My Goalkeeping System

Chapter 320 First Attempts

Just like always, Norman was using the four-three-three C formation, and today, he made sure he had all his starting players on the pitch except for class who had to sit on the bench for Merino to start.

It was always a hassle on who was going to start between these two as they both had their good qualities which were always needed in a match.

Carlos had the speed to quickly zoom past the left back and create chances but he wasn't that good with shooting, he was also able to produce good dribbles although he wasn't as good as Merino.

Merino wasn't as fast as Carlos with the ball on his feet but he didn't really need that to get past the defenders, he had very good ball control that allowed him to dribble efficiently, he's way more decisive when it comes to shots and somehow he manages to get into good positions to take care of rebounds near the edge of the opponent's box.

In conclusion, Carlos was way more technical and that's why he was considered more of a playmaker.

Merino on the other hand had better ball control and was better at shooting, Norman putting him in this match meant that he needed goals as soon as possible.

Spree City were using the four-three-three formation, the normal one with three central midfielders, and upfront they had Felix, Jelani on the right and Torres on the left.

Fredinho was standing over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle and as soon as he heard it, he quickly pushed the ball to Minino who quickly sent it rolling back to Martinez.

"There's the whistle and we are on the way," Jim said.

Spree City began with their style as soon as they heard that whistle and what was their style? Aggressively chasing the ball, that was their style.

They were trying to put pressure on the guests and make them make mistakes unaware that they had figured out how to deal with what they were doing.

They remained calm and passed the ball around in their half while looking for a way through.

"Spree City players are chasing the ball aggressively but that doesn't seem to be working as Unique FC players are calmly passing the ball around in their half."

Mateo received the ball from Roland but Jamie was quickly heading toward him from behind.

Instead of moving forward with the ball or returning it to any of his teammates, the winger moved the ball back with his backheel, the ball rolled backward in between the midfielder's legs as the winger caught hold of it before it could go any further and stretched it to Ferran who was closing in on the center of the pitch.

"Oh, nice backheel nutmeg from Mateo, I'm sure Jamie's not feeling good after that," Jim said.

Ferran caught hold of the ball before he could run into the midfielder heading toward him and quickly sent the ball back to Mateo before the midfielder could get to him.

"Back to Mateo."

Mateo found Merino on the right wing and quickly floated the ball over to him.

"Floated over to Merino."

Merino brought the ball down with his chest and just before the player heading toward him could get to him, he pushed the ball to Minino who quickly laid it off for Ferran who had just gotten past the midfielder but the midfielder wasn't going to let him through as he quickly stretched his leg and brought Ferran down from behind.

"Oh, that is a terrible challenge from Dennison," Jim said.

The referee blew his whistle and quickly rushed to Dennison to show him a yellow card.

"As expected, he's going into that little black book," Jim said. "The first booking of the game as early as the ninth minute."

"It's a good thing for Unique FC that Ferran's not staying down after that tackle," Steve said as the midfielder slowly got up from the floor with the help of Mateo.

The foul happened forty yards away from Spree City's box so there was really no need for them to panic.

Unique FC could have taken the kick quickly, but it took Ferran a while to get up so they had to take it normally.

"There's no way no one will score a free kick from there is what I would have said in this situation if I have never seen Dave Richards shoot from his box," Jim said.

"Yeah, maybe they should allow Dave to take care of the free-kick," Steve said.

That was a good idea, but it wasn't what Mateo had in mind as he happened to be the one standing over the ball as the other players slowly moved back toward the box.

He stood over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle, and as soon he heard it, he quickly took two steps before he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it floating toward the box.

Fredinho was standing just at the edge of the ball when he jumped up to get his head on the ball just like the defenders around him.

Fredinho ended up getting the back of his head on the ball and that was all he needed to send the ball flying toward the top right-hand side of the goalpost.

"Fredinho!"

The goalkeeper dived toward it, but there was no point in that as the ball ended up hitting the crossbar before flying over for a goal kick.

"Oh, that was so close."

"It's quite a surprise that Spree City has not been able to touch the ball until now," Steve said as the goalkeeper dropped the ball at the edge of the box inside the eighteen-yard box. "Unique FC had one hundred percent ball possession until now."

The goalkeeper observed the area for a while before he sent the ball flying in toward the right side.

Ferran caught hold of the ball in the air, but before he could do anything with it, Jamie was right there to steal the ball from him.

"Jamie's aggressiveness works well to take the ball from Ferran."

He pushed the ball to Dennison who sent it rolling to Kelano with a single touch.

"Kelano."

Kelano slowly moved the ball toward Roland to try and take him on but almost losing the ball to the left back made him rethink his choice and move the ball back to Jamie who quickly sent it to Felix.

Felix moved the ball to Torres as soon as he got hold of it to avoid losing it to Adolf.

"Torres."

Torres tried to dribble past Norman, and when that didn't work, he decided to use speed.

He raced further down with Norman chasing him, and just before the ball could go past the line, he sent it rolling into the box through Norman's legs.

The ball moved past Aima toward Felix who quickly fired the ball toward the left side of the goalpost before Adolf could get to him.

"Felix!"

[ Ball magnet activated ]

Dave dived toward the ball just in time to push it out toward Roland who quickly cleared the danger.

He didn't really need ball magnet to make that save but didn't want to take any chances.

"Nice save from Dave as expected and Roland was there to clear the danger," Jim said.

"With that, both teams have made their first goal attempts."

'I won't let you score against me.' Dave said subconsciously as he slowly got up from the floor with his gaze on Felix.

****

Mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.