The Rise of the Iron Wall!-Chapter 91: Hiroyuki is In! A Difficult Situation for Hakodate Nishi!
’Damn, he is finally in!’ Kumiko cursed inwardly when she saw Sappotani’s player with the jersey number 32 stepping onto the pitch. ’And with only five minutes left, nonetheless! Hiroshi-kun’s stamina will not be able to handle him! This is bad!’
The boy was Hiroyuki, the defensive specialist that Kumiko scouted in the past for being able to lock down Iwai from Ritsumeikan High for a full 90 minutes in their sparing game. Now that he had come in, Kumiko didn’t even need to second-guess here, as she knew that the main purpose was to stop Hiroshi.
’They are willing to go for a 10v9, believing that we couldn’t do anything without Hiroshi-kun, huh?’ She bit her lips nervously.
The girl wasn’t the only one who reacted this big. No, all the Hakodate Nishi players also felt the same way. They looked at each other hesitantly before Makino’s gaze fell on Kumiko, waiting for an instruction here.
’Oh, yeah, I am their coach right now.’ She swallowed a little bit, trying to rack her brain as quickly as possible.
Kumiko understood one thing as a leader here. She might be hesitating and unsure about her own assessment, but she could never let her subordinates see that. No, that would affect the overall mood, and it could also throw away all of their efforts before to the bins.
No, cannot control her emotions in this situation would be her biggest sin as this team’s leader.
’Hmm... Maybe, we can do this.’ An idea suddenly popped into her head before the girl rose from the bench, signalling something to Hiroshi with a sequence of complicated hand gestures. ’Stick with the original plan for the next play, but let the others get ready to defend if he manages to snatch the ball from you. Test him first, and if you think you can adapt to his defense in less than two minutes, we are going to stick with the same strategy.’
At least, this was the best strategy she could think of in a rush.
Honestly, this was also a decent approach. At the end of the day, they only knew Hiroyuki’s strong defensive ability from the video, but they had never seen it directly. It also didn’t help that the report said the boy didn’t have a lot of playing minutes in this tournament, which was enough to make them skeptical about their own judgment.
’If he is so capable, why would he still sit on the bench?’ That was the question lingering inside Kumiko’s head.
Of course, trying to make a challenge like this when they needed a goal with only five minutes left sounded stupid. That was why the girl emphasized to Hiroshi that he only had one play to assess the situation, and if the boy couldn’t do that, they would have to try a different approach.
Hiroshi also nodded solemnly; there was no excitement on his face.
While normally, he would love to face this kind of challenge head-on, this was not the time to do so. The best scenario inside his head would be that Hiroyuki wasn’t as tough as they imagined him to be, and they could score soon. However, that seemed to be asking too much here.
’As long as we can score, I don’t mind if he keeps his eyes on me all the time.’ The boy couldn’t help but think. ’At least, it is better to lose a duel but win the war, right?’
With that mindset in his head, the first time he got the ball again, the boy challenged Hiroyuki directly.
Or... Well... That was what he thought it would be.
However, even before he could touch the ball, Hiroshi could feel the pressure already, as if he were an ordinary worker who had just made a one-million-dollar mistake and was eyed by the big boss with full hostility. The feeling was suffocating, and the fact that Hiroyuki was tailing him from behind, even keeping only one step behind him, was ridiculous.
’Fuck! I cannot even get the ball here!’ He cursed. ’If I force my way, I don’t even think I can control the ball perfectly, let alone make any good play. No, I have to drag him out so that my teammates can have more space on the front.’
Takaaki, who was controlling the ball, also noticed Hiroshi’s struggle. The glasses boy gritted his teeth, knowing that he had to take action here. After all, he couldn’t ask Kumiko for any advice in the middle of the game like this, right?
’Screw it, I will go for myself!’
With the stubbornness that Takaaki himself didn’t know where it came from, he pushed the ball forward, trying to make a threat for the opponent’s side.
It was a little bit naïve to aim at the center, but once he got closer enough to Kuroki, the boy passed the ball to his senpai before continuing to enter the opponent’s penalty box, doing exactly the same as Hiroshi, as he wanted to attract the opponent’s defenders away from the ball.
Kuroki himself tried to hold the ball here. Unfortunately, Yuma Igari was more agile than him, and the opponent’s vice-captain managed to sneak one foot between Kuroki’s legs to poke the ball away from his possession.
Fweee!
"Throw in for Hakodate Nishi!" The referee pointed at Sappotani’s goal.
Kumiko also reacted quickly. She knew that her initial approach didn’t work, especially since Hiroshi was now entangled with Hiroyuki. So, during the throw-in, the girl asked Ishinori to slow down a little bit while whispering, "Ask Jun-kun to come forward later. You are also going to do the same."
"Um?!" It would be an understatement to say that the left back was surprised. No, he was dumbfounded here, wondering whether he had heard it right or not.
"Don’t worry, leave the defense to Ryukkun and Makino-kun. Fujinaga-kun and Kazawa-kun will also be close enough to help if things get worse. Right now, I need more crossing to the center. Try to use Jun-kun as the main target." She spoke quickly before rushing back to the bench, bowing a little under the referee’s stern gaze.
Ishinori was still unsure, but seeing his coach was so determined to gamble, he clenched his teeth, having no option but to follow the order.
’Fine! Let’s see whether it would work or not!’
