2018 Russia World Cup: The Second Half
I didn't particularly like the saying "the best time to realize you're late is the moment you realize it." Because once you realize you're late, the situation has already happened, and it's usually too late.
But this time, even though I was late, it was the best time to fix this situation.
“You came in earlier than I thought. Let's do well, Ha-neul.”
“Yes, senior. Han Ye-jin senior, please do well too.”
“...Yeah.”
If we had been beaten by Belgium the whole first half, the game would have ended before the first half was over, but it was still a one-goal difference, and it was enough to reset the game to zero.
However...
‘...I wonder if the coach is okay.’
...I was worried about the coach who substituted two players from the first half onward.
Normally, substituting a player in the first half is something that doesn't make sense unless the player is injured.
Substituting a player in the first half means admitting that all the tactics set up during preparation were wrong. Moreover, since soccer is unpredictable, you have to save as many substitution cards as possible in case the situation changes.
But using two cards from the first half? It would inevitably lead to a lack of tactical flexibility.
Thinking about such situations, the coach would probably get a lot of scolding after the game. Or maybe he's already getting scolded right now. But even so, the coach who made a quick decision without sticking to pride was impressive.
‘Sigh... I have to repay him.’
The only way to repay such a coach is to lead this game to victory and prove that the coach's tactics were not wrong. I jogged and walked to the center circle.
“Seul-gi senior. Let's go.”
“Yeah. Let's try a comeback.”
Kim Seul-gi passed me the ball, and the game started. There are about 25 minutes left until halftime. It's short, but it's also enough time to score at least one goal.
‘Good, having one person in front really opens up the space.’
As I advanced slowly, the wide space opened up differently from before. If Kim Seul-gi hadn't come in, Josephin would have already jumped forward and blocked me, but Kim Seul-gi's presence was tying Josephin down to the back.
Actually, I had played with one top many times, but at that time, either Albaria and Eloya were on the wings or Yuri and Bruna were there.
Both Albaria and Eloya, and Yuri and Bruna, were players who could always break through the opponent and create chances, so playing with one top wasn't a big deal, but since we were the underdog team, having one windbreaker in front was really precious.
And another thing. Since Josephin couldn't mark me, it meant that a midfielder was coming to mark me. That meant our midfielders were more relaxed, and unlike when we were being scored on, the ball was circulating smoothly in the opponent's field.
I thought it would have been nice if we had come out like this from the beginning, but I thought the coach's thinking was reasonable before the game, so it was too hindsight.
“Ha-neul!”
The pass from Han Ye-jin reached my foot. Deborah, the starting midfielder of AC Milan and playing a defensive role in Belgium, approached and blocked me. But unlike Josephin who would cut me with a foul when the ball came to me, Deborah's pressure wasn't that threatening.
Josephin is a defender who specializes in rough defense. Such defenders usually have the image of being brutal, but actually, the more brainy the defender who specializes in such defense, the better. If they were stupid, they would be sent off before such defense became their specialty.
And Josephin, having become the best with such defense and taken Real Madrid's starting spot, was a player who knew exactly when and how to foul so that the whistle would end it.
But Deborah wasn't at that level, so instead of cutting me with a foul, she tried to mark me properly, and it was easier than eating rice with a spoon to break through such defense.
“Eek...!”
Deborah's outstretched foot swept the position where the ball was a moment ago. But the ball had already moved, and I kicked the ball with my heel and ran forward quickly. What remained in front of me now was the back defense line and Kim Seul-gi.
And now, Kim Seul-gi, who had synced up with me somewhat, was trying to break the line by dribbling past the defender.
...Exactly on my pass timing.
Just before the pass I sent reached Kim Seul-gi,
Bang!
Josephin, who had suddenly appeared, cleared the ball out of bounds. As expected of a player who had reached the world's best defender lineup, she seemed to have read our combination. Of course, since my pass was that sharp, she had no choice but to clear it.
‘Yeah, to break through Belgium, I have to break through Josephin. That's it?’
Looking at Josephin's form today, it seemed there was no other way to break through Belgium than to bring the ball all the way to where Josephin was.
But the difference from before was that Josephin was on the back defense line. The back defense line was a place where one mistake could lead to a card or a goal, so the difficulty was much lower than before.
After the throw-in, the midfielders passed the ball back to my feet. Deborah came running again to take the ball from me, but this time I lightly evaded her and broke forward. But since I was trying to bring the ball to Josephin somehow, Deborah, who had been evaded, was now closing in on my back tightly.
‘Tch.’
But at that moment, Han Ye-jin, who had suddenly come up to my side, came into view. Han Ye-jin is a player among Korean players who can create something alone on such a stage. I passed to Han Ye-jin trusting her and ran forward.
‘If it's Han Ye-jin...!’
Bang!
And the sound of the ball being kicked was heard. After the ball had already left Han Ye-jin's foot. Glancing sideways, the ball Han Ye-jin had passed was heading towards Jo Seo-won who had made a free kick. It was Han Ye-jin who didn't miss the timing when the Belgian left back marking Jo Seo-won momentarily lost his marking.
“No!”
Polin, the Belgian left back playing for Tottenham, ran to block Jo Seo-won, but it was right after the ball touched Jo Seo-won's foot. And as Polin panicked, the solid Belgian offside line collapsed.
In this situation...
The hand of Josephin pulling my jersey from behind was felt, but I ignored the force and ran forward. Although Josephin likes dirty defense, she wasn't a stupid defender who would pull the jersey all the way inside the penalty box, so the force felt from behind was slowly loosening.
And at that moment, the pass from Jo Seo-won kicked to the ground from the right was heading towards me. Since the position was better for me, possession of the ball was immediately mine. But considering Josephin's defensive ability, turning towards the goal here was a gamble.
Tap.
I briefly touched the ball with my heel and sent it between Josephin's legs. Josephin, who was thinking about breakthrough and pass, couldn't stop my quick judgment, and my pass perfectly connected to Kim Seul-gi.
Bang!
‘Ah...’
But the result was Courtois's save. Courtois hugged Kim Seul-gi's shot and let out a sigh of relief.
It wasn't that it wasn't disappointing, but it was okay to this extent. This was our first shot on target of the day. We hadn't made even one shot on target in 20 minutes, but since it was created in less than 5 minutes after Kim Seul-gi and Han Ye-jin came in, it had quite a meaning.
‘Good, it's doable.’
This time, although blocked by the save, eventually, if you keep hitting, the goal will open.
‘Now the problem is defense?’
The attack that added routes to aim for the goal besides me was no longer a worry, but the problem was our defense, which had become looser than before.
The only thing I could do in defense was to put pressure on the center back with front pressure, so if the ball was distributed forward, the only thing I could do was pray like before the goal was scored.
‘Please, please.’
Fortunately, since we were aware of the aggressive Belgian attack, Belgium was proceeding with attack while leaving a few players in the back, and we barely blocked the attack mixed with sincerity, maintaining the 1:0 score difference.
Unlike before when we finished the attack passively, since we were making meaningful attacks, my footsteps were lighter than before, and soon the ball was passed to me. Again, the player in front of me was Josephin.
And if I could get past this guy, a chance to enter the penalty box came.
Glancing ahead, Kim Seul-gi inside the penalty box was continuously signaling. But since Josephin was blocking both the pass length and the breakthrough hole, no matter what choice, it would be an easy choice.
And since the presence of Deborah running from behind was approaching in 0.1 second units, there was no time to leisurely choose. And at that moment, a thought flashed in my head.
‘For now...!’
I dribbled the ball and ran towards Josephin. First, I had to do something to make our attack easier.
Josephin ran forward as if not intending to let me into the penalty box, and I moved my ankle instantly and showed a flip-flop. Josephin's foot stretched forward in response to my movement.
‘Good!’
Josephin showed a pretty good reaction to my footwork as expected of a world-class center back, but this was the situation I was aiming for. I deliberately bumped my foot against Josephin's outstretched foot.
“Aaah!”
And from my mouth, which had been getting up without any reaction to countless of Josephin's fouls, a scream larger than ever came out, and I grabbed my ankle and rolled on the ground.
Squeak - Thud!
“Damn...”
Even in the noisy situation with the audience's jeers, Josephin's low curse pierced my ear. Josephin had realized that she had been hit by my design. But that was a design only we who clashed bodies over the ball could know.
The referee couldn't see my design.
“Is this a card? This guy got caught trying to cheat.”
Hearing the story while lying on the ground, it seemed a card was declared against Josephin. Probably the result of combining Josephin's image and my image so far.
‘So, who plays that dirty?’
Although I was aiming to some extent, getting a yellow card on the first try was a pretty significant achievement.
No matter how much Josephin was, getting sent off on the World Cup quarterfinal stage was a difficult thing to handle. This much, I could say I had tied up about one of Josephin's legs.
“Hah, I kept telling you from earlier. Be careful. You crossed the line.”
“Hah, if it was a girl, you wouldn't have fallen.”
“Are you appealing to get sent off?”
I couldn't look at the referee because I was acting hurt, but the referee was probably making a strict expression.
One disappointing thing was that since it was outside the penalty box, a penalty kick wasn't declared. Well, if it was inside the penalty box, Josephin would have narrowed the shooting angle instead of extending her foot, so it was a meaningless assumption.
‘So, I should have done a favor or something.’
I showed the most pitiful expression I had practiced since I was young and stood up from my seat. The limping leg was given as a point.
“Ha-neul, are you okay?”
“I'm okay. But if I get caught, it's over, so senior, act too.”
“Eh, you cursed just now...”
“Is that important right now?”
“Eh, that's not it.”
Kim Seul-gi, who approached to help me up, showed a slightly surprised expression, but since there was no time to manage the current image, I ignored such Kim Seul-gi.
The distance to the goal was about 21-22 meters. At this distance, it was a good distance for me to shoot, but kicking a free kick while holding my ankle and lying down was too obvious, and since there was a person on our team who had kick power that works even in the EPL, and quite high ranking at that, I looked at that person.
“...”
Han Ye-jin, with her usual expressionless expression, looked more trustworthy than ever.
The reason Han Ye-jin, who has a running speed similar to mine, almost like a lame in the soccer world, can still play for Liverpool at her age is thanks to her still alive kick power.
There was no need to say unnecessary words to such Han Ye-jin.
‘Han Ye-jin...’
And,
Squeak - Thud!
Bang!
As soon as the whistle blew, Han Ye-jin's free kick at half a beat faster timing drew a beautiful trajectory and flew towards the corner of the goal.