The moment they entered the stadium, Japan walked to the pitch full of confidence. This wasn’t just from the fact that they were able to beat France in the last game, but also due to the focus they put on the game right now. No one truly thought anything messy, just getting ready for a tough battle ahead.
Unfortunately, they were just teenagers slash pre-adults, at the end of the day, and one single big thing could distract them immediately. In this case, though, the big thing wasn’t just one, but countless.
"Fucking hell..." Naoya murmured in bewilderment. "They are so huge! And there are eleven of them? No, it should be more! This is going to be our next opponent?!"
Indeed, what they were witnessing right now was the Ukrainian team doing their warm-up. However, their attention fell on the height difference between them and the Ukrainian players, as they looked like a bunch of dwarves compared to their opponent.
In this tournament, they had faced teams with superior physicality like Senegal or South Korea, and yet, this was probably the first time the Japanese boys felt intimidated before the game could even start.
"Well, fun fact, Ukraine is the country with the average height of its people of around 180.6 cm. This can be considered one of the tallest in the world, probably only losing to Scandinavian countries like Norway or Denmark." Higo gave a fun fact happily, having heard about it from Kumiko.
Well, it didn’t help. If anything, the boys only gulped further; words seemed to be stuck in their throats right now.
"Um... Are you sure that I should be the one playing today? I mean, Nagai-kun is taller than me, right?"
Even Makino himself had his voice shaken. It wasn’t often that he felt nervous, but considering the opponent’s posture and how special today’s game was, he would be willing to give up his position to make sure he wouldn’t be the team’s weak link today.
Well, Nagai also shook his head frantically. "No, no, no! I am good coming from the bench!"
Usually, at this point, someone—most likely Kawabe—would throw a snarky comment like how could they be a coward or something like that. However, this time was different. The boy stared at one Ukrainian player doing the warm-up, the one who wore number 9.
"His name is Viktor Korniienko, and he is just like you, a versatile wing player who can be anywhere from down their own territory to penetrate our box. He is quick, agile, and strong. You will battle him a lot in the final, so keep an eye on when he makes a run. Usually, we will give the opponent every chance in the world to cross, but we cannot do that in this game. No, Ukraine is one of the most dangerous teams in the aerial duel, having scored 5 of their 11 goals from that scheme. That means almost half of their goals come from the cross situation, so keep an eye on the flank."
At least, that was what Kumiko and Sakura said to him, and while the boy was stubborn, he wasn’t stupid. He would never do anything that would jeopardize the team’s winning chance when he was on the pitch, and it was no different this time.
Still, that didn’t mean he wasn’t interested in this player.
’In the 3-5- formation, he alone will control the flank. That means he has to go back and forth so many times, which will drain his stamina faster. But since he is confident... That means he knows he is capable of doing that, huh?’ A little grin formed on his face. ’Interesting...’
"Okay, don’t think too much about them!" Ito clapped loudly, snapping them from their thought. "We still have a warm-up to do! Let’s not get distracted right now, and let’s just do what Sensei asked for!"
Yeah, in the end, they just needed to do the coach’s instructions, and while it wasn’t a guarantee for them to win the game, at least their chance would be quite open.Also, they still trusted their coach enough for them to follow behind, so even though they were shaken by the opponent’s players, this reminder was enough to get them back on track.
"Yeah, come on! Let’s do our warm-up quickly!" Kawabe shouted, starting to run.
The main players nodded quickly, following along from behind. At this point, everyone knew who was going to play in this game.
Kageyama-sensei still trusted Zion to guard the goal, and after taking a rest for one day, Ito was back in the squad again. Miki Yamane would also guard the left side. It took a while for the man to convince Shimizu S-Pulse, Miki Yamane’s club, to let him play the boy today. That team had been so stubborn after finding out the scary tackle that almost ended the boy’s career, insisting that they should bring him back home since he was on the team’s main project next year.
Fortunately, Miki Yamane himself helped convince his club to play just one more game, and since this was the final, Shimizu S-Pulse also reluctantly let him play here.
Then, next to Ito, Makino would be the one guarding the center, as his solid performance in the last game got him one spot in the final. The last defender was Ayumu Seko, since the boy had already finished his suspension after the red card against Senegal.
In midfield, the composition was still the same. Morita, Naoya, and Mitsuki Saito would be controlling the rhythm, with Mamoru and Kawabe becoming the sharpest spears on the flank. Lastly, for the main striker, they would hope Miyashiro’s assassin style would help the team gain at least one or two points in today’s game.
Besides those injured players, this was probably the best lineup that Japan could muster. They didn’t really change anything, as the final was never a place to do an experiment. Moreover, Kageyama-sensei still believed that this team was strong enough to defeat the opponent, so the man wasn’t really that worried right now.
’Yeah, let’s show them what we are capable of! Come on, boys! We can do this!’