As of July 2020, Tyler Adams and Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting were neither important players. Until finally, their second crucial goal brought their club to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Crocheting for the first time champion
With a kick from Adams, RB Leipzig said goodbye to the “top team” Atletico Madrid. Meanwhile, Choupo-Moting’s cheat finished Atalanta’s fight, which for 89 minutes of the semifinal was imagined.
It’s easier for people to spell the name Neymar Jr. and Kylian Mbappe when talking about the Paris Saint-Germain attack line. Edison Cavani and Mauro Icardi alone can be less fancy than the two exorbitant players. Somehow it was Choupo-Moting that actually ensured a precarious victory.
Choupo-Moting were relegated with Stoke City two seasons ago. Thanks to the intervention of Thomas Tuchel, who worked with him at Mainz, the Cameroon forward’s stature has increased. From an attacker (supposedly) at the Championship Division level to be the hammer on the Champions League semi-finalist team.
At the start of the season, Choupo-Moting shone in two Ligue 1 wins over Toulouse (4-0) and Metz (2-0). He replaced the injured Edison Cavani in the middle of the match. Meanwhile, Neymar is not yet available and Icardi is still completing his transfer process.
As a result, Choupo-Moting has a chance to save his career with the French luxury team. In the previous season, the Choupo-Moting incident thwarted teammate Christopher Nkunku’s goal against Strasbourg.
The ball that had rolled on the goal line actually stopped, because Choupo-Moting’s lust wanted to match. If that ridiculousness hadn’t happened, PSG should have won the 2018-19 Ligue 1 earlier than it should have been.
Adams? A groin injury forced him on the sidelines for most of the first leg of the Bundesliga this season. The 21-year-old young man only appeared in the Champions League when he entered in the 52nd minute when Leipzig beat Tottenham 3-0 in the second match of the 16th-final.
In the quarter-finals, Die Roten Bullen was suddenly looked down upon after Timo Werner decided to split. Other players such as Marcel Sabitzer, Patrick Schick, and Youssuf Poulsen did not feel like they could replace Werner. Moreover, players lack experience like Tyler Adams.
Talking about young Americans in the Bundesliga, Adams is not the first to be named. Christian Pulisic introduced the world that Harshey, Pennsylvania is not only famous for its chocolate products. After Pulisic moved to the Premier League, Dortmund then promoted Giovanni Reyna to the first team.
Schalke has Weston McKennie who “woke” with social issues, while Bremen also had the name Josh Sargent. For senior players, John Brooks is already a veteran at the back lines of Hertha Berlin and Wolfsburg. Adams has yet to gain momentum after being hauled off the New York Red Bulls.
Choupo-Moting and Adams both started the quarter-finals as substitutes. Evidence of the foresight of two German coaches, Thomas Tuchel and Julian Nagelsmann, in adjusting their tactics to the game situation.
In addition to successfully snatching Mbappe’s cross, Choupo-Moting also created a pass for Neymar who provided the assist for Marquinhos’ goal. His presence was able to ensure Les Parisien’s ball possession was not always complete at the feet of Neymar or Mbappe. Alternatives are not included in Atalanta’s rear line radar, which Neymar continues to seek acceleration.
Meanwhile, Adams fired the only shot. Without being straightforward, it led to goals. Think of it as luck, but he is also smart enough to direct the ball at Stefan Savic who finds it difficult to focus 100% after having his head bandaged.
“We were a little lucky with the winning goal. Still, we’re a better team overall and show maturity, “said Nagelsmann.
Different Styles of Two Financial Powers
Nagelsmann and Tuchel are actually also new names in the world of soccer coaching. The two weren’t discussed much until the mid-2010s. Tuchel coached a team outside Germany for the first time at PSG two years ago. Meanwhile, Nagelsmann only had the opportunity to refine a competing team to win the league after three years of experience with Hoffenheim.
Both careers as footballers squat too much. Tuchel has only defended small teams like Stuttgarter Kickers and SSV Ulm in his six years of professional career. Nagelsmann is more gloomy, having retired early due to a knee injury without even tasting senior football. Nagelsmann had helped Tuchel as an analysis while leading FC Augsburg II.
Both of them graduated from the Heiness-Weisweller Coaching Academy. The academy top-notch scorer which was strict since the audition recruiting only 24 participants. Study for 815 hours on statistics, nutrition, fitness, until the development of players is taken to get the UEFA Pro License.
The duration is much longer than UEFA’s own standards with a study period of 240 hours. They have to intern for eight months at a professional club. As an accountability, participants are asked to write a paper on philosophy their football.
Tuchel and Nagelsmann have met only four times in the Bundesliga. Tuchel won twice with Dortmund and lost one to Nagelasman’s Hoffenheim. The aggregates are even, 7-7.
Since RB Leipzig was only born in 2009 and PSG have only been classy since 2011, the two teams have absolutely no record of meetings. Both are targeting their first final in Europe’s elite competition.
The main focus is clearly on PSG’s stars. Because on the shoulders of Neymar and Mbappe, the new era of the Paris club as a brand is not just a football club.
Meanwhile, the team from Leipzig is clearly the main entity of the multinational company Red Bull in European football. Both have different business models, but they both undermine the establishment of traditional teams.
There are five Red Bull football teams. The five networks mutually develop players. There are eight RB Leipzig players for the 2019-20 season coming from such a career development scheme.
They do not buy star players, but develop the best talents with the most optimal support. As a company-owned team that has turned the sports industry into a platform for ‘story profiling’, RB Leipzig has blossomed since promotion to the Bundesliga in 2016.
We know, PSG changed its fate after the Qatar consortium led by Nasser Al-Khelaifi took control of them. Elite players arrive at the Paris club almost every season.
The club also continues to associate itself more than with the football team through exclusive partnerships with the fashion brand, Air Jordan. Not a foreign sight, Hollywood celebrities or stars of other sports wear trendy Les Rogeu et Bleu uniforms. In this season alone, the NBA has staged its first match in the French capital, complete with the presence of PSG players on the sidelines.
Behind the enormity of the domination of the great powers of capital, there are still ‘ordinary’ names working for them. Who would have thought, Adams, who rarely plays, ensures that there are still the two red bulls in the semifinals.
He is the most obsessive player among a group of well-managed obsessed players. No team from the east side of Germany has ever been so loud.
It was not Neymar and Mbappe who directly erased PSG’s grief, because they were only affected by a remontada. Rather, it is the footsteps of the Cameroonian descent that have allowed the Hypebeast club to be stylish in Lisbon once again. Only four young players who rarely appear in the main squad are paid a lower monthly salary than Choupo-Moting (275 thousand euros).
Nagelsmann and Tuchel might feel insecure for a moment that they don’t have the same football career as their foster children. However, the genius of the two German men was able to convince strong financiers to believe in leaving the direction of the team to both of them. Not even the status of the Bundesliga champion.
From a glimpse of the actions of Adams and Choupo-Moting, maybe tonight it will return to the property of “ordinary” people. Christopher Nkunku knows how to hurt his former club. Meanwhile, PSG also has personnel who are familiar with the activities of the German team, such as Thilo Kehrer, Julian Draxler, and Juan Bernat. They could have taken a screen that used to contain Neymar, Mbappe, or Dayot Upamecano.
Surprise stories often add to the ear with the significant role of “ordinary people”. The Champions League forever provides such a possibility of flourishing.
ASL
