Chapter 329 One goal
With a dumbfounded look on his face, Yuya upon receiving the pass dazedly stared at Hiro before tapping the ball inside the post.
This wasn't simply a pass or an assist to him, it was more like a gift.
It was an act of kindness and an act of unselfishness.
Being absent for many games due to the qualifier, Hiro's goal tally wasn't much high as compared to his previous season. In fact he wasn't even the top scorer of the league.
Yet even after doing most of the work, he was letting him reap the rewards.
Why was he envious of such a player? Why was he rude to such a friend who despite being way out of his league was good to him?
Has all those success and attention he had received in the u15 team gone over his head? Or has he simply become arrogant?
As the ball sailed effortlessly in the back of the net, fans burst into thunderous roar as they erupted in jubilation. Emotions of joy and disappointment merged in the stand while the flags and banner of Kawasaki billowed freely with the wind.
Yet Yuya, despite scoring this goal, his face betrayed the emotions of jubilation which was lingering around the stadium.
It was his first goal in the league. A goal that he had longed so much for that he had even antagonized his friends. But now when he had finally achieved the thing he had desired the most in his recent days, not even a spec of happiness could be seen on his face.
Instead with his eyes dazedly staring at Hiro, he had rather guilty and dumbfounded look on his face.
Lifting the corner of his lips, Hiro displayed an amiable smile on his face while congratulating Yuya without speaking any words.
Sure he had gifted Yuya a goal but still he didn't want Yuya to feel that he did so out of pity or sympathy towards him. Thus despite assisting him, Hiro kept his mouth shut and instead only displayed an amiable smile to congratulate him.
At this moment, Yuya came to a realization that he had been blinded by his inferiority that he had been hating Hiro for absolutely no reason.
Sure Hiro was gifted but never had he ever deliberately made others feel that he looked down on them. In fact, he had always tried to help those close to him.
Just take the example of Shunta who after listening to his advice had become a regular in the u15 team.
But what did he do when he tried to help him?
He pushed him away and even became envious of the person who was just trying to help him.
While his teammates were rushing towards him, wearing jubilant smile on their faces, he was standing still at his place with a feeling of guilt gnawing on him.
He was so ashamed of himself that he couldn't even bring himself to apologize. All he could do was silently atone for the mistakes he had committed and grieve about his behavior.
"The more I see him play, the more I come to admire this guy. Just can you believe Sakazuki that such an unselfish player exist in this day, in this age?"
"Indeed Kojiro, it's really hard to believe that such an unselfish player exist even in this age when everybody are greedy for goals and recognition."
"If I'm not wrong then that goal scorer must be the recently promoted player who had been struggling to perform well"
"Now that you mention about it, he indeed is that recently promoted player who goes by the name Yuya"
"So Hiro did all this to encourage his teammate...."
For a while because of Hiro's selfless act, both the commentators kept on praising Hiro.
Even the fans who were currently in a jubilant mood didn't seem like they minded the idle talk of those commentators. And many of the fans were almost in the same situation as the commentators. They were extremely impressed by Hiro's selfless act.
In the sidelines, manager Makoto's time worn face was adorned with a satiated grin while the reserve players while jumping, yelling, hugging and high-fiving each other were celebrating the goal like crazy.
Meanwhile about some distance away from them, Aomori's substitution box looked rather gloomy. With dark shadows lingering on their faces, they were all unusually silent. But unsatisfaction and distress was quite evident on their faces.
Their coach however was like a variable to that unusually silent environment. Yelling at the top of his voice with rather furious tone, he was expressing his dissatisfaction.
"Didn't I tell you to mark him. So why the hell did you let him lose? Are you disobeying my orders?"
Going on and on about his strategy and how they had failed to execute his strategies, he kept on yelling at his players. While his players who were currently on the field seem to be avoiding his runts and his gaze.
With a rather sour face, they were trying their best to avoid looking at their manager who right now was hauling curses at them for their blunder.
Many of them knew that the anger of their manager was justifiable as it was their own mistake of underestimating Hiro which had led to this disastrous outcome.
If only they would have stuck with their managers plan and didn't try to become over-smart, this situation might have been avoided.
Now one may wonder why were they making huge issue out of one goal with so much time remaining. It was because of the sheer importance of this match that every single goal was of utmost importance.
One goal could very well deter the outcome of the game. One goal could increase the pressure on the players to a level beyond expectation.
This one goal could also end their hope for the title.
So would anyone still dare to ask, why would anyone make so much fuss about one goal?
After a short moment of celebration as everybody started returning to their original position, Yuya chased after Hiro.
"Thanks"
With great difficulty while trying to avoid looking Hiro in the eyes, Yuya thanked Hiro for that previous assist.
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