Higo didn’t know about the others, but he himself definitely didn’t expect that the players would notice his presence. The fact that it was during the boys’ celebration also added to the enthusiasm here, and he couldn’t help but laugh with the others.
To his surprise, though, the first one to respond to that question was none other than Kuroki, who sent his biggest thumbs-up toward the players.
"Good job, Takaaki! At least, you don’t bring shame to our Blitzkrieg attack! Also, Kenji, you are less handsome than me, so don’t try to act cool just because you can control the ball with your chest, okay?!"
This triggered joyful laughter among the audience, with Kenji himself making some rude gestures toward Kuroki.
"A retired bench player who couldn’t even beat me doesn’t have the right to criticize my style, Senpai!" The boy retorted with no heat in his tone.
Well, those words were definitely not ones that could be thrown casually at his teammates, or he could get a punch straight to the face. However, both Kenji and Kuroki had been competing for a striker position for so long that they had become good friends with each other, so this little banter wouldn’t be enough to create a crack among them.
Soon enough, the referee finally approached them, asking the players to finish their celebration and get ready for the play again. Even though all the Hakodate Nishi players there were still reluctant and wanted to chat a little bit more with their senpai, they just nodded along, following the order quietly.
However, before going back, Hiroshi didn’t forget to turn one last time, raising his fist to the four of them. "Don’t worry about us, Senpai! Just sit tight and watch our performance, we will show you how strong the new Hakodate Nishi team is!"
Well, that was a bold word from Hiroshi, especially when, aside from the two goals they made, the team hadn’t really shown a good performance today. However, if there was one thing that the head coach managed to do in his short time as a head coach, it was instilling the fact that they were strong in every single head of the players here.
The man also did it in such a way that no players looked pretentious, just having the silent confidence that they could do anything on the pitch. This was what Kumiko failed to do in her three years leading the team, as her focus was just to go as far as possible.
Still, the players weren’t bragging about it. Right after the referee blew the whistle, they charged directly, abandoning the low- block defense to go to the medium level so that they could put more pressure on the opponent’s midfielder.
It wasn’t also a blind pressure. They just pushed the opponent back to the defensive midfielder, and once that guy held the ball, Kenji and Usami would move in coordination to block all the way for that player to move, and they would also try to snatch the possession away from that poor boy.
It wasn’t so obvious for the others, but for Kumiko and the three boys on the stand, this move was just a reflection of their past.
"We also did the same against them, right?" Makino couldn’t help but ask. "I mean, the last winter tournament, we also targeted him relentlessly, not giving him any chance to breathe. At that time, you thought he was the team’s weakness, right?" He turned to Kumiko questioningly.
"Yeah, even in the last winter tournament, Doi Ishido has been our target to kill." Kumiko nodded with a smile on his face. "He has quite a tick when receiving a ball. Instead of turning forward to face the opposition half, his body would turn back instinctively, always seeking players on the back. He doesn’t dare to make progress on his own and would rather choose for his teammates to do so. As a result, when we put pressure on him at the right moment..."
BRUGH!
Somehow, right after saying that, the situation on the pitch changed. Usami managed to push the ball away from that midfielder’s foot, and even at the cost of them falling together on the ground, the referee shook his head quickly, finding the situation to be fifty-fifty.
"Yeah, that could happen." Kumiko nodded in satisfaction.
"Oh, yeah! What a fucking hustle, Usami!"
"Kenji, pick it up!"
Since Kenji was the one who was always together with Usami in pressuring that midfielder, it was easy for him to pick up the mess here. When he saw the opponent’s defenders coming at him with one still raising his hand asking for a foul, he also took immediate action.
Thud!
He didn’t control the ball for too long, just sending it parallelly on the flank. There, though, Hiroshi had already been running, cutting from the middle to get the ball. He, who was asked by the coach to drop back to the midfield a little, somehow became the furthest one to run in this scenario.
’Okay, I need to calm down...’ Hiroshi took a deep breath once he was in control. ’My position is so bad that I cannot turn around without losing the ball. If I cannot face the goal, I need to pass it back. Then, what?’
Indeed, as he cut from the middle, in the end, the boy could only receive the ball against the goal, with an opponent marking him tightly to push him to the edge of the pitch. At this point, he just needed to hold on until someone came, as no amount of trick would work under such pressure.
Well, Denki finally arrived soon enough, but not before the opponent’s defensive shape had already recovered first. Somehow, this turned into a wasted opportunity, as they wouldn’t be able to pry the opponent’s defense once again.
Or... So that was what everyone thought.
However, Denki had a different idea here. He saw a movement on the midfield side, and without hesitation, he pushed the ball back there. As a result...
BAM!
Another rocket was launched, catching everyone off guard.