Her question was met by the boys snapping their heads immediately; their gaze was full of hope. No one knew how or when it started, but they slowly started putting their trust in the girl to guide them.
It was understandable, since she had been helping the team from time to time in their worst situation. Her suggestion was always timely and on point, and her observation skills were also enough to convince everyone in the team that she was a real deal. The last game incident when the girl took over the team was also the cherry on top, giving her a slight authority among the players.
Kageyama-sensei also perked up a little bit, turning around at the girl. At this point, he also noticed that Kumiko always had a unique insight into the game, and since her quick thinking often saved him from getting stuck in the middle of the game, the man was curious about what she came up with right now.
It also helped that since he would be suspended from the bench in the next game due to the red card, Kageyama-sensei had already planned to put Kumiko in charge of the team. It was a crazy idea, but one that had been tested in the last game.
Since he had already planned that, there was nothing wrong in letting her speak to the team to gain their respect.
Facing so many gazes here, Kumiko couldn’t help but gulp. However, she swallowed all of her nervousness in one gulp before starting to speak, "Well, this is not a weakness, but an insight to give you an idea of what kind of an opponent you are going to face."
Then, she connected the projector with her laptop, and once the screen was on, everyone couldn’t help but lean forward to see things clearly.
"Alban Lafont, Dan-Axel Zagadou, and Evan Ndicka- their goalkeeper, center back, and left back," The girl started speaking while also showing the picture of the players she spoke about. "Those three have been contacted by Ivory Coast’s federation, wanting to recruit them to join their national team."
Some players widened their eyes in surprise, while the others still didn’t understand the implication behind this information. Even the staff frowned a little bit, starting to think of what the girl was trying to say.
Kumiko didn’t explain anything. She continued a second later, pressing one key on her laptop to change the screen. "Boubacar Kamara, their other center back, has already expressed his willingness to represent Senegal to honor his father’s heritage."
"Amine Gouiri has already stated that he is proud of his Algerian blood and will be in talks with their federation after this tournament is over."
"Nabil Alioui’s father said that he hoped his son would represent his birth country, Morocco, in the future."
"Six players, excluding the bench players. If I have more time, I would be able to dig deeper." Kumiko stated as she ended her little presentation. "However, you have the idea here. Six of their main players have already declared their loyalty toward the other countries."
Silence followed as no one could say anything here. Some had their jaws slackened, while the others were rubbing their eyes in disbelief. This information was like a bomb dropped out of nowhere, and while they still didn’t know what use that information would be, at least they couldn’t help but look at Kumiko as if she was a monster.
"Where the fuck did she get all of those?" Someone whispered quietly. It was unfortunate for him that Kumiko’s hearing sense was sharp as hell, as she caught it easily.
"Well, a national player, no matter whether they are the main one or just a bench warmer, is the star of their hometown. It is not hard to dig into the local news platforms as long as I know what to search." She answered casually.
Well, the girl said it as if she could do that as easily as flipping the back of her hand, but everyone was smart enough to realize that it wasn’t really that easy to do that. First, she needed to search for everyone’s hometown, and then the girl had to dig through so many old news platforms to find what she was searching for. It also didn’t help that all the content would be in French, so she also had to translate it all first.
It was like finding a needle in a haystack, basically a mission impossible. The haystack was French, as a cherry on top.
This only made them all respect the girl more for all the behind-the-scenes work that she had done.
Higo himself just crossed his arms silently on his back. However, anyone could see that he had a smug smile on his face right now. The boy knew exactly his girl’s best strength, and seeing her demonstrate it to put awe even the head coach of the national team, he couldn’t help but feel so proud of her.
’Yeah, show them what you can do, Kumiko-chan! This is your stage!’ He cheered inwardly.
The girl herself didn’t know that Higo was staring at her so intently from behind. No, her attention was on the screen, as she finally continued, "What I want to say is that while they are a strong team, that doesn’t mean they are perfect. You will find that beneath their good teamwork and crazy offensive style, they only fought for their own interests."
That was harsh, but no one could deny it. Unlike the solid senior national team from France that could put their different origin aside to win the World Cup last year, the junior team still had a massive ego on their shoulder. Most of them didn’t even fight for the country, having already thought of jumping off the ship right now.
"They might look okay right now, but that is because they have never met any equal yet." The girl added. "Once a strong team comes to push them to the brink, they will finally reveal their true color. Now, the question is, can we be the one to do that?"