Chapter 924: Hoppe’s Second Goal!

Silence followed for a moment here as everyone found it hard to believe what was going on. Hell, even Schalke players themselves were so dumbfounded, looking at each other confusedly. They probably still asked whether it was real or not.

Oh, it wasn’t like they were surprised by the goal itself. No, as the team with a blitzkrieg attack as their main scheme to score a goal, getting one so quickly had never been a big surprise.

No, what really made them have this kind of bewildered reaction was how easy it was for them to get one, not having to face any resistance from Hoffenheim players at all. This also only involved two players since the beginning, Morita and Hoppe, so they didn’t get the sense of involvement here.

Still, the silence itself snapped a second later, when Hoppe rushed immediately toward Morita after scoring a goal.

"FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!" The boy himself was hysterical, probably the one who couldn’t believe everything happened here the most. "MORITA, IS THAT FUCKING REAL?!" He laughed, jumping at the midfielder with such great enthusiasm.

That was when the other players realized that everything was real, and they joined the celebration like crazy as well.

"Damn! That shot is incredible!"

"Hahaha! You Brat! How could you not warn us that you have something like that?!"

"Come on, Brat! First touch turns into a first goal?! Are you fucking kidding me?!"

Everyone hugged the boy together, slapping him on the back and even on the head quite fondly. Still, no one could hide their amazement here, finding that this new boy really came out of nowhere and had the ability to get them the lead that they had been waiting for the exact same second he came in.

Hell, some still called him ’Brat’ since they themselves still didn’t know his name. It showed how new the boy was to the team, which only highlighted how impressive he was, at least just in this scheme.

Frohling himself also punched the air wildly on the sideline, celebrating everything together with Waldoch as his assistant. It wasn’t just for the goal, of course, even though the goal itself was one that brought the lead to the team right now.

No, more than anything else, those two were the guys who had the biggest headache when they lost all their main strikers, so having a replacement that seemed to be promising was definitely a huge relief on their shoulders.

"No, no, no, don’t hype him too much yet." Waldoch shook his head quickly, trying to remain calm. "Praising him is okay, but he is still a young player. If he lost control just over one goal, it could also be a problem."

The boss also took a deep breath immediately, realizing that he lost his calmness for a second. Once he regained his sense, the man also found another problem here. "If he played well today, what would happen if his agent started to demand a new contract? More money? Would it only hurt our salary structure?"

This was a problem that any other small team always had. The moment one of their players started to shine, the agent would always knock on the door immediately, demanding more money and status on the team while also threatening to leave the team if they didn’t get what they wanted.

This strategy didn’t always work, but in Schalke’s case, when their financial situation wasn’t as healthy as before since the pandemic really hurt everything, this could lead to a big problem.

"Let’s not count the chicken before it hatched, Boss," Waldoch replied with a solemn tone. "It is just one goal, so it could be a coincidence here. Let’s wait and see if he is really as good as we thought he would be."

Yeah, that was what mattered right now, Frohling realized. He himself still didn’t know how much Hoppe was worth among the players on the team right now, having too little data about the boy. So, it was important to wait and observe first rather than rushing things up due to their anxiety.

Still, it seemed that they still underestimated Hoppe’s potential here.

After the next kick-off from Hoffenheim to restart the game after they conceded a goal, the home team started to push forward, intending to gain control of the game and also searching for a weak spot in Schalke’s defensive system.

What Hoffenheim didn’t expect, though, was that instead of dropping back and waiting like Schalke usually approached the situation after scoring the goal, this time, all of their players rushed like a pack of hungry wolves, eyeing everyone with the blue jersey like juicy meat or something like that.

Of course, the initiator here was none other than the newcomer, Matthew Hoppe, himself. Still in his adrenaline mode, the boy rushed instantly right after the kick-off, chasing the ball with bloodshot eyes like a rabid dog.

Seeing this, of course, Fabian Reese couldn’t let the boy do everything alone, so he joined in to cover the passing route toward the flank.

Then, to fill the gap that those two left, the whole system from Schalke’s side also shifted closer to the opposition half, with everyone now trying to get the ball from the opponent’s feet as quickly as possible.

"No! No! No! Don’t rush things up! Be patient!" Even Frohling shouted anxiously from the sideline, finding this situation to be way out of his comfort zone.

However, before the team could even follow his instruction, it seemed that Hoffenheim players were too panicked at first.

Not knowing how to handle the pressure, one of them tried to clear the ball as far away as possible, just for it to bounce off Morita, who jumped straight in front of the man’s face.

The rebound flew wild to Hoffenheim’s penalty box, and within a second, Hoppe suddenly popped as if he had already smelled that this would come.

Before anyone realized what happened, he had already gotten the ball inside the box, and in the next second...

BAM!

The shot was launched, straight to the bottom corner of the opponent’s goal.