Maebashi Ikuei HS Takashi ground (Artificial Turf)
A little over it’s zenith, the sun was still shining brilliantly in the vast blue sky above. Under the scorching midday heat, players of Maebashi Ikuei HS were taking turns, shooting the ball towards their post.
And while they were performing some shooting drills, dressed in black and blue jersey with the crest of Kawasaki Frontale club, Hiro and his teammates were making their way towards the pitch as well after finishing their strategic meeting with their manager for their pre match warm-ups.
“Oh… Here they come.” One of the player of Maebashi HS commented.
“Pay attention Kota. We only have 15 minutes left before the game starts.” Naoya the team captain rebuked.
“Sorry Captain” Kota apologized and turned his attention away from Hiro’s team.
After that all of them completely ignored Kawasaki Frontale’s U-18 team. Completely focused on their own drills, nobody from Maebashi’s team again turned their attention towards the other side of the field where Hiro and his teammates were starting their warmups.
“I know we’ve seen their videos before, but do you think you can crack their defence?” Shun questioned Hiro while stretching his arms.
Hiro however replied vaguely while stretching his legs, “We’ll only know once the match starts.”
Hearing Hiro’s ambiguous reply, Shun frowned his brows. It wasn’t the answer he was hoping for.
After about 5 minutes of stretching, Tomoyasu Hamasaki, Kawasaki Frontale U-18’s new first choice goalkeeper walked towards Hiro.
Short black hair, sharp pointy nose, double lid black eyes, Tomoyasu was about 5.11 feet tall and he was in his third year of high school. As compared to Shun who was only 5.7 feet tall, Tomoyasu looked like a Titan.
“Hiro… Shall we shoot some balls?” Tomoyasu asked while fixing his gloves.
Hiro nodded his head and replied, “Where do you want me to shoot the ball from?”
“Outside the box.” Tomoyasu replied and began to make his way towards the goalpost.
Casually juggling the ball, Hiro made his way towards penalty box. Tomoyasu then gently tapped both sides of the post and tried to rub some grass, out of habit. But since the grass of the field that they were playing that day was artificial, he couldn’t grab much of the grass.
“Looks like Hiro and Tomoyasu are going for some shooting drills.” Takeshi Ogawa, one of the midfielder of Kawasaki Frontale’s U-18 team spoke.
“Can we join in too senior Tomoyasu?” Renji Igarashi, one of the new recruit of their team asked.
Lifting his hands, Tomoyasu gave a thumbs up and replied, “Feel free to join in. But make sure that you don’t humiliate yourself by going against this wizard.”
“Ready senior??” Hiro asked as he positioned himself to shoot the ball.
Tomoyasu nodded his head with a determined look on his face.
**** ****
After about 15 minutes, four guys dressed in bright neon green coloured t-shirt and black sorts made their way inside the pitch. They were officials responsible for conducting the match.
With their arrival, the coaches of both the team rushed towards them to exchange greetings.
“Okay guys let’s get ready.” Coach Kensuke spoke.
All of them then walked outside of the pitch.
After exchanging quick greetings and submitting the name sheet of the players to the officials, manager Makoto returned back towards them.
“Tomoyasu, Go.” Gesturing Tomoyasu to head towards the pitch for coin toss, manager Makoto mumbled.
Tomoyasu who was wearing the captain armband after the departure of Naoto, quickly rushed towards the pitch for coin toss.
Winning the coin toss Tomoyasu chose to select the side of the goalpost that they were going to defend.
Before they went inside, manager Makoto made a short comment and wished them well, “Okay guys then best of luck. Play as you’ve prepared.”
[Hello everyone!! After about a year, I Haruki Shimura, the commentator of the match welcome all of you to the 3rd match of day 1st of Prince Takamado Cup 2022.]
[Today we have an interesting match up between one of the favourites of the tournament and one of the defensive powerhouse team in the league.] The commentator who was seated at the sidelines commented.
And just as he was commentating, following the lead of the officials, players of both the team made their way inside the pitch side by side, lined up in a queue.
[The players of both the team are making their way towards the pitch. So let’s welcome them with a warm applause.] 𝙡𝙞𝓫𝒓𝙚𝒂𝓭.𝓬𝒐𝓶
Not many spectators were present in the stand and only few people who had nothing to do were present in the stand that day.
The stands which could hold about 200 people looked mostly empty and only about 30-40 people could be seen moving in the stands.
[Winning the coin toss, Kawasaki Frontale has decided to select the side of the pitch. Which means Maebashi Ikuei HS will be kicking off.]
The players of both the teams then began to position themselves in their respective positions.
Just behind Tatsuki and just above Takeshi Ogawa, Hiro positioned himself in his position of attacking midfielder.
[With the loss of two of their star players and several other senior players, Kawasaki’s team has promoted many players from U-15 team to fill the void left by their star players.]
[And in this match, Kawasaki Frontale has made a new record by playing a 13 year old player. The youngest in the history of the tournament.]
Hearing the commentators announcement, players of Maebashi began to wonder about the 13 year old kid mentioned by the commentator.
However since the commentator hadn’t mentioned about the jersey number of that 13 year old kid, those guys had no idea about who that aforementioned player was.
“Playing a 13 year old against those 16-18 year old kids? What’s the coach of Kawasaki Frontale’s team thinking?” Sounding somewhat annoyed, a grumpy old man standing in the stand mumbled.
“Interesting!!! I wonder how talented that kid would be for a professional team to make such decision.” Another anonymous individual in the stand mumbled with a smile on his face.
Hearing the announcement of the commentator, the spectators in the crowd displayed different mixed reactions. Some were annoyed, some pitying while some were excited about seeing that aforementioned player.
Beep!!
With the sound of referee’s whistle, the match between Kawasaki Frontale U-18 team and Maebashi Ikuei HS commenced at exactly 2 PM sharp.
Kicking the ball back to his team’s midfielder, Naoya began to fall back.
Tatsuki and other forwards of Hiro’s team, calmly chased after the ball. Without rushing, they began to chase while maintaining their positions.