"FUCK IT! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TRYING TO DO?!" Ayumu Seko, the most hot-blooded person on the team, rushed toward the boy without hesitation. "ARE YOU TRYING TO KILL SOMEONE HERE?! IS THIS HOW YOU PLAY BACK HOME, HUH?!"
Everyone was so stunned for a moment, not expecting an outburst from Ayumu Seko. However, when they saw Ito was down on the floor, rolling around with his wound from the first half open again and traces of blood were everywhere, some of the most hot-blooded players like Kawabe or even Makino didn’t hesitate here.
"Fuck you! This is an assault!"
"What the hell are you trying to do here?!"
Of course, the Senegalese players would never let their star get surrounded. They attacked back, pushing all the Japanese players with their superior strength. However, if anything, this only made the commotion bigger than ever.
"REF, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING HERE?! HE IS TRYING TO MURDER OUR CAPTAIN!"
"WHAT?! YOU WANT TO FIGHT TOO?! COME HERE!"
This time, even the staff from both teams rushed to the pitch, trying to calm down their players. After all, confrontation was okay, but a fight breaking out on the pitch was unacceptable. Of course, they still didn’t forget to defend their team here, trying to put more pressure on the referee.
Meanwhile, the medical team also moved quickly to the pitch. They checked Ito, who was still on the ground, and the bleeding on his head was so obvious that no matter how hard the referee wanted to close his eyes, it would be impossible to brush off this incident. To make it worse, Ito didn’t look okay on the ground, looking around confusedly.
"What is going on here? Why is everything spinning so quickly?" He asked while clutching his forehead.
Ogai-sensei had a grim expression immediately as he reported it to the head coach. "A concussion. We need to bring him to the hospital as quickly as possible."
Kageyama-sensei seemed to lose all the blood in his head. His face turned so pale that Ito wasn’t just the team’s defender, but his captain as well. The boy’s presence on the back was equal to two or three ordinary players, and now, he was about to lose that person due to the opponent’s malicious action.
"SEE?! Can you hear that?! A fucking concussion!" His glare was so fierce as he spat at the opponent’s head coach. "Bring that boy to the police and get him arrested immediately! He is a fucking criminal!"
"Fuck you! If you don’t want to get hurt, don’t play football!" Senegal’s head coach also started to lose control here.
Things spiraled to the south, and even the referee himself had a difficult time controlling the situation. Fortunately, so many players were still sensible, dragging both their head coaches from this fierce confrontation.
The Uruguayan referee used this time perfectly to take control of the game. First, he checked Ito’s situation, and after realizing that it was bad, no matter whether this was an incident or not, he still had to punish the culprit in this situation.
"Endangering his opponent’s life with his reckless action. On-pitch decision, a direct red card for Amadou Sagna."
Yeah, endangering life. That was the verdict here, a harsh one that could land the boy in jail in real life. That was why the winger number 7 just accepted the punishment readily. If anything, it seemed that the boy had already been prepared for this decision.
However, the referee didn’t just stop with that decision. No, he turned around and gave his verdict to three more people.
"Excessive retaliation against his opponent, second yellow card turns to a red card for Ayumu Seko."
"Breaking a fight against the opponent’s head coach, a red card for Kageyama Masanaga and Francois Djiba."
Four red cards were given in one go, two for players and two for the head coaches. It seemed that the man tried to exert his authority on the pitch while also balancing the situation here. That was why, even with those four cards to be given, the situation was still equal in number.
However, Japan’s side was not impressed with his decision. After all, in their mind, everything started from the opponent’s reckless action, and while their complaint was excessive, it was still in an acceptable range. They didn’t deserve this, and coupled with the fact that this was not the first time they were being bullied by the referee, their dissatisfaction was at its peak right now.
"FUCK IT!" Kageyama-sensei cursed so loudly while also slamming his hat on the ground the moment he walked off the pitch. As he regained his calmness, though, his face turned uglier once again after realizing how bad the team’s situation was right now. "Nagai, I am sorry to hand you this impossible task, but I need you and Makino to hold the sky for us until the end, okay?"
Taiga Nagai, the defender from Hannan University High and Vissel Kobe, nodded quite nervously. Seeing this, the man couldn’t help but sigh helplessly once again, cursing how deep they were in this shit hole right now.
It was so ridiculous that out of seven defenders that the team brought to this tournament, he had to rely on the sixth and seventh choices in the most crucial situation right now. However, this was not something that they could control.
With Ito and Ayumu Seko unable to continue the game, coupled with Kobayashi, who was getting injured beforehand, and Miki Yamane, who was being replaced in the first half earlier, the team only had three defenders on the pitch right now: Makino, Nagai, and Sugawara. While the last one was still decent enough as a regular, the first two lacked the experience needed to face this situation.
After making that decision, though, Kageyama-sensei’s next announcement was enough to stun the entire team.
"Akiba, after this, you are not going to lead the team. No, you are still going to help with the analysis." He spoke to his assistant coach quickly before turning to Kumiko. "Shishida-san, you take over this game. I trust you to be able to lead this ship until the end, okay?"