Their eyes wide open and their mouth agape, most of the selecters outside seemed quite stunned. Even their countenance were ghastly pale as if their soul had left their body.
It was clear from their expression that not even in their dream had they expected Hiro’s team to be the first team to open the scoresheet.
However among those stunned faces, one face was standing out.
His eyes reflecting emotions of thrill and joy, his lips greatly curled up, Kazan was smiling uncontrollably while looking all excited.
Just like greedy businessmen looking at their possessions, their was some greed in Kazan’s eyes.
“See I told you before. We need to man mark him.” Looking quite disappointed, Tatsuki spoke as he walked past Kein.
In response Kein smiled and nodded his head, “I just didn’t want to play dirty against a kid.”
Completely aware of Hiro’s abilities, Tatsuki found Kein’s words quite displeasing.
“If you keep being soft on them, then mark my words, even before half time we’ll concede another 3 or 4 goals.”
While Tatsuki spoke those words, he wasn’t lying or joking. He truly believed that if they continued to play like the way they were playing currently, Hiro’s team would definitely put 3 or 4 goals past them.
While Tatsuki and Kein were having such conversations, Hiro was celebrating his goal with his teammates.
Completely unbothered by the fact that his opponents weren’t playing seriously with him, Hiro was naively enjoying the moment and so were his teammates.
That goal scored by Hiro greatly boosted their morale- to the point that they even started thinking that U-23 team weren’t as fearsome as they imagined before.
Tilting his head towards the sky, Kein heaved a deep sigh as he murmured few words softly, “You’ve unleashed this upon yourself Takahashi Hiro.”
After murmuring such words, he lowered his head and shifted his gaze towards Hiro who was happily celebrating his goal.
While glaring at Hiro, suddenly a glint of coldness flashed in his eyes as he slicked back some hair with his hands, revealing his forehead.
Kein looked completely different from before. Even the warm aura which he was exuding a moment ago changed into cold.
While one side of his face was glowing dimly reflecting the rays of the evening sun, another side of his face was covered with shadows.
Even the evening sun was portraying his true personality.
After some celebrations, the game then resumed with U-23 teams kickoff.
Right from the kickoff, as if something had changed within them, they seemed totally different.
They weren’t the same lackluster team from before.
Previously they could snatch the ball from them if they positioned themselves well. But now all of a sudden it became a lot harder to get the ball back. .
Their passes as smooth as butter, there wasn’t a single flaw in their playstyle. Each player from U-23 team complimented each other. They were like a totally different team, completely in sync.
Especially Kein the Maestro, he was in a zone of his own. Dictating the midfield like a king, he was the one who was controlling the pace of the game.
Acting as a bridge between the attackers and defenders, he was present almost everywhere in the pitch.
Just like a Maestro connecting different musicians and music together to create a beautiful symphony, Kein was connecting every player of U-23 in the field inturn creating a beautiful symphony with the ball.
Just 5 minutes after Hiro scored that goal in the 12th minute of the match, Kein supplied a deadly through ball inside the box to Tatsuki.
Tatsuki as clinical as ever, struck the ball without any mistake.
As he struck the ball with his right leg which also happened to be his strong foot, the ball which left his leg flew like a cannonball shot from a canon.
Bam!!!
Even the sound which was produced during the collision of his foot and the ball was similar to that of firing canon.
Shun who was used to stopping Tatsuki’s powerful shot tried his best to clear the ball. But despite trying his best, the ball simply slipped through the tip of his fingers.
And even after slipping through Shun’s fingers, as the ball found it’s way to the back of the net, it kept spinning for a while.
Eventually after few seconds as the rotation of the ball slowed down then only did the ball fell down.
After witnessing such dominating plays, one would think that Hiro would look quite dejected. But on the contrary, he was enjoying the game.
But the same couldn’t be said to his teammates. The morale boost which they had gained a moment ago was starting to fade now as their inner fears were trying to resurface, once again.
Unable to snatch the ball away, for those five minutes they felt like they were being toyed by the U-23 players.
The spark of determination in their eyes was dimming. Clearly their morale had taken a huge blow.
“As expected they only scored that first goal because the U-23 team weren’t playing seriously.” Spoke one of the selecter while smiling a bit awkwardly.
Some other selecters nodded their head in agreement. However Kazan remained indifferent.
Neither was he happy nor was he sad, his eyes were only focused on the players at the field.
And just like that National U-23 team equalised the game with the help of Tatsuki’s goal and Kein’s brilliant performance.
Even after that goal, U-23 team maintained their dominance.
Their passes as smooth as ever and their plays as clinical as ever, they continued to dominate the possession of the match.
Refusing to give even a glimmer of hope to the opposing team, players of U-23 team were playing the game as if their life depended on it.
On the other hand, team 1’s form was deteriorating with every passing seconds. They were making more and more mistakes.
May be they were anxious or may be they were scared, or worst of all may be they were both anxious and scared, whatever the reason, they weren’t playing like they were playing before.
And because of their lousy performance, Hiro had to fall back to cover their mistakes.
He had to fall back to the point, he was now playing as a defensive midfielder instead.
Almost 20 minutes had passed since the last goal. The score was still tied with both team scoring one goal each.
Having spent his skill “Lightning Steps” so early in the match, Hiro couldn’t even use it again. Since he’d have to use his skill “perseverance” to activate the skill “Lightning Steps”, he had absolutely no choice but to rely on his natural talent.
Even so, Hiro dropping deep only provided his team an extra player in their half.
Since Hiro wasn’t particularly a skilled defender himself, he could only slow down the pace of the opponents by using his knowledge of positioning.
“That kid’s fit to be a leader. Despite being an attacking midfielder, he isn’t ashamed to fall back during the time of need. And although he can’t defend properly, somehow he’s able to slow down the opposing players. He’s definitely aware of his strengths and weaknesses.” Thoughtfully speaking such words, one of the selecter nodded his head while giving Hiro an approving gaze.
It was clear from his words that he was impressed by Hiro’s leadership qualities and decision making qualities.
“You’re right. If he had the same teammates as Kein then may be he’d have been able to display even more amazing performance. But Alas!! Other players around him aren’t as impressive as him.” Another selecter sighed deeply as he said those words.
Almost all of the selecters present in the field were pitiful of Hiro.
Kazan on the other hand wasn’t a bit pitiful or sympathetic about Hiro’s situation.
Instead he was hoping to see more of Hiro. He was hoping to see Hiro overcome the adversaries he was facing currently.
‘If you fail here then how could you survive while going against the world. You either fall here or you’ll rise from here.’ Giving Hiro a thoughtful look, Kazan thought to himself.
Just then while he was thinking such, Hiro got hold of the ball after so long in his own defensive half.
Intersecting a pass meant for Tatsuki, Hiro intersected Kein’s through ball.
And it wasn’t simply because of coincidence, Hiro had been patiently waiting for this moment since last 20 minutes.
And finally when the opportunity came knocking on his door, he grabbed the opportunity.
As there’s a saying, “whenever an opportunity presents itself to you, you need to grab it or it’ll slip from your hands”.
And by no means Hiro was going to let that opportunity slip.
Using his natural pace, Hiro sprinted towards the opposing goalpost, gradually increasing his pace.
0 km/h, 1 km/h,….. 29 km/h.
By the time he crossed the centre line, he was already sprinting at his top speed.
And although it wasn’t as flashy as the skill “Lightning Steps” which allowed him attain his top speed instantly, his natural speed was still something to be feared.
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