204. The Korea-Japan Match with the Asian Cup. (2)
Before the Asian Cup final kicked off, the ground where the players were loosening up was thick with tension. Korea and Japan — no one needed to say it.
Ryu Ha-neul flicked the ball with his foot, casually checking the condition of the Japanese players. The Japanese players were loosening up without much conversation, just like us, but there was no sense of stiffness in their bodies.
It was fortunate that there were no such players on our side either.
“Japan is bringing out their passing football, right?”
“Hey, even if you try, it’s pointless. We have Coach Diana.”
Just as the Japanese players were gathered together trusting Shizuka, we were gathered together trusting Coach Diana.
“True, with Ha-neul here, we won’t lose.”
Of course, that kind of trust didn’t weigh on us. On the contrary, the more we trusted, the more our fighting spirit seemed to rise.
“Then, should I start with an advantage?”
He wanted to show something since they trusted him. The game could wait until after it started, but he wanted to show something right now to darken the Japanese atmosphere.
I flicked the ball I was trapping high into the air. Whoosh, and just as the ball came to a perfect spot to be kicked,
Thud!
Kim Eun-hye kicked the ball towards the goal where she was loosening up. And with a clang, the ball hit the crossbar and bounced back towards me. I trapped it once with my chest, then kicked it towards the crossbar again.
Clang.
And again, the ball bounced back. This time, since there was some distance, I moved my feet towards where the ball bounced, then kicked it towards the crossbar again.
Clang!
“Ooooh!!!”
The spectators who had entered the stadium before the game started let out murmurs at my trick. I enjoyed the sound and moved to where the ball bounced again.
Clang!
And again, the ball bounced off the crossbar. This time, without trapping, I directly volleyed it.
Clang!
The ball that hit the crossbar bounced far away, and the sound of the spectators clapping filled the air.
“Wow, Ha-neul! What was that just now?”
“Just, checking my condition?”
I answered the teammates who rushed over after seeing my trick, and casually checked the Japanese team’s reaction. Although it was far and hard to see clearly, I could feel that everyone was focused on me.
“After seeing such a trick, are you going to back down?”
Actually, the trick I did just now had no practical use at all; it was just for starting the match. Kicking the ball high and then volleying it to hit the crossbar was quite difficult, but after that, as the ball bounced back with increasing force, the distance got smaller, so it wasn’t that hard.
If I failed the first time? Then I could just pretend to be aiming for a goal, and it wouldn’t matter. And the same went after that.
When failing to hit the crossbar, most of the time the ball went inside the goal, so at the moment of failure, I could just casually pretend to aim for a goal while nodding with a serious expression.
And when it got too close and didn’t look impactful, I would kick it hard to end the trick.
In my previous life, the record was repeating this about 8 times. It was so famous that it even went viral with 100 million views on SNS worldwide. This could be considered my signature starting move.
And the players who experienced this would stare at me with dumbfounded expressions, just like the Japanese players now.
After that, some got scared and broke first, some didn’t, but anyway, the sure thing was that this level of starting advantage was enough.
…Well, because I did this too much, some guys would check my condition by seeing how many times I hit the ball, so in the later part of my career, I almost didn’t do it anymore.
But unlike back then, it seemed to have a pretty good effect now.
Clang!
From the Japanese side, the sound of hitting the crossbar came as if they were trying to show something, but there was no cheering from the spectators.
“They seem to be taking it too seriously. It’s a good feeling?”
Seeing the Japanese players imitating my non-practical starting trick, I felt that today’s match wouldn’t be too difficult.
“Shizuka, how is it? Do you have confidence?”
“Well, you’ll know once you try.”
Shizuka, the main defender and the core of Japan’s defense, answered her teammate’s question nonchalantly. But her mind was filled with confusion.
Actually, when it was said that she would face Ryu Ha-neul for the first time, Shizuka thought she had it. No matter how flying Ryu Ha-neul was, he was a man. And fundamentally, men couldn’t beat women.
Although she had heard stories of Ryu Ha-neul from various places while playing in Europe, Shizuka thought it was just because the team was Barcelona that he stood out. Of course, she admitted he showed good form in the World Cup, but the World Cup stage was slightly lower than club matches, so she brushed it off.
Of course, she didn’t deny that Ryu Ha-neul was a great player. She just thought he wasn’t at the level of the world’s best, as the media exaggerated.
Actually, Shizuka’s thoughts weren’t strange. Most players who hadn’t faced Ryu Ha-neul on the field thought the same way.
And there was reason for Shizuka’s confidence. She was a defender known for good defense in the EPL where the world’s best players gathered, and she had faced players like Ryu Ha-neul several times.
Moreover, the La Liga where Ryu Ha-neul played wasn’t as physically intense as the EPL, so she thought her rough physical play could suppress Ryu Ha-neul enough.
But that was her illusion.
The appearance of Ryu Ha-neul in the warm-up was beyond what she imagined.
He kicked the ball to hit the crossbar. Even in club training, she had done such bets several times, but she had never seen a player hit the crossbar 5 times in a row like that in the EPL. And that was when the ball was on the ground.
She had never seen the trick of kicking the ball high without trapping and volleying it to hit the crossbar.
Doing it 5 times? That was impossible. But that impossible thing had just become reality.
“…How am I supposed to stop that?”
The countermeasures Shizuka and the Japanese coaches made against Ryu Ha-neul were simple. Don’t let Ryu Ha-neul get too close to the box without shooting.
Then the guy would have to pass, and if she marked Ryu Ha-neul while adjusting the direction of the pass to one side, that would be it.
But if he had such absurd volleying ability, she would have to be careful even with Ryu Ha-neul outside the box.
A feeling that all plans were messed up from the start.
Honestly, she didn’t have confidence to block him. But she was the team captain. She couldn’t drop the morale of the teammates before the game started.
“Well, well. Everyone must have been surprised by Ryu’s play just now. But believe me. I’m behind you guys, so don’t worry about Ryu and focus on your tasks. And let’s show those guys who the strongest in Asia is.”
“Ooo!”
By forcing out confident words, the players’ expressions that had been gloomy after seeing Ryu Ha-neul’s trick brightened.
“Hoo, we can’t lose here. This match is going to decide the future of Japan for the next 10 years.”
Now in her early 30s. Probably the next World Cup would be her last for the national team. But despite the retirement age approaching, no superior defender had come out to surpass her.
And if Japan’s best defender in history, Shizuka, was defeated by Ryu Ha-neul, the aftereffects would be a big burden on the players leading the next generation.
Shizuka looked at Mori Ayaka, the young ace leading the next generation’s team. Mori Ayaka, who had been talking about Ryu Ha-neul’s danger since the final became a Korea-Japan match.
Ayaka was also a talented junior who had played 14 matches at Leverkusen and scored 6 goals and 7 assists, a talent rare for Asians to come to. And a junior who would lead Japan’s football in the future.
But Ayaka was at the level of warning whenever Ryu Ha-neul’s story came up just because she had faced him in the youth national team, to the point of having seizures. But would she lose in today’s match too?
It was as obvious as the nose on your face that the junior who would lead Japan’s football would be consumed by defeatism.
“Mori.”
Before the game started, Shizuka approached Ayaka and put her hand on her shoulder.
“Yes, senior.”
“Your role is important. Leave the back to me and crush them. You are a player good enough compared to Ryu, you can crush a Korean defense that’s not as good as ours.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. Believe in yourself. And believe in me behind you. I’ll keep connecting the ball for you.”
“…Understood. Senior.”
Thud thud, Shizuka patted Ayaka’s shoulder. Seeing that, Ayaka thought again that her situation was like a scene from a football manga that soothed her lonely life in Germany.
The protagonist who had lost to a rival, the protagonist meeting the rival again on the big stage of the final, the situation where the protagonist warns the teammates about the danger of the rival but no one believes, and the reliable senior supporting that protagonist.
Probably in a manga, this would be around the last scene of part 1.
“…Then, is this my turn to win?”
In the end, the manga’s ending is usually with the protagonist’s victory.
After failing in the U-17 World Cup led by Ryu Ha-neul, Ayaka had honed herself endlessly to reach Ryu Ha-neul. So this time, she had the resolve to reach him.
At that time, it was a bit disappointing that she didn’t get a handshake, but thinking back later, it meant that she wanted to challenge him and ask for a handshake. Probably the part 1 ending the manga’s author thought was her defeating Ryu Ha-neul and applying for a handshake.
“And the start of part 2, maybe it’s okay to go to Barcelona with Ryu and play together. Or Real Madrid. Tsk, but in the World Cup, I’ll be the enemy, so maybe going to Barcelona is better? My playing style also suits Barcelona.”
Just like that, among the Japanese players who were slightly stiffened after seeing Ryu Ha-neul’s starting trick, only Ayaka was burning with fighting spirit, unfolding her imagination.