First A-Match (Part 2)
After all, Yoon Seo-hee was quite a good player. Among the national team players who seemed below average, she was the one who could at least understand my intentions.
When helping me score my first goal, she did dig into the space, but I hadn't expected her to pass to me with perfect timing like a habit. Instead, Yoon Seo-hee delivered a pass at the perfect moment, and with her help, I scored my debut goal for the national team.
'Yeah, whether her personality is good or bad doesn't matter. As long as I play football well.'
Her vision did seem seasoned, after all.
But unfortunately, it wasn't just her vision that felt seasoned.
"Haah, haah..."
'If she keeps like this, she'll collapse before the end of the game.'
Next to Yoon Seo-hee, that is, the left midfielder running, Hand Joo-hee, was already panting heavily even though less than 30 minutes of the first half had passed.
Explaining our current formation:
Kim Seul-gi
Me
Yoon Seo-hee Han Ye-jin
Hand Joo-hee
Hand Joo-hee, the central midfielder in the left, was covering a wide area from a defensive position. Unfortunately, I wasn't a style that participated well in defense, and Yoon Seo-hee, being older, played almost like walking unless she was receiving the ball.
So, it was understandable that Hand Joo-hee was getting exhausted after just 30 minutes.
'Tsk, that's why it's good that I play as a lone striker...'
If we used three midfielders, the burden on Hand Joo-hee would decrease. But using a starting striker from an EPL mid-table team is impossible given Korea's circumstances. Still, it was fortunate that the opponent, Norway, which hadn't even qualified for the World Cup, wasn't very sharp offensively.
Actually, the 4-4-2 formation was often known as a bus-parking tactic or a hammer-and-sickle football tactic aiming for a counterattack, but that was when using players suited to that tactic.
Using players like me or Yoon Seo-hee who had low activity levels meant there would inevitably be holes in defense.
Still, despite the holes in defense, our attack flowed quite smoothly.
"Senior!"
The goalkeeper who caught the opponent's shot, Kim Eun-hye, threw the ball long to Yoon Seo-hee. I watched that and started moving up gradually according to the defensive line. The opponent's side defender tried to mark Yoon Seo-hee, but she created space with a simple action.
'Dribble? Pass?'
Currently, Yoon Seo-hee's position was slightly below the halfway line. In that situation, she swung her leg wide and crossed to Kim Seul-gi, who was marking the right winger.
'Early cross? Judgment pass. As expected, she knows how to handle the ball.'
After giving Yoon Seo-hee another pass mark for her play, I moved my feet to a position where Kim Seul-gi could easily drop the ball. Kim Seul-gi, after confirming that, jumped high.
The cross Yoon Seo-hee threw quickly and sharply reached Kim Seul-gi's head. At 180 centimeters, she was a bit unstable, but Kim Seul-gi had a high point that allowed her to win header duels even against the 2-meter-plus Yang Hyun-hee sometimes. It was Yoon Seo-hee's accurate cross and Yang Hyun-hee's point that matched perfectly.
And the ball that Kim Seul-gi cleared was closer to me than to the defender marking me.
As the ball hit the ground, I shifted my feet first to position myself, then saw the opponent's center back stretching his leg and lightly rolled the ball with my sole. My personal technique that worked in La Liga and Champions League wouldn't be stopped by a center back from the Norwegian league, and naturally, the opponent's center back got caught in my movement.
During that time, after colliding bodies and finding out, the guy was faster than me, but not fast enough to catch me who was running first, so instead of waiting for teammates, I pushed the ball forward and ran.
And to faithfully keep the goalkeeper's basics, the opponent's goalkeeper came out with the goal undefended.
'Do a proper analysis before coming...'!
Whether I didn't do a real analysis or it was the goalkeeper's instinct, leaving the goal undefended against me was basically a strong will to concede a goal. And I didn't like disappointing the expectations of people standing in football.
Thud.
The ball rose high with a perfect parabola. The goalkeeper, staring blankly at the ball flying over his head, looked at it with a bewildered expression.
Thud, thud.
And after bouncing twice on the ground, the ball shaking the net.
"Waaaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Even though it was the voices of a few red devils, the cheer shook the stadium quite loudly. Probably, neutral fans who came to watch the game were included too. Having shown a clean development that shook the goalposts with only three passes, it was clear that neutral fans, not just away fans, raised their voices.
I enjoyed the cheers of those fans and ran forward, then showed the signature celebration that had become mine on the field.
"Riuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!!!"
Actually, I wanted to do the celebration after scoring my first goal, but it was a bit regrettable that I couldn't because of Yoon Seo-hee's gaze as she recorded the assist. But if a chance like this came, there was no reason not to do it. After finishing the celebration, Kim Seul-gi, who was close to me, approached.
"Haneul-ah, it's a bit sad."
"Huh?"
"You hugged senior Seo-hee, but when I assist, it's just personal celebration? This is really sad."
"...Ah, sorry."
Kim Seul-gi, playfully tapping my shoulder while talking, I answered with a surprised expression, and from afar, Yoon Seo-hee, who was approaching, heard our conversation and showed her unique cold and sly smile.
'...What? Did she not run to Kim Seul-gi and like it?'
Did I unintentionally make a good impression?
Well, it wasn't bad. It was a bit sorry for Kim Seul-gi, but after the match today, I was going to ask Yoon Seo-hee if we should change the national team's tactics to one with me as the lone striker.
If a player like Yoon Seo-hee had football intelligence, she would surely understand why I was making such a request. She would have felt it while playing today's match.
And in today's match, although I recorded an assist and made many important passes, it was clear that she would realize that to use 4-4-2 against strong teams in the World Cup, there was no place for her own position with poor activity.
So, she would probably accept my request.
Honestly, although there was a coach, considering the team's control and status I've seen so far, if Yoon Seo-hee strongly advocated for 4-1-2-3, the national team's tactics would likely become as she wanted.
'Should I try making a good impression more?'
That's why I decided to work harder on making a good impression here.
"Senior Seo-hee! Nice cross. I didn't even think of crossing from there, but as expected from senior Seo-hee."
On my words, Yoon Seo-hee showed that expression again.
'What? Is she mocking? Did she see through my intention too clearly?'
That smile was the smile that she had noticed my intention. A bit of cold sweat ran down my back, but fortunately, it seemed Yoon Seo-hee liked me.
"...Thank you."
She stroked my head and said thank you. In that appearance, I was startled and looked at Yoon Seo-hee's face again, and the cold smile that looked cold somehow seemed warm.
'No, what am I thinking... There's no way... ...But thank you? What does thank you mean? Did she notice? Or did she just say it so others wouldn't hear? Sigh, anyway, it's not a bad reaction.'
Although the action of suddenly stroking my head and smiling seemed like cognitive dissonance, even if her impression was cold, since beautiful Yoon Seo-hee did such an action, I didn't feel bad.
After that, although we conceded one goal, before the first half ended, in a chaotic situation in front of the goal, Kim Seul-gi scored another, and the first half ended 3:1. Since it was a friendly match, the coach, wanting to check as many players as possible, substituted several players including me, and my debut match ended with 2 goals in 45 minutes.
I wanted to score a hat-trick, but it was a bit regrettable?
Still, with two goals, it felt like I had made a sufficient impact, so I could be somewhat satisfied.
And we went to Poland for the second friendly match, and that night, I secretly called Yoon Seo-hee without anyone knowing.
"What's up?"
"Ah, senior... I have something I want to tell you."
"...What?"
Yoon Seo-hee answered coldly as if the stroking my head earlier was a lie. But since I had come with resolve, I wasn't scared.
Honestly, it was like mutiny for the team's youngest member to say such things about the team's tactics, but since this was for Korean football, I opened my mouth without any shame.
"Today, when we were playing together, there was a bit of a problem in the defense. Is there no way to fix that?"
Of course, avoiding direct mention and being as innocent as possible. Yoon Seo-hee was a player with sufficient football intelligence, so she would surely understand my words.
"Indeed, we were too open on our side."
As expected, the problem I noticed, Yoon Seo-hee at 34 years old playing in Europe couldn't have missed it. Players who were stupid couldn't survive until that age, so this was natural.
"But, if we don't have that, the attack doesn't flow well either, right? We couldn't score even one goal in the second half."
"......"
Was it too obvious? Yoon Seo-hee looked at me with cold eyes. But I couldn't bend here. This was for Korean football.
"What kind of tactic do you think would be good to solve this problem? Senior Seo-hee is, after all, more experienced than me and plays football well..."
"Hmm..."
Fortunately, since my meaning got through, Yoon Seo-hee stopped looking at me and pretended to be pondering.
"As expected, it would be good to solidify the midfield. After all, we are weak in defense."
"Indeed, that would be the case."
"......Or you run on the opposite side."
...Tsk, this is no joke. Of course, as Yoon Seo-hee said, going to the opposite side would be a good method, but it wasn't the answer. The fundamental problem was that Yoon Seo-hee wasn't providing proper defense from the side, and to solve that, we needed more midfielders who could help from the center.
Or Yoon Seo-hee missing out.
But missing out Yoon Seo-hee would cause a big problem for our attacking line, which has few players who can sync with me, and Yoon Seo-hee wouldn't want to miss her last World Cup either, so in the end, the answer was to increase the number of midfielders.
As expected, even if it's dangerous here, I had to drive the wedge...
"...Really? I was only thinking of increasing the number of midfielders... As expected, senior Seo-hee is a football expert."
And at that moment,
"Haha, is that so? But, in theory, the current formation is good, but if you and Ye-jin are on the same line, the playmaker types overlap, so the synergy won't be great. I'm a wide playmaker type, Ye-jin is a deep playmaker type, and you're a pulse or something? Appm? Such a type, so today's coach's formation is theoretically the best."
'Huh? What is this talking about?'
Yoon Seo-hee laughed out loud for the first time and spat out a slightly unsettling remark.
"Well, since you're from Barcelona, maybe? You have a lot of interest in tactics? ...Me, actually, I like talking about these things... I only play Football Manager at home. Do you know Football Manager? There's no junior in the national team to talk about these things with, so it was a pity. Shall we sit down and talk? Ah, it's late at night now? Shall we talk again tomorrow? Will you come to my room tomorrow? Let's simulate once with my laptop. Ah, right. Haneul also has a database in this work. Want to see your stats?"
And unlike her usual short answers, she talked long like a chatterbox, and her expression was similar to the one she had when she was a child watching Pox with her little brother Bae-ga.
'W-what is this...?'
The usual cold impression was gone, and instead of the expression of a child who found something she liked and the appearance of a nerd who talks a lot when the topic she likes comes out...
"W-would that be okay?"
'Damn, is this Yoon Seo-hee? Who are you?! Who the hell are you?!!!'
...I had made a big decision for Korean football, so I had no choice but to shout inwardly.