Chapter 69 Wrong opponent
While the defender who costed them to lose the position was juggling between his choices, the opposing left winger moved the ball forward without stopping.
The right back who was close to the left winger chased after him. The right back with his speed eventually managed to catch up to the winger.
Despite being much faster than the opposing left winger, he wasn't as skilled as the opposing winger.
Just as he tried to intercept the ball, the opposing winger performed a body feint and got past him, leaving him behind in dust.
The winger then began to cut in towards the goalpost. Finally after making his choice, the centre back from before who costed them to lose the position of the ball chased after the left winger, leaving behind his mark.
Upon seeing the incoming defender, the opposing winger passed the ball towards the centre forward who wasn't marked by any player.
After getting a pass inside the penalty box just infront of the goalpost, he tapped the ball inside the net without any difficulties.
His team's keeper couldn't even react to that play from the opposition.
At just 1 minute 50 seconds, his team conceded a simple goal.
"Just what kind of defending was that? Even Akashi is a better defender than him" Hiro mumbled to himself after witnessing the mistakes of the defender who costed them the goal.
"Sorry my bad." The defender from before apologized with a smile.
Even after making that mistake, he wasn't even a tad bit sorry about his mistake. Infact he was smiling after costing them the goal.
Neither the defender was sorry about his mistake nor were his teammates angry about that goal. They shrugged the goal as if the outcome of the game was already expected.
With that first goal from the opposing team, the score of the game was Team without training bib-1 and team with training bib-0.
His teammates lousy performance continued for almost entire first half of the game.
It didn't take them long enough to concede the second goal. They conceded the second goal at 13th minute of the game from the blunder of the keeper.
From the other half of the pitch, Takekazu played a long ball towards their half of the pitch after receiving the ball from their keeper.
Naturally it was his team's defender who caught the ball. But even so the opposing forward relentlessly continued to chase after the ball.
Sensing the opposing forward charging from behind, the defender who caught the ball passed the ball back to the keeper.
Even so the opposing forward didn't stop chasing after the ball. The keeper to whom the ball was passed got anxious upon witnessing the sight of the opposing forward charging towards him like a bull.
The keeper quickly cleared the ball away without watching the position of his teammates.
Unfortunately the random clear from the keeper ended up at the feet of Hirato. After getting the ball, Hirato dribbled the ball forward towards the post. Just as he reached closer towards the goalpost, he shot the ball from outside the box.
Since their keeper was out of position, the keeper couldn't react to the shot and the ball landed precisely at the top right corner of the post.
That's how they conceded the second goal just after a little more than 11 minutes since conceding the first goal.
At 27th minute they conceded another goal, making the score 3-0. With only three minutes remaining before the first half, his team was already losing the game with a score of 3-0.
Beep!!
With that third goal from the opposing team, the game continued with their kick-off. With the blow of the referee's whistle, the centre forward of his team passed the ball towards the right winger.
The right winger then began to dribble the ball forward in a straight line along the right side of the pitch.
"What!! Nobody's coming after me?" The right winger thought after failing to see the sight of the opposing players.
As if the opponent was letting him pass intentionally, they didn't charge at him for a while. But just as the winger was about to reach the final third of the pitch, out of nowhere he found himself surrounded.
Hiro who was trailing him was right behind him, unmarked. However instead of passing the ball towards him, the winger lofted the ball towards the centre forward who was being marked by two players from the opposing team.
Despite conceding 3 goals, his teammates still refused to pass him the ball.
"Tch-" Hiro clicked his tongue.
The ball which was launched towards the forward got headed away by Takekazu who was a monster in aerial duel. His reach was almost twice that of their teams centre forward who was only about 2 or 3 inches shorter than Takekazu.
Predicting the direction of cleared ball, he ran towards the direction where the ball was going to land.
But since the ball was going to land at the opposite side of the pitch, he wasn't able to reach the ball first, despite sprinting towards the ball in full speed.
"As usual his speed is damn amazing." Manager Nozomi chuckled while witnessing his amazing run from right side of the pitch to the left side of the pitch.
Hirato being close to the area where the ball was going to land was the first one to reach the ball.
Even so Hiro who had ran from right side of the pitch towards the left side of the pitch was the second to arrive at the spot where the ball landed.
"Now I'll show you the difference between you and me." Hirato mumbled while coming face to face with Hiro.
Hiro who was completely focused on the ball paid no attention towards his taunts and kept his gaze fixated at the ball.
While slowly dribbling the ball towards Hiro, he was gesturing Hiro to come forward. Hiro didn't run from the challenge and just as he wished, he charged towards him.
Just then as Hiro approached him, Hirato trapped the ball between his legs and lifted it above Hiro's head while performing a rainbow flick.
"Humiliate him more Hirato." Kota Yui mumbled in ecstasy while sitting at the bench in the sidelines.
"Mediocre" Hirato sniggered while lifting the ball.
However the smile on both of their faces lasted only for a second. Stretching his right leg backwards as if he was going to perform a scorpion kick, Hiro hit the ball with the back of his heel in mid air without looking back and loafted the ball infront of him.
As the ball was about to fall infront of him, he trapped the ball with his left foot. He then changed his direction towards the post.
The opposing defenders who were a bit far from him, sensing an attacking threat from him dashed forward to stop him.
However before they could even reach him, he released the ball from his feet by performing a powerful shot. The ball flew towards the top right corner of the post.
The opposing keeper stretched his arms to stop the ball. However the ball flew a little over an inch from his fingers and found it's way inside the net.
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