Aki High School Football ground
First team vs second team
TIme : 5:00
Score : 1-0
The second team players were all stunned by the early goal, but it also flared their competitive spirit, especially the main players, like Yuzo, Sugi and Manaka.
Coach Kumada was impressed by the press more than the goal itself, but without showing it in his face, he blew the whistle to restart the game.
The game restarted, but things did not change for the second team.
They were pinned in their own half and started doing random things like long balls over the top and that instead created more dangerous moments for the opposition to score.
Time went on like this till the 15th minute.
Captain Ryota just headed the long ball and the second ball was picked up by full-back Satou.
Satou cleverly dropped his shoulder, went past his marker and dribbled through the middle, inviting Watanabe to discard his man in Yano to pressure Satou.
This turned into a fatal mistake as Kojiro, seeing space behind, gestured to dribbling Satou to pass behind, as Yuzo was covering for Watanabe, leaving Kojiro a lot of free space.
Satou, seeing the pointing finger of Kojiro, passed a sharp through ball cutting through midfield. Kojiro, with an excellently timed run, controlled the ball, seeing the center back Sugi closing him down.
He gently flicked the ball in between Sugi's legs and went past him with ease. Sugi, in panic, tried to foul kojiro but kojiro evaded him and dribbled into the box.
Keeper Manaka, seeing Sugi getting nutmegged, charged out to reduce the angle and spread himself wide.
Kojiro calmly lobbed the ball over the keeper into the net. Scoring the second goal of the game.
Kojiro, in his delight, went to the corner flag after scoring and did a lighting symbol with his hands to celebrate as his team jumped him and slapped his head and shoulders.
While Kojiro and others were celebrating, Yuzo gathered his teammates and gave some instructions.
Coach Kumada was frowning, seeing a few mediocre performances from his main players. He still had not subbed anyone yet but quickly blew the whistle to restart the game.
The game went on in a similar manner, with the first team dictating the tempo and pinning the second team in their own half, but that all changed quickly.
In the 30th minute of the game, Yuzo suddenly dropped back from midfield right in between two center-backs, prompting Kojiro to hesitate to mark him all the way and leaving space in midfield.
The dropping back was the trigger. As soon as Yuzo made the move, three others made different runs together.
Sanada right back, leaving his marker, started to dash forward without looking.
Hiroto, the right-winger, also left his position and slotted into half of the midfield space on the right, dragging the full-back mifune with him and daigo made an inexplicable offside run, leaving Ryota and other center back yamabe puzzled.
Yuzo had just dropped back and lifted his head as he was receiving the pass from Sugi. Without hesitation, he kicked a long diagonal ball towards right back Sanada.
That run was perfectly timed, and the long ball was pinpoint and accurate. Sanada, without taking a touch, directly crossed the ball across to the box. Daigo's was no longer offside and Ryota and Yamabe, along with the keeper, were scrambling together to block the shot.
Daigo did something unexpected as all three players were converging to block his shot. He left the on-coming ball as the ball rolled towards the far post. Hiroto had made a perfect run during satou behind his back and calmly slotted the ball into an empty net.
This happened in seconds, a quick counter punch slicing through the whole of the first team.
Yuzo and the other were the ones celebrating this time, with Ryota putting his hand up in apology claiming his mistake.
Kojiro, meanwhile, was smiling, because deep down he knew it was his mistake as well. The hesitation to close down and series of events are nothing but a surprise attack.
Ryoto would not let Daigo free. Ryo, the winger not tracking full back sanada will not happen again, but he had the chance to stop it at source and hesitation led to that result.
Kojiro, lifting his hand, also apologized to his teammates. They did not have to change anything as they still had the upperhand, but that counterattack removed any kind of arrogance from all first team players.
Coach Kumada had a smile on his face not because of the score, but probably because of the second team and first team's response, but that smile was gone in an instant and before blowing the whistle to restart the game.
"Satou, Kojima, Watanabe, Takahiro, All out."
"Takahashi, Kiba in the first team."
"Matsuda, Kitahara In second team."
Both teams were completely baffled at these subs. Satou and Kojima were contributors to both of the first team's goals, but Watanabe and Takahiro were at fault for both the goals conceded.
Does that mean it's over for Watanabe and Senior Takahiro?
Everyone was puzzled but did not have time to think as the coach immediately blew the whistle to restart the game.
The game went back and forth in a similar way as before, with the second team pinned in their own half and creating their own problems, but occasionally they would mount a sharp counterattack.
Chances for both sides were blocked by either Yuzo or Captain Ryota, with Kojiro and Daigo almost scoring again.
Coach Kumada blew the whistle for half-time.
The score was 2-1 with the first team still leading.
Both sides were drinking an energy drink and water given by manager Hirai and the other girls.
Then proceed to discuss the plan for the second half.
The coach, satisfied with the game, made further changes during halftime.
"Yamabe and Yano out. Kenji and Akira in the first team."
"Sugi and Daigo out. Souta and Ichiro in the second team."
Everyone was baffled by the changes as they weakened the first team with the inclusion of two first years and strengthening of the second team with two second years.
Coach Kumada blew the whistle to begin the second half.
The second half began in a completely different manner with the second team pressing and pinning the first team in their own half with overload in midfield, with Ryo and Ichiro leaving their wing position and infiltrating the half spaces.
Kojiro had his hands full with marking Yuzo and could not help his two fellow midfielders in Kenji and Kato. They were getting completely swamped.
Time ticked.
15 minutes into the second half, the pressure paid off with Akira, a first-year defender who was subbed in making a mistake and passed the ball carelessly to Kato, being marked by two of Ichiro and Matsura.
Kato was tackled by Matsuda and the second ball was picked up by Ichiro. Akira, who had made that bad pass in an attempt to make amends, charged into midfield to get the ball back from Ichiro, leaving his line and captain Ryota alone in the back line.
Ichiro cleverly made a wall pass with Taiga and made a through pass behind Captain Ryota to Hiroto, timing his run with perfection. He slotted the ball into the back of the net with a clean finish to the far post. The goalkeeper had no chance to even dive and save.
The score was back to even.
Yuzo and others were celebrating while kojiro and others were wiping their sweat and back to kick off line to continue the game.
The game continued and turned into a midfield meat grinder with full backs from the first team inverting and joining the fray. Fouls and fifty-fifty duels frequently stopped the game.
Time ticked till the 70th minute.
The coach, seeing that time was right, made the final six subs when the ball was out for a throw.
"Ryo, Mifune, Kato out, Haruto, Ren, Saiki in the first team."
"Hiroto, Sanada, Hiro out, Uesugi, Hotaro, Sano in second team."
The game continued with Yuzo and Kojiro being the midfield linchpin of their respective teams as time ticked.
Yuzo had a physical advantage and Kojiro had a technical advantage, both creating dangerous situations and being the flash point of their teams' attack.
They were nullifying each other, but another flash point had just been subbed into the game. It took him ten minutes to settle into the game tempo.
85th minute of the game.
Kojiro had just got the ball in the middle from the captain Ryota and Yuzo marked him tightly.
Haruto, on the left wing, left his position to make himself available as a passing option to Kojiro, but that moment turned into something special.
Kojiro, seeing Haruto, passed the ball and quickly rotated and sprinted beyond Yuzo. Haruto, who had got the ball, sent it back to Kojiro with one touch and similarly started to run towards the goal.
They both got in sync with each other and, in a stunning play of one and two between them, they tore through the midfield and defense of the second team as Haruto scored in an open net.
The score became 3-2, but everyone stopped and looked at two absolute geniuses giving each other a high five.
The moment of brilliance from both of them stunned everyone and broke the second team's momentum and spirit.
That one play decided the game and till the final whistle including yuzo did not know how to respond to that sort of play.