My Goalkeeping System

Chapter 267 Hoarding The Ball

Merino was standing over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle, and as soon as he heard it, he quickly rolled the ball back to Martinez.

"And we are on the way," Jim said. "Judging from what they did against Tereville United, Black Roz FC are going to try and run the match with their midfield but I'm not sure it's going to be that easy for them here."

"Black Roz FC has always been one of the best teams in the Bilbeth Premier League, they've won the league a total of six times throughout history and now they've returned from relegation and started the season with a good victory, however, they have a very bad match history against Unique FC, they've faced them a total of fifteen times including the cup matches and they didn't win or draw any of those fifteen matches."

"They lost all of them?"

"Yeah, the closest they came to drawing a match against the Uniques, not winning, drawing a match with them was in 2012 when they managed to grab an equalizer against them in the eighty-ninth minute.

"There were just four minutes of added time, and in the second minute of that added time, they won a free kick right at the edge of the box.

"Ivan Curry stepped up to take the free kick and he did well to send it into the goalpost from the bottom left-hand corner and like that, their winning streak against them continued to today."

"That's pretty bad for Black Roz FC but let's hope they can break that winning streak today and start setting their records straight but I don't think the current Unique FC will make things easy for them, if it was the Unique FC of earlier last season, then things would have been a bit easier for them." Jim articulated.

"Yeah, it sure would have been a little easier than them, now they have an impenetrable fortress as a goalkeeper and their defense has gotten better although Norman isn't using his starting wing backs in this match." Steve expressed.

Seven minutes had gone since the match kicked off and Unique FC were still with the ball, Ferran had lost it at some point but Frankie was very quick to recover it, Minino may have been the one given the role of moving around freely but the twenty-one-year-old had been all over the pitch so far and he had done quite well to recover the loose passes that had almost given the ball to Black Roz FC.

He received the ball from Jonas and quickly flicked it past the player heading toward him before he sent the ball rolling toward Ferran.

"I'm surprised I hardly see Frankie on the pitch, what is Norman thinking, always keeping him on the bench? He's a great player, he's the reason his team is still with the ball." Jim said.

"He's fighting for his place in the team, that's what I see," Steve said.

Ferran tried to push past the two players blocking his path with the ball but when he realized that he was going to lose the ball if he forced it, he pushed the ball back to Minino who quickly sent it back to Martinez.

'You were right about Frankie having potential, he is currently the best player on the pitch, coach should think of starting him more often, Edward and Harry and great midfielders but Frankie is more physical and we need to always have a player like that in midfield.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously.

Black Roz's defense was quite hard to get through and Unique FC weren't quite ready to take any risks in their attempts to break past it.

They were playing with the same formation as Unique FC but it wasn't in the same order, their midfielders were distributed equally in attack and midfield, they had two attacking midfielders and two defensive midfielders.

"I can't believe the match started ten minutes ago and Black Roz FC haven't gotten a single pass," Jim said.

"It sounds quite unbelievable but it's happening before our eyes and it looks like they're starting to get infuriated by Unique FC's swift passes," Steve said.

Just like he said, Black Roz FC players were losing patience after not being able to get hold of the ball since the match kicked off, they had zero percent of ball possession, and all the ball possession belonged to Unique FC.

They were aggressively chasing the ball now but Unique FC players remained calm as they passed the ball around in their attempt to find an opening to create something.

Martinez received the ball from Ferran and quickly sent it to Jonas who quickly zoomed past the player quickly heading toward him before he sent the ball toward Minino from the top.

"Jonas to Minino from the top," Jim commented.

Sending that ball over like that wasn't the best thing to do as Minino was soon engaged in an aerial duel, the Black Roz player ended up winning the aerial duel but Frankie was there to quickly steal the ball.

"Frankie leaving his position to help out Minino but he could be in trouble here," Jim said.

Another Black Roz player was there to take the ball away from Frankie but before he could attempt that, the midfielder quickly sent the ball back to Luis Roberto with a flick.

Luis Roberto was right behind him so it didn't require much force to get the ball to him.

Roberto received the ball and quickly sent it rolling back to Dave.

"Looks like Unique FC just avoided losing the ball once again and again Frankie was the main man behind it," Steve said.

As soon as that ball was sent to Dave, Frankie returned to his position as Minino quickly ran deep into the opposition's half.

Dave moved forward with the ball a little before both of Black Roz's strikers quickly began to rush toward him, so he had to send the ball, but he didn't just send the ball in, he sent it to a particular someone.

Minino zoomed past Merino and the defenders in the area to bring the ball down with a neat touch.

'Just shoot Minino!' Dave screamed, internally.

The defenders were slightly behind him now but before he could make a move toward the goalpost they had all covered up but no worries, he had something else in mind after all.

"This could be their chance."

He found Mateo on the left and quickly flicked the ball to him without thinking much about it.

Mateo received the ball and brought it down neatly but he wasn't in a good position to shoot so he quickly sent it to Ferran who had gotten to the edge of the box now.

"Ferran."

Ferran feigned shooting toward the goalpost to startle the players in front of him before he laid it off to Merino.

Merino was heading toward the edge of the box now and without thinking twice about it, he sent the ball flying toward the goalpost with just a little bit of elevation.

"Merino!"

The ball was sent flying toward the right as the goalkeeper dived toward it, but he wasn't able to stop the ball as he only managed to push the ball off a bit to hit the post before falling into the goalpost.

"And he hits the target!" Jim exclaimed.

The fans went wild as Merino quickly rushed to the side and did a double flip before his teammates began to gather around him.

"They are in front, a wonderful set up from Ferran and a wonderful finish from Merino, the first ever goal attempt in the match translates into a goal." Steve expressed.

'I wanted the assist but this works too.' Dave said subconsciously.

****

Mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.

Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.