It wasn’t just the players who got anxious. If anything, the coach was the same here, or probably even more. After all, compared to those who fought on the pitch, they could only watch from the sideline, couldn’t really affect the game directly.
After regaining his calmness, Kageyama-sensei also suffered from another round of anxiety. Time ticked by, and yet, no solution came to mind. His eyes darted from left to right, wanting to make sure that he didn’t miss any information on the pitch.
’Fuck! How could Ukraine maintain such a tight defense like this?! Don’t they get tired or what?!’ He cursed inwardly. His hair was so disheveled due to the frustration budding in his head.
"Ask Ito-san to move forward as the defensive midfielder, Sensei." Kumiko chimed in once again, trying to find a solution as well. "Put him in front of the defenders and push the midfielders a few steps forward, trying to get closer to the box. I don’t believe Ukraine’s defenders could stay calm for the rest of the game under our immense pressure."
This was not a solution that Kumiko thought on a hunch. No, this was an advanced concept in a tactical world that was developed by Pep Guardiola in the last few years. He had done so first in Bayern Munich, when the man pushed the team’s captain, Philipp Lahm, to take over the midfield.
The purpose was simple. The coach wanted to create a situation where he overloaded the midfield, creating an extra man in the center to beat the opponent’s pressure.
Still, Kageyama-sensei didn’t agree with that suggestion straight away. His eyebrows met on the bridge of his nose as he thought deeply of this possibility. While yes, it could work, this was wild advice that the team had never done before. Using an unfamiliar style in the final would carry a great risk, especially since the player who was involved directly in this situation, Ito, had never played this kind of role before.
"Come on, Sensei... Time is ticking by; this is not the moment to hesitate!" Kumiko urged impatiently, knowing what the coach was thinking right now. "We have already been one goal behind, anyway. If we are late to make an adjustment, we can say goodbye to this game!"
Hearing that, and seeing another chance was repelled by Ukraine’s defensive line, the man finally gritted his teeth here. "Fine, you win! Ito, come here!" He called the captain to the sideline.
The boy widened his eyes for a moment when he heard the new instruction, wondering whether the coach was drunk or not here. However, when Ito saw the serious nod from Kageyama-sensei and even Kumiko, the boy knew that they should have their own calculation, so even though he had never played as the defensive midfield, the boy still stepped up to the task without hesitation.
"Don’t worry, leave everything to me." He nodded solemnly.
After this, the boy shifted forward to the defensive midfield spot, and to some extent, this adjustment worked. Morita and Mitsuki Saito didn’t need to think too much about going back, so their presence became a bigger threat for the opponent.
In the 74th minute, Morita managed to insert himself into the box with a crazy roulette move, and he even whacked the ball to the goal at the cost of his balance. Unfortunately...
BAM!
His left foot failed to exert the power necessary to break through the person between the posts, as Andrey Lunin caught the ball easily.
"Fuck! Sorry, I am too greedy!" Morita apologized to Yuta Taki, who had opened a room on the flank to receive his pass earlier.
Then, in the 76th minute, Morita took another action. It all came from the crossing from Yuta Taki, and Kawabe failed to win the ball in the aerial duel. However, the second ball fell just two steps in front of him, a perfect spot for the boy to do his run-up before launching a rocket.
BAM!
Once again, though, the boy was unlucky. This time, even though Andrey Lunin couldn’t reach it, the shot only hit the post before bouncing far back to the sideline, giving the Ukraine team another throw-in.
At that point, Team Ukraine also realized once again how dangerous Morita was. They started putting more players around him, wanting to lock the boy down until the end of the game.
However, even with him dragging two or three opponent players to his side, that didn’t mean Morita would just keep quiet. He became a wall that would provide his teammates more room in this enclosed space while also being the biggest magnet that would drag more players away from where his friends were about to run.
This tactic could be seen to have a big prospect, as four minutes later, in the 80th minute of the game, Mamoru managed to get the ball inside the box after taking advantage of the empty space that Morita created. He sent a cutback to the middle, but unfortunately, Tagawa’s execution was still straight to Andrey Lunin’s chest.
Honestly, at this point, Japan had already done everything here. They overloaded Ukraine with one attack after another, going from left to right to the middle to get a space to shoot. Hell, most of their chances also became great threats, being so close to putting the ball on the back of the net.
Still, this was not enough.
What they lacked was the final touch, one that could ensure the goal would happen. Unfortunately, this was not something that they could get so easily. If anything, this was always the hardest part, as luck also got involved in the grand scheme. Once again, unfortunately, in this game, luck was not something that Japan had, as they suffered so many times from the lack of it today.
Then, as if to prove that Japan had the worst luck in today’s game, in the 87th minute, disaster struck once again. This time, though, it was fatal, and with only three minutes to go, everything seemed to be so bleak on their side.