"FUCK!"
All the Japan players on the bench jumped at the same time, all having their hands clutching their heads in despair. After all, it was such an open chance that Zion himself was still out of position, and with no one on the goal, the chance that this ball would go in was almost 100 percent.
However, it seemed that God of football was still on their side.
It seemed that Sebastiano Esposito was in haste, wanting to release the ball before anyone could stop him. As a result, before his foot slammed the ball, his pivot slipped a little bit, making the spot he hit go slightly lower than he intended to be. As a result, while the ball still curled, it floated higher than usual, and finally...
Clank!
It didn’t hit the crossbar that hard. No, if anything, the ball just bruised the crossbar lightly before flying above the goal. However, this was enough to give all the Japan players a heart attack here,
"Fuck, yeah!"
"Come on! They cannot score against us!"
All the players on the bench high-fived each other while also letting out a relieved sigh. On the pitch, Sebastiano Esposito could only bite the corner of his collar while also staring at the ball in disbelief. A chance so close, with the goalkeeper out of possession, and he failed to convert it? This was like a nightmare coming true for the boy.
Of course, there would always be a clear-headed person in this chaotic scene. Italy’s head coach moved quickly to drag one player to the sideline, giving a clear instruction there. Kageyama-sensei also did the same, calling Miki Yamane to his side.
"Tell Zion that we don’t need any fancy pass, and stability always comes first. If he couldn’t find anyone in three seconds, whack it up front; it is okay to lose possession there."
This was a necessary sacrifice. His bottom line was three seconds, because under the immense pressure from the opponent, one second could be a big difference. It was better to give up possession in Italy’s territory than to create a dangerous situation in their own area out of nothing.
Miki Yamane also nodded quickly, understanding the instruction here.
They chatted quite loudly since they used Japanese so that the opponent couldn’t understand it. However, Higo, who was on the bench, listened to the whole thing, and he couldn’t help but snort at the end of it.
"Oh, well, if that is not enough to convince me that being that kind of a goalkeeper is a bad idea, I don’t know what it is. I mean, I don’t see any point in Zion joining the play other than giving the defense more heart attacks. This is just going to be a disaster."
Yeah, Higo was being petty and close-minded right now. Usually, he would be open to trying anything new. However, after training for a long time and still not getting the hang of it, the boy started to look for any reason to avoid being one, knowing that it was better than forcing himself to do something he found comfortable.
Fortunately, Norio-sensei couldn’t hear his thoughts, or he would get smacked straight in his head.
After this, the game continued again, and after the heated start of the second half, things started to slow down little by little. There was no way a team could maintain such intense pressure for a full game. No, that would require insane stamina from the group, something that would be so difficult, borderline impossible to achieve.
Still, that didn’t mean Italy would give Japan a chance to breathe. No, they raised their defensive line quite high, trying to occupy Japan’s territory with force. Not only that, but they also started applying an offside trap, not wanting Japan to steal a chance out of nowhere again.
Now, Japan was struggling to get out of this situation. This was probably their first time facing this intense pressure, and they needed to adapt to this situation to get out of it without making a mistake.
It had been quite a while, but even Koki Morita found himself being shadowed too tightly here, not being able to turn around without someone colliding with him. It was so frustrating that he couldn’t get any room to create something here.
Even Mitsuki Saito also started to get overwhelmed. He couldn’t always stay in two places at the same time. No, at the end of the day, he was just a normal human being, and running all around the place would definitely drain his stamina.
Looking at his players’ terrible state, Kageyama-sensei also had his brows furrow deeply, racking his brain to find a way to get out of the situation. In the end, his eyes fell on the bench, and the man finally decided to make a change here.
"Suzuki, Tagawa, get ready! You will play soon!"
Those two players were taken aback for a moment. However, they didn’t even flinch, taking off their vest before nodding solemnly. "Yes, Sir!" Soon enough, everyone found those two warming up on the sideline, getting ready for the game.
This was a surprising move that even his staff didn’t see coming. After all, those two were offensive players, and they would only come to replace those on the frontline, probably Miyashiro and Nakamura.
Right now, the team needed a way to escape from the opponent’s pressure, and they didn’t think that this was a way to do that. No, the best way was to bring a stronger and fresher midfielder to reinforce the center field, probably replacing one of the wingers to add more numbers in the midfield.
However, those who understood this just nodded silently, approving the move.
’Tagawa-san and Mamoru-kun are two players with strong ability to hold the ball. Right now, we need this kind of player to slow down the tempo and give our players a chance to repair our shape, and those two could do that easily. Also, new attackers would make the opponent wary, so this is a targeted substitution from Sensei.’ Kumiko looked at the coach in admiration.
A minute later, those two finally came to the pitch, and even the players who were already there had their eyes lit up instantly.
’Finally, a change is happening here! Is it going to be our chance to counterattack?’