Chapter 741: The Competition is Back Again!

Kumiko’s reminder, while scary, was still not enough to get Higo back to his most motivated state again. Fortunately, the good news came so quickly, just a week after the training session started, that it changed everything.

"Higo, look at this!" Sakura suddenly squealed out of nowhere, startling both Higo and Kumiko. The girl’s tone was a mixture of ecstasy and disbelief, enough to make the other two curious. "The government has already given a green light! The federation said that the league can be started again this month!"

"Wait, what?!"

This time, Higo snatched the phone from Sakura’s hand, albeit a little bit rudely, followed by Kumiko, who was also peeking from his side. True enough, he saw the report coming from BILD, probably the biggest news platform in this country, and the title was written in bold letters.

Germany’s Bundesliga Gets the Green Light to Return This Month

Below, they could also find statements from some important people, from Chancellor Angela Merkel herself to the CEO of the federation as well.

"Today’s decision is good news for the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga," DFL CEO Christian Seifert said. "[The decision] is associated with a great responsibility for the clubs and their employees to implement the medical and organizational requirements in a disciplined manner. Games without spectators are not an ideal solution for anyone.

"In a crisis threatening the very existence of some clubs, however, it is the only way to keep the leagues in their current form," Seifert continued. "On this day, I would like to thank the political decision-makers from the federal and state governments for their trust."

This decision would also be a world record, as, if everything went as they planned, the Bundesliga would be the first sports competition in the world to be continued after the pandemic break so far.

Of course, Higo couldn’t care less about that right now. No, his eyes scanned through the whole article until he found one key piece of information here, one that would determine everything.

"24 May, still two weeks from now." He couldn’t help but mutter. Then, he quickly got his own phone, starting to search the new schedule. "The schedule will alternate, with one week only having one game, then the next week having two games, and back to the first again and so on. Even though only eight games are left in this competition, it will not be easy, especially since the relegation scheme will be back again."

The more Higo thought about it, the more solemn his expression turned out to be. After all, the boy himself also noticed that his teammates were not ready for a competition at all. No, some still had their stomach bloated from all the food and beers they consumed in the last couple of months, and even running itself was a struggle for them.

’This means I will have to work harder than ever, right?’

Still, a little smirk spread from one ear to the other. After having a long break at home, it would be a lie if Higo said that he wasn’t excited to be here. No, his spirit was bubbling hot right now, wanting to challenge everything that would come next.

It was also a perfect coincidence that Schalke’s first opponent after the break would be Borussia Dortmund. Even though this would be a closed game, the atmosphere of the Revier Derby would still be there, and remembering that even in the second team, the game against this rival ended up in such a big heat, Higo had already expected it to be a blast.

’They also have Erling Haaland in their squad, so this will be an interesting matchup.’ Higo chuckled once again at that name.

He was the crazy Norwegian striker who scored 9 goals in one game during the World Cup U-20 last year, and Higo couldn’t believe that he would face the man this quickly.

Unfortunately, while Higo was excited to play again, the same couldn’t be said for the others. Now that even the chancellor said that, they could bury their hope deep under six feet, the one that made them think that they didn’t need to do anything to stay up in this competition.

Even in the training session, the mood was so foul, as everyone looked so dejected right now. Hell, some people had already thought that the league being continued like this would bring Schalke down further to the second division, and they didn’t want to take part in anything anymore.

Frohling truly had a big headache at this point. He was just an interim head coach at the end of the day, so it was understandable that some players who were already big would look down on him.

"We don’t even have 11 ready players for that game, Tomasz! This is unacceptable!" The man slammed his table quite hard; his eyes looked like he had just aged ten years faster right now.

"Keep an eye on those who are already close enough to our threshold and see who is ready to get a chance, and for the other lazy bums, just ignore them for now. They haven’t worked that much in this period, so they don’t have any right to be on the main team at all. If only the second team could gather as well, I would’ve dumped them there at this point."

"Sure, I’ll make that list." Tomasz Waldoch, the Polish assistant coach, just nodded quietly before starting his work as quickly as possible.

After that, the training session became harder than ever, and Higo even had to swear while panting heavily like a dog in the middle of summer right now. Even he himself was getting included in this matter, which was strange, since the goalkeeper’s training menu should be different than anything else. The chance of him getting exhausted seemed to be ridiculously small, and yet here he was, being forced till a near-collapsed state.

’Still, that just means we are taking it seriously, right?’ Higo grinned a little bit as he lay on the ground. ’Now, I just hope that everyone will have the same attitude once the game begins, or we will be completely destroyed by our opponent next time...’