The voices of the fans were all going up as the players marched to the pitch.
It was finally the day for Unique FC to face Black Roz FC for the second time in the season.
Norman had to travel to the city of Black Roz to face off against their most abused opponents.
There were only two things that were going to happen here today, and it was either Frono FC breaking the curse of always losing against Unique FC and getting a draw or even going ahead to win the match, the former was the most realistic option.
It was either that or Unique FC continued their eternal winning streak against them.
They would have had a better chance of breaking the curse when Unique FC were a bit on the low but unfortunately, they were in the second division.
The fans really believed that it was a curse because all the seasons they've been in the Bilbeth Premier League Unique FC played well if not great but once they get relegated the team starts dropping form.
Jim and Steve said their introductions as the players lined up in front of the pitch.
Black Roz FC were putting on their home jersey which was a black kit, the shirt had nice red outlines with two diagonal red lines on the lower part of it a little to the left, their goalkeeper on the other hand was putting on a plain red kit.
Unique FC on the other hand were putting on their away kit which was a black kit with orange polka dots, the exact opposite of their home kit while Dave was putting on a black kit with orange outlines.
The captains from both teams had to make their way to the match officials for the coin toss now, and Unique FC ended up winning it which meant that they were going to be the ones kicking off the match from the kick-off spot.
"Just before the match kicks off, let's take a quick look at the lineups from both sides."
Black Roz FC were coming up against their mortal enemies once again with the four-four-two formation but this time they were doing things a bit differently.
They had just one attacking midfielder up front then the remaining three were there to make sure nothing got past but they weren't restricted to just that area because that would make their attacks dull.
"Starting with George and Aveiro up front, good, I just hope they can hold up against Unique FC this time," Jim commented.
Norman was still sticking with his standard four-three-three formation for this match.
He had Luis Roberto, Aima, Adolf, and Roland in defense.
In midfield, he had Martinez, Ferran, and Minino, and finally, upfront, he had Mateo, Fred, and Merino.
It had been a while since Fred started a match but he was giving him that chance now.
"Norman once again with his stacked squad, clearly the favorite to win this match but let's see what Black Roz FC has to say about that." Steve articulated.
[ Conjoined quest received ]
[ Keep a clean sheet ]
[ Make at least five crucial saves ]
[ Provide an assist ]
[ Quest rewards ]
[ +200 exp ]
[ +2 stat points ]
[ +5 skill upgrade points ]
The goalkeeper was heading toward the goalpost when he saw that quest pop up and he had a few thoughts about it.
'I was about to say easy conjoined quest until I saw that last one.'
<What's so hard about providing an assist if you can score from the goalpost?>
'It's not about providing the assist, it's mainly about having the player I send the ball to score without passing it to anyone else or missing the shot, it's sort of difficult to pull off successfully which is why almost all my assists had been to Mateo but those were mostly during counterattacks.'
<Yeah, I understand what you mean, just look for Mateo at the right moments>
'I'll try, of course.'
Fred was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle and after making sure that everything was in place and everyone was ready, the referee blew his whistle.
"There's the whistle and we are on the way."
Fred quickly passed the ball to Minino who quickly sent it rolling back to Martinez just before Mason could get to him.
Martinez sent the ball rolling to Fred who quickly tried to find Merino down the wing but that wasn't the brightest idea as the winger ended up losing the ball to the left back there who quickly tried to George up front but that was also a mistake as Adolf was right there to nod the ball to Martinez who quickly sent it rolling to Roland.
"Lost the ball for a second there and now they're back with it."
Roland moved down the wing with the ball a little before pushing it to Ferran who feigned sending over to Merino before passing it short to Mateo on the left.
"Mateo."
Mateo quickly raced toward the right back in the area before he suddenly paused and pushed the back to Ferran who pushed it back to Martinez.
"What was that? I thought he was about to do something there."
"Yeah, me too," Steve commented.
Martinez pushed the ball to Minino before Mason could get to it, and after pushing a little further down the wing with it, the midfielder sent it rolling to Fred.
The striker was right at the edge of the box, but there was no space for him to do anything so he had to send the ball back to Merino who sent it rolling to Ferran with his first touch.
They were doing pretty well in evading everything Black Roz FC had stacked in front of their goalpost with their passes.
Ferran had to send the ball rolling to Mateo to avoid the defensive midfielder heading toward him.
Mateo got his foot on the ball and moved back a little with it before passing it to Roland who had closed up on the area now.
Roland sent the ball back to him because of the player quickly heading his way, and after getting his foot on the ball, the winger sent it rolling to Ferran who quickly linked it back to Roland.
Their passing continued like this for a while until the ball finally got to Mateo for the fourth time.
As soon as he got his foot on the ball, he quickly spun around to get rid of the player right behind him, and right now he was heading toward the box from down the middle with full speed.
He got past the first defender with some rough dribbling to get into the box, and just before the second one could do anything to stop him, he pushed the back toward Fred with a backheel pass.
The striker wasn't going to miss this opportunity as he got his foot on the ball and fired it toward the goalpost just as Mateo crashed down inside the box.
"Fred!"
The ball was sent flying toward the right side with just the right elevation to keep it away from the goalkeeper as it ended up evading the gloves and smashing right into the box.
"And he puts it right in!"
The fans burst into cheers of jubilation as the striker took off to the side and did a knee slide while screaming at the top of his voice.
"Just six minutes into the game and they're already one goal up, that was a brilliant move from Mateo and Fred did not disappoint." Jim expressed. "Black Roz FC will have to step up their game or else it's their loss against Unique FC once again."
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