Time flew by, and on August 13, the U-19 Youth League officially kicked off.
The German U-19 Youth League is divided into three regions: the North-Northeast Region, the West Region, and the South-Southwest Region.
RB Leipzig is located in the North-Northeast Region.
There are 14 teams in this region, adopting a double round-robin home-and-away system, and each team has to play 26 rounds of regular season matches.
Last season, RB Leipzig U-19 achieved a record of 15 wins, 3 draws, and 8 losses, ranking fourth.
Ahead of RB Leipzig were Werder Bremen, VfL Wolfsburg, and Hertha BSC, while Hamburger SV was right behind them.
These teams are veteran powerhouses of the Bundesliga, so the strength of their U-19 youth teams can be imagined.
You must know that the RB Leipzig U-19 youth team was just promoted to the top-tier League in 2014.
In their first year after promotion to the top-tier League, they managed to suppress a slew of strong teams to win the North-Northeast Region championship, setting a record for a newcomer.
Although their record declined last season, their overall performance was still good.
This season, the meteoric rise of Rolin gave the coaching staff hope of regaining the championship.
The season opener was a battle between strong opponents, with RB Leipzig playing at home against the formidable Hertha BSC.
The two teams played each other twice last season, with RB Leipzig remaining unbeaten with one win and one draw, holding a psychological advantage.
Although it was only a U-19 match, nearly a thousand fans came to support, which shows how thick the football atmosphere in Germany is.
Today’s weather in RB Leipzig was clear with a gentle breeze, making it exceptionally comfortable.
Such weather could better stimulate the players’ state.
Today is Rolin’s debut in the youth League, how could his family possibly be absent?
The Bachmann family arrived at the stadium early and chose a stand seat with an excellent view to sit down.
Lucas was wearing his son’s jersey and told everyone he met: “Hey, do you see the handsome guy wearing the number 10 jersey?
That’s my son!” Luna looked at her mother with a helpless expression: “My younger brother is only playing youth team matches now.
If he plays higher-level matches in the future, who knows how excited my dad will get.” Her mother gently put her arm around her daughter’s arm, her face beaming with a smile: “Your dad has liked playing football since he was a kid, but his talent wasn’t high, so he pinned all his hopes on your younger brother.” “The night he found out he was selected for the squad list and got the number 10 jersey, your dad was so excited he couldn’t sleep all night.” “However, I know in my heart that even if your younger brother hadn’t been selected, he would still be proud of him.” Luna pouted and shook her mother’s arm: “Is only my younger brother your pride?
What about me?” Her mother pulled her daughter into her arms and said with a smile: “Of course you are our pride too, both of you are!” — At this moment, on the sidelines, Beierlorzer was making the final arrangements.
“You must pay attention to their flank attacks and half-space one-two combinations.
Rolin, you can choose to press forward or drop back according to the situation on the pitch, but make sure not to get disconnected.
Focus on cutting through the half-space gaps between the full-backs and center-backs.
Once you pull out shooting space, you can boldly try long shots, don’t hesitate!” Everyone listened intently, imprinting every word the coach said into their minds.
Beierlorzer glanced at the stands and said mysteriously: “Boys, this match is very crucial for you.
There are quite a few big figures in the stands, perform well!” Rolin’s heart shook.
It seemed that national team coaches had come to scout players.
Being able to come to the U-19 Youth League to scout players must mean coaches from the Germany youth teams.
He could guess that the purpose of this scouting and player selection was to prepare for the 2017 South Korea U20 World Cup.
Naturally, they wouldn’t miss this focal match between RB Leipzig and Hertha BSC.
Beierlorzer looked at these high-spirited teenagers, a gratified smile appearing on his face: “Get ready to take the pitch, bring out your best state, and play with momentum!” — For this match, Hertha BSC lined up in a 4231 formation.
Goalkeeper: Leon Schahran Defenders: Maximilian Mittelstädt, Jordan Torunarigha, Panzu Ernesto, Max Murak Defensive Midfielders: Dario Bećirović, Sven Fried Left Midfielder: Niklas Zografakis, Attacking Midfielder: Max Ceka, Right Midfielder: Mert Kiprit Striker: Niklas Back Beierlorzer still sought stability for this match, also lining up in a 4231 formation.
Goalkeeper: Tom Wallenstein Defenders: Liam Schah, Jeff Chabot, Dominik Frank, Maximilian Schnabel Defensive Midfielders: Paul Groschopf, Elias Abouchabaka Left Midfielder: Przemysław Płacheta, Attacking Midfielder: Rolin Bachmann, Right Midfielder: Amangi Diawusie Striker: Ermedin Demirović Although both adopted the 4231 formation, there were still subtle differences between the two.
Hertha BSC’s three midfielders were positioned further forward, especially the two flanks, which looked more like wingers from their positioning.
Call it a 4231 formation, but if you want to be precise, you could completely say this is a 4213 formation.
The referee blew the whistle, and the match officially started.
In the first ten minutes, both sides played tepidly, obviously both testing the waters.
Rolin played as an attacking midfielder in this match, but his position was slightly further back.
During this period, he was mainly organizing and orchestrating in the midfield and backfield, and didn’t rush to make forward runs.
As a qualified midfielder, when you haven’t figured out the opponent’s attacking routes yet, you must seek stability first.
As long as the opponent’s two flanks couldn’t hold back and pushed up from behind to the front court, large open spaces would inevitably be exposed behind them.
In the 15th minute of the match.
Hertha BSC played a one-two combination on the left flank, and left-back Mittelstädt crossed the ball.
Captain Chabot blocked his position and cleared the ball before the opposing striker could head it in.
Rolin ran to the landing spot in the first instance, and Hertha BSC’s attacking midfielder Ceka also pounced on the landing spot, and the two collided.
Ceka first felt a strong force striking, and then fell to the ground staggering.
The moment Rolin got the ball, Diawusie on the right flank launched himself, directly running straight behind the opponent.
RB Leipzig’s counterattack had arrived!
Mittelstädt had just completed a baseline cross and simply didn’t have time to fall back to defend.
Rolin raised his head to observe Diawusie’s position and directly sent a 45-degree diagonal long pass.
This pass was delivered impeccably.
Diawusie trapped the ball with his right foot and dropped his left shoulder to make a feint of cutting inside.
Bećirović, who came over to cover defense, was fooled by the feint, and his body’s center of gravity shifted to the right accordingly.
Diawusie seized the opportunity, gently flicked the ball with his right foot, and accelerated past.
Bećirović hurriedly chased back, constantly making small hand movements, pulling Diawusie’s jersey.
Diawusie strove to maintain balance, observed his teammates’ positions with his peripheral vision, and then crossed the ball.
Demirović leaped high at the back post and headed the ball across to the central area.
Rolin galloped over and gently pushed it with the inside of his foot before the defending players could clear it.
The speed of this ball was not fast, but the angle was extremely tricky.
Hertha BSC goalkeeper Schahran went down to the ground extremely fast, but was still a beat slow.
The ball grazed past his fingertips and rolled into the goal right against the post.
1:0!
RB Leipzig’s counterattack was extremely sharp, taking only 9 seconds from winning possession to scoring a goal.
Rolin played a crucial role in this counterattack.
First, he sent an accurate long pass in the backfield, then quickly made a forward run, and finally followed up in the center to tap the ball in.
In the stands, the Germany national youth team head coach wrote a sentence in his notebook: Rolin Bachmann, clear-minded, precise passing, superb shooting skills, and strong confrontation ability.
After scoring the goal, Rolin ran to his family at the first instance to share the joy with them.
A crowd of teammates also gathered around, clustering him in the middle, with smiles beaming on everyone’s face.