The world of football has never lacked geniuses.
What it lacks is the patience to cultivate a genius into a superstar!
Fortunately, Wolfsburg's management and coaching staff also highly value this youth academy prospect who has already shown astonishing potential in the Bundesliga.
To ensure his stable growth, the coaching staff first evaluated Mark's strengths and weaknesses from multiple angles and formulated a training plan.
And after each day's regular training session, Mark would go to the tactics room to watch match footage prepared for him by the tactical coach.
Through the match footage, his tactical theoretical knowledge, and his understanding of the winger's role became even clearer.
In his opinion, with the development and changes in modern football tactics, the role of a winger has become diversified; it is no longer just the traditional cross from the byline, but has transformed into the player with the most outstanding individual ability in the entire team!
Whether it's Cristiano Ronaldo of Real Madrid, Ronaldinho during his time at Barça, the current Messi, or Bayern's Robbery duo, they all perfectly exemplify the ultimate individual ability of a winger!
Dominating on the flanks, orchestrating the team's attack, and then, with his own strength, tearing open the opponent's wide defense before cutting inside to deliver a fatal blow!
However, the roles and functions of wingers vary.
There are inverted wingers who specialize in cutting inside to shoot, traditional wingers who specialize in crossing from the byline, and even wide playmakers who organize attacks from the flanks... However, most of the best wingers in football today are inverted wingers.
Wolfsburg naturally hopes Mark can become a wide attacking threat like Robbery or Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
However, this cannot be achieved overnight.
Currently, Perisic's performance on the left wing is excellent; he has speed, dribbling, and shooting after beating a man, so Mark cannot temporarily compete with this Croatia flyer.
Considering the team's tactics, the coaching staff decided to first train Mark to play as a natural right winger.
The focus was on training crosses after breaking through on the right wing, especially curved balls and low-driven cutbacks.
By reinforcing such tactical routines through long-term training, he would be able to deliver comfortable passes in matches to the center forwards Olić (Dost), and late-arriving players like De Bruyne and Arnold.
Mark naturally accepted this training plan with pleasure.
Although he also wanted to be like Ronaldinho and Cristiano Ronaldo, receiving the ball on the left, breaking through, beating a man, and then completing a one-man show of cutting inside and shooting.
However, his current physical fitness, explosive speed, and ability to resist challenges all limit the fluidity of his actions after beating a man.
He can beat a man in tight spaces and continuously beat men to escape, but his passes or shots after beating a man cannot guarantee success rate and stability.
The most urgent task is to play!
As long as he gets more playing time, he will have more opportunities to complete each match's tasks, thereby gaining more attribute points to become stronger!
Only in this way can he continuously improve and get closer to Ronaldinho's peak form!
...For an eighteen-year-old single guy, the two-point, one-line life of commuting between home and the club's training ground was very fulfilling.
Time flew by, and soon it was February 7th.
Wolfsburg Training Ground.
Inside the meeting room, Wolfsburg's coaching staff gathered.
They were about to select the squad list and starting eleven for tomorrow's home League match against Mainz.
In fact, with half the season over, the team's core lineup was already stable.
The only change was who would replace Caligiuri, who received a red card in the previous League match and was suspended for this game!
Normally, Portugal international Vieirinha, as a regular rotation for the right winger position, has excellent running ability and crossing ability.
However, in the previous match against Schalke, Mark's performance during his substitute appearance was simply impeccable.
Moreover, his dribbling breakthroughs on the flank not only tore open defenses but also created more organizing space for De Bruyne.
It's worth mentioning that after two consecutive substitute appearances, contributing one goal and one assist with stunning performances, Mark, who has both skill and looks, has clearly become the new darling of Wolfsburg fans!
Many Wolfsburg fans were captivated by this young man with excellent dribbling skills and highly entertaining dribbles, and they called on the official website for the team to give this youth academy player more playing time.
Some female fans even called the club, hoping to get Mark's contact information!
Should they stick to the established plan, or boldly bring in the youngster?
This made Tuchel somewhat indecisive.
"Who do you think should start?"
Facing Tuchel's question, the coaching staff members all gave their answers:
"I think Vieirinha is better. He's been with the team longer and understands the team's tactics and positioning more thoroughly..."
"I vote for Mark; his attacking talent is extraordinary, he just needs time to develop..."
"I believe..."
After careful consideration and the advice of the coaching staff, Tuchel finally decided to let Vieirinha start!
Firstly, he didn't want to rush the young Mark's development;
Secondly, Mark's physical fitness was not enough to sustain him for the full ninety minutes of a match;
Lastly, Mark's defensive ability did not yet meet his requirements.
Instead, it would be better to use Mark as a super-sub, to break the deadlock when the team was struggling to open up the game!
After finalizing the starting lineup, Tuchel also announced the team's squad list at the pre-match tactical meeting that afternoon.
Mark had no objection to the decision to remain on the bench.
However, after the meeting, De Bruyne patted Mark on the shoulder, comforting his younger teammate:
"With your ability, you'll be starting soon!"
"Haha, Kevin, you believe in me more than I do."
"I'm serious! I think your dribbling is even stronger than Eden's!"
Eden? Hazard?!
Excuse me, my dribbling is Ronaldinho-level!
Looking at the serious De Bruyne, Mark opened his mouth but ultimately didn't speak his mind.
Instead, he smiled and quipped back:
"Future World's Best Midfielder, thank you for your recognition, I will work hard!"
With that, he turned and left.
Leaving only a bewildered De Bruyne, silently muttering:
"Future World's Best Midfielder..."
On Matchday 20 of the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg hosted ninth-placed Mainz at the Volkswagen Arena.
This Mainz team featured familiar faces like Shinji Okazaki, Loris Karius, and Koo Ja-cheol.
As for Mainz's coach, Tuchel, he was also a young and promising coach in the Bundesliga.
Under his leadership, Mainz, which returned to the Bundesliga in 2009, developed steadily and once even finished fifth in the League, qualifying for the Europa League.
Now, they firmly held a mid-table position in the Bundesliga.
And in the green and white Volkswagen Arena, the generally-equipped Mainz was very resilient, giving Wolfsburg few opportunities.
The first half ended goalless, and the game was very dull.
Vieirinha, who replaced Caligiuri as the starting right winger, was very quiet on the right flank, with no real attacking impact.
At halftime, Tuchel also motivated the team, encouraging them to be more decisive in attack.
In the second half, Wolfsburg concentrated their attacking forces on the left flank and finally broke through Mainz's defense.
In the fifty-sixth minute of the second half, Perisic delivered a through ball from the left, finding the onrushing Dutch striker Dost.
The latter received the ball in the box but was tackled on the ankle by a retreating defender, and the referee immediately awarded a penalty!
Ricardo Rodriguez stepped up to the spot and scored with a single strike