Following his excellent performance in the first round, Mark's standing in the German Team coaching staff's eyes rose.
However, in the training sessions over the next few days, Götze still wore the red bib representing the starters, playing as the team's left winger.
Mark's mentality was very calm about this.
His goal was to win the championship by lying down, so playing or not playing wasn't that important.
Of course, if he could play, that would naturally be best, as he could also earn some potential points.
In the first round against Portugal, he completed the "Dribbling" match task, earning one potential point as a reward.
Coupled with the warm-up match against Armenia previously, he completed four match tasks: "Dribbling," "Goal," "Assist," and "Man of the Match," earning four potential points.
That's a total of five potential points!
Mark directly added four of these five potential points to his "Speed," increasing it from 83 to 85!
"I still need ten potential points to get my Speed to over ninety!"
In the warm-up match against Armenia, he had already deeply experienced the great benefits that high Speed brought him!
As the saying goes, among all martial arts, Speed is supreme.
When dribbling in the Bundesliga, he was often caught up by opponents after dribbling past them because he wasn't fast enough, resulting in either a foul or being knocked away.
The faster his Speed, the quicker his action transitions, and the easier and more fluid his dribbling and get rid of.
As long as his Speed is fast enough, he will be able to shake off opponents' pursuit more easily, reduce the number of times he is fouled by opponents, and also reduce the probability of injury!
Several days later, the day before the second-round match against Ghana, Löw announced the starting lineup within the team.
He used the same starting lineup as the previous round, with no changes in any position.
Mark, who came on as a substitute in the last match against Portugal and had an impressive performance, did not get a starting opportunity.
No one was surprised by this.
Sweeping the not-weak Portugal four-nil in the first match of the World Cup meant that the team's tactical approach and lineup were perfectly fine!
Since there were no problems, no changes were needed!
That evening, the German Team flew from Salvador to Fortaleza by special plane.
The next day, at the Castelão Stadium, also known as the "Big Castle Stadium," the German Team welcomed their second-round match in Group G.
Their opponent was the "Black Stars of Africa," Ghana!
In their first-round match, Ghana lost one-two to the United States.
Therefore, in the second round against the strong German Team, they had to win or draw to keep their chances of advancing alive.
However, the disparity in strength between the two sides on paper could be seen from their market values alone.
The entire German Team's market value was 460 million pounds, while Ghana's entire team was less than 100 million pounds!
Even with a market value nearly five times higher than their opponent, the German Team did not dare to be careless.
Because football is not a comparison of market values that can determine the winner.
Moreover, Ghana also had many famous players in their squad.
"The Bison" Essien, Juve midfielder Asamoah, Schalke 04 forward Kevin-Prince Jérôme Boateng, the famous footballing brothers Ayew, Milan's iron midfielder Muntari, captain Gyan, and winger Atsu…
However, the course of the match was beyond everyone's expectations.
The German War Machine, which had swept Portugal in the previous match, repeatedly failed against the explosive physical prowess of the African players!
The "false nine" formation once again exposed its drawback of being unable to quickly break stalemates.
Compared to Götze, Müller's effectiveness as a lone striker was also not great.
Although his runs were more elusive.
However, in terms of physical confrontation, Müller was still at a disadvantage.
The lack of a center forward's pivot role in the penalty area made it difficult for the team to penetrate the box, and high crosses couldn't find a target for headers in the box. Most of the goal-threatening attacks were long-range shots from outside the box.
Instead, the Ghanaian players, utilizing their outstanding stamina, pressed aggressively on every inch of the field, constantly creating trouble for this German Team that primarily played pass and control.
And with every counterattack, the Ghana team was like a wild horse galloping across the African savanna, simple and brutal!
What pass and control, what tiki-taka, none of it worked!
As the referee blew the whistle for the end of the first half, the superior German Team was surprisingly tied nil-nil with Ghana!
Back in the locker room, Löw naturally expressed his dissatisfaction with his disciples' performance.
Mark, sitting in the corner, was lost in thought:
"Löw must be missing Gómez right now…"
Speaking of which, Ghana's performance in the first half was even better than the German Team's.
The German Team's short passing and penetration just lingered outside the box, never creating a single genuine scoring opportunity.
Meanwhile, Ghana's fast counterattacks were direct and impactful.
However, from Mark's perspective, the German Team really needed a strong center forward.
Because in strong matchups, opponents' defensive lines maintain space very well, and their overall formation is very compact, making it difficult for short passing and penetration to find space for a decisive blow.
You know, even Spain's tiki-taka was repeatedly breached by the Netherlands' fast counterattacks.
Let alone a German Team that was merely imitating them poorly?!
And a strong center forward inside the penalty area can tie up opponents' center-backs and create space, thereby giving the attacking players in the midfield more room to operate.
However, Löw was clearly unwilling to so easily abandon his "false nine" formation, which he had been building for nearly a year and a half.
In the second half, he first substituted Jérôme Boateng, who had a slight injury, for Mustafi.
Immediately after, the German Team continued to press forward with their attack.
When the time came to the fifty-first minute, the German Team finally broke the deadlock!
Müller and Götze swapped positions, with Götze moving to the right wing and delivering a curling cross.
Götze, who had made a run into the center, headed the ball from seven meters in front of the goal, which deflected off his left knee and into the bottom left corner of the net. However, this somewhat lucky goal ignited the fighting spirit of the Ghanaians.
They knew very well that if they couldn't get points in this match, they would be eliminated!
Just a few minutes later, André Ayew overpowered the recently introduced Mustafi, heading in a teammate's cross from nine meters in front of the goal into the far corner!
One-one!
That wasn't all!
The Ghanaians, having equalized, seemed to be on steroids, pushing forward with furious attacks.
Ten minutes later, capitalizing on Lahm's passing error in the backfield, Muntari intercepted the ball and sent a through pass from the right flank. Ghana captain Gyan successfully beat the offside trap, burst into the right side of the penalty area, and blasted the ball into the far corner!
Neuer was powerless to stop it.
Just like that, within a mere twelve minutes, Ghana scored two consecutive goals, completing the comeback!
After his team conceded the second goal, Löw's face turned ashen, and he returned to the dugout to discuss countermeasures with his assistant Flick.
They had only just managed to score one goal, yet the opponent so easily completed the comeback. Who could he complain to about that?!
And, despite dominating the play, they were knocked dizzy by two unexpected blows from the opponent. Who could he complain to about that?!
....
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