Bed Soccer. (2)
Fuck.
After the first half ended, while I was taking a quick shower, the thought that came to mind was exactly that.
A player collapsing after my shoulder check.
In this world, having played football for over 10 years, this was the first time I'd seen such a sight, leaving my head spinning. I had no idea how to handle this situation.
Actually, Bed Soccer was like an ancient relic to me. During the period when I was actively performing, it was a tactic that just extended injury time by a few minutes, so even if I did Bed Soccer, it only increased the injury time.
Given that reality, Bed Soccer had basically been phased out even just 3 to 4 years before I died. The benefits of Bed Soccer were outweighed by the increased injury time and players lying on the ground, getting cards, which was more fatal.
Moreover, by that time, Asian teams had qualified for the World Cup more often, and with steady support, the level of Middle Eastern teams had risen, so there was no reason to resort to Bed Soccer anymore.
Well, in World Cup qualifiers, some weaker teams from Asia would occasionally use such tactics against us, but at that time, we could just break through with long-range shots.
But now, there was no injury time to give just by lying down, and no power to shoot long-range.
How am I supposed to do this? No, if I dribble the ball in, the players will bump into me and fall. Fuck, which bastard arranged for a Japanese referee in our match?
Adding to that, the subtle bias of the Japanese referee...
Standing under the cold water flowing from the shower, I kept pondering, but no method to turn the situation around came to mind.
But Diena, the tactical genius, would have a different approach, right? Up until now, I'd been looking at things through rose-colored glasses, but Diena's true form was that of an unparalleled coach leading Barcelona's league title and Korea's overwhelming win rate!
If it were Diena, there might be some trick.
“Ryu, you need to cover your head.”
“Ah, yes.”
With a towel wrapped around my damp hair and a hijab on, I headed to the locker room.
“You’re here.”
And as if waiting for me, Diena immediately started tapping the tactical board as soon as I entered.
'As expected! She had everything figured out!'
“From now on, I'll explain the second half. Bahrain's players won't come out aggressively. So, press forward as hard as possible, and Yoon Seo-hee will press with you. Han Ye-jin, protect the back. And Seo-hee, Yu-ri, you two keep shooting when the shooting angle opens up.”
“Coach! But if Bahrain players fall after being shot, they'll stay on the ground. Including the goalkeeper.”
“So, we need to create a shooting angle where we can score.”
“How?”
“Naturally, Ha-neul will take that role.”
'...Huh?'
“Ha-neul. I believe you can do it. You should be able to create free chances.”
“...Me? No, if I bump into them and fall...”
“Haha, with your ability, you can definitely do it. Ha-neul, you practiced evading charging players, right?”
“Ah, yes, I did.”
“Now is the time to use that ability.”
...It felt like nothing had changed from the first half, except for the last words about evading body checks, which were just repeating the tactical instructions I'd given from the bench in the first half.
The only addition was just assigning me more responsibility?
Well, since I hadn't thought about the instruction to evade charging players with my ability, it had some meaning, but it felt more like dumping responsibility than giving tactical instructions.
'No, no. Trust Diena. Ryu Ha-neul, don't think like that!'
But soon I snapped out of it. My feeling that nothing would change was just from my weak desire to blame Diena because the situation was bad.
As evidence, when Diena said that, the other players looked at me with eyes mixed with belief.
“...Yes. I'll try.”
And with Diena, she would definitely present something else.
“Yeah, let's work hard! We can definitely win! Let's take enough rest and enter the second half. They rested on the ground the whole first half, so we should too. Hahaha.”
'...Is that it?'
But unlike my thoughts, Diena left the short tactical instruction and ordered the players to rest. Thanks to Diena's joke, the players' mood improved, but something felt lacking.
I looked at my mother in puzzlement, but in the situation where the coach had finished the tactical instruction, the assistant coach had nothing to add.
'Is this really it? No trick to break Bed Soccer?'
I kept staring at Diena in disappointment. But Diena just smiled faintly whenever our eyes met, without saying anything else.
And after seeing that smile, I immediately realized why Diena didn't add any more words.
'So that's it!'
This was the ace of aces. Diena had successfully incorporated an ancient Eastern classic into football tactics.
This was all an operation to pin me down and make me give my best performance!
...If I didn't think that way, I'd be cursing Diena to her face, so I eventually stopped thinking and focused on resting.
“Let's go! Let's win and bring joy to the Korean people!”
“Yes!”
“...Yes.”
Clap, clap. I clapped twice to wake myself up. The important thing now was not how Diena's tactics were, but how to break Bahrain's Bed Soccer. I focused all my mind on eliminating negative thoughts trying to devour me and how to win the match today.
'Yeah, Diena told me the answer.'
The answer was to evade all players trying to bump into me and create a path. Since I hadn't fallen just from a shoulder bump this time, there was no need, but I had practiced for unknown situations since childhood, so I was confident.
'Good. Let's try.'
The second half started. The start of the second half was Bahrain's attack. But Bahrain was more focused on passing the ball in their own field than aggressive attack, and we, except for me, had almost all players running like dogs trying to press forward.
“Waaah!”
Of course, in the midst of that, Bahrain's Bed Soccer continued.
But eventually, no matter how much they lay down, the difference in fundamentals meant we couldn't get the ball until more than 7-8 minutes into the second half, and Han Ye-jin who got the ball passed it to me.
'Ha-neul, I believe in you!'
The eyes of Han Ye-jin passing the ball showed her heart. Since she had been conserving strength during the press, responding to her expectations was only natural!
A Bahrain defender came running at me. Of course, while pretending to charge, he would try to bump into me to waste time. In the first half, I was panicked by the absurd situation, but now, after resting in the locker room and image training on how to deal with them, I had no intention of falling for the same tactic at all.
I controlled the ball with my sole and dragged it backward. The player's expression, thinking I would run forward, showed surprise, and I pretended to pass, inducing his fake.
And the top La Liga players couldn't not fall for my fake, and the moment his balance broke, I charged forward.
If it were normal, I would have passed here, but if I passed here, the receiving moment would delay the game as Bahrain players bumped, so I kept dribbling forward. Of course, there was risk in that.
The player I just beat was chasing closely behind me.
But in the direction I was going, Bahrain defenders were already waiting, and three of them surrounded me, so I dropped the idea of body check and started looking for an opportunity to steal the ball.
'Yeah, no matter how much Bed Soccer they like, if opportunity comes, steal it.'
The player in front extended his leg first. I controlled the ball with my sole and attached it to the side for the push-off, and when the player's foot came in front, I lightly flicked the ball with the top of my foot to avoid it. Then, from behind, I extended my leg.
But at that moment, I touched the slightly floating ball with my heel to control it.
And as intended, the ball drew a beautiful arc from behind and flew forward, and at the moment the defenders' gazes were focused, I ran forward and evaded their traps.
'Three here...!'
Three defenders surrounding me!
I quickly checked the players' positions and saw Kim Chae-ri running towards me unmarked.
Tap.
After passing the ball to Kim Chae-ri, forward, forward!
I believed Kim Chae-ri would pass back to me again and broke through the broken backline into the penalty box.
“Ha-neul!”
'You don't need to call! I won't say no!'
And Kim Chae-ri's pass cut through the grass and arrived at my feet. The defender in the penalty box attached to my penetration, but I beat the player with my two-footed dribbling honed for decades and faced the goalkeeper in a 1v1 situation.
Now what's left is shooting... or passing.
Tap.
I swung my leg wide as if shooting and pushed the ball to the left. And on the left, there was Yu-ri who had seen me running and pulled the defender out, then penetrated back into the box.
Yu-ri had left on loan, but only 6 months had passed, a short time to forget the chemistry we had built.
Pop!
A light sound rang from Yu-ri's toe. The goalkeeper who had been watching Yu-ri's perfect impact shot had no chance to block it.
“Waaaaaaa!!!!”
“Ha-neul!”
And Yu-ri came running. When Yu-ri who arrived in front of me extended her hand, I reached out too, Yu-ri high-fived, then extended the other side.
'...This is!'
After high-fiving twice like that, I shyly crossed my hands over my face. I raised my hands accordingly, Yu-ri made a shy expression, but since we were like one body, we jumped and lowered our arms forcefully.
“Riiuuu...”
And seeing Yu-ri follow my shy shout, a slight smile came out.
“What is this? Did you prepare this?”
“Yes, you taught me when I was young.”
...Well, at that time, Yu-ri's reaction was so bad that we couldn't do it together.
“Anyway. If you want to do it, say so. Good. I'll specially allow you to score in the league later.”
“N-no, that's not it.”
Well, Yu-ri's surprise-prepared ceremony wasn't bad.
...Except for the fact that her slightly grown chest was swaying and my eyes were drawn to that side.
Unlike that good atmosphere, even after scoring 1:1 like that, Bahrain didn't stop Bed Soccer. Probably thinking to drag the game to penalty kicks.
But Bahrain's ambition ended at the 80th minute of the second half.
Whistle - ding!
Finally, the referee blew for foul in an important position,
“Seo-hee senior!”
Han Ye-jin took the free kick.
Pop!
Han Ye-jin's free kick drew a perfect curve towards the goalpost. The free kick that hit the goalpost with a "tang" sound was sucked into the goal in front of the goal, and it didn't take long until that goal became the decisive goal of the match.
Whistle! Whistle! Whistle - ding!
With the match ending like that, Diena's figure smiling benevolently came into view.
'...Is this Diena's ability? Giving personal instructions to me, and in critical situations, using Han Ye-jin to create a free kick goal... Is that why people call her Diemoney, Diemoney?'
Seeing that figure, why did the nickname Diemoney for praising Diena suddenly come to mind in some internet? I carefully rolled the nickname in my mouth.
Diemoney, Diemoney, Diemoney....
It seemed like a nickname that felt comforting and warm.