It wasn’t often that the team was at the end of the referee’s bad decision twice, especially when both were quite big moments. One should have resulted in a red card, and the other was a big chance that was so close to a sure-goal chance before it was deemed offside.
Any normal team would be shaken off when facing this situation, let alone a bunch of teenagers who were still hot-blooded. They were not blind here. The boys could see that while the referee was still quite fair in small decisions, once it mattered the most, the man would protect Italy at all costs.
This was enough to make them overthink, wondering what kind of eat-shittery decision-making the referee would pull later to help the opponent tie the game. This thought was enough to eat them alive, making them lose some concentration on the pitch.
Even though their defensive discipline was still at a high level, their focus started to decline. Their recovery time seemed to be slower, and they were also less aggressive, as if afraid that the referee would make a move again closer to their penalty box. No, that would be a disaster.
Kageyama-sensei himself was quite helpless in this situation. The man was still far from being calm right now, wanting to come to the pitch to punch the referee straight in the face. He tried to calm down his head, knowing that as a commander, losing control like this was a sin. However, he also couldn’t do anything about his players on the pitch, realizing that they were playing with fear right now.
The man then glanced at his staff for a moment before asking a question, "If you were me, what would you do in this situation?"
The other three men just stared at each other awkwardly. To be honest, this was the first time they experienced such an outrageous referee. Usually, everything was done more subtly, but this time, it was so blatant that they didn’t know how to respond.
Kageyama-sensei couldn’t help but sigh when he saw their reaction. He knew full well how capable his assistants were. One was a good student in school who had no experience handling a real team, one was a specialist for physical conditioning, and the last one only bothered himself when it came to goalkeeping.
Overall, no one could give him a valuable opinion right now, and he had to fight alone here, racking his brain to find a solution.
Or... Well, at least, that was what he originally thought, before someone finally spoke to break the silence.
"Shift our priority to offense."
It was just a short suggestion, coming from the girl who had been quite low-key since her first time coming here. However, it was enough to gain everyone’s attention, as even the head coach himself took interest in her.
"Oh, why should we do that, Shishida-san?" Kageyama-sensei asked before Akiba-sensei could interrupt her. It was clear the man was uncomfortable having the girl speaking here, considering Kumiko was his assistant on this team.
Kumiko herself didn’t notice that her mentor was shaking his head frantically at her. No, she just stared at the man in charge without a single fear, explaining, "Right now, our players’ minds are in shambles, having been messed up twice by the referee. They wouldn’t be able to concentrate in defense, and it would be dangerous for us to stay passive here. We need to give the players an outlet to vent out their anger, and other than playing rougher, forcing them to attack more is the best way to do that."
The head coach didn’t answer the suggestion immediately, pondering about it carefully. It was Akiba-sensei who answered first, shaking his head in disapproval. "No, if we start attacking, the balance we build since the beginning of the game will break, and we won’t be able to survive under Italy’s pressure. We cannot afford that. It is better to stay back until the end of the game. In the end, we still have one goal lead here, and that should be the result we sought."
The girl couldn’t help but roll her eyes at that. Honestly, if before, she was only annoyed with her mentor, now she started to hate his mindset that always thought the players wouldn’t have any emotion on the pitch, always treating everything like a game of football manager.
"Well, yeah, it would break the team’s balance, but it has already been broken by the referee’s decision before." The girl countered calmly, still hiding her irritation. "In this case, the players need to build their confidence again to make them think that no matter how bad the referee’s decision is, they can still win this game. Now, with Mamoru-kun, Kawabe-san, Morita-san, Mitsuki-san, and Tagawa-kun on the pitch, this can be considered our strongest offensive lineup. This is our chance to do that."
The explanation was sound and logical, and even though Akiba-sensei was still not willing, he couldn’t find any reason to deny it.
In the end, Kageyama-sensei nodded silently, acknowledging Kumiko’s thought. "It has a lot of risks, but I cannot deny that the brilliance behind the idea is there. Indeed, we cannot let the players suffer from this injustice silently. We need to exert some strength to give them some confidence."
With that in mind, he whistled quite loudly, gaining all the players’ attention. Then, the man made a subtle signal, as if pulling a trigger with his hand. When the Japan players noticed this, they couldn’t help but feel surprised, and in the next second, their eyes lit up instantly.
’Sensei wants us to push forward?’
’So, it is going to be the left flank, huh? Well, with Mamoru there, we won’t have a problem.’
’Okay, let’s do this!’
The signal was something that was developed in the training session. The man used his left hand, signaling that it should come from the left flank, and he pulled the trigger, telling the players that they didn’t need to restrain themselves anymore.
This was the signal that they had been waiting for since the beginning of the game, and now that the coach finally took action, the players couldn’t help but show a big grin.
’Yeah, it is time to counterattack!’