257 Captain's arrival
Nobody knows from where it originated or who started it, but just like a wildfire spreading at an alarming rate, soon the entire stadium was engulfed with the flames of excitement.
"Hirooooo!!"
Clap!! Clap!!
As the stadium resounded with the cheers of the fans, a burst of liveliness burst forth from the stadium which inturn made the ambience around the stadium extremely lively.
Looking at the rising intensity in the stands, Hiro's blood started to boil as his eyes glowed with excitement.
Crack!! Crack!!
Feeling the thrill, he cracked his neck few times before revealing a smile full of excitement on his face, "Hoh!! This feels amazing"
Intertwining the strings of his cleats, he tightened his shoelaces.
"It all depends on you captain" one of the player whom Hiro was replacing spoke in a heavy tone as he clasped hands with Hiro while looking at Hiro with eyes full of hope before walking out of the pitch.
Nodding his head, Hiro replied in a confident tone, "Rest assured, we'll win this game"
His words weren't empty words neither was it his overconfidence.
Although he was forced to sit out of the match until now, he wasn't sitting idle. All along, he had been observing the game, analysing the game and trying to find the weaknesses of the opposing team.
Thus when he said those words, he wasn't making empty promises. He meant what he said.
Hiro then before entering the pitch, gently touched the ground as he expressed his gratefulness to get the opportunity to play.
Every player of Japan turned to look at the sight of Hiro.
"Finally here" mumbled Shun as he let out a subtle laughter.
Just with the appearance of Hiro, a flame was kindled within the hearts of the players of Japan.
As if they had seen light at the end of the dark tunnel as if they had seen an oasis in the scorching hot desert, Hiro's appearance provided them a sense of reassurance inturn greatly boosting their morale.
At the same time, opposing players started to despair.
The image of Hiro dribbling past the entire squad of Jordan started playing in their head as they turned to look at Hiro. Subconsciously the fear which had been suppressed within them started to surface.
Their eyes filled with horror and their mouth tongue-tied, some of them gulped their saliva upon Hiro's arrival.
The game then resumed with the opposing team's throw-in.
Since they were already close to the post of Japan, opposing team was opting for a long throw-in, inside the penalty box.
As such opposing players started to cluster inside the penalty box. At the same time Hiro's teammates also clustered inside the penalty box, marking every possible opposing players.
However Hiro didn't position himself inside the penalty box, instead he positioned himself at the penalty arc.
The opposing player who was holding the ball ran towards the sidelines while carrying the ball above his head.
His hands were stretched well beyond his head; at the back of his neck.
That player as he approached the sideline, tightened his muscles and stretched his body to his utmost limit before throwing the ball with as much force as he could gather.
The ball went flying towards the penalty box of Japan where a lot of players from both sides were clustered at the moment.
Each and every player contended for the ball, leaping high above the ground. However at the end, non of those head managed to touch the ball.
Instead it was Shun's hand which managed to make contact with the ball.
Although players could jump high, how could they compete against the aerial reach of the keeper who could use his hands?
By trusting his teammates, Hiro had taken a gamble. If they had failed to defend then they'd have conceded a goal.
However since his teammates managed to defend the goal, now as the ball fell infront of him, he immediately took control of the ball.
Trapping the ball at his chest, he exquisitely controlled the lose ball.
However because of his reputation, although it seemed like nobody was marking him, it wasn't the case. As soon as Hiro took control of the lose ball, one of the opposing player came rushing towards him, trying to obstruct Hiro's play.
Hiro however gently tapped the ball at it's lower part, inturn lofting the ball above the head of the incoming player.
After that without wasting anytime, he switched his attention to offense as he kicked the ball hard and sent it rolling couple of distance ahead of him.
Hiro then immediately activated his skill Lightning Steps to sprint towards the ball and started to chase the ball.
Noticing Hiro's intention, one of two opposing defender who had stayed behind the half-line immediately rushed towards the ball to get to the ball before Hiro.
Although Hiro was fast, he wasn't the fastest. There were few players in the tournament who could match his speed.
And unluckily Hiro was facing one such player right now. Team India's speedy sweeper center-back Pramveer Singh.
Along with his team's captain Korou Singh and his team's ace centre forward Thanglalsoun Gangte, he was one of the backbone of his team.
Because of his fast running legs, instead of the other defender who was actually close to the ball than him, he rushed towards the ball.
It was a close battle as both Hiro and Pramveer reached the ball at almost the same time.
However at the nick of the time, Hiro reached the ball before him. Still Hiro didn't keep hold of the ball.
Instead Hiro once again kicked the ball.
Pramveer who was so engrossed with Hiro was only thinking of stopping Hiro. Thus because of his thinking, he didn't even think that Hiro would let go of the ball instead of trying to dribble past him like he normally did.
Pramveer was caught off-guard. Before he could even react, it was already too late as Hiro had already rushed past him leaving him behind to stare at his back.
The momentum of the game had totally tilted towards the side of Japan.
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