Chapter 334 Opportunity at last
And that's what Hiro did as well.
After receiving the ball in his own half, he supplied one after another passes to his teammates who were charging forward. By doing this he gave the opposing players absolutely no chances to stick to him.
But even while carrying out such tactic, at first Hiro would intentionally keep hold of the ball and only when the opposing player assigned to mark him would approach close enough to him, he would pass the ball to his teammates.
It was like, he was luring monkeys towards him by providing them the temptation of banana.
Not only such actions of Hiro greatly annoyed the opposing players, it also drained the energy of the opposing players. Hiro was attacking his opponents both physically and mentally.
Afterall who would like to make a fool out of themselves and that too on multiple occasions?
Signs of exhaustion and annoyance was getting quite evident on the field with players of Aomori charging more vigorously whenever Hiro had position of the ball.
"Tch!"
Failing to snatch the ball away from Hiro, one of the opposing player bitterly clicked his tongue.
Hiro however upon noticing his distressful state mused inwardly as he rushed forward to attack. Based on his evaluation of the emotional state of the opposing players, Hiro knew that they were about to hit their limits.
And whenever someone goes out of control, they're bound to make mistakes. And currently Hiro was waiting for that opportunity.
No sooner had he guessed that the opposing players were about to hit their limit, an opportunity arouse in the field in the form of a set-piece.
One of their midfielder fouled Renji who was moving up the field after receiving a pass from Hiro. Immediately upon noticing the figure of Renji rolling on the floor after getting tackled by one of the midfielder of Aomori High School, referee while sounding his whistle rushed towards the scene.
Reaching towards his pocket, he then brought out a yellow card and shoved it towards the player who had fouled Renji.
Immediately many opposing player started to refute as they expressed their dissatisfaction about referee's decision. Surrounding the referee they started to complain and appeal.
But referee upon hearing their complaints, only became even more irritated. Trying to get out of their encirclement he remained adamant about his decision and shunned their plea completely.
"It seems like that players of Aomori are not happy about referee's decision. What do you think of this situation Sakamoto?"
"Well judging by the referee's attitude, he may book even more players if this situation continues, given that he looks adamant about his decision"
Some of the home fans of Aomori despite their dissatisfaction upon witnessing the commotion taking place on the field started turning anxious. A fear of seeing more of their players getting booked or even worst getting sent off started gnawing them.
While most of the fans of Aomori hauled indignant curses towards the referee as they shot gaze full of disdain towards the referee.
"How is that yellow card ref?"
"That shouldn't even be a foul"
"All he did was stop an impending threat"
"Are you blind ref? Or did you get bought?"
Most of the annoyed home fans presented their own verdict as they tried to justify the action of their player. While the away fans enjoyed the scene taking place on the field.
Not only did they thoroughly enjoyed the scene, they also chided with the referee and insisted him to book more of the opposing players for their act of misconduct.
"What's with their rude attitude towards the referee after committing a foul? They should get sent off for such rude behavior against the referee"
"Exactly first they bring our player down and now they're even complaining"
With every passing second, the situation at the field was getting even more heated and chaotic. Both the referee and the opposing players were refusing to yield to each other.
If the opposing players continued to press on the referee like that, sure enough he'd be forced to bring his cards out.
Given their already grievous situation, it was quite reasonable for the opposing team to act that way. Afterall they were already losing by two goals and a set piece at that spot could very well increase the gap further which they absolutely wanted to avoid.
But pushing the referee to his limit was equally lethal. Thus after some while as some of their players sensed that the referee wouldn't change his decision no matter what, they started withdrawing.
Fortunately enough they acted on time and prevented the referee from bringing out more of his cards.
In football whether you like it or not, referee's decisions are absolute and no one can question it. And players of Aomori although were aware of this, because of their situation they had momentarily forgotten about this universal rule.
Finally after some while, as players of the opposing team willingly backed down, situation returned to normal on the field. If only they would have done this from the beginning, they'd not have irritated the referee and left negative impressions on him.
And falling in favor with referee would only make the situation even worst.
Now because of their attitude towards him, referee was paying even more attention towards the opposing players and was being even more strict.
"Please go back and let me do my job"
The referee urged the players of Aomori to retract their steps while he sprayed a vanishing spray to mark the spot for the freekick.
Just as the referee finished marking the spot, Hiro walked towards the ball. For sure the player who was going to take this set-piece from Kawasaki's side was Hiro.
And based on the expression the opposing players were making, it seemed like they were already expecting this to happen.
Currently however as they stood in front of Hiro acting as wall, one could vividly see the fear and anxiousness lingering in their eyes. Sure enough, they were wary of Hiro.
Having one of the best freekick conversion rate in entire league, they knew what this player was capable of, so why wouldn't they be wary of him?
The reason why they made a fuss out of this freekick, despite it being quite far away from the post was because of this guy as well.
And right now as they stood face to face against this monster of a player, many of them held their breathe as they steeled themselves to somehow land a touch on the ball.
They also prepared one of their player to lay down on the floor to prepare against surprise ground shots.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m