Chapter 97 Friendly Match IV
Hearing the whistle of the referee, Sho who was standing close to the ball passed the ball back towards Hiro to start the match.
"You're lucky that you're not a defender." Mumbling such under his breath, Chris began to press towards Hiro to snatch the ball away from him.
Despite noticing Chris charging towards him, Hiro wasn't even a bit intimidated by his size. On the contrary, he calmly dribbled the ball towards him as if he was blatantly challenging him to a duel.
Since Chris had already considered Hiro an arrogant player because of Hiro's earlier behaviour towards him, Hiro's actions agitated him even further. And thus he took Hiro's actions as a provocation.
Provoked by Hiro's actions, he sprinted even faster with all his strength.
"Good" Manager Nozomi mumbled under his breath while looking at the agitated face of Chris.
Hiro still continued to dribble the ball calmly towards him. And as he got closer to him, he simply passed the ball to Hirato who was positioned right beside him.
Noticing the pass, Chris quickly changed his target to Hirato. He then without pausing, charged towards Hirato.
Hirato too didn't keep the ball long with him and passed the ball to Hidetaka who was right behind him.
Still Chris's relentless pursuit didn't come to an end and he continued his pressing like a madman.
With swift and precise passes, for a while Hiro's teammates kept on passing the ball between themselves. And Chris and his teammates continued to chase after the ball.
As if they were playing the game of cat and mouse, the passing and the chasing continued.
"This team looks completely different than before. And what's with that new number 10, he's literally everywhere." Coach Tanaka commented with an anxious look on his face while keeping his eyes fixated at Hiro.
Just like an orchestrator guiding the musicians with his baton, Hiro was connecting and guiding his teammates to create a beautiful symphony with the ball.
After a while of chasing, Chris who had been chasing after the ball relentlessly began to show signs of exhaustion. And thus, just within 25 minutes of the game by pressing relentlessly, he completely exhausted himself.
"The mad dog has been subjugated. Now it's time for us to score some goals." Manager Nozomi who was standing at the sidelines smirked and mumbled to himself with a satiated look on his face, while looking at the sight of Chris completely worn down.
Since Chris was the star player of Chiba Middle School who had scored three goals against them previously and was extremely lethal in offense with his reach and pace, manager Nozomi while taking Chris's personality into consideration had advised his players to keep on passing the ball between themselves until they tire out Chris.
Following the coach's strategy Hiro and his teammates executed the strategy perfectly without any fail. Thus, for that entire 25 minutes all they did was pass the ball between themselves.
Occasionally the opposing team did manage to steal the ball. However they couldn't retain the position of the ball for long.
At the 26th minute of the game, noticing Yuya making his run from the left flank, Hiro lofted the ball towards Yuya from the middle third of the pitch.
The opposing players who were focused on the ball began to chase after the ball.
And as soon as Hiro released the ball towards Yuya, Hiro began to make his run towards the opposing goalpost.
Making use of his explosive pace, he sprinted as fast as he could.
Noticing Hiro's run, coach Tanaka from the sidelines yelled at the top of his lungs, "Watch out for the number 10."
However because of the intensity of the play, no player from his team heard his screams. And thus they continued to press after the ball and safeguard their defensive third which was the most logical thing for them to do at that moment.
The opposing right back who was marking Yuya was trying to snatch the ball away from Yuya by pressing him continuously.
Even though Yuya was somehow holding the ball despite those continuous pressing from the opposing right back, he was starting to feel uncomfortable.
Since the opposing centre back were right behind the right back, Yuya was having trouble to cut inside. And thus he was forced to move along the flank.
While almost every opposing player and offensive players of Kawasaki Frontale U-15 team were gathered inside the penalty box, anticipating a cross from Yuya, Hiro was still outside the box, totally unmarked.
Noticing Hiro making his run towards the penalty box, totally unmarked, Yuya lofted the ball towards Hiro.
However because of the pressing from the opposing defender, Yuya couldn't hit the ball with perfect accuracy. He hit the ball a little too hard.
While trying to reach the ball, Hiro jumped as high as he could. However the ball still flew above his head and avoided him.
And just when the opposing team was heaving a sigh of relief another player who had noticed Hiro's run and was also making his own run, although not as fast Hiro, made his appearance behind him and trapped the ball in his chest.
Lanky body, dark hair, he was the guy with number 6 on his back. And that guy was non other than Hidetaka.
Noticing Hidetaka, the two opposing defensive midfielder came rushing towards him to stop him from making his shot.
And as Hidetaka was stretching his legs to shoot the ball, the opposing defensive midfielder threw their body towards him. However Hidetaka tapped the ball lightly and faked his shot. The opposing defensive midfielders couldn't stop their tackles and flew past him.
Hidetaka then passed the ball towards Hiro who was making his run inside the box.
And as the ball came rolling towards him, Hiro shot the ball without any mistake. The ball flew straight towards the goalpost.
The opposing goalkeeper who's vision was obstructed by the players infront couldn't react to the ball and thus ended up conceding the goal from the first shot of the game.
"'Gooooaaaaallllllll"'
The players and managers of Kawasaki Frontale U-15 team yelled at the same time. Manager Nozomi's happiness knew no bound as he jumped and threw an air punch.
That goal was simply a piece of art.
Hiro after scoring the goal ran towards Yuya. And so did other players. All of them started to run towards Hiro to celebrate the goal.
Yuya who had nearly messed up a perfect build up was the one with the widest smile. He was simply overjoyed by Hiro's goal.
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