While both the managers were busy discussing their strategy with their players, an anonymous guy probably in his early twenties showed up dressed in a comfortable green tracksuit.
He then walked towards coach Tanaka while wearing a smile on his face and began to converse with him while exchanging a friendly handshake.
After that he came towards their side and approached manager Nozomi.
“Ryu you’re here.” Manager Nozomi spoke cheerfully while extending his hand towards him.
The guy in the green tracksuit then grabbed his hand and spoke in an apologetic tone, “Sorry I was late. Just as I was about to leave something came up.”
With a smile on his face, Nozomi shrugged his shoulder and replied, “Ahh!! It’s alright.”
“Guy’s this guy here will be refereeing your match today. Although he’s a graduate of Chiba Middle School, he himself used to be a very skilled player. But right now he’s studying in Sakura University, studying sports science. So all of you thank brother Ryu for the trouble he took for you today.” Manager Nozomi introduced Ryu to his players and asked them to greet him.
“‘Thank you brother Ryu for your hard work. We’ll be under your care.”‘ Saying such all of them bowed their head and greeted the guy who was going to referee the match.
Due to the personal connection he had with the coach’s of both the team, Ryu was hired by both the coach’s to act as a referee for their friendly game that day.
“Thank you everyone. I’ll be under your care as well.” Saying such Ryu greeted them back with a smile on his face.
And after greeting both the teams, he headed towards the center of the field. He then took out a whistle from the left pocket of his tracksuit and blew it loudly.
Beeeeeeeep!!
Hearing the shrill sound of the whistle everybody turned their attention towards the guy in the middle of the pitch.
“Okay guys. Let’s go and show them what we got.” Before sending them off, manager Nozomi encouraged them to give their best.
“Yeah! Let’s go guys.” Shun who was the captain of the team yelled enthusiastically as he took the lead.
“‘Yeaaaahhhhhh”‘
All of them yelled and walked towards the center of the field queued up behind Shun.
And as both the team lined up at the field, Ryu called out the captain of both the teams to perform a coin toss.
From their side Shun stepped forward and from the opponents side their keeper who was half a head taller than Shun stepped forward.
“Head or tails?” Ryu asked while taking out a coin from his pocket.
“You can pick first Satoru.” Shun spoke while looking at the opposing goalkeeper.
“Thank you!” The opposing goalkeeper nodded his head. “Tails then.”
“Then I’ll be taking the head.” Shun replied meekly.
“Well you don’t have any choice. Hahaha….” Ryu laughed and teased Shun as he flipped the coin high above his head.
The coin continued to levitate for a while and as the coin dropped on the ground, Ryu lowered his head to check the outcome of the coin toss.
“Tails!!” Ryu spoke while picking the coin.
Chiba Middle School won the coin toss and thus they decided to select the goalpost.
After selecting the goalpost, both the teams lined up in a queue to exchange a friendly handshake before assuming their respective positions.
One after other, Hiro shook hands with the opposing players. Since it was only a protocol, he wasn’t in the mood to chat with the opposing players. Thus, he had been performing quick handshakes without paying much attention to their appearances.
However as he was moving forward while performing quick handshakes, suddenly he got pulled slightly by one of the opposing player while trying to move forward.
“Who” He blurted out as he turned towards the player who pulled him.
Blond hair, torquoise ocean pupils, Chris Philips, he was the titan of Chiba Middle School.
“Sorry for exerting some force. I didn’t know that you were so fragile.” Chris spoke while smiling.
From the tone of his speech and the expression he was flaunting on his face, it was clear that Chris was taunting him. However Hiro showed no change in his facial expressions and kept his cool.
Upon seeing no changes in his facial expression, Chris dropped his smile and clicked his tongue, “Tch- You’re no fun.”
Saying such he released his hand. But just as Hiro was about to move forward, he spoke again, “What position do you play?”
Even though he wasn’t being arrogant, Hiro wasn’t interested in telling him either and as such while maintaining his stoic face, he replied, “You’ll know once the game starts.”
Saying such he kept on walking forward without paying any attention to him. He wasn’t even slightly bothered by Chris’s actions.
However the same couldn’t be said to Chris. With his pupils enlarged and face tightened, he was cussing Hiro, “That prick!! Who does he think he is to act such haughtily? I just hope that you’re the defender. Just you wait and see how I’ll humble you.” ｂｎ𝚘ｖ𝚕．𝚘𝚛𝚐
‘Why are you getting annoyed now? Wasn’t it you who tried to provoke him?’ Kuroda thought while looking at Chris who was fuming.
And as everybody finished exchanging handshakes, all of the players assumed their position.
Chiba middle school was going to play in a 4-2-3-1 formation with two defensive midfielder and Chris as their sole poacher.
Kawasaki Frontale’s U-15 team was going to play in a 4-1-2-3 formation with Hidetaka playing as a centre midfielder, they had no defensive midfielder.
However manager Nozomi had instructed Hidetaka to cover up the role of defensive midfielder as well and the centre backs to move forward to cover up the spaces left at the defensive midfield.
With the sun shining brightly above the players heads, Sho was preparing to pass the ball while waiting for referee’s whistle. Ryu who was standing right at the half-line was looking at his watch to commence the match.
And as the minute hand reached 12, at exactly 1 PM, Ryu blew his whistle to commence the match.
Beep!!!