My Goalkeeping System-Chapter 560: Game Over
This time, Mateo did manage to get the ball past Sentes but alas, it was like heaven itself was against him tonight as the ball ended up hitting the woodwork before flying out for a goal kick.
"Oh, and once again, it’s the woodwork preventing what could have otherwise been a marvellous goal." Jim sighed.
This time, Mateo didn’t even bother trying to put on a calm image and just kicked the grass in frustration.
The resounding gasps of disappointment in the stadium were especially loud. However, soon afterwards, applause began to build up.
Nobody knew who started it, but at the moment most of the fans were applauding and cheering on the player.
The best player in their team wasn’t having the best of the game tonight, so the best they could do was cheer him on and encourage him to try harder.
Mateo appreciated their thoughts and waved at them as he jogged back toward his half of the pitch.
"I’ve never seen Mateo struggle this much to find the back of the net this season. If he had been as deadly as he usually was in front of goal tonight, this match might have been over a long time ago." Steve commented.
"I agree," Jim said.
Given that their team was still fighting for that equaliser, Sentes wasted no time sending the ball out.
His goal was to find Lopez deep inside the opposition half.
Minino had dropped deeper, hovering around the D box at the moment and that gave Lopez enough space to receive the ball before quickly twisting away from Ferran with a feint followed up by a very fast spin.
Breaking away from Ferran, the youngster quickly took off toward the goalpost, trying to outpace Frankie, who was closing in from the side.
"Oh, oh, Lopez is on the loose. Can he provide another moment of brilliance tonight?"
The closer Frankie got to the youngster, the more he realised that he wouldn’t be able to outpace. If it had been when he just joined the match, that wouldn’t have been much of a problem, but his energy was mostly spent, and compared to Frankie, who had monstrous stamina, his stamina was really nothing to talk about.
However, not being able to outpace Frankie didn’t mean that he was helpless, this was a team sport after all.
Just before Frankie could get to the youngster, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Sai Ahmed who had Minino right behind him.
At this point, the whole Norlin FC squad were a bit fearful when it came to engaging in head-to-head duels against Minino. So, the striker had no intention of holding onto the ball for long.
The moment he got hold of the ball, Lopez quickly shifted toward the left, away from Frankie, and the moment he made that move, Sai Ahmed sent the ball rolling back to him.
"Sai Ahmed, sends the ball rolling back to Lopez."
At this point, Minino had already caught up to Sai Ahmed, leaving a bit of space in the middle with Adolf near the edge of the box and Codex moving a little toward the left to contain a player who was trying to fit himself in through the gap while Dennison was keeping Roland occupied.
The earlier hyperactive Lopez would have chosen to cut in through the middle and wreak massive havoc on Unique FC.
However, now, he was really afraid that Minino would be able to cut back in time and drag him to the ground before he would be able to do anything.
So, he decided to send the ball to the closest person in the area.
Terry, being the sharp player he was, wasted no time moving into the space left behind by Minino the moment it was created, and before he could call for the ball, the young midfielder had already sent it rolling to him.
"Lopez to Terry."
Sensing the danger brewing near the edge of the D box, Norman quickly dashed toward Terry with a sliding tackle. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
Unfortunately, Terry reacted fast enough, moving the ball away from him with a push before proceeding to jump over him.
Now, the ball was just on the edge of the D box, and before Adolf could dash out to do anything, the winger had already pulled his right foot back, firing at the goalpost.
"Terry from outside the box!"
The winger sent the ball flying toward the top right corner, the ball moving like a rocket.
Shots like this were a massive test of a goalkeeper’s reaction speed.
Fortunately, Dave had arguably the best reaction speed among all the goalkeepers in the Bilbeth Super League.
However, no matter how fast his reaction speed was, he was only able to get the tip of his gloves on the ball just in the nick of time to send it over the bar for a corner kick.
If he had been just a second slower, Norlin FC would have been celebrating their equaliser at this moment.
"Magnificent save from Dave! That was almost impossible!" Jim exclaimed.
"It’s always Dave with the impossible saves. I almost thought Norlin FC had their equaliser there, but Dave is there to save the day once again." Steve articulated.
The Unique FC fans almost had their souls leave their bodies witnessing that scenario, and after the shock subsided a little, they started cheering on Dave and the whole Unique FC team.
Dave, on the other hand, wore a serious expression as he adjusted his gloves.
Adolf was instructing his teammates to keep their guard up and control the Norlin FC players hovering around inside and outside the box.
It looked like Norlin FC really wanted to make bank with this corner kick as even Sentes had left his goalpost to join in on the fun.
"Looks like Norlin FC are quite confident that they’ll be able to produce something with this corner kick or else this could be costly.
It wasn’t just Sentes; most of the Norlin FC players were around Unique FC’s box, with just a few hovering around near the kick-off spot, just in case.
Dave scanned around for a while before he spotted Mateo pushing toward the halfway line from the left. The moment he spotted the winger, something clicked in his mind.
He was about to say something when Catherine, who had been quiet for a while now, suddenly spoke.
<Hey>
’Hm?’
<What are the chances of you catching this ball before anyone makes contact with it?>
’Well, that depends on how far away it is from the goal post, the corner taker places the ball and how high he sends. To be honest, it’s mostly about the height; if it’s not too far, I’m confident about catching it, no matter the distance. Trying that with a ball that goes too high might end up backfiring instead>
<Hm. Good thing his corner kicks never go up that high>
The moment she said that, Dave’s lips curled into a knowing smile.
’Looks like we thought of the same thing.’
The referee blew his whistle at that moment, and without wasting much time, Dennison sent the ball flying in.
"Can Norlin FC really make their stand with this corner kick?"
Dennison sent the ball flying toward the middle as a lot of his teammates were concentrated in that area.
The neutrals, especially, were waiting for chaos to ensue in that area at any moment, but before anything could happen, Dave dashed out and caught the ball with both of his gloves.
His left hand made slight contact with Sentes’ face before he quickly glided off toward the left, remaining on his feet.
"And Dave has absolutely neutralised the danger!"
The moment Sentes saw the ball in Dave’s hands, alarm bells rang in his head. It wasn’t just him, the same could be said for his teammates and their fans.
Anyone who had watched Unique FC’s games would be able to know that Dave Richards was the best at capitalising on this kind of situation, and his most frequent partner in crime was, obviously, Mateo Smith.
Sentes alongside his teammates quickly began to rush back, but how could they ever beat
Dave’s throwing ability?
The goalkeeper wasted no time hurling the ball to Mateo who had just gotten to the halfway line at the moment.
"Oh, Unique FC are trying to capitalise on Norlin FC’s moment of lax."
Mateo had no one to compete with him for the ball as he brought it down with his chest, but soon afterwards, two opposing players came dashing toward him.
They expected the young winger to try to dribble past them, so they were planning to be especially rough. Well, at least rough enough to get a yellow card.
Unfortunately, they guessed wrong.
If Mateo could hear their thoughts, he would respond with; Why would I do that when the goalpost is completely empty.
Before the two players could even get to him, the winger had already fired the ball straight toward the goalpost.
"Mateo from the halfway line!"
Everyone could only watch as the ball flew toward the goal post, bouncing on the goal line before flying into the goalpost.
