Chapter 438: More Substitutions!
For a moment, silence followed as there was confusion on the pitch. After all, it had only been 30 minutes, and replacing a goalkeeper would destroy the team’s defensive foundation. Hiroki Ito also frowned, knowing that this would weaken the team a lot. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do right now.
"Thank you for your hard work, Higo. You have done enough, so leave the rest to us." The man patted Higo’s shoulder firmly.
Honestly, Higo still didn’t have enough playing time here. He clicked his tongue in annoyance, wanting to question the coach’s decision. However, the boy knew that it was not Hakodate, and maintaining manners was an important task here.
In the end, he just let out a deep sigh, handling the ball to Hiroki Ito before saying, "Please, take care of my friend here. He might be slow, but he is teachable."
Makino had his face so dark that he even thought about strangling Higo to death right on the spot. However, in the end, the boy could only let out a deep, tired sigh, knowing that indeed, he needed someone to take care of him right now.
Hiroki Ito and Miki Yamane just stared at each other, amused, before the former one nodded quickly. "Don’t worry, the fact that he is here shows that he has potential. Now, it all depends on whether he can get out of this shit quickly enough or not."
Higo nodded in understanding before turning to Makino with a mocking smile. "Don’t embarrass yourself too much, Teme. You might be out of the squad later."
A thick vein popped on Makino’s head instantly. "Well, what are you waiting for here? Everyone has been waiting to restart the game!" He shooed Higo immediately.
Higo just shrugged, walking out of the pitch together with Naoya, who was also getting replaced at the same time. There, he was greeted by Kumiko, who was smiling fondly at him. "Good job. You have made a big impression in this short time."
Higo also smiled a little, accepting the bottle of water the girl offered. Before he could say anything, though, Naoya suddenly chimed in with no shame. "What about me, Shishida-san? Did I impress you as well?" He leaned his head close to Kumiko, giving her his most charming smile possible.
Higo had the corner of his lips twitching before he pushed the boy’s face away from Kumiko. "Okay, enough playing around. Just sit your ass around and do something else, don’t bother us!" He shooed the boy away quickly.
Naoya just clicked his tongue in annoyance, but he also did exactly what Higo asked. In the end, it was only Higo and Kumiko as they were watching the game intently.
The same still happened, with Makino being targeted closely by Taisei Miyashiro. However, things started to get better for Hakodate Nishi’s former captain, as his move started to get more on point. Remembering what Hiroki Ito said before he was replaced, Higo couldn’t help but ask Kumiko about it.
"Well, he is not wrong. In our system, Makino-kun and Jun-kun will always have Ishinori-kun as their backup, sweeping all the balls escaping through their defense. This allows them to play aggressively, chasing the ball without worrying about any tricks. Now, though, with two center backs, Ito-senpai will not have any time cleaning his mess, so he has to be responsible for his own area."
Higo nodded lightly, thinking that he understood a little bit about it. Then, his eyes caught the movement in the penalty box, and this time, somehow, Makino managed to recover from his disadvantageous position to push the ball away from Miyashiro’s foot.
"YES!" Makino roared, clenching his fist excitedly. "COME ON!"
As Makino high-fived with Hiroki Ito and Yukinari Sugawara, Higo knew that he didn’t have to worry about his friend anymore.
After waiting for a while, though, the first goal finally happened.
Taking advantage of team A’s narrow defensive shape, Mamoru penetrated through the right side, using his superb dribbling and speed to get closer to the baseline. Once he managed to attract at least three players’ attention, the boy sent a sharp cut back to the spot slightly outside of the box, and there, Mitsuki Saito, another midfielder, came to take the shot for himself.
BAM!
The ball went to the top bins, and even with Hiroki Ito and Makino jumping together to block it, the effort was still not enough to stop the shot. Wakahara could only stare helplessly as he watched the ball pierce the nets, giving Team B the first lead.
"Oh! Finally!"
"Come on! This is just the beginning!"
"Good job, Saito-san! That shot is so precise!"
While the members of Team B were celebrating, Kageyama-sensei also took action immediately. He substituted some of the main players from Team B, like Koki Morita and Mamoru, putting fresher players who still hadn’t gotten a chance to play.
The man kept doing that over and over again, and hell, Higo even had a chance to replace Zion Suzuki as Team B’s goalkeeper! Honestly, Higo himself was so puzzled, not understanding what the coach wanted to do here.
With the team getting broken down every five minutes, it was quite hard to coordinate with each other properly, and as a result, more goals also happened in the game.
Higo himself also conceded one, coming from a through ball that got through the defenders in front of him. Fighting in a one-on-one situation, even if Higo had managed to close down all the spaces in front of him, Taisei Miyashiro showed his quality, not even getting flustered when he netted the ball easily against him.
The feeling of conceding a goal stung, but at least Higo could be proud of himself for being the best goalkeeper in this regard. Zion Suzuki conceded two goals after that, and Wakahara was the worst, getting the ball netted against his goal four times in a row.
In the end, though, after more than 90 minutes of playing...
FWEEE!
The whistle finally echoed once again, and this time, Kageyama-sensei stepped onto the field immediately. "Okay, let’s end the game today! Cool down your body first before you get back to your own room. After dinner, we are going to the analysis class!"
Wiping the sweat on their face, all the players there nodded simultaneously. "Yes, Sir!"
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