"Shit! Captain!"
Makino turned around, finding Ito battling against Dryshiluk again. This was their third battle of the game, with Japan’s captain losing in their first two encounter. Unfortunately, the height and strength difference between them was so great that even though he was determined to win this ball, Ito still got overwhelmed by his opponent’s physicality.
’Shit! At least, I cannot let him get an easy ball!’ Ito gritted his teeth before pulling his little trick.
Don’t get fooled by his samurai-like personality, but the boy had so many dirty tricks in his arsenal. In his mind, as long as it didn’t injure the opponent and didn’t get caught, everything was allowed.
In this case, while he was getting overwhelmed in the air, Ito also sneaked one hand into Dryshiluk’s jersey, pulling it lightly to distract the boy at that moment. It wasn’t hard enough to throw him off balance, let alone foul the striker, but the pull was still significant enough to split the striker’s attention even for a second.
It was such a short time, but in a dynamic sport like this, one second sometimes was enough to make a big difference. As a result, Dryshiluk failed to reach his highest point in time, and the ball just got through his head slowly, falling to the other side of the flank.
"Shit!" That striker cursed, still not knowing the little trick that Ito pulled.
However, that didn’t mean Ukraine’s attack was over. No, somehow, Supriaha, the team’s main striker, managed to sneak in a spot between Naoya and Miki Yamane. In the end, even though Dryshiluk failed to get the ball, it still fell on Ukraine’s striker, and he didn’t even control it, using his right foot to slam the ball as hard as possible.
BAM!
The only thing that saved the team here was that Zion, the goalkeeper, was in the best position to block the ball. He didn’t even need to move, just swinging both hands to form a shield in front of his face. This was enough to deflect the ball, and once again, it rolled past the sideline, giving Ukraine another throw-in.
"FUCK!" This time, the curse was in English, a more universal language that even the boys from Japan knew. Supriaha looked so bewildered after he saw the shot from 4 yards was still getting blocked by the goalkeeper so easily. "This is a fucking joke!" He groaned, clutching his head in disbelief.
The crowd, especially those who were there to support Ukraine, also clutched their head in disbelief.
"What is going on?! How could Supriaha fail to execute such an easy tap-in?"
"Hey, you didn’t see it clearly? That goalkeeper is at the best spot to stop it!"
"Still... That Japanese boy was able to do that in the last goal; how couldn’t we do the same?!"
Yeah, this was the exact same scenario as Kawabe’s goal. The type of cross might be different, with Mamoru whipping a low one while Ukraine’s winger sent a high cross to the middle. However, the result was kinda similar. The ball got through the striker who was guarded heavily, ending up at the foot of someone who managed to sneak from behind.
Unfortunately—or fortunately, for Japan’s side—the final result was different. Kawabe managed to get the ball into the back of the net, while Supriaha failed to tie the game for his team. As a result, Japan still got the lead, as they were trying to repair any leak from their side to defend it.
Still, this wasn’t an easy task to do. Makino was in constant tension, finding that everything could be a big threat for the team. Ito was calmer, but three times getting beaten in an aerial duel would definitely affect the mood. Meanwhile, the wing sides got breached continuously, as Ayumu Seko and Miki Yamane often got overwhelmed in numbers.
"Push Naoya-kun and Saito-san back a little more, try to make sure that they would be closer to the flank to give their support," Kumiko advised immediately.
Kageyama-sensei didn’t adopt it quickly, pondering for a moment before asking, "What about the middle? That would give them a chance to launch a long shot, right?"
"Yes, but we don’t have to worry about it," Kumiko replied confidently. "Out of six games they have played so far, they only launched 8 long shots, less than 1.5 per game. More than that, only 3 are on target, and those all come from Oleksiy Khakhlvoy, that number 8. As long as we shut him down, their threat from outside of the box will not be that big."
This time, the man couldn’t help but let out a low whistle, looking at the girl admiringly. Who would’ve thought that she would still have time to research this small matter so thoughtfully?
"Okay, let’s do that." Kageyama-sensei nodded before he called Ayumu Seko to come to the sideline.
At this point, Akiba-sensei couldn’t really say anything. The man knew that Kumiko had a higher spot in the coach’s eyes compared to the rest of the staff, and she had all the right for that spot, so they just kept quiet about it.
The risk was still there, though. Even Kumiko herself, with her data, wouldn’t be able to make sure that Ukraine’s long-range barrages wouldn’t be that inaccurate. However, this was also a calculated risk that Kageyama-sensei was willing to take, as this would help solve the problem in front of him right now.
This worked well for quite a while, with Naoya and Mitsuki Saito starting to hover around the flank more. While some crosses could still escape from their grasp, at least they managed to put enough pressure to make the crossing quality worsen.
However, in the 41st minute, Ukraine suddenly decided to change their approach. They didn’t try to go for a flank anymore, and instead, they wanted to break through from the half-space area.
At first, everything was controllable, with Ito still shadowing the opponent who was still closer to the flank than the goal. However, at the last second, the boy didn’t send a cross like usual, but delivered a decisive cutback that went to the area near the penalty spot.
"FUCK!"