Chapter 29: Rising tension in the field
Endo barely managed to reach the ball and keep the ball away from the net. The ball bounced away as he saved the ball.
Thud!!
Endo landed roughly on the ground while making that huge save.
"Loose ball"
Endo shouted.
The defenders of Ookami elementary school were stunned by Endo's brilliant save that they didn't even notice the loose ball. Only after Endo shouted loose ball, did they actually came back to their senses and made their way towards the ball.
{That was an incredible stop from Endo. However the ball is still in the bounds. And it looks like Shoyo will be the one to reach the ball before anyone else.}
However it was too late for them as Shoyo was already chasing the ball even before the ball touched Endo's gloves. As if he was expecting for a rebound.
Bounce!! Bounce!!
The ball began to bounce away from the goalpost. And after few bounces, it rolled over at the left corner of the penalty box of the Ookami elementary school.
Because of his early run, Shoyo reached the ball before anybody else could reach. The defenders of Ookami elementary school were still quite a distance away from Shoyo and Endo was still lying on the ground.
With Endo lying on the floor, the post was quite open. However the angle for shooting was also tight as well.
Despite the unfavourable angle for making a shot, Shoyo still decided to go for a shot. He kicked the ball hard towards the goalpost.
With Endo unprepared, there was simply no stopping to Shoyo's shot.
As the ball was released from his legs, it flew directly towards the goalpost. The crowds stood up in anticipation.
"Gooooooooo...Goooo....."
"Noooooo...."
Everybody thought that it would end up as goal. But as if by stroke of luck, the ball hit the upper right crossbar of the goalposts and bounced back.
{Unlucky Shoyo, he hit the crossbar. That was an impressive play from Shoyo. He's showing everybody why they need to be wary of him. You lose a sight of him even for a moment and he'll use that opportunity to score a goal against you.}
Luckily the ball bounced towards one of the defenders of Ookami elementary school. And this time the defenders of Ookami elementary school made no mistake.
He quickly passed the ball towards Otsuka, the defensive midfielder of Ookami elementary school. Otsuka wasted no time and quickly released the ball forward towards Kuon, one of the midfielder of Ookami elementary school.
Since most of the players of Karasuno elementary school were infront of the goalpost of Ookami elementary school, Ookami elementary school had a chance to counterattack.
And the players of Ookami elementary school didn't waste any time as they began to charge the ball forward with lightning speed.
"Back!! Get back!!"
One of the player of Karasuno elementary school shouted in desperation.
The players of Karasuno elementary school didn't waste any time and began to chase after the ball as well.
As they began to fall back, the players of Ookami elementary school found themselves in a 4vs7 situation.
Against the four defenders of Karasuno elementary school, there were seven attackers of Ookami elementary school rushing towards the goal. And even though the players of Karasuno elementary school were falling back, it would have still taken them some time to position themselves.
Kuon then released the ball towards Hiro who had fallen back a little. As soon as the ball was released towards Hiro, two of the defenders of Karasuno elementary school surrounded him. While the two more defenders maintained a certain distance away from him.
"Oh so you've studied my plays! Two defenders for the face off and two defenders to cover the empty spaces. Not bad!"
Hiro mumbled as he stood before two defenders of Karasuno elementary school.
The defenders of Karasuno elementary school were unusually wary of Hiro.
"But you're forgetting something. I'm not the only one in our team who can score a goal."
Hiro easily dribbled past those two defenders and cheekily lofted the ball towards Kuro. The keeper of Karasuno elementary school came forward to block his course.
However instead of shooting the ball, Kuro passed the ball towards Sato who was not marked by any players of Karasuno elementary school.
Sato gently tapped the ball inside the net and scored a goal in an open post.
"Gooooaaaaallllllll!!!!!"
{What a beautiful team goal from Ookami elementary school. From defenders to attackers everybody was involved in that beautiful goal.}
At 18th minute of the game, Karasuno elementary school conceded the first goal of the game as Ookami elementary school opened up the scoresheet.
Even after that goal, the players of Karasuno elementary school didn't stop to press hard. As soon as they would lose position's, they'd quickly press for the ball. They were playing a gegen pressing style game.
Even though that particular playstyle would take some more years to become known to the public, the players of Karasuno elementary school were playing in that playstyle unknowingly.
Beep!!
The first half ended with a single goal with Ookami elementary school taking the lead. After that first goal Karasuno elementary school made countless attempts to draw the game.
But their effort didn't amount to anything. After that mistake in the 17th minute of the game, the players of Ookami elementary school had learnt their lessons.
And thus, everytime the ball landed on Shoyo's feet, they didn't give him any opportunity to move the ball forward. They began to man mark him for the entirety of the first half.
Second half wasn't any different as well, they began to mark Shoyo right from the starting of the second half. Getting marked all the time, Shoyo started to show signs of frustration and anger.
However at 47th minute of the match, he shook off his mark and broke free. Just as he was charging the ball forward, Yamazaki Kento the centre back of Karasuno elementary school stood infront of him blocking his course.
"What will you do now mister I'm the star of Karasuno elementary school? Can't take the ball forward?"
Kento began to provoke Shoyo and get on his mind.
Kento who was already 11 years old didn't hold back against Shoyo. Aside from his sturdy built, he didn't have anything flashy. Even though he used to play as a forward previously, coach Miura converted him to a defender.
And even though he was still learning to become a defender, he was sloppy in defence.
However the coach of Ookami elementary school still put him in the starting team because of his unique trait.
His unique trait was to get inside the head of the opponent. Thus because of that unique trait of his, he was more suited to become a defender.
At first Shoyo tried to ignore his taunts. But eventually he gave out to his inner desire and lashed out at Kento because of earlier frustration from being marked all the time.
{Oh what's this, Shoyo has gone out of control. He punched the defender of Ookami elementary school in the face.}
Unable to control his anger, he jabbed Kento in his face in the middle of the match. Having been hit on his chin, Kento fainted immediately.
Even with his sturdy body, he couldn't take on a blow that came out of nowhere.
Beep!!
The referee blew his whistle and stopped the play.
The players from both sides began to flock over the place where Kento fainted. And after that assault, the tension began to rise between both of the teams.
The players from both side began to push the players of opposite team. And just when a fight was about to break, security personnel who were the staff of the stadium were forced to intervene. With the help of the guards, a fight was prevented between the teams.
Coach Miura rushed towards the pitch to check on Kento's condition. He began to check on his pulse. And as he began to check on his pulse, he found it still pulsating.
Luckily he only fainted and there was no serious damage done to him.
After the commotion, the referee warned every player involved in the strife and ejected Shoyo from the game by giving him red card.
Kento was deemed unfit to participate in the match any further and was substituted for Akashi.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations for the host for completing the quest.]
[A golden ticket has been granted as a reward for the completion of the quest.]
A notification from the system appeared as Akashi made his debut.
Beep!!
The game continued with a freekick for Ookami elementary school.
Even though the commotion was settled down, the tension between the two teams were quite vivid even from the stands.
For the next 13 minutes, Karasuno elementary school played a very rough game. But without their star player, they were simply no match to Ookami elementary school.
They conceded two more goals in that remaining 13 minute and went on to lose the game with a score of three to nothing.
And finally the match between Ookami elementary school and Karasuno elementary school ended with a score of 3-0 with Hiro scoring two goals in a matter of 5 minutes.
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