Chapter 285 Qualifier finals II
The long awaited match finally commenced as the referee sounded his whistle. For once cheers became even more louder before it subsided gradually.
Park Seung-gyu who was standing close to the ball kicked the ball back to his teammate; inturn officially initiating the kickoff.
In today's match both the team were playing in the same formation. Both the teams with their attacking philosophy were playing in 4-3-3 formation.
After the kickoff, for some while opposing players kept passing the ball between themselves; trying their best to attract the players of Japan while searching for a gap to exploit.
They were calm and composed. Their passes precise and fluid.
Players of Japan weren't in any kind of rush either. Thus they also didn't pursue aggressively right from the beginning.
Both the team were playing it safe.
It was quite evident from the way both the team were playing that both of the team had studied each other thoroughly and were vigilant against the other.
Hiro on the other hand wasn't wasting any moment; he was constantly on the lookout for any kind of opportunity. But he wasn't open about his intentions either.
Like a wolf hiding in sheeps cloth, he was completely blending with the surrounding. His actions today weren't anything flashy.
At times he'd chase after the ball, at times he'd cooperate with his teammates and at times he'd turn his head to look for gaps.
After playing it safe for so long, all of a sudden at the 11th minute of the match, one of the opposing defender sent the ball flying towards the other half.
And as he sent the ball flying, out of nowhere the intensity of the match surged as opposing players ferociously dashed forward.
It was so sudden that almost nobody had seen it coming. Obviously opposing team while playing it safe for so long was cooking something.
However Japanese players hadn't let their guard down either. Thus as soon as the opposing defender sent the ball flying, immediately most of the Japanese players began to fall back without any sort of hesitation.
At the same time Takeshi and few other defenders from Hiro's team, scattered around as they began to cover up the gaps in their defense.
The ball was headed towards the direction of Park Seung-gyu. Anybody could tell just by looking at it.
So how could the Japanese players fail to notice it?
Immediately Takeshi and another defender rushed towards the direction where the ball was going to fall. Those two sandwiched Park Seung-gyu leaving him no space to jump.
Akutsu who was the core of Japanese defense stayed behind to prevent any sort of mistakes and to stabilise the defense line.
Just as the ball was about to fall, Takeshi leapt from the ground, trying to head the ball away. However Park Seung-gyu to whom the pass was played, remained unresponsive.
He didn't even try to contend with Takeshi for the ball. Behind him Ayase was blocking his path and infront of him Takeshi was trying to clear the ball away.
It was like he was intentionally letting Takeshi to intecept the ball. But why would he let him do so? Was it because he was simply helpless? Or was there another motive behind his unresponsiveness? If so what benefit would he gain?
Just as Takeshi was about to clear the ball away, Hiro who had been falling back felt an ominous feeling as he intuitively sensed danger.
"Not good" Hiro muttered to himself as he contorted his face and increased his pace.
The ominous feeling which he felt suddenly turned into reality as in the next moment Takeshi lost his balance mid-air for absolutely no reason.
As Takeshi Ono lost his balance mid-air, he couldn't head the ball away. Thus the ball slipped past his reach.
Upon witnessing the ball slipping past Takeshi, Ayase who had been guarding Park Seung-gyu immediately reacted as he jolted forward to cover up the mistake made by Takeshi Ono.
Taking advantage of Takeshi's momentary unbalance, Park Seung-gyu who had been lying low, nimbly swayed his upper body as he swiftly turned around.
At the same time while turning around, the ball hit his back and bounced behind Ayase. Ayase was caught totally off-guard.
His eyes widened as his heart skipped a beat and he started to panic a little. Fear and shock was evident in his eyes. He was greatly startled and shocked by Park Seung-gyu's move.
The audience on the other hand, upon seeing this exquisite performance were marvelled as most of them were left with their mouth agape and eyes sparkling.
Takeshi however somehow managed to prevent himself from crashing as he stabilised his balance while falling. But the look on his eyes wasn't that of relief.
Instead right now, his eyes were glowing with absolute rage. Furrowing his brows, he turned around as he gnashed his teeth and squeezed a word out of his mouth, "You bastard...."
Takeshi hadn't made any mistake. Rather he was forced to make mistake.
Park Seung-gyu was a player who could naturally position himself in a better position. And earlier while exploiting his talent to it's maximum when Takeshi leapt from the ground, he infact had slightly pushed Takeshi before he could even reach his maximum jump which had caused Takeshi to lose his balance mid-air.
However all those actions, he had done sneakily while avoiding the gaze of the referee. He deliberately had positioned himself in a spot between Takeshi and Ayase to block the view of the referee.
A still swing wouldn't make much impact upon getting it's ropes cut but a moving swing would definitely make much greater impact upon getting it's ropes cut while it's still moving.
If it's in ground battles Takeshi could easily manhandle Park Seung-gyu but to control his balance mid-air without any sort of preparation was simply an impossible task.
Now after getting past two of the obstacles Park Seung-gyu began to rapidly move towards the penalty box.
Witnessing the approaching figure of Park Seung-gyu, Akutsu who was staying back smiled instead of being startled, "You were right about him Hiro. He's indeed a sly fox"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢