98 Friendly Match V
After conceding a goal at 27th minute of the game, the game continued with the kickoff of Chiba Middle School.
The titan of Chiba Middle School who was covered in sweat was panting heavily while standing infront of the ball for the kickoff. His brows knotted and his body slightly limped, he was fuming while standing infront of the ball, waiting for the referee’s whistle.
Beep!!
And as Chris heard referee’s whistle, he then passed the ball back to his teammate to start the match. And the match continued normally after that 27th minute goal from Hiro.
Although Chris looked extremely tired, he hadn’t admitted defeat yet. And his pride of being Chiba Middle School’s star player didn’t allow him to slow down even after emptying his gas tank.
Thus, he continued to run like he had another extra pair of lung within him.
Sho, Yuya and Seiya all pressed forward for the ball. Hiro and Hirato covered as much of the midfield as they could.
While the defensive midfielder and defenders of the Chiba Middle School tried to attract the opposing players by passing the ball in their defensive half, their forwards moved upfield without looking back, leaving their midfield area completely vacant.
From their movements, it was clear that they had given up on controlling the ball at the midfield and they were opting for playing long balls instead.
Since they had a titan of centre forward, they could swiftly switch their gameplay from passing to long balls without any delay.
At 30th minute of the match, one of their defensive midfielder who had the hold of the ball kicked the ball towards Kuroda who was making his run from the right flank towards the opponents defensive third.
Kuroda sprinted as fast as he could to take the hold of the ball before it went out of bounds. However despite his speed, he couldn’t reach the ball before Shunta who also happened to be positioned at the right flank since he was a right back.
Upon reaching the ball before Kuroda, noticing the presence of Kuroda behind him, Shunta cleared the ball away and the ball went out of bounds.
And after the ball went out of bounds, a throw in was awarded to Chiba Middle School.
For the throw in, while their offensive players gathered inside the penalty box, one of their defensive midfielder named Yamato ran towards the touchline to take the throw in.
Gauging by the positioning of their offensive players, it was clear that they were going to take a long throw.
“Watch out for their players.” Shun shouted and guided his teammates to cover up the vacant spaces. “Haruto!! Watch out for Chris. Don’t let him jump.”
Retracting few steps back while holding the ball above his head with both his hands, Yamato was preparing himself to perform a long throw.
Beep!!
And as the referee blew his whistle, Yamato tightened his muscles while sprinting towards the touchline.
Yamato then launched the ball inside the penalty box with as much force as he can.
The ball flew high above, towards the penalty box. And one could tell just by looking at the ball, that the ball was meant for Chris. Except Chris, Shun was the only other player who could reach that high ball, since he was a goalkeeper and he could use his hands.
Sensing a threat, Shun ran forward to punch the ball. At the same time Haruto as instructed by Shun delayed Chris’s jump by pressing his body against him.
‘Wtf’ Chris cussed inside his mind while struggling to jump.
Shun then punched the ball away. The ball flew outside the penalty box towards Hiro.
Without any delay, Hiro sent the ball towards Seiya and started to run.
“Fall back!!” Yelling such Yamato began to chase Seiya who was charging the ball forward.
After punching that ball away from his goalpost, his team had a chance to score another goal from that counterattack.
Despite his arrogant nature, Seiya was a really agile player. He was only second to Hiro and Shunta in the team.
Making use of his pace, Seiya after receiving the ball at the midfield began to dribble the ball towards the opposing goalpost.
To stop him from dribbling the ball forward, Niji the other defensive midfielder of Chiba Middle School who hadn’t moved up the field, charged towards him.
Noticing the opposing defensive midfielder, Seiya began to look for his teammates. Sho was being marked by opposing defenders and so was Yuya.
After noticing both the forwards marked, he took a peek behind him. Hiro was right behind him to support him.
‘Why does it have to be him?’ Seiya thought to himself after noticing Hiro behind him.
Noticing Seiya’s gaze, Hiro shouted, “Pass!!”
But just as Seiya locked eyes with Hiro, he quickly turned his head forward and ignored his calls.
Seiya then tried to dribble the ball all by himself instead of passing the ball to Hiro who was right behind him totally unmarked.
With some body feints, Seiya tried to shook off his mark. However while trying to snatch the ball Niji accidentally hit Seiya’s leg.
Upon getting hit at his leg, due to his momentum, Seiya went flying infront.
And as he crashed against the ground, he grabbed his legs and began to pant in pain, “Argh!! Argh!!”
Beep!!!
“Foul” The referee spoke while pointing at the place where Seiya was lying down holding his leg while making painful expression.
“How was that foul?”
“Yeah!! He is acting ref”
“Niji only touched him.”
Players of Chiba Middle School surrounded Ryu and began to complain and question his judgement.
“It’s a foul!! And if anybody isn’t satisfied with my decision then they’re free to leave.” Saying such, Ryu put his hand inside his pocket, probably to take out his cards.
Noticing Ryu putting his hands inside his pocket, their captain Satoru and Kuroda began to console their teammates.
They then apologized to the referee for their misconduct. “Sorry ref! Our players were being immature.”
Hearing the apology from their captain, Ryu let go of the card.