In the German Cup Round of 16, Jürgen Klopp still fielded a rotated lineup. Key players like Nuri Şahin, Mats Hummels, Jakub Błaszczykowski, Sebastian Kehl, and Alexander Frei all needed rest. Jin Hayes, after much persuasion, finally convinced Klopp to give him a starting spot. After enhancing his physical abilities, he felt he could handle the extra minutes without issue.
On match day, four hours before kick-off, both teams had already announced their starting lineups. The moment they saw the list, the Dortmund players couldn't help but look at Jin Hayes. He was still playing on his phone, sending Anna some meaningless daily messages, and they were both enjoying it immensely. The early stages of a relationship are like that—every vibration brought a flicker of hope.
"Jin, Jin?"
"Huh? What's up?"
"Is this your compatriot? Son Heung-min… How do you pronounce it?"
"Son—I don't know him either. He shouldn't be Chinese; he looks Korean."
"Oh, anyway, I still don't understand. Isn't East Asia all China?"
"To be fair, in terms of ancient tributary relations, yes, you're right." These teammates were all high school dropouts, uncultured and with limited education. Jin Hayes couldn't explain it clearly to them, so he simply brushed it off.
However, Jin Hayes was quite interested in a Korean player appearing for Hamburg. He was 17 years old this year, having just transferred back to Hamburg from FC Seoul. He was considered a youth academy and reserve team player, never seen in the league. The Hamburg team planned to give him a chance to show his face in the Cup match to gain some match experience.
Friends who have played in Europe know how difficult it is for Asian players, especially East Asian players, to make it in top leagues. In the past two years, only Makoto Hasebe has established himself in the Bundesliga. Putting aside his own exceptional abilities, for a 17-year-old Korean player to get a starting position in a Cup match showed he truly had something.
"Wait? Son? Son Heung-min?" Gradually spelling out his name, Jin Hayes had a strangely familiar feeling, as if he had heard it somewhere before. Will this Son Heung-min join a Premier League club in the future? Forget it, no matter where he joins in the future, today's match just gave him an opportunity to play against a Korean prospect.
SPOTV, a sports channel under the Korean SBS Group, usually broadcast some Bundesliga matches—especially when Lee Young-pyo joined Dortmund, they almost wanted to broadcast every match. Unfortunately, at that time, left-back Lee Young-pyo was only a fringe player, unable to play due to Dedê. When Jin Hayes joined Dortmund, Lee had already transferred to Ingolstadt in the 2. Bundesliga. There were no Korean players in the Bundesliga for the time being, so SPOTV usually only broadcast some Manchester United matches and key Bayern Munich matchups.
On this day, however, the SPOTV free channel actually extensively broadcast a German Cup Round of 16 match. "Future Light of Asia, Great Korean Hope – Son Heung-min's Bundesliga Debut!"
Similar promotional slogans were almost overwhelming, leading to virtually empty streets on the match day as Korean fans couldn't help but turn on their TVs to watch this German Cup event.
In the SPOTV studio, Shin Ah-young, who was selected as the "Sports Goddess," wore exquisite makeup and a stylish dress, standing in the studio as part of the atmosphere team. "This long-awaited East Asian Derby is about to begin. Do the two commentators have anything else they want to analyze?"
At the commentary desk, Commentator Seo Ki-cheol and Korean football legend Cha Bum-kun were co-commentating the match. It was a World Cup commentary-level setup, yet it was being used to commentate on a rather insignificant German Cup Round of 16 match. "Today, our great Korean player Son Heung-min has finally appeared in the starting lineup. Son Heung-min, 17 years old this year, has overall levels of speed, skill, and shooting that are first-class in Europe's top leagues! He might become the sharp spear that helps Hamburg defeat Dortmund!"
"Exactly."
Cha Bum-kun added: "Dortmund is currently ranked 1st in the Bundesliga, relying on their high-pressing system and Jin Hayes's excellent performance. But their high press isn't completely watertight. Son Heung-min's individual breakthrough ability is very strong, and Hamburg can use this point to play counter-attacking football. As long as he can break through to the opponent's penalty area, Son will have a chance to threaten the goal—"
Switching to the live match signal, Son Heung-min's youthful face appeared on the screen, immediately drawing cheers from all over Seoul. Finally, a promising Korean player could be seen on the Bundesliga pitch. Otherwise, with Park Ji-sung gradually entering the end of his career, Korean fans could only watch the rise of Jin Hayes with mixed emotions.
"Go, Son!"
"Take down that guy!"
"From today onwards, you are the true Light of Asia!" On Korean fan forums, supporters strongly backed Son Heung-min. A few Chinese fans in Korea, unaware of the hype, were bewildered. No? Was this the Champions League final? No, it wasn't—just a German Cup quarter-final. A rookie youth academy player, daring to challenge Lord Jin? Are you kidding me!
It was just an ordinary German Cup match. Jin Hayes felt nothing in his heart, even a little like yawning. He regretted getting the starting spot a little. He had finally managed to secure a starting role from Klopp, but the Hamburg team offered almost no resistance.
Jin Hayes dribbled the ball in the final third, and a simple change of rhythm could easily bypass opponents. He didn't need to perform any fancy moves at all. Hamburg also seemed to be giving up, fielding mostly their second team, with half of them being Hamburg youth academy players he had never seen before. Jin Hayes suddenly felt like an adult bullying children—he almost forgot that he was the same age as them.
In fact, some Hamburg players were even older than Jin Hayes.
"Jin, he did a step-over and dribbled past. He's trying a shot in the box — the ball flew slightly over the crossbar." Commentator Mehmet Scholl was assigned to the German Cup match. His mood today was incomparable to his commentary in the Bundesliga or Champions League; it was as if he was simply going through the motions of work.
"I knew I shouldn't have requested to commentate on this match—" Based on the first 20 minutes of the match, Dortmund was almost completely dominating Hamburg. Jin Hayes could dribble into the penalty area effortlessly. Even he started trying to shoot himself, showing how relaxed he was.
"Tsk, still can't score." Jin Hayes felt ashamed; his shooting was a bit unbearable to watch. He had just wanted to test whether he could produce a decent shot without activating the Causality Shot Enhancement. During regular training days, he practised shooting every day, hoping to overcome the shooting curse through his efforts. Unfortunately, his shooting was still very off, even though his movements were standard enough.
"Oh?" Just as he was about to walk back to his own half, Jin Hayes suddenly heard a foreign language in his ear. He turned his head and saw Son Heung-min passing by with a slightly disdainful expression. Was he mocking his shot just now? Jin Hayes had watched quite a few K-dramas, so while he didn't fully understand Son Heung-min's muttering, he could roughly guess the meaning: "Pfft, is that all?"
"What a waste..."
He was inexplicably mocked by a Hamburg youth academy player. Jin Hayes wasn't angry; instead, he found it a bit funny. Since you're so amazing, why don't you try a shot!
Soon, Hamburg indeed launched a counter-attack, and the ball was moved to the left wing. The 17-year-old Son Heung-min used a beautiful first touch to save the ball from going out of bounds, then smoothly dribbled past the full-back and sprinted forward.
"Ah ah ah!! Son Heung-min!! He's breaking through, oh my god!! Shot—" On the Korean TV station, commentator Seo Ki-cheol was almost out of breath. Amidst the cheers of all Korean fans, Son Heung-min dribbled past Robert Kovač, and from outside the penalty area, he took a long-range shot.
Bang! The ball whistled past with powerful force.
"Holy cow? That good?" Jin Hayes was stunned. Son Heung-min's dribbling and shooting both exceeded his expectations. He didn't seem as hesitant as typical East Asian players; instead, he resembled a European player in his directness and confidence. "He's got something!"
Fortunately, the goalkeeper was the main shot-stopper Roman Weidenfeller. He concentrated and flew to bat the ball away, which was quickly cleared by substitute defender Felipe Santana. Defensive midfielder İlkay Gündoğan received the ball outside the penalty area, dribbled past a Hamburg player, and looked up at the front field. Jin Hayes was still in front of the opponent's penalty area; he shouldn't be offside.
"Jin, this ball is yours!" Out of blind trust in Jin Hayes, Gündoğan made a bold long pass, directly looking for Jin Hayes. If it were any other player, facing such a long pass while alone in enemy territory, it would be difficult to pose a threat. Gündoğan was confident that Jin Hayes could definitely do it. This was an excellent opportunity.
"Well, you're really going for it!" Facing Gündoğan's long pass, Jin Hayes quickly scanned his surroundings to assess the players around him, adjusting his steps to arrive at the landing spot for the scramble. The Hamburg defender tried to push Jin Hayes aside, but it was like hitting a copper wall and iron barrier, being easily bounced off.
"WTF? Is he a monster?" The tall and strong black defender was stunned. Jin Hayes effortlessly chested the ball down, lightly flicked the ball to his right with his right foot, and simultaneously turned to break through to the left. Dennis Bergkamp's body feint and dribble had long been mastered by Jin Hayes. The Hamburg defender couldn't predict it; in an instant, both the man and the ball disappeared.
Impossible!
This scene made Son Heung-min's eyes widen, almost making him question his own abilities. He now truly realised what an insurmountable chasm meant. Son Heung-min even had a premonition that he might never reach Jin Hayes's current level in his lifetime. The most terrifying thing was that Jin Hayes was not in his strongest form. To what extent could this player grow in the coming years? Just thinking about it was daunting.
Jin Hayes magically performed a body feint and turn in front of the penalty area, the ball still in the air. Seeing the Hamburg goalkeeper positioned far forward, a familiar ethereal feeling suddenly arose in Jin Hayes's mind.
"Here it comes!" The difficulty of the previous dribble was high enough to trigger the Causality Shot Enhancement. What are you waiting for? Jin Hayes directly swung his weaker foot, striking the underside of the ball to unleash a dipping killer shot.
The Korean TV commentator Seo Ki-cheol, who had just been excited, felt his mood plummet like a rollercoaster. "It's bad! It's bad!! Goal—"
Amidst the exclamations of Korean fans, Jin Hayes's dipping shot was like a thunderbolt from the sky, piercing through the Hamburg goal.
"Jin's wonder goal is here again! Dortmund scores first!"
Dortmund 1-0 Hamburg.
In commentator Scholl's view, the match was already over. Jin Hayes played with such ease, just strolling around and breaking down Hamburg's defence. It was just a German Cup match, but it really stirred things up. Dortmund's real opponent was the reigning Champions League champion, the Red Devils Manchester United, whom they would face in the next two weeks.