Frohling didn’t utter a single word since the decision for the internal game was made. He just stood silently, observing how his assistant coach picked the players from both teams. However, as the group was formed, the frown on his face fell deeper than ever, and once his assistant was back, he couldn’t help but voice his concern here.
"Are you sure this is fair?"
Tomasz Waldoch, the assistant coach, shook his head firmly. "No, this is far from being fair. However, you have already made up your mind to sign him, right? Better see how much potential he has right now to see how much he’s worth our money for."
Honestly, if there was any other staff member who was responsible for signing a player hearing this conversation, they would’ve yanked their hair in frustration already, shouting something like, ’DO YOUR FUCKING EXPERIMENT OUTSIDE OF THE TRIAL! DON’T MAKE THE CLUB WASTE MORE MONEY THAN NECESSARY!’ Or something like that.
After all, the more experiments they made, the more Higo’s value rose potentially. If somehow, the boy was still able to show a decent performance after this, they would have to pay more to get the boy’s sign for the club.
Not much, maybe, since Higo was just a high-school student from Asia, but any money spent more than necessary was enough to make the financial team stressed.
"I don’t understand. How is it unfair?" Marius Draxler frowned when he overheard the conversation. "Sorry, I haven’t been in touch with the reserve team for a long time, but what’s wrong with Higo’s teammates? Are they somehow weaker than the opponent’s attackers or what?" His tone demanded an answer.
At the end of the day, Marius Draxler was the one who brought Higo to the team, and he would never let the boy face any injustice here.
"Well, everything looks normal except for the two center backs in front of Higo." Tomasz Waldoch said. "Brackelmann, that number 4, has just recovered from a long injury, and his movement is still sluggish and full of fear. If Matondo wants to play a race, he would never be able to recover. As for his partner, Mike Jordan is infamous within the team for liking to push forward, abandoning his spot on the back. That habit runs deep in his veins that even after being benched for a month, it is not enough to make him give up that reckless style."
"And... You think pairing them with a new goalkeeper who is still in his trial session is a good idea?" Marius Draxler frowned, having his arms crossed in front of his chest.
"I didn’t say it is a good idea, but I just want to see how far we could push him." The Polish man shrugged nonchalantly. "I mean, we have already determined to sign him. Better see something more from him, right?"
"...Fair enough."
Even though Marius Draxler hated to see his player being targeted like this, the man also couldn’t deny the logic behind Tomasz’s words. No matter what happened, Higo would still be a Schalke player at the end of the day, so it was a good idea to see how the boy would handle this kind of situation.
Well, Higo himself didn’t know that he was getting sabotaged here. The boy still didn’t know that the duo in front of him was full of flaws. Right now, his focus was still completely on the game, as the opponent started to push further and get closer to his own penalty box.
’Shit! This is bad! They are clustered in front of my goal, not giving me any room! Someone needs to move away and spread the crowd here!’
Unfortunately, before he couldn’t say anything else, the player on the wing had already taken an action. Higo knew the boy’s name there. It was Rabbi Matondo, the left winger from the Democratic Republic of Congo, whowas also the most valuable player in the second team, who made his move.
The boy danced wildly on the flank, attracting the attention of two players. Then, with a quick one-two pass, he got rid of the entanglement in front of him, dribbling the ball through the byline before sending a strong cut back to the penalty box.
BAM!
It was a bad cutback. The power was too much, and it didn’t go to any of his teammates. If anything, it looked like Matondo just took a shot blindly, forgetting where the goal’s position was.
However, the main purpose was never to get his teammates to reach the ball, but to create chaos within the penalty box. True enough, the ball bounced back and forth, with any clearance from Higo’s teammates being met by a blockade from the opponent’s attackers.
"Shit! Clear it away!"
"What the fuck do you think I am doing?!"
"Don’t let the ball get away! Keep it within your range!"
"No!" Somehow, the ball still fell on the opponent’s striker. It was an old German striker who gained possession out of nowhere, straight in front of the goal. He didn’t control the ball here, just swinging his right foot as hard as he could. As a result...
BAM!
The ball ricocheted straight to the goal, but right before it could slam the net, a hand appeared to block its way from the goal, deflecting the ball above the crossbar. Yeah, it was Higo who somehow appeared at the right time, making the first save of the game.
"Oh~! Yes, Higo!"
"What a save!"
His teammates came around to give the boy a high-five. Higo just accepted readily, but not before reminding his teammates about his concern. "Don’t make the penalty box too crowded, I cannot even move at all. Give me a little bit of space there!"
"Yeah, yeah, we get it!"
Higo just sighed helplessly at how casual the answer he got here was. Inwardly, the boy also took a deep breath, couldn’t help but mutter, ’Well, it seems my teammates still don’t take my instructions seriously. That means I have to be ready for everything, right? This is going to be troublesome...’