After a 10 minute break, the players started to make their way towards the pitch, out of the tunnel. Both of the teams swapped their sides as the players from both teams began to allign themselves in their respective positions.
Still in doubt about the person he witnessed earlier, he casted a glance at the stands. As he turned his gaze towards the seat where Luna was seated, he finally got the glimpse of Eric.
‘That person! Where have I seen that person?’ He began to wonder as he witnessed the sight of Eric in the stand. ‘I’m sure I’ve seen him somewhere before in my past life. Somehow he feels really familiar, but I can’t recall exactly where I’ve seen him.’
Unable to identify the person infront, he began to rummage through his past memories to find out the identity of the familiar person in the stand. ‘Ah that’s right! He’s the soon to be famous agent of European origin Eric Parker.’
He finally recalled the identity of Eric after thinking for a while. Despite being an agent, Eric was well known by the football fans because of his insane popularity in his past life
‘His appearance is almost similar to that of his 52 year old self. So he only got few wrinkles on his face as he aged? Damn talk about longevity.’ He mumbled in awe upon recalling the identity of Eric.
[Ding!!]
[New quest unlocked]
[Quest objective: Impress the agent and get a offer from Eric.]
[Rewards: Muscle enhancing elixir]
[Penalty: 8 random stat points deduction.]
[‘Accept’ or ‘Reject’]
[Note: If you reject the mission the system will get deactivated for four years.]
‘A quest at this point of match? And What is this muscle enhancing elixir? The system had been providing me with attribute points, skill or roulette tickets previously. But why this sudden change?’
‘And why is the penalty so harsh? Like if it was that easy to impress a European agent then the world would have been flooding with professional players by now.’
‘Aish!! At this point I don’t even care. I guess If I fail, I’ll just have to wave goodbye to my 8 stat points. I just hope that it won’t deduct all 8 points from my physical stat. Afterall it’s already lower as compared to other stat.’
He began to cuss the system for it’s unfairness. Afterall just like he mentioned, it was not an easy feat to impress foreign agents.
Moreover he knew the situation of asian players in European markets. Not many asian players that played in asia made it to Europe.
Even though there were few remarkable talents showcasing their talent in the top european leagues such as Heung Min Son, Takumi Minamino and others, not many asians performed well in european leagues even after getting signed by european clubs.
Heung Min Son is a South Korean football player who plays in one of the premier league teams ‘Tottenham Hotspur’. He’s also the only Asian to ever win premier league golden boot. Known for his superb pace and ridiculous goalscoring ability, he’s a world class player of Asian origin.
The number of asian players who performed well in european leagues were very limited.
“Hiro senpai!! Hiro senpai!!”
While he was thinking of the quest given by the system, he was blankly staring at the stands, forgetting that he was still in the middle of an ongoing match.
“Uh- huh! Yeah!!” He stammered coming back to his senses.
“Are you okay?” Ichijo Ryu inquired with a worried face.
“Ah- Yeah I’m fine.”
“You’ve been spacing out for a while by now. So I was worried if something had happened to you.” Ichijo Ryu expressed his concerns of him.
“Thank you for worrying about me. But I’m really fine.” Hiro intoned. ‘Accept’
**** ****
Beep!!
Just then the referee blew his whistle.
With no player changes from both sides, the game commenced with the whistle of the referee.
Since he was given a mission by the system, he could no longer play like his usual self. He needed to perform beyond his abilities and give his hundred percent, if he wanted to leave an impact on Eric.
With both sides struggling to score a goal, neither of the teams were able to open the scoresheet.
Even though Hiro’s team was dominating the position, they were still struggling to guide the ball inside the net.
At 47th minute of the game, the game took a new turn. Midori Aoi, the attacking midfielder of Tokyo elementary school was holding on to the ball. Slowly dribbling the ball, he was scanning the field in search of his teammates.
Kaminari Shinji who somehow managed to shook his mark began to run forward.
Noticing the run of Kaminari Shinji, Midori Aoi quickly released the ball towards him. He sent a powerful through ball towards the left flank where Kaminari Shinji was making his run.
He hit the ball a little too hard and it seemed that the ball would go out of bounds.
Yuuto Oume, the 2nd year right full back of Ookami elementary school immediately left his position and ran towards the ball to clear the ball.
As the ball was kicked a little too hard, he slowed down his pace. He guessed that the ball would go out of bounds and thus intentionally slowed down to conserve his stamina.
However unlike him, Kaminari Shinji was very persistent. He didn’t stop chasing the ball even while knowing it would go out of bounds. He was simply unwilling to stop before trying his best.
“I hit it a little too hard. Shit!! It’ll go out of bounds.” Midori Aoi mumbled as he placed both of his hands on his temple in disappointment and closed his eyes.
“‘Woohoo”‘
Suddenly the cheers of crowds erupted like a volcanic eruption.
Midori Aoi lifted his head up, upon hearing the sudden loud cheers of the fans.
The ball was rolling back towards Kaminari Shinji instead of going out of bounds. It had landed inside the pitch, a certain distance away from the boundary lines.
But instead of bouncing forward, the ball was bouncing backwards. Subconsciously he had applied a backspin on the ball.
[What’s this?? The ball which seemed like it was going out of bounds has suddenly started rolling back. What an amazing ball from Midori Aoi. But looking at his face, even he looks shocked. Seems like he had subconsciously applied a backspin on the ball. Hahahaha]
As the ball began to roll backwards, Yuuto Oume quickly increased his pace. However he couldn’t still manage to reach the ball before Kaminari Shinji.
Kaminari Shinji took hold of the ball and began to dribble the ball inside the penalty box. Even though Yuuto Oume couldn’t reach the ball, he tried to correct his mistake by stopping Kaminari Shinji from making the shot.
With Oume infront of him and Nanahosi Ren chasing after him, Kaminari Shinji began to look for his options. Mizuhara Aoi the centre forward of Tokyo elementary school was waiting for Shinji’s pass inside the penalty box.
However he was being heavily marked by Akashi. And no matter how much he struggled, he wasn’t able to break free from the clutch of Akashi.
He then looked behind him but all he could see was players of Ookami elementary school. With Nanahosi Ren approaching closer towards him. He thought of cutting in.
Oume cautiously approached him. Keeping his gaze fixated at the ball, he maintained his composure. Shinji began to dribble the ball towards him, slowly. ．
‘Where will he go? Will it be left or right?’ Yuuto Oume began to wonder while constantly shifting his gaze between Shinji and the ball.
Shinji tapped the ball with the inside of his right foot. Along with the ball, he moved his body to the right as well.
‘It’s right!’
Since Shinji was already inside the penalty box, he had to be extra careful. Slight physical touch could have lead to a penalty after all. And it was already 48th minute of the match. With only 12 minutes and additional time remaining, he couldn’t afford to give away a penalty at that moment.
Oume moved his body to right and stretched his legs towards the direction of the ball. ‘Got it.’ He thought as he was about to hit the ball.
Just then Shinji kicked the ball with the inside of his left leg and shifted the direction of the ball towards the right.
Skillfully passing Oume, he was open to shoot. However he wasn’t able to control his body. He was getting off balance and was about to fall. But just before he fell down, he managed to land a kick on the ball.
Akashi came forward stretching his legs to block his shooting course. Luckily the ball touched the tip of his boot and bounced upwards.
As the ball rebounded off his boot, Ken rushed forward toward the ball, but so did Mizuhara Aoi. Ken leaped towards the ball which was descending from the sky. Mizuhara Aoi jumped towards the ball as well.
Smack!!
Since Ken was a goalkeeper who could use his hands to reach the ball, he was the first one to reach the ball. He punched the ball away.
And even though he punched the ball away, Mizuhara Aoi crashed against him when competing for the ball.
The punched away ball headed towards Midori Aoi. In midair he shoot the ball and connected a brilliant volley. The ball flew like a missile and landed inside the net of Ookami elementary school.
Beep!!!