Jun himself also didn’t know what he did to deserve this curse. Somehow, it was always him who made the worst mistake in the most crucial moment.
Everything should be simple. He received a back pass from Fujinaga, helping to alleviate the pressure on the midfielder. However, right before he could control the ball, the grass suddenly became so slippery, and his concentration slipped at the last second.
As a result, instead of stopping the ball with his instep foot, he let the ball roll back toward his own defensive area, and before he could chase it down, the boy slipped at the worst moment, giving an opening for the opponent out of nowhere.
"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!" He cursed frantically, trying to get back to his position as quickly as possible.
However, there was no way the opponent would let this chance slip away so easily. Even though most of them didn’t expect such a basic mistake to happen at that moment, one person still reacted quicker than anyone else on the pitch. Of course, that person was none other than Yuwell Carlson, the Shinigami himself, who came down to the pitch to kill all the enemies in front of him.
Right before the blunder happened, he had already smelled something going to happen from his spot. After getting entangled with Kazawa for a moment, the Swedish striker suddenly sprang like a wild rabbit, hunting for the ball fiercely. It had been stated so many times, but it was always incredible to see such a big boy moving so fast like a fucking truck, ready to crush everything in his way.
"FUCK! I CANNOT GET HIM!" Kazawa cursed while also running for his life to chase from behind.
He might be good at almost everything, but his body wasn’t built for a sprint race like this. It also didn’t help that Yuwell moved so suddenly, and he didn’t even have time to react. As a result, as time went by, the distance between them enlarged, and within a few seconds, he could only see his opponent’s back helplessly.
With no one else left behind, Sasuke Saito was also forced to abandon his spot. The goalkeeper rushed forward, trying to cover as much space as possible. However, Yuwell used his agility better here, pushing the ball to the side to create his own space. As a result, he managed to get past the goalkeeper’s defense, and with a small leftie flick...
Thud!
He put the ball on the back of the net easily, giving Sapporo Otani their second lead of the game.
"OH! WHAT A GOAL!"
The moment the ball went in, the whole stadium roared. Everyone jumped excitedly, hugging each other while also cheering for Yuwell Carlson’s brilliance. The Swedish striker also didn’t disappoint, hitting the coldest knee-slide in front of his own supporters to celebrate the goal.
"YUWELL! YUWELL! YUWELL!"
"What a hat-trick! You really destroyed Hakodate Nishi!"
"Come on! Our sharpest spear, keep scoring goals for us!"
While the opponent’s side was in frenzy, the northern part of the stadium was hit by silence once again. Even though it was far from Hakodate Nishi’s goal, everyone could see how everything unfolded clearly. From Jun’s blunder to the goal, it only lasted for four seconds, and yet, those were the most painful four seconds in their life.
"Damn, it seems Jun hasn’t fixed that terrible habit of his even up until now..." Higo sighed. "Teme, it seems you need to have a good talk with him later, or he would only hurt himself and the team more in the future."
Makino nodded solemnly, also realizing this problem. Jun was always like this. The more relaxed the situation was, the more he pruned to make a mistake.
The boy was always excellent in high-tension moments, becoming the most crucial player on the back. However, when receiving the ball without any pressure from his opponent, he tended to doze off, overseeing the matter on the frontline too much without taking care of his own first.
This was the case of seeing the problem too far ahead while not noticing the pebble right in front of him.
In the past, it was always Makino who cleaned up the mess, having to run more than anyone else to cover every single one of Jun’s mistakes. Unfortunately, it seemed the boy still hadn’t fixed his habit yet, and now, there was a big chance it could cost the whole team the game here.
"How many minutes left?" Higo asked.
"Fourteen minutes with the additional time, but we cannot rely on those," Kumiko answered while biting her lips, starting to get nervous as well. "Not a lot of collisions happen in the second half, so at most, four minutes would be given later. But it could also be three, depending on the referee’s mood."
"So, only around 17 minutes left, huh?" Higo turned solemn before starting to roar on top of his lungs. "COME ON, HAKODATE NISHI! THERE IS STILL TIME LEFT, FIGHT BACK! DON’T GIVE UP!"
His voice got drowned out by the noise from the home team’s supporters, and not a lot of players from the away team were able to hear that. However, this caught everyone on the stand off guard, and somehow, the spirit that he showed right now managed to spread among all the people there.
"COME ON, HAKODATE NISHI! IT IS NOT OVER!"
"SHOW MORE PERSONALITIES! IT IS TOO SOON TO GIVE UP!"
"YOU CAN DO THIS! YOU CAN DO THIS!"
As the supporters, they couldn’t do more than this. The more the team was in a desperate moment, the louder they needed to scream, telling the players that they weren’t fighting alone. That the supporters had their back no matter what happened.
Unfortunately, this was not a situation that could be resolved so easily. Even with Toda-sensei changing formation many times, stacking all the offensive players on the front line, Sapporo Otani’s defense started to show the discipline of the best team on the island.
One shot after another was launched, yet none of them managed to get onto the opponent’s goal.
So many crosses were delivered as well, but the team really lacked a strong point on the frontline.
In the end, there was nothing to do, and Hakodate Nishi could only stare helplessly at the scoreboard before the referee blew the whistle.
FWEEE! FWEEE! FWEEE!
The game was finally over, and Sapporo Otani finally managed to get their own revenge for the defeat in the last winter tournament.