Step Up (5)
Step Up (5)
033
Walking through the tunnel for the second half, my insides are boiling.
Rationally, I know Coach-nim's words are right, but still, I'm fuming. It's annoying.
My performance in the first half was definitely disastrous.
Turnovers from failed reckless dribbling attempts. I didn't count, but I probably had at least 10 turnovers. And that was just in the first half.
Generally, having 5 turnovers in a 90-minute game is considered quite high, but 10 in just the first half? That's basically handing the ball to the opponent. Even if I were the coach, I'd be pissed off.
It was only hidden because Oh Sang-tae-seonbae messed up so spectacularly, but excluding him, I'd be ranked as one of the worst players on the field.
Excuses?
If I started making excuses, there would be no end to them.
Unstable defense. A midfield that lost its mobility. A sluggish offense.
As the core of the attack, I was struggling to make something happen, but the results just weren't good.
And to be more honest, it's because my teammates' help was lacking.
If only my teammates had moved a little more. If only they had created a little more space.
I'm someone who is evaluated as having techniques better than most pros.
In fact, right up until this match, I showed such overwhelming performance that people said I was chewing up the university league.
But no matter how good my technique is, what can I do when the enemy is packed tightly into a narrow space?
Individual skill? Speed dribbling? Feints?
If they pull from the side and push from behind, there's no way out as a human. That's impossible even if Messi, no, Messi's grandfather came.
If only my teammates had moved a little more. If only they had opened up a little more space.
But I also know this is just an excuse.
My performance until now was ultimately achieved on top of my teammates' help.
Movements to draw out opposing players, movements to steal their gaze, movements to disrupt them... things called off-the-ball.
These plays, which create space for me to attempt dribbles, are the true hidden side beneath the glamour.
And such roles are inevitably not flashy, so they don't stand out.
Every player wants to be noticed and wants the spotlight, so who would like such a role?
'I can't lose and do nothing when they help me this much.'
No space? Messi can't do it?
No. I can do it.
Does Messi have a Stat Window?
I don't care about space or pressure.
In the second half... I will definitely break through.
The second half has started.
The game started with the opponent's kickoff. Since they are ahead by 2 goals, Ji-hak University is not in a hurry and is passing the ball slowly.
The ball moves between the defense and midfield.
If it were the first half, given our team's characteristic of having a low pressing line, I would have just watched and spent time.
However, in the second half, our team's line has risen much higher.
"Stick to them!"
"Space! Block the passing path!"
The pressing range rose as much as the line rose.
Due to the suddenly high pressing line, the opposing midfielder hurriedly sent a back-pass to the goalkeeper, and our team's striker Na Jin-ho-seonbae quickly followed.
Ppeong!
The ball, kicked hurriedly by the opposing goalkeeper due to the striker's pressure, floated high, and after a fierce contest near the half-line where players were crowded, it landed on Kim Ki-soo-seonbae's foot.
"Go in!!"
In time with Ki-soo-seonbae's intense hand gestures with his foot on the ball, our team's players poured in as if they had been waiting.
Left fullback Kim Young-hyo-seonbae sprinted to dig into the flank and draw out the opposing side midfielder, and side attacker Lee Gyu-sik-seonbae, who was on the right, widened the space to draw out the opposing defender.
A pass went through defensive midfielder Chae Yong-jin-seonbae to Yoon-hyeok-seonbae, who was infiltrating into the space created that way,
"Return!!"
Through a 2:1 pass with striker Na Jin-ho-seonbae, who had dragged the center-back down, a uniform marked with number 15 appeared like a flash in front of Yoon-hyeok-seonbae, who had shaken off the last remaining mark-man.
When the one remaining center-back was wavering between me, who was infiltrating, and Yoon-hyeok-seonbae, who was left free, Yoon-hyeok-seonbae's low-laid pass rolled exactly to my feet, and I connected the first touch directly into a shot.
Ppeong!
The opposing goalkeeper couldn't even react to the low-laid shot heading toward the corner of the goal, standing blankly and watching the ball's trajectory.
Tting!
But the ball hit the goalpost and bounced out.
"Ah!"
It was a good opportunity caught right at the start of the second half.
A sigh of regret escaped, but such things are common when playing games. I quickly shook off the emotion and returned to my position, recalling the sensation from just now.
My condition isn't bad.
No, rather, it's sharp.
A blessing in disguise, perhaps.
The reckless dribbling attempts in the first half. Although they were all blocked, thanks to them, the sensation at my fingertips has become sharply alive.
A fierce battle ensued.
It's impossible for our team, which focused on defensive tactics from the beginning, to suddenly become aggressive.
The enemies' counterattacks continued against our awkward play, as if wearing clothes that didn't fit, and the main direction was the empty left flank where the left fullback, who hadn't returned, was absent.
However, unexpectedly, Oh Sang-tae-seonbae, who was the hole in the first half, blocked the enemy's attacks one after another as if he had awakened.
This isn't Jekyll and Hyde.
It was absurd for both the enemy team and our team that he was defending like a wall, as if the sluggishness of the first half was a lie, to the point where it wouldn't be strange if he were chosen as MOM, but anyway, what does it matter if our team is doing well?
"Young-hyo! It's fine, so go up more! And don't lower the defensive line! Raise it! Narrow the gap with the midfielders and eliminate the space! Right! Spread out more! If you guys don't spread out, there won't be space in the center! Yoon-hyeok and Ki-soo, focus more on the link-up!"
The coach, who shouted passionately and gave instructions, turned his gaze toward me.
"Hey, Hong Min-jun! What are you doing! Are you scared? Dribble with confidence! Where did the guy who was crashing in the first half go!!"
I nodded to show I understood and gritted my teeth.
Damn it.
"You said you're a freshman? You think you're something, huh? Already starting. But you have no substance."
The opposing player who was stuck to my back was flapping his mouth.
Just you wait.
I sharpened my senses and pushed the opposing player firmly with my back.
A muscular body as hard as a rock, likely because the weight difference is significant, just like the height difference of over 10cm. It's hard to win with physical fights, but it doesn't matter. When have I ever broken through with brute force?
And in the first place, physical fights aren't done with muscles alone.
Like now.
Defensive midfielder Chae Yong-jin-seonbae is evaluated as lacking passing ability compared to his excellent defensive ability. Perhaps that's why he usually tends to play mainly with stable short passes, but for some reason this time, as soon as he made eye contact with me in the defensive zone, he sent a low and fast pass.
Even though it was a long distance, he must have good ankle strength, as the ball approached, piercing through 4 players in an instant.
I was momentarily flustered by the unexpected pass.
'Ah!'
I reflexively stretched out my foot, but the flying ball bounced once on the grass, adding irregular rotation.
Still, with my trapping skills, I should be able to receive it stably and secure possession.
But that's it.
I won't lose possession, but that's it. It would be all I could do to safely back-pass or kill time, waiting for my teammates to come up more.
A sharp pass connected at once from the defensive zone for the first time in a while. I'm missing the passing opportunity that pierced through the players crowded in the center.
'I can't do that!'
It was a split-second judgment.
The moment the ball bounced.
Instinctively, I leaned my body against the opponent stuck tightly behind me and put force on my left.
Feeling the opponent's center of gravity naturally shifting to the left, I received the ball, which was flying with strong rotational force, with my right inside—
I used the force contained in the ball to just change the direction of travel.
The ball bounced to the right.
"Huh!?"
The opponent let out a single exclamation as if flustered by the ball grazing past his face.
The moment focus shifted to the ball, I used the opponent's body as an axis and pushed him away with my back with all my might.
Passing by the opponent, who was sitting on his butt spectacularly after being pushed while hurriedly shifting his center of gravity, which had been leaning to the left, to the right, the ball fell in front of me as if waiting.
"Block him!!"
The opposing center-back came running out with wide eyes.
Breakthrough? Where? How?
Contrary to my slowing vision, my brain was rolling faster than ever.
"Return!"
The conclusion was simple.
I handed the ball to Na Jin-ho-seonbae, who had come down to receive the ball out of habit, and passed the center-back as it was.
"Ah! To the side!!"
Like a situation similar to the pattern play we usually practice, Jin-ho-seonbae's pass rolled perfectly.
But perhaps because it was similar to the pattern play our team often uses, the last remaining opposing center-back, who was marking Jin-ho-seonbae, blocked the path in advance as if he had expected it.
'I can do it!'
The moment I realized the possibility, I moved my body instinctively.
In an instant, I turned my back to the opponent and received Jin-ho-seonbae's pass.
The rolled ball hit my instep and floated up in the opposite direction of the movement.
The opposing defender turned his body nimbly, but I blocked the path by putting my thigh in front first, and stuffed my butt and body in as it was.
The strength in the opponent's hand, which was reflexively pushing my shoulder, drained in an instant.
Inside the penalty box. A position where a center-back would instinctively worry about a foul.
Shaking off the opponent's hand, which had lost strength for a moment, I kicked the ball that was floating in the air.
Ppiik, ppiik, ppiiiik!!
The sound of the referee's whistle followed the ball powerfully tearing through the goal net.
It was a goal to catch up.
I was surprised by the play that I was bewildered by myself and reflexively performed a celebration,
<Tting!>
<Unpredictable creative play!>
[Skill] [Mental] [Physical]
Individual Skill 070 ｜Vision 046｜Speed 067
Dribbling 068 ｜Anticipation 044｜Acceleration 068
Trapping 067 ｜Judgment 049｜Balance 065
Short Pass 048 ｜Concentration 056｜Agility 065
Long Pass 041 ｜Off the Ball 047｜Reaction Speed 079
Shooting 045 ｜Marking 038｜Power 054
Free Kick 042 ｜Composure 052｜Jump 046
Header 038 ｜Leadership 040｜Stamina 053
Tackle 032 ｜Teamwork 039｜Recovery 065
[Hidden]
Genius 048(▲2) ｜ Charm 095 ｜ Intelligence 028
[Height 175cm｜63kg]
[Possessed Points] 0P
The status window suddenly popped up.