Football: King of Penalty Area
Ch. 43 - Leipzig Sport (1)

Round 22, 2.German Bundesliga side Koln Athletics take on Leipzig Sport.

Leipzig Sport is an East German club. Before the reunification of West Germany and East Germany along with the fall of the Berlin Wall, Leipzig Sport was one of the giants in the East German league. But after the unification of the football league between West Germany and East Germany made this team can only play in 2.The Bundesliga after becoming one of the 4 teams relegated in the first season of league unification.

This season Leipzig Sport performed quite well with a ranking of 7 league standings losing on goal difference with Koln Athletics. Because the position of the two teams in the standings are only at odds with goals makes both teams want to win this game and keep their chances for promotion to the Bundesliga.

In addition Leipzig Sport also has a top scorer of 2.Bundesliga and veteran Bruce Nkufu has scored 13 goals in 21 league rounds, mainly in the last four, scoring four goals and is in a state of heat.

The Zambian international has become the best goalscorer in Leipzig Sport's history, and he is still continuing this record. Nkufu joined Leipzig Sport in the 1993-1994 season when he was 18 years old.

Nkufu has also left its mark in the history of the Leipzig-based club with 192 goals in 14 seasons. His record of appearances makes several teams in the Bundesliga want to sign him, but he rejected all offers and chose to stay in the 2.Bundesliga with Leipzig Sport.

But what really caught the attention of the media was the state and age of these two people.

Nkufu, who was born in 1974, is 34, and Raynaldi, who was born in 1991, is 17. Both are twice as old. In the last match, both were in heat. This confrontation between old and young is in the spotlight.

At the pre-match press conference, both Koln Athletics coach Thomas Sobek and Leipzig Sport coach Fred Rotten were mentioned.

Fred Rotten looked very confident, however their team had beaten Koln Athletics 3-0 in the first half of the league. Facing a team with less consistent performances like Koln Athletics, Fred Rotten still somewhat neglected. "Ray..what? I'm sorry, I'm not familiar with him. I heard that he is a newcomer, and Bruce has been playing steadily at 2.Bundesliga for fourteen years. It is meaningless to discuss who is strong and who is weak.”

Thomas Sobek naturally knew that Fred Rotten was right. Although he was unsure, he did not want to put too much pressure on his students in front of the media and did not say much.

. . . . .

Germany, Saxony, Leipzig.

A long black haired girl in a formal suit walked out of the train station and waved on the street when a taxi stopped in front of her.

"Hello, go to the Eisenbahnschloss Stadium." The young girl told the driver in fluent German.

“Oh? Are you a fan of Leipzig Sport as well?” The middle-aged driver was interested in seeing a stranger who was not so common.

"I'm sorry, I'm not, I'm a journalist." Answer the girl politely.

"So that's it." Uncle kept driving, but he seemed to think of something: "Are you from Asia? Maybe India or Japan? Are you also going to report the game Leipzig Sport?"

"I am from Indonesia, and our country will also pay attention to the European leagues."

"Oh! Indonesia's? If I'm not mistaken it's a big island country with a lot of beautiful beaches, I hope you can help us promote Leipzig Sport."

The young girl smiled. "I will."

The taxi stopped at the home stadium of Leipzig Sport, at the Eisenbahnschloss Stadium.

There'll be a game here in two hours. Koln Athletics from Koln will challenge Leipzig Sport here.

This was not a battle of focus, but the young girl still regretted that she was late for the news.

This time he was actually very busy, because the day before Adinda was asked to edit the Bundesliga news column to be sent back to Indonesia. So he's a little late to catch up on the news in Leipzig. Lucky for him, it seems only he knows about Raynaldi's performance in 2.Bundesliga. Almost no one noticed 2.Bundesliga in Indonesia.

Adinda has also been collecting news about Raynaldi Indrasta and knows about his performances since coming to Germany. He was also quite amazed by Raynaldi's bravery, as a 16-year-old boy from a football desert country who could not even get into the top 100 of FIFA's ranking, dare to go to Europe to play football.

In addition, his performance in the German Youth League also surprised Adinda. How not? Raynaldi scored 35 goals in 18 games which means he almost scored an average of 2 goals in one game. Although this was only a youth team match but this kind of achievement was still very admirable.

Adinda has also gathered news about Raynaldi in 2.The Bundesliga has since debuted and found that Raynaldi has contributed 6 goals and 1 assist in three games, although a three-match result could not represent much, but for Indonesia, which has little power in football, it means a lot.

Raynaldi's entire performance proved that Indonesian players can also succeed in Europe.

In addition, Adinda has also found several online media that write news about Raynaldi. Perhaps rather than being called to write news about Raynaldi, it is more appropriate to say they copied news from Germany and then translated it. This makes the news he brought may not be the first “” there is.

Especially in the era of networks that are getting faster, almost all news directly comes from the Internet, his company also has its own online media network, but the largest part is still paper news media.

If the advantages of online media are fast, then news with paper media has the advantage with close interviews and communicated details, which online media cannot provide.

Adinda showed her press card and smoothly entered the reporter area in the stadium, she looked around, but she did not see any Asians, and she secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

The team bus Koln Athletics has arrived at the stadium, and Raynaldi follows his teammates to get off the bus. Some reporters were already there.

In previous games, Raynaldi was unlikely to meet a reporter who wanted to interview him but since the last game, many microphones were handed to him.

"You scored six goals in three games and helped Koln Athletics win an incredible three-game winning streak. From German Youth League to 2.Bundesliga, this change does not seem to make you feel uncomfortable? What do you want to say?"

Raynaldi turned his head in surprise, he heard the voice of the girl asking in familiar Indonesian to him.

Adinda raised her work permit with a smile on her face, and shook it in front of Raynaldi.

"You're Indonesian?" Raynaldi asked to see a young girl with a microphone.

"Yes, I am Adinda Dwi Putri from Indonesia, after hearing the news about you, I came here to get a live interview." Adinda smiled.

Seeing another reporter coming along, Raynaldi waved his hand slightly and gestured that he would answer Adinda's question first. Raynaldi did not understand the rules of interview well, but for this kind of temporary interview, he had to answer whoever he wanted to answer.

"2.The Bundesliga is a bit different to the previous German Youth League, as it has a faster pace and a higher level. So there must be some mismatches, all I have to do is maximize my own characteristics to adapt to the rhythm of the league and try to show a good side to help the team."

"You are the first Indian player to score in 2.Bundesliga. You also broke the record for the youngest goal and hat trick scored in 2.Bundesliga. At the same time, you are also the youngest hat trick holder to be scored in all Professional Leagues in Germany..."

As Adinda was speaking, Raynaldi saw that Thomas Sobek was calling her to gather, so he interrupted Adinda. "The coach called me to get together, sorry, we talked after the game, I have to leave now. See you soon."

Adinda was silent for a while, as she heard what Raynaldi said.

Seeing Raynaldi leave and a calm expression during a short interview, Adinda thought that this child was too calm for his age. Besides being calm he also felt Raynaldi was very confident and without any pressure when facing the match. Maybe, this time he found a superstar candidate?