Well, the players didn’t know that they were being evaluated by Frohling. No, in hindsight, they should know about it, and yet, the guys chose not to care about the man for now. No, they had a more urgent matter on the pitch, which was to get back into the game after a humiliating goal earlier.
"Come on, Weston! We will rely on you." Omar Mascarell whispered lowly.
"Don’t worry, leave the rest to me." Weston McKennie nodded; his scowl was visible. He was eyeing Morita so intently as if the Japanese midfielder had just killed his mother earlier. "He will not get away from this!"
FWEEE!
Soon enough, the referee finally blew the whistle, starting the game again. However, much to everyone’s surprise, the three second-team players, Hofmann, Fabian, and Morita, backed down simultaneously, letting the main players charge forward first.
They didn’t even need to communicate first when doing that. No, this was the standard play for the second team, as when they were against a stronger opponent, it was better to receive the opponent’s punch first while also waiting for them to lower their guard before striking back decisively.
Even Ozan Kabak was surprised, but the Turkish center back was pleased by this gesture. At least, they were disciplined enough to protect their zone, not just rushing to mark the opponent and open up a weakness on their side.
"Good job, Ninja! You move to the left side, get ready to cut off a pass there!"
"Blonde, you press further! Don’t worry about anything else!"
"You! You hold back with me, get ready to support the blonde!"
The Turkish defender showed his capability as the leader on the backline with this action, taking over the command for the team. Even though he didn’t even know their names, the man still managed to get everything covered, not letting the opponent get any easy room.
Still, in this small field, the ball’s movement was quite fast, rolling from one player to another in a blink. It also helped that the players on the other side, Weston McKennie and Omar Mascarell, had a good combination play, often managing to drag either Fabian or Hofmann away from their position to give more room for their teammates to sneak.
Then, half a minute later, they finally managed to get their first chance.
After encircling the rookie team in front of their own territory, Weston McKennie carried the ball from the left flank, trying to cut inside and create room for himself to shoot the ball with his right foot.
Fabian tried to use his physicality to make him lose balance, but the American midfielder didn’t even budge. Even though he was smaller, somehow, it was Fabian who lost the strength contest, stumbling to the ground and letting Weston get a good chance to shoot.
"Oh, shit!"
Ozan Kabak gritted his teeth, launching a tackle. The purpose was simple: to block the shot toward the goal. However, Weston changed his stance immediately, and instead of shooting, he pushed the ball one step further to give himself ultimate space to shoot.
Now, he could see the goal that was just a few steps away from him, and the afro-haired boy finally launched a rocket from that spot.
BAM!
However, when he was about to celebrate after thinking that he had already gotten rid of all the opponent players, Weston had his jaw drop to see a hand suddenly appear in front of the ball, stopping it from crossing the goal line right at the last second.
It wasn’t like he forgot about the goalkeeper, but his shot, low to the bottom left of the goal, had a difficult angle that it was impossible for any goalkeeper to stop if they didn’t know firsthand about his decision-making.
Unfortunately, though, he faced such a cheat code right now, a person who could foresee a few seconds ahead.
Higo didn’t even exert too much strength, just diving casually to the left side with both hands stretched far, catching the ball easily. Then, without even waiting, he rose from the ground, throwing the ball as quickly as possible to the front line.
"Morita-san, I’ll leave it to you!"
In the midfield, Morita was already there, standing alone without anyone guarding him. Jonjoe Kenny widened his eyes in shock when he saw this, and as the last defender there since the rest of the players were rushing forward, he didn’t have any choice here.
"Shit! Don’t you think you can just get away like that!"
The Englishman rushed quickly, wanting to push Morita with a slight, subtle movement to at least affect the boy’s stance. However, Morita was way sneakier than that.
He didn’t receive the ball straight away. No, the boy checked his shoulder for a moment, then noticed that someone was coming at him. Then, without even thinking, as if everything was driven by his instinct, the boy lowered his stance the last second before the opponent could ram him, using this momentum to turn around and leave that defender behind.
As for the ball... He just let it fall, knowing that the opponent’s defender was too focused on stopping him to get the ball first. As a result...
Thud!
Jonjoe Kenny failed to push Morita away, and the ball also bounced in front of him without the Englishman being able to do anything about it. In the end, Morita and the ball escaped from his grasp, and before he could react, the Japanese boy had already been on the front line, facing Nubel in a one-on-one duel.
Thud!
Morita didn’t even use any power in his shot, just a calm one aiming at the spot between Nubel’s legs. However, it was clear that the decision was effective, as even though Nubel tried to jump on him, the ball still slipped away, getting into the back of the net once again in this matchup.
Silence followed for a moment before Waldoch finally blew the whistle, breaking the awkwardness here.
FWEEE!
"2-0 for the red team! Since this is the best-of-three, they have already won! A break for two minutes before we continue with a new team!"
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