My Goalkeeping System

Chapter 39 What Was Norman Thinking?

Dave's head injury had happened during the dive for the ball coming into the box which means that he must have made some kind of collision with someone.

"If Dave is unfit to continue the match after this that means that sixteen-year-old Alexander will be making his debut for Unique FC," Jim said.

"Yeah, it's been ten minutes now and he's still lying on the floor," Steve said.

"He made a collision with Sandro but the striker is still standing like nothing happened," Jim said. "He made a collision with an iron head."

[ Blood spill has stopped ]

[ -10 Energy ]

[ Healing process has begun ]

Dave slowly sat up on the floor after the wound on his forehead head had been covered up with a bandage.

"Should I tell the coach to bring you off?" One of the medical personnel asked him.

"No, no, I can continue," Dave said, waving him off.

"Are you sure, what you just sustained is a head injury and you've lost quite a lot of blood?" The medical personnel said.

"I can continue," Dave said.

The medical personnel turned his gaze to Adolf to help him out here but before Adolf could do anything, Ferran had already squatted down beside him.

"Hey, man are you sure you can continue?" Ferran asked.

"Yeah, I'm sure, I'm okay," Dave said.

"Okay," Ferran said, getting up. "He says he can continue, leave him to continue, he'll come off if anything starts happening but for now he's okay," Ferran said to the medical personnel.

"Okay." The man said before he began to walk back with his team.

Ferran helped Dave get up back on his feet and as soon as he was standing again, the fans erupted with cheers and applause as they were happy to see the goalkeeper standing again.

Emma let out a deep sigh of relief as she was glad to see that what had happened to Dave wasn't exactly something serious.

"Oh, Dave Richards is back on his feet and surprisingly he looks okay," Jim said.

"He says he can continue," Adolf said after walking up to Norman who had Alexander standing beside him now.

"I can see that but start warming up Alexander, just in case," Norman said.

"Yeah, but Alexander he has started warming up on the sidelines now which means that there's a chance that Dave may come off," Steve said.

<Your Energy is very low Dave>

'I am aware of that.' Dave replied.

<Are you also aware that there's a chance that you may pass out during the match?>

'Huh?'

<Your energy drops with any energy-consuming thing you do, like walking and once it drops to one, you're falling unconscious>

[ 23/100 Energy ]

'I can do it, I just need to get that last crucial save and get the quest done.'

<The quest is not more important than your life>

'I know but my Energy hasn't gone that low yet, I'll ask to be taken off if it falls below five.'

[ 50/100 HP ]

<Okay, at least your HP looks okay>

The match had kicked off with Carlos rolling the ball to Ferran and now it was time to see if Unique FC were going to get an equalizer.

"Unique FC are behind again with the clock showing fifty-three minutes, will they be able to get an equalizer against ten men Ronino FC?" Dave said.

"Well, we'll have to watch and see," Steve said.

Unique FC had pressurized Ronino's defense from both wings and had gotten two clear-cut chances but both of them had gotten wasted by Fred.

For the first chance, Ferran played Jonas through on the right wing.

The left-back sped past the player marking him and without trapping the ball, he sent it flying into the box.

Fred was in a very good position to trap the ball before drilling it low toward the goalpost but he had gone for a volley instead.

He struck the ball with his boots and it was sent flying over the bar not even coming close to the goalpost.

The second chance was the most annoying of them all.

Edward had received a pass from Minino and after feigning to make a run toward the right wing, he had passed the ball to Ferran.

Ferran used the moving speed of the ball to zoom past two players before playing a pass to Fred at the edge of the box.

Ferran quickly made a run into the box while asking for the ball back but Fred didn't listen to him as he made a swift turn from the defender that was marking him and shot the ball toward the goalpost.

It was a low shot, but it had just rolled off for a goal kick, it was so close to going in but it didn't go in so that didn't mean anything.

"Oh, that was so close," Jim said.

"Very close indeed but he could have passed the ball back to Ferran inside the box, the midfielder had created enough space for shooting," Steve said.

"Yeah and Ferran looks quite upset," Jim said.

Ferran seemed to be saying something as he angrily walked off the eighteen-yard box.

The match had gone till the sixty-second minute and right now Mateo and Roland were beginning to warm up on the sidelines.

"Oh, looks like Mateo and Roland Ryle will be coming on anytime soon now," Jim said.

"That's good, they really need Mateo in front, I expected Norman to bring him on way earlier than this," Steve said.

The match continued as Mateo and Roland got ready to come on as the official responsible for substitutions got his board ready.

The ball had gone out for a throw-in after Zen had knocked the ball over the line from blocking Jonas' attempted dribble.

"Mateo is ready to come on but the question is, which of the forwards are going to come off?" Jim said.

"I think it's going to be Carlos because Fred is the only pure striker there, so if Norman is going to bring on a winger then he has to bring off the winger," Steve said.

"Yeah," Jim said.

The official raised the board which showed the number nine on red and the number ten on the green.

"And I was wrong," Steve said with a little chuckle, he's bringing Fred off.

"That's a surprise, two wingers playing as center forwards," Jim said.

"I think the reason why he's bringing off Fred is that he's missed a lot of chances and hasn't been playing like himself, Carlos has been better than him so far," Jim said.

The stadium rang with applause as Mateo made his way into the pitch, the youngster had been one of the saviors of the club so far this season, one of the reasons why they weren't in a relegation zone like they were last season.

"Mateo has been wonderful for Unique FC so he deserves all the respect," Jim said.

"At nineteen years of age, he's already an important player for the team," Steve said.

After Mateo had come onto the pitch, Jonas had made the way for Roland Ryle and now it was time to resume the game.

Harry was on the sideline to take the throw and after trying to find any of his open teammates, he had thrown the ball to Roland who had just escaped from the player that was marking him.

Roland quickly passed the ball to Pirlo as soon as he received it and Pirlo quickly sent it across to Minino.

"With Mateo now on the pitch let's see if Unique FC will be able to get that equalizer," Jim said.

Minino had a lot of free space to cover before anybody got to him and that was exactly what he did.

He crossed into their opponent's side of the pitch before passing the ball to Ferran who was making a run into the box.

He wanted to shoot from there but there were many players in his way already so he passed the ball to Mateo.

"His first touch on the ball."

Mateo tried to confuse the player in front of him but the player wasn't fazed and had almost dispossessed him of the ball before he passed it to Roland on the wing.

Roland received the ball before drilling it back to Mateo who had made a run into the box now.

"Oh, he's in here."

Mateo got his foot to the ball and was about to shoot when a player slid down in front of him.

Fred would have already taken the shot and have it blocked by that slide but Mateo was as calm as ever.

Instead of shooting, the winger found Minino making a run into the box and made a short lobbed pass to him.

Minino got his foot to the ball just before it could hit the floor and drilled it low to the bottom left corner.

The goalkeeper had gotten a hand to it but it had still fallen into the goalpost.

"Oh, they've got their equalizer!" Jim screamed. "Great composure from Mateo to improvise and what a shot from Minino!"

The fans burst into cheers of joy as the midfielder's teammates gathered around him to pull him down.

"I know that was a wonderful strike from Minino but that goal was all Mateo, if he had taken that shot when he got the ball, that chance would have already been wasted," Steve said.

"Yeah, that kid should have been in the match from the start, what was Norman thinking?"