been greatly improved. In addition, they have adapted to the intensity of the Bundesliga match, so when facing Kaiserslautern, although they are at a disadvantage on the field, they are not flustered at all.

  Looking at Kaiserslautern, the two sides of the road were unable to open up the situation for a long time, and they could only launch a strong attack on the midfield, returning in vain every time.

  With a calm face, Yang Cheng's attention was focused on the game, but when he felt a not-so-friendly gaze cast over from beside him, he looked over to see Ernst Middendorp with a cold smile.

  "I heard this bastard has been practicing his penalty kicks before the game!" Paul Baier reminded.

  That is to say, if the game goes into a penalty shootout, the situation for Kaiserslautern will be very unfavorable.

  "This match will absolutely not go into a penalty shootout!" Yang Cheng replied with a cold smile.

  He turned around and waved his hand at Drenilson behind him, indicating that he should warm up.

  The Brazilians immediately took off their long-sleeved training suits and ran aside to warm up.

  This is his first appearance on the bench in an official match this season, and no one knows what the reason is. It's just known that he seems to have apologized to Yang Cheng, who happens to lack a winger, so he naturally enters the big list of matches.

  Not long after, Deneilson arrived at Yang Chen's side.

  "Left route, there's a gap behind the opponent's left back defender. I'll let Nedved make a run to distract you, you take him one-on-one and then pass the ball!"

  Dennilson nodded heavily in response!

  3 minutes later, taking advantage of a dead ball opportunity, Denilson stepped onto the field, replacing Deko who was in charge of midfield organization with Bellon in this game, and all players on the field received Yang Cheng's instructions to launch an attack!

  Less than a minute later, Drenthe received a pass from Bellon on the left flank, turned around and faced Bielefeld's right-back one-on-one. The latter saw that Drenthe was somewhat slender and stuck to him at first glance.

  Just as he thought it was a sure thing in a close pursuit, Dener's feet seemed to have an extra pair of feet. He saw his body tilt and the ball stuck to his feet, slipping past the defender's side.

  "What a beautiful pass!"

  The commentators and fans at the scene were all boiling up instantly.

  "Denilson didn't encounter too much resistance and made a beeline for the penalty area..."

  Yang Cheng watched from the sidelines as Denerlsen broke through, and he couldn't help but praise him in his heart. This kid's breakthrough was like a flowing cloud, extremely smooth and natural, really hard to stop unless you trip him up and commit a foul.

  "That's a pass!" Yang Cheng saw that Marshall on the right and Barak in the back row had both arrived at the empty space, and now all Denilson needed to do was make a cross-field pass. Whoever got the ball would be directly facing the goal.

  "Pass the ball!" Yang Cheng saw Denilson still lowering his head and dribbling into the penalty area, shouting loudly on the sidelines, "Damn it, don't you know how to pass the ball?"

  Then the chief referee blew his whistle and Dinesen rolled over on the ground a few times before sitting up.

  "Penalty! The opponent's central defender committed a foul while defending against Denilson, and the referee awarded a penalty!"

  The fans on the scene were suddenly excited, especially the Kaiserslautern fans, who stood up from their seats one by one, roaring and shouting angrily.

  Barak as the team's first penalty taker, took the ball to the penalty spot, without any hesitation, calmly scored, 1:0!

  The score remained like this until the end of the game!

  But after winning the first round of the German Cup knockout match, Yang Chen suddenly burst into a rage in the locker room!

  "Are you incapable of passing the ball? Or do you think you can take down the entire opposing defense by yourself, then dribble past the goalkeeper and score an open goal?" Yang Cheng bellowed.

  Denilson's face didn't look too good because he thought his performance was already good enough, although there were no assists, but he created a penalty opportunity for the team.

  "That last ball, if you had chosen to pass horizontally, Michael and Olaf would have both had a chance, almost a sure thing. But instead you chose to force it, do you still remember what I told you? Find the opportunity to pass the ball!"

  Everyone in the locker room didn't dare to speak, one by one they looked at Yang Cheng who had become somewhat ferocious due to anger. They really rarely saw the head coach get so angry!

  "You'll be sitting on the bench for the next game!"

  After finishing speaking, Yang Cheng turned around and left the locker room. He was ready to give Ernst Middendorp a good scolding.

  …………

  …………

  On the evening of September 27th, the VfL stadium in Wolfsburg was brightly lit.

  The VfL stadium, which has just been renovated and expanded, welcomed Kaiserslautern. Head coach Willi Reimann was a striker during his playing days, but as head coach, he is known for his defensive counter-attacking style. In this match, even though they were at home, they still adopted a tough defensive counter-attacking tactic to face Kaiserslautern.

  Wolfsburg is determined to be promoted to the first division this season, so this game against a direct competitor must be won!

  The scene also seemed to confirm Lehmann's prediction, although the midfield iron triangle led by Bellarabi, Barkok and Niederlechner helped Kaiserslautern firmly control the game. However, Wolfsburg's shrinking defense was not a thrifty lamp, and even in a key counterattack in the first half, forced Keeler to make another mistake after replacing Lutz on the field.

  This time, he brought a near-fatal loss to Kaiserslautern!

  1：0！

  Although Kaiserslautern launched a nearly crazy counterattack afterwards, Wolfsburg still steadily retreated and defended.

  The brand new scoreboard which had just been put into use jumped forward by 70 minutes with the score still at 1:0.