Chapter 874: The Next Game! Schalke VS Stuttgart!

Time passed so quickly, and before Higo noticed it, he was already in another game day. Fortunately, it was back at home, with him fighting against VfB Stuttgart in Veltins Arena.

In hindsight, this should be an easy game for Schalke. After all, Stuttgart itself was just a promotion team, having just come from the second division last year. However, that was on paper, as reality told them otherwise.

Somehow, even though this was their first season in the Bundesliga after coming back from their little trip to hell, they had already managed to do a great job of stabilizing their position. In the first five games of the league, they only suffered one defeat in their first game against SC Freiburg, and after that, they went unbeaten for the rest of the four.

Hell, they even managed to get a solid win twice, once against Mainz 05 when they destroyed that team with the score 1-4, and the other came from them stealing the win against Hertha Berlin in an away game with the score 0-2.

As for the other two, they forced a draw against a strong team, Bayer Leverkusen, and unfortunately, against a weaker team where they should be able to get a full three points, FC Koln, they slipped, only getting a draw in the end.

Still, two wins and two draws were definitely a decent result for a promotion team, getting them into the 9th position with 8 points so far, only one below Schalke. Also, it helped that they themselves, foundationally, were a very strong team at the beginning, historically being one of the best in the league as well.

It was no wonder that they didn’t need any adjustment after getting back in the league, just crushing through everything seamlessly.

Still, that wasn’t what made Higo excited about this game. No, if anything, he and Morita focused more on the opponent’s captain, which, coincidentally enough, was their senior from Japan, Wataru Endo.

"Damn, Endo-san! How could you be a captain in a foreign team like this?!" Morita asked in admiration as he stared at the captain’s armband on the man’s shoulder before the game began.

"Haha! It is not easy, but I am lucky that so many people trust me on my team." The man laughed humbly.

Just based on their short conversation with the man, both Higo and Morita could conclude that Wataru Endo was a humble and sunny person, enough to light up the mood wherever he was. It also helped that he was a smart person, and coupled with the fact that he was willing to run to the edge of the world for the team, it was clear why Stuttgart decided to put him as a captain.

Honestly, he seemed to be an anime main character here. His character was perfect, and he had this air around him that made people easily gather, willing to follow his lead. Hell, if Higo didn’t know better, he would think the man was like the fucking Tsubasa Ozora himself here.

"Damn, he sure is awesome, huh?" Higo murmured, still staring at Endo, who was instructing his teammates easily in awe.

"Yeah, he is definitely the peak of what we Japanese players envisioned in our careers." Morita nodded in agreement.

Still, if anything, this only made them want to beat Wataru Endo more. After all, that was the highest respect they could give to the senior: Dethroning them from their position as the best Japanese player right now.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to beat Stuttgart. The defense led by Endo himself was as strong as ever, and the offense was also quite fierce. Hell, Higo had to work quite hard, having to go back and forth so many times just in the first half of the game.

In total, he made 5 saves in the first 45 minutes, and while the number wasn’t as high as when he faced Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund, at least this should show that they were a top team in offense as well.

As for Morita’s attempt to break through Stuttgart’s side...

Well, honestly, Endo really locked the boy down, never giving him any chance to advance further. Whenever Morita got the ball on his feet, Endo would always be quick enough to get on him, and before Morita could even do any trick to get through, the man would back down instantly, switching from man-to-man marking to the zone defense once again.

Honestly, this was a display of how defense could be done intelligently. Endo had never sought to stop Morita completely, just bothering him for the first one or two seconds after he touched the ball. However, that was the golden time when his momentum was at its peak, so losing control at that moment would slow down any attempt to launch a counterattack.

Not only that, though, Endo would also back down immediately when he knew that Morita managed to survive. That was because he had already done his job, slowing down Morita as the focal point of the counterattack, giving his teammates time to move back first and fix their defensive structure to face the attack again.

Honestly, it started to drive Morita crazy how everything went, and it also didn’t help that somehow the offensive line failed to do their job, missing so many chances today.

Goncalo Paciencia threw away at least two attempts inside the box, and Benito Raman was also too selfish to send a cutback when he was already inside the box. Fabian Reese was also not much different, having a problem executing the attack.

The situation also didn’t change too much in the second half. Even if Schalke managed to launch the most threatening attack during their blitzkrieg attempt, it was still not enough to get on Stuttgart’s side, and in the end, even after they attacked each other back and forth, both teams had to accept a bitter fact here.

Their strength was equal, and in the end, they had to be satisfied with a draw, 0-0.