Chapter 501 Down One More
Unique FC players were all in the locker room now with Norman standing over them with his arms crossed.
He had an uneasy look on his face as he kept tapping his right foot on the floor.
"You guys started the match on a good note then you just started slipping off in the last minutes. Was that penalty really all it took to demoralize you?"
His voice swept through the room in all its fierceness and none of the players dared say a word.
<He's furious>
'And it's understandable, I guess.'
"Now listen up all of you, they're really strong, I know that, but we can't lose here. If it comes down to it then we're just going to grab an equalizer and back the bus, we'll be better off with a draw than a loss then we can think of something in the second leg.
That was the foundation of Norman's plan for the second half, score the equalizer and park the bus.
He didn't really plan for something like this but finishing the match with a draw was at least going to give them some ground to do something in the second leg which was going to be happening on their home turf and that was a very good thing.
Norman didn't waste any time in going into the details of how they were supposed to play things out in the second half.
He knew his team was having a hard time moving forward so the best plan he could come up with was to keep focusing most of their efforts on defense and make sure they didn't break their line like they did to get that second goal.
His plan was to turn defense into attack, a counterattack whenever they got the best opportunity, then they would park the bus and make sure another goal didn't enter their goalpost.
"Remember what I told all of you, no matter what, we cannot lose this match." He asserted before slamming his fist on the table beside him.
______ ______
The halftime break was over now and the players from both teams could be seen making their way to the pitch alongside each other.
"Welcome back everyone, the second half is about to kick off as we can see the players from both teams making their way to the pitch now," Jim announced. "The first half sure came with a lot of surprises don't you think, Steve?"
"Yeah, during the first couple of minutes of the match, it really looked like Unique FC had what it takes to take down Olympique Lyonnais, they played quite well and managed to get the lead courtesy of Mateo and that was where everything changed.
"Lyon just turned into a different team and started making things difficult for Norman's boys, they scored their equalizer from the penalty spot, and took the lead in added time."
Mason was standing over the ball in the kick-off spot waiting for the referee's whistle with everyone else standing in their positions.
"Lyon still have the lead, it's two goals to one which means Unique FC can still get back into this, they're not that far off and they have enough time. The question now is, can they pull it off?"
Just after making sure that everything was ready, the referee blew his whistle, and as soon Mason heard it, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Duncan who had to immediately push it back to the teammate behind him before Mason could get to him.
"There's the whistle and we are on the way."
Unique FC started out chasing the ball aggressively but they made sure not to overdo it, Norman made sure their attacking players always had someone on them and that was also the case for Duncan.
If they wanted to win this match, then they had to tie them down just like they did to them in the first half.
This forced Lyon to keep the ball in their own half for now but Unique FC were getting more and more aggressive with the way they were chasing the ball.
It didn't take long before the ball rolled out for a corner kick courtesy of Ferran trying to take it off the feet of one of the midfielders.
"Unique FC are not letting up, they're putting the pressure on the home team," Jim commented.
"That was the intensity they needed in the first half."
[ System deactivated ]
'Oh, just turn off already and stop giving me false hope, there's no way I can use you for anything meaningful in this match.'
<You sure about that? You can still use it for close calls if you time it correctly>
'Yeah, you mean the same thing I tried to do with that penalty kick?'
Catherine didn't have any response to that.
'I feel like this system is consciously trying to mess with me, but I'll show it that I don't need it for every single thing.'
<Hmmm>
Lyon were still with the ball after that throw-in, Duncan was with it to be specific and now he was slowly moving down the middle with it but Frankie was also heading toward him so he didn't really have the space to make a quick run.
He had to send the ball rolling to Antoine who quickly pushed it back to the midfielder behind him to avoid losing the ball to Roland.
The midfielder quickly sent the ball rolling to Duncan who managed to wriggle away from Frankie before attempting to find Mason upfront.
The striker quickly tried to get past Adolf in order to get to the ball which had already gone past both of them, but he wasn't able to get past Adolf who pulled back at that time and it ended up slamming right into the striker's face.
The striker crashed down a little distance away from the edge of the box as the referee blew his whistle before quickly making his way to the area.
"Mason's down with his hand on his face and the referee's not letting that slide."
Adolf didn't get booked for that but the home team had a free kick now from about twenty-five yards out.
Mason was able to get back on his feet after receiving treatment 'Roger that.'
Antoine was standing over the ball in the kick-off spot with his gaze from the medical team and now it was time for the free kick.
<Antoine is a very brilliant free-kick taker so stay sharp>
'Roger that.'
Antoine was standing over the ball in the kick-off spot with his gaze on Unique FC's four-man wall at the edge of the box.
"A good chance for them to go two goals up, can Antoine pull it off?"
It didn't take long before the sound of the referee's whistle pierced through the atmosphere, and as soon as Mason heard it, he quickly closed up on the ball and fired it toward the top right-hand side.
That was just where Dave anticipated him to put it and he was able to get the tip of his glove on it, just enough for it to hit the crossbar before flying into the box.
That was a wonderful save from the goalkeeper but just as he crashed to the floor, the ball flew past him straight into the goalpost.
The rebound went straight toward Duncan and the attacking midfielder made no mistake in putting it away with his head.
"They're two goals up! That was a wonderful save from Dave but his teammates just couldn't clear it and now they're two goals down, the mission here just got tougher for them."
The home fans were off their seats now screaming at the top of their voices as Duncan raced to the sidelines and did a full-body slide.
"How are we going to come back from this one?" Dave sighed before covering his face with his glove.
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