The players from Italy also realized that Japan was up to something. They tensed a moment, going for the wait-and-see approach. Unfortunately, the wave from Japan was coming so quickly, like the storm that didn’t announce its presence.
It all came first when Tagawa received a pass from Miki Yamane from the flank. Even under the pressure of two players, he held his position strongly, not giving up the ball at all. It wasn’t until the third one was about to come that the striker noticed a small gap in the left flank, and even with a lot of struggle, the boy still managed to send the ball there.
Thud!
The pass itself was quite short and weak. However, it was aimed at the space in front of Mamoru, and now, without him having to turn around with a complicated move, the boy could just overwhelm his opponent with his pure speed.
"OH! WHAT A PASS, TAGAWA!"
"Come on, Mamoru! It is your time to shine!"
Tripaldelli couldn’t help but grit his teeth as he tried to chase from behind. Honestly, this was an embarrassment on his part. He was the young Gli Azzurri captain, often being mentored by so many legends from Mauro Tassotti to Gianluca Zambrotta, and yet, here he was, being toyed around with so many times by this no-name player from Japan.
If he knew that Mamoru was considered one of the biggest talents that the country had ever produced, maybe the boy would change his mind. However, it was not possible right now, so he could only exert more strength from all the muscles in his body, burning everything inside him to chase the boy.
Well, Mamoru didn’t really care about what the man behind him was thinking right now. No, his legs moved as if his body was weightless, flying so effortlessly to cross the center half. He tried to run diagonally toward the center, but when the rest of Italy’s defenders were coming at him, the boy shook his head immediately.
’No, in terms of technique, I might be superior, but I don’t have the physique if they are insisting on a direct clash. I need to wait here.’
In the end, without any support around him, Mamoru didn’t have any choice but to slow down here, letting the opponent’s defenders recover a little bit. Well, at least, the rest of the defenders, because the boy didn’t let Tripaldelli rest.
The moment the opponent’s captain was coming at him, panting heavily from running around to chase from behind, the boy moved again quickly. This time, he sent a through pass to the outer side of the flank, where Miki Yamane was penetrating from the backline.
"FUCK! How could he be there so easily?! What the fuck are they doing there?!" Tripaldelli couldn’t help but curse all of his teammates who slacked off around this time.
Miki Yamane himself ignored him completely. The full back just glanced at the box for one second, and after noticing his target, he sent a long cut back, crossing through the box before arriving at the other side of the flank.
"That’s a good pass, Yamane!"
There, Kawabe was grinning widely, having his right foot swinging before the ball even came. In the end, he hit it as hard as possible, and...
BAM!
The ball flew once again to the near post. Honestly, it was like the recreation of Miyashiro’s first goal, where no one really paid attention to a player in that half-space area. Unfortunately, this time, the opponent’s goalkeeper stood strong, blocking the ball with his fists.
As a result, the ball just bounced high in the air before leaving the pitch, giving Japan a corner kick.
"ARGH! So close!" Kawabe roared dramatically, clutching his head in regret. The others also didn’t waste this chance to mock the boy here.
"Come on, Kawabe! This is the third time already!"
"What the hell are you doing there?! Do you really want to get replaced?!"
"Oh, shut up, will you?!" A thick vein popped on Kawabe’s forehead as he glared at everyone else. The boy knew that his teammates were just playing around here, but saying he wasted three chances, when the first two were canceled by the referee’s bad decision, was a low blow.
Kageyama-sensei also gave a nod of approval at that chance. Even though it didn’t end up with a goal, the man cared more about the process. More than that, the chance also met the purpose that Kumiko said earlier, which was to give the team an outlet to vent their grievance and regain their confidence.
Now, everyone was focused on trying to get the second goal, which was better than them overthinking about what the referee would do to them later.
The man couldn’t help but glance at Kumiko for a second, nodding once again in approval.
’Yeah, out of everyone here, she is the only one who has the experience leading a real team, right? And she also did a pretty good job there.’ Then, the man couldn’t help but chuckle. ’It is ridiculous that my best assistant in the national team is a teenage girl coming to learn from my real assistant. God sure knows how to mess things up, huh?’
After this, Japan also went for the corner kick. It was Morita who executed it, as he pinged the ball far to the opposite flank where Sugawara was coming to receive the ball. The full back bounced it back to the middle, aiming straight to Tagawa.
Then, even though he didn’t have any advantage in height, the striker still jumped, showing off his lower body strength by beating two defenders simultaneously in an aerial duel.
BAM!
Fortunately, his header was shaky, and it failed to go down to the goal as he wanted. In the end, the ball just flew high above the crossbar, giving the Italy team a chance to breathe.
"Damn! Sorry, that’s my bad!" Tagawa apologized to his teammates immediately.
"Don’t worry, that’s just one time!"
"Yeah, we will do it again later!"
This time, the last sentence was not something coming as an empty consolation. All the Japanese players truly believed that with this tempo, they would be able to put more threats to the opponent’s side, until they finally got the second goal they yearned for.