Chapter 328 Skillful maneuver
Akihiro also famously known as Monk on steroids by many players in the league, given his bald headed appearance and bulky build upon intercepting a pass in the middle third sent the ball flying up the field.
And Hiro, showcasing his excellent off the ball movement, got past his only mark with ease.
Upon noticing the figure of Hiro that had easily shook his mark and currently on his way towards their post, many of the opposing players felt their heart palpitating.
Wasn't he still injured? So how could he run like that?
Several questions rose within the hearts of the players who previously had underestimated Hiro. For their one simple mistake, they were now going to pay a heavy price.
Making use of his skill lightning steps, Hiro cut through the defense of the opposing team and immediately closed the distance between him and the ball.
However he wasn't the only one who was chasing after the ball currently. Desperate to produce results, Yuya who was on his wits end was also blindly rushing towards the ball.
If it continued, they were bound to overlap. And if that happened, their momentum might get disrupted and the opposing team might catch up to them. However that wasn't the only concern of Hiro.
Before speeding, Hiro had been keeping tabs of the position of every player on the field. And due to that Hiro knew that Yuya was in an offside position.
So now if he were to touch the ball that would disrupt the whole build up.
Taking everything into consideration, despite knowing about the possibility that he might overlap with Yuya and the build up might get disrupted, instead of slowing down, Hiro then tried to increase his pace so that he could reach the ball ahead of Yuya.
"What is that moron doing?"
"Why is he rushing towards the ball as well?"
"You idiot, run towards the opposing post to receive a pass..."
"Who the fuck even let him play?"
The reaction from the crowd upon seeing the selfish and dumb reaction of Yuya was quite negative. And almost every single fan of Kawasaki was complaining about his action.
Getting to the ball before Yuya, Hiro kicked the ball as he sent the ball rolling ahead of him. At the same time as he kicked the ball ahead of him, he started chasing after the ball.
Despite losing to Hiro, Yuya still continued his pursuit of the ball. But he wasn't as fast as Hiro. The only reason why he was competing with Hiro earlier was because he was way ahead of Hiro in the first place.
If those two were to start from the same starting line, he wouldn't even come close to Hiro even without the use of skill lightning steps.
But now when he was using his skill lightning steps, he wasn't even in the same picture as Hiro. He could only try to close up the distance between him and Hiro.
Upon witnessing the figure of Hiro who was rushing towards him totally unobstructed, opposing keeper could tell that he would have to face against him one on one.
Just thinking about that possibility caused his heart to sink and his eyes to become frantic. But he knew that he was totally helpless in this situation.
So, the only person whom he could rely on right now was he, himself.
Letting out a mouth full of turbid air, he braced his heart as he analyzed the movement of Hiro. And the moment, he calmed down himself, the figure of Hiro became even more clear. He could see those tiny details which he couldn't see before.
For some while, he waited for Hiro to come close while also moving forward only up to the point where he could save Hiro's longshots while at the same time prepare himself for a close encounter.
Thus, despite having enough time on his hands to leave his box, he didn't leave his box and instead stayed put inside his box.
After waiting enough, he had no choice but to rush forward now since Hiro had already come close to the box. While putting his guards on to block any longshots, he carefully approached Hiro.
However despite his carefulness, he had misjudged one thing and made a huge blunder in his judgement. Letting Hiro to close in would probably be his biggest mistake right now.
With his newly acquired talent, Knight in the area from the recent international tournament, Hiro's threat level would increase even more inside the penalty box.
One could even say that him being inside the box was even more dangerous than his powerful long shots using his skill fireball shot.
Will he shoot? When will he shoot?
With such thoughts running amuck in his mind, he approached Hiro with his guard raised.
While his eyes were constantly on the lookout for any subtle changes in Hiro and converged at Hiro, Hiro wasn't even looking at him.
Finally as those two closed in their distance enough, the opposing keeper became impatient and threw his body towards Hiro.
Sensing the incoming keeper, Hiro while maintaining a poker face lightly tapped at the bottom of the ball and chipped the ball above the keeper. At same time, he also lifted himself from the ground and jumped over the keeper lying on the ground.
The crowd erupted in a collective gasp. And in an instant their cheers transformed into a deafening roar as they witnessed Hiro's audacity and skill.
It was a masterpiece in motion— an effortless display of technique and finesse.
With the keeper lying behind, Hiro found himself in front of an open post. Now all he had to do was to tap the ball in.
But despite being right in front of an open post, Hiro didn't shoot the ball towards the post. Instead he shot the ball sideway where Yuya was making his run.
Yuya was dumbfounded by Hiro's decision. Instead of shooting the ball towards the post, he had decided to make a pass.
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