After that victory against Lospeno FC, Unique FC were now one point behind Dynamo and needed a draw or win to return to second place.
A draw would but they would mean that they will have to be five points behind Supreme United and that was something they didn't want so to them, this was a must-win match.
They traveled to Zetoro that afternoon for the match that was going to kick off by 5:00 PM.
The players warmed up on the pitch for a while before they were given the signal to start making their way down the tunnel to get ready for the match.
Unique FC players were now in the locker room getting dressed up in their third away kit, this was going to be the second time that they were going to be putting on the kit this season.
There was nothing really special about the kit, it was mostly black both the shirt and shorts with an orange line running horizontally down the chest area.
The line didn't really run down the area completely and was divided in the middle with the Webnovel logo which was designed with a shade of white and orange above.
The sleeves were outlined with orange and so was the neck.
Dave's kit was the opposite of what the players were wearing, the base of his kit was orange and the little designs made on theirs with orange were made on his with black.
After dressing up for the match, Norman walked into the room to talk to them for a while and after that, they were told to start heading down the hallway.
They met up with Zetoro United players at the tunnel's exit and their kit seemed to be pretty nice.
The shirts were white with three blue stripes and the shorts were just plain white
Their goalkeeper's kit was just plain red.
They stayed there for a while before they were given the signal to start making their way to the pitch.
As soon as the players stepped into the light, the fans on both sides began to go wild.
"Welcome everyone from all around the world, it's your favorite commentator Jim Waterson and joining me in the studio today as you all would have already guessed it's Mr. Steve Jefferson."
"Oh, thank you, Jim, it's always an honor to be here with you," Steve said. "Welcome everyone and thank you all for joining us to witness this match today."
"Yeah, this is going to be quite an interesting match, Unique FC defeated Zetoro United last season both home and away but they secured those victories by the skin of their teeth." Jim expressed. "Zetoro almost beat them at home after securing a two-goal lead in the first half but Unique FC struck back fast in the second half to equalize and right at the ninetieth minute, Mateo scored the winning goal with a neat strike. The second match was way tougher but winning a penalty kick was all Unique FC needed to seal the game after both teams scored early in the first half."
"Yes, those were some matches. Let's see if this one will be any different." Steve said.
After lining up and shaking hands with each other, both of the captains made their way to the officials for the coin toss.
Unique FC ended up winning the coin toss which meant that they were going to be the ones starting the match from the kick-off spot.
'When's it going to pop up now?' Dave said subconsciously as he made his way to his goalpost.
[ Quest received ]
[ Keep a clean sheet ]
[ Quest rewards ]
[ +100 exp ]
[ +2 stat points ]
[ +5 skill upgrade points ]
'This is the lowest quest I've received in a while.'
<Well, most of the quests you get are based on the quality of the team you're facing, so this is what you get for this one>
'Well, it is better than nothing, I just hope I don't mess it up.'
<Yeah, I hope you don't>
"Unique FC are using the four-three-three C formation just like always and Zetoro United are using the standard four-three-three formation." Steve expressed.
Since they weren't going to be facing West Ham United in the Europa Conference League until Thursday next week, Norman was going all out with his starting eleven which really wasn't a good thing for Zetoro United.
They had turned out to be a force to be reckoned with so far this season and their opponents were well aware of that.
Norman had removed Fred from his starting eleven for obvious reasons and replaced him with Fredinho who happened to be the better striker.
Fredinho was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle and as soon as he heard it, he quickly pushed the ball to Minino who sent it rolling back to Martinez before the player close to him could get to him and try to take the ball from him.
"There's the whistle and we are on the way."
Unique FC were passing the ball around mostly in their half while trying to come up with something.
They were doing pretty well in keeping the ball away from Zetoro United players who weren't even bothered to chase the ball aggressively.
Roland received the ball from Martinez and just before the right winger could get to him.
Dave got hold of the ball and just as the striker closed up on him, he moved the ball to the right to completely evade the striker before he sent the ball flying over to Minino.
"They're doing everything to keep hold of the ball here," Jim commented.
The midfielder moved down the wing with the ball before pushing it to Carlos.
"Carlos."
Carlos caught hold of the ball and easily evaded the midfielder who rushed him from behind before pushing the ball to Fredinho.
The striker pushed the ball a little to the right to create space for himself before firing toward the goalpost.
"Fredinho!"
That space wasn't really enough for him as one of the players stretched out his leg to block the shot right on time.
The ball hit the player's leg before rolling out for a goal kick.
"Oh, that was a nice block," Jim commented.
Nothing came out of that corner kick as the ball was sent flying over the bar by Minino.
That was the first time Zetoro United got hold of the ball and they kept hold of it for a while, but the moment they tried to attack, they lost the ball to Roland who immediately started a counterattack.
The winger moved down the middle with the ball before pushing it to Ferran who sent it rolling to Mateo.
"Mateo."
Mateo pushed down the left wing a little with the ball before dropping it back to Fredinho.
Fredinho sent the ball rolling back to Ferran with a backheel pass and with his first touch, the midfielder sent the ball flying over to Mateo inside the box.
Mateo had the right back right on his track but he had to think of something and that was exactly what he did.
He waited for the ball to get close enough before he headed it over to Carlos on the right.
Carlos struggled to get in front of the player in front of him and after that, he brought the ball down with his chest before he fired the ball toward the goalpost.
The ball was sent flying toward the right side of the goalpost and that could have been a really good goal but the goalkeeper stretched out his hand right in time to block the ball and send it over the line for a corner kick.
"Oh, that was so close!" Jim exclaimed.
"That's their third chance today and the first shot on target, they're not taking it easy on Zetoro United," Steve commented.
Ferran quickly made his way to the spot and caught the ball thrown to him before dropping it there.
He was now standing over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle and after making sure that everything was ready, the official blew his whistle.
Ferran slowly took three steps backward before he closed up on the ball and sent it flying in.
The ball evaded everybody before falling to Fredinho who didn't have any trouble putting the ball into the goalpost with the heel of his boot.
"Oh, it's in! They've finally gotten that goal!"
Fredinho quickly got up from the floor before racing to the side but the referee didn't blow his whistle because the linesman had his flag up.
The chanting from the fans slowly calmed down as Unique FC players gathered around the goalkeeper trying to convince him to change his mind or at least go check VAR.
"The linesman has his flag up but the referee hasn't made a decision yet," Jim commented. "I think the best decision is to go check VAR."
"Yeah, that is the best decision but since the linesman has his flag up, he can decide not to do that," Steve commented.
"And Unique FC players won't be happy with that."
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢