Chapter 167 Kawasaki vs Aomori VI
[Name: Yushi Tanigawa]
[Age: 18 years old]
[Attributes]
Physical: B
Dribbling: C-
Pace: D+
Passing: B
Shooting: C
Defending: B
Mentality: B
IQ: C+
Overall grade: B-
[Specialty: Observationalist, good at hiding his presence, opportunist]
As mentioned by the system, even Hiro with his heightened vision had barely noticed Yushi during the game.
And almost for the entirety of the match, Yushi was always shaking his head. Shaking his head in every direction, he always looked like he was searching for gaps.
"So I was indeed right. You were the main culprit afterall." Rolling his pupils sideways to look at Yushi, Hiro murmured under his breath while revealing a sinister smile on his face, after finding out Yushi's specialities.
But then again, he wondered why he could see Yushi's specialities and couldn't see manager Makoto's specialities.
The joy from the moment ago was still lingering in Aomori's squad. Laughing and joking, all of them were in a pretty good mood despite only managing to tie the game.
Talking loudly while making their way towards their locker room, some players were singing praises of Takumi.
"Your goal was the best senior Takumi. Outrunning two of their defenders and even managing to deceive their keeper. When you scored that goal, I was literally having goosebumps." One of the player whom Hiro hadn't seen on the pitch, spoke in his flattering tone.
Another player about the same height as the player who was flattering Takumi was nodding his head and flattering Takumi as well.
Upon hearing such sugar-coated words, Hiro contorted his face in disgust. Sticking his tongue out, he acted as if there words were making him sick. Well their words did make him sick.
But as he kept listening to their voices, he couldn't help but feel nostalgic. As if he had heard their voice before, Hiro couldn't stop himself from contemplating about where he had heard their voice.
And just as he was thinking, he finally remembered where he had heard those voices, 'I see. So they are the fools who were talking loudly in the restroom before the start of the match.'
While Hiro was thinking such, Akihiro who was walking beside him spoke while smiling, "Don't they look like puppies?"
Hearing Akihiro's words, Hiro once again glanced at the direction of those two players who were singing praises of Takumi.
And as he looked closely, he did find them similar to puppies. Just like puppies wagging their tails at their master, they were flocking over Takumi with bright smile on their faces.
Imagining them as some puppies, Hiro chuckled, "Hahaha... Yeah you're right. They do seem like puppies."
**** ****
After about 10 minutes rest, players of both the teams once again made their way towards the pitch for the second half.
And as they made their way out of the tunnel, their faces which once was smeared with dirt looked really clean and fresh.
However the sky was a lot darker than it was some moment ago. And it seemed like it was going to rain at any moment.
Slowly marching out of the tunnel, Hiro paused all of a sudden. He then once again glanced at the direction of Yushi.
During the halftime break, he revealed part of the information which he obtained via system to manager Makoto to help him improve his strategy.
Makoto inturn, along with other coaches designed their strategy to counter the strategy of Aomori Yamada High School.
Giving their fullbacks more freedom to move forward along the flanks, manager Makoto then improvised his strategy based on his observation and based on Hiro's findings.
Beep!!
And as everybody positioned themselves in their respective position, second half of the game commenced with the sound of the referee's whistle.
Moving completely different than how he moved in the first half, Hiro who was running all over the pitch during first half was now walking on the pitch.
Calmly analysing the situation on the field, he was observing every players positions and searching for gaps in the field.
'What is he doing? Did he give up on attacking? Why is he behaving like this?' Such thoughts appeared on Takuto's mind.
He was extremely confused by sudden change in Hiro's behaviour.
By limiting his movement on the pitch, Hiro was also indirectly limiting the movement of the opposing players who were marking him. Especially Takuto and Yushi.
At 68th minute in the match, Hiro dropped deep all of a sudden. Almost at the position of defensive midfielder, he dropped deep enough to receive the ball.
Receiving the ball from his team's defender, Hiro easily dribbled past Takuto who was following him even in his side of the pitch.
After that Hiro passed the ball to Kenta who was making his run in the left flank.
Kenta inturn began to dribble the forward in a straight line. Making use of his quick feet, Kenta sprinted with the ball as fast as he could. However not even before he could make it to the opponents defensive third, he found his path completely blocked.
Standing infront of him was Aomori's right back and to his right was Aomori's defensive midfielder.
Unable to find a path infront, Kenta passed the ball to Tatsuki who was making his run towards the penalty arc.
The opposing right back slid down in hopes of reaching the ball. But he still couldn't reach the ball.
At the same time both of the centre defenders of Aomori rushed towards Tatsuki.
Whilst still running, Tatsuki hit the ball with the back of his his heel and passed the ball back instead of trying to break free from the clutches of two opposing centre backs.
Running behind Tatsuki was Hiro who had started running from the moment when he passed the ball to Kenta.
Upon receiving the ball, Hiro quickly released the ball in the right flank where Minato was making his run.
Running all the way from their defensive third to attacking third, Minato was acting as instructed by manager Makoto.
Cutting inside, Minato then shot the ball towards the post while taking advantage of the distracted opposing keeper.
The ball as it left his feet directly flew towards the post. Masanaga couldn't react on time and thus ended up conceding goal.
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