Chapter 218 Ultimate Showdown VIII
As all the players positioned themselves in their respective position for the start of the second half, as per usual Hiro first swept his gaze across the players infront of him.
And as per his expectation, Sagan Tosu had indeed switched their formation thinking Akihiro would move forward to support Hiro.
However judging by the dumbstruck expression which most players of Sagan Tosu were displaying at the moment, it seemed like they weren't expecting the position change of Yuto.
Even those three players who were deliberately trying to provoke Hiro earlier, they had the same dumbstruck expression.
Their haughty eyes were now filled with panic. Just like withering flower, the vitality in their face seemed like it was sapped away as their face looked a little pale right now.
At the same time while Hiro was observing the situation infront of him, manager Makoto too was looking towards the opposing substitution box.
And during his observation, while noticing the anxious expression of the opposing coach, he was chuckling inwardly.
"You were indeed right Hiro" manager Makoto grinned as he felt a sense of satisfaction upon seeing the expression of the opposing coach.
Beep!!
The second half then resumed with the sound of referee's whistle.
The atmosphere around the stadium once again turned lively as fans started cheering even louder than before.
Upon hearing the sound of referee's whistle, Tatsuki passed the ball back and initiated the kickoff.
And as he passed the ball back, without wasting anytime, he started moving upfield. Kenta and Takeshi, the two wingers of Kawasaki both rushed upfield as well.
Sure enough, they weren't going to lie low. They were playing an all out offensive game right off the bat.
The flabbergasted opposing forwards rushed towards Hiro staggeringly as they chased after the ball.
Without exerting much effort, Hiro smoothly dribbled past those two forwards as he moved the ball upfield.
If they were in their right mind, those two would have moved forward carefully instead of just ganging up on Hiro at the same time.
However since, they weren't in their right mind at the moment, both of them took the route of force. They wanted to forcefully snatch the ball away from Hiro.
Thus both of them rushed towards Hiro at the same time, instead of making use of their numbers against Hiro.
Upon witnessing Hiro effortlessly dribbling past their teams forwards, midfielders of Sagan Tosu started to panic.
Before they could even position themselves around Hiro to mark Hiro, currently Hiro was already charging towards them. Instead of them initiating the battle, Hiro had initiated the battle this time.
And because of that, they were at a disadvantage right now.
Even so, those midfielders shook their head and regained their composure as they became wary of Hiro.
Although it wasn't the situation which they were expecting, they very well knew that anything could happen in the game at any moment.
Football may be 99 percent talent, hardwork, teamwork, mentality, strategy and execution of strategy but even if it's only 1 percent, no one can deny the element called luck.
If favoured by luck even an underdog team can come out victorious against a powerhouse team.
So one must be able to make quick decision to counter the so called uncertainty.
"He's weak against physical plays. So let's pressure him" mumbled one of the opposing midfielder as he notified his companion of his thoughts.
The other midfielder beside him nodded his head before rushing forward towards Hiro.
At the same time while those midfielders were rushing towards Hiro, Ryotaro was giving commands to his fellow defenders, ordering them to maintain their formation while keeping eye on the opposing forwards.
The anticipation in the eyes of the fans grew uncontrollably as they kept their eyes fixated on Hiro.
Some eyes filled with horror while some eyes filled with anticipation, different people were making different reactions at the moment.
Faced with two midfielders, instead of retreating Hiro charged the ball forward. But as he reached close to them, he didn't try to dribble the ball. Instead he hit the ball with the back of his foot while moving the ball.
The two midfielders who were thinking of making use of their physique to stop Hiro were left dumbfounded by Hiro's actions as both of their attention drifted towards the ball.
However Hiro paid no heed to them, instead he continued to rush forward.
And as the ball left Hiro's feet, it found it's way towards Akihiro. From the moment when Hiro had started to move the ball forward, he and Yuto had been chasing after Hiro.
Hiro was the pointy tip of the triangle while those two were the bases of the triangle. Those three were currently positioned in a triangular shape.
Akihiro then passed the ball to Yuto. Yuto inturn immediately sent a long ball to Kenta who was sprinting along the flanks.
Kenta too didn't hog the ball for long and immediately released the ball to Tatsuki.
At that time Tatsuki was at the edge of the opposing penalty box.
Witnessing the ball rolling towards Tatsuki, the opposing defenders who were keeping eyes on Tatsuki immediately rushed forward towards Tatsuki.
However they didn't rush forward rashly. While one of the defender rushed towards Tatsuki another stayed close to him.
They were very careful while rushing forward.
Ryotaro on the other hand had strategically positioned himself in a spot where he could both initiate the attack and intercept the pass to Hiro.
Until now, everything seemed so easy. However the difficult part had just arrived. Getting past that five man defensive formation was the hardest part.
Glancing towards the post, Tatsuki squinched his brows as he looked for spaces to move the ball forward.
Although he could see space open to make some shots, he wasn't confident enough to score. And also taking manager Makoto's earlier suggestion into consideration, he knew that he couldn't shoot rashly.
Thus, he began to looke for passing options.
Hiro was marked and so was Kenta.
The only option he could see right now was to pass back. However if he did that he'd throw up their momentum.
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