My Goalkeeping System

Chapter 419 Dave Vs Mateo

Chapter 419  Dave Vs Mateo

"Alright everyone, Lazio are looking pretty tough, we all saw what they did against Villarreal through the highlights so this match isn't going to be as easy as the first one."

Norman was standing in front of the players as he said that as they seemed to be getting ready for a practice match.

"I think we heard something similar the last time before we faced them," Minino muttered before stretching both of his hands.

"For this practice match section, I'm just going to check something and see how we can deal with their high pressing and unexpected crosses, that's what they used to punish Villarreal so there's no doubt they'll try to use it again." He explained. "Also, we need to work on your counter-prevention methods, if it wasn't for Dave in the last match, we could have conceded a goal there."

After explaining everything, the practice match looked less like a practice match and more like just a field practice to see how their defense could stop their attack from running riot against them, both teams had goalposts though.

To see what he wanted to see and not just go for fairness like they used to do in their normal practice matches, Norman was going to put his best attacking options in one team, and his best defensive options in one team.

He made the requirement for both teams to be just six players each so Mateo, Minino, and Fredinho were on one team and the other team had Adolf, Aima, Norman, and Roland.

That was the standard for both teams and then of course the defensive team had to have Dave as their goalkeeper he was part of the team's best defensive options after all.

That was the defensive team's fifth player and for their sixth player, they just called up Minino to fill that role, they will have to attack when they get the chance, so he can help with that alongside Roland.

The remaining three players for the attacking team were Martinez and Ferran to make up a proper midfield and then Alexander in the goalpost.

For the attacking side, it was all attack, a little bit of defense with Martinez and the midfield and for the defensive side, it was all defense and just a little bit of midfield with the potential of turning into attack there.

The kick-off was going to be done by the defensive team as Minino was with the ball in the kick-off spot now and the referee was going to be the assistant coach as Norman was going to be observing from the sidelines.

The referee made sure both sides were ready before he blew the whistle and as soon as Minino heard that, he sent the ball rolling back to Roland who quickly pushed it to Adolf.

"Hey, Dave, you feel like trying something?" Adolf said before pushing the ball to him.

"Umm…sure." The goalkeeper said before he gave the ball a little push and fired it toward the goalpost just before Mateo and Fredinho from the other side could get to him.

They were using makeshift goalposts just like the ones Dave used to have in his old place and the distance between both of the goalposts wasn't that much so Dave didn't have to apply that much power to get the ball through.

It would be normal to assume that he would be able to convert the ball from such a short distance after all he's done it a lot of times in matches but there was a small problem.

The problem was that Dave had not really practiced long-distance shots with this type of goalpost so the chance of his accuracy being off was there and his accuracy was a bit off as it grazed past the crossbar from the right and fell off escaping Alexander's gloves.

"Dave," Norman grumbled from the sidelines causing the goalkeeper to turn his gaze to him. "Please don't do that, if you keep doing that every time you guys get the ball and I know you can from this short distance, I won't be able to see what I want to see."

"Alright, I'm sorry, I'll just be the goalkeeper and stick to keeping the ball out." He apologized after raising both of his hands.

"There goes our secret weapon." Minino sighed before turning his gaze to Ferran who was standing right in front of him. "This would have been way easier with him dishing out the ball from the goalpost."

"But that defeats the whole purpose of the practice," Ferran said.

"Yeah, you're right," Minino admitted before putting down his head but then a smirk suddenly appeared on his face as something popped into his head.

"What's with that look on your face?"

"Coach never said anything about him sending out long balls." He intoned with that smug look still on his face.

"Also, Dave, you'll have to refrain from sending out long balls," Norman said with his gaze on Dave who responded with a nod.

That was right after Minino said that to Ferran.

"Oh, come on!" The midfielder snarled before kicking the floor.

"I guess that's also out of the options." Ferran smiled before turning away from him.

With everything now settled, the practice session with the attacking team now with the ball.

Martinez was slowly pushing down with the ball, and just before Minino could get to him, he pushed the ball to Merino who had Roland heading over to him, but just before the left back ran into him and brought him down, he had already played Fredinho through.

Well, not exactly through because he had to deal with Adolf and Aima with both Minino and Roland quickly returning but it's not like he had to do that alone.

He feigned firing the ball toward Aima who was quickly heading toward him and when that failed to work against the defender, he pushed the ball back to Fredinho with a backheel pass before avoiding running into the defender.

That pass to Fredinho was a bit tricky for the striker because Minino was already marking him but he was able to skillfully get away from the midfielder and without hesitation, he sent the ball rolling to Mateo who chipped it over Norman as soon as he got his foot on it but he wasn't able to do anything with it as Adolf was able to get to the ball before he could get past Norman and get his foot on it, and because the defender didn't have the time to control the ball properly, he just sent it out for a corner kick.

"Don't give him that much space, Norman!" Adolf barked before pointing toward Aima to take the other far end of the goalpost.

Ferran was standing over the ball now waiting for the whistle, and as soon as he heard it, he sent the ball flying in.

That was a pretty bad corner kick from Ferran as he failed to get it to any of his teammates and Adolf ended up sending it away with a header.

However, it didn't look like the danger lurking around their box was gone yet as the ball fell toward Martinez who quickly sent it flying over to Mateo.

The winger brought the ball down with his chest and just before Norman could get to him, he sent the ball into the box with a low cross.

Fredinho closed up on the ball from the edge of the box and managed to get his leg on the ball.

He sent it rolling toward the right but he should have tried to stretch that a little bit or at least added a little more shot power as Dave had absolutely no problem stopping that.

As soon as Dave caught that, Martinez began to quickly return before he could get up with it, the coach said no long balls but he didn't say anything about long throws.

The goalkeeper quickly sent the ball flying toward Roland who was pushing forward at the same time as Minino, and as soon as the ball got to the left back, he brought it down with his foot and kept moving forward with it.

He had Merino right on his trail with Martinez right in front of him.

Minino was running right down the middle with Fredinho right behind him, everyone else including the defenders were following closely from behind because they believed that they could get a goal from this and it would be a shame to their opponents who were all attack if they scored first.

As soon as Roland was about to enter the box, Martinez stopped running and turned to stop him but the left-back was fast enough to send the ball rolling toward Minino before Martinez could try stopping him.

Martinez neatly avoided Fredinho who didn't press his breaks on time to get a shot off and that could have been the moment but the ball ended up hitting the post before bouncing off toward Mateo.

Mateo had both Norman and Adolf marking him but the way he nutmegged the right back evaded the center back left them both dumbfounded.

He didn't stop after getting past the both of them, he was heading toward the goalpost with the only challenge left being Dave and everyone else right behind him.

"Oh, dear," Dave muttered as soon as he saw the winger heading toward him with the ball.

<Well, look what we have here, it's Dave versus Mateo>

*****

Hey, everyone sorry for not updating for a while, I was down with a fever but I'm starting to feel okay now. I'll try to update one or two more chapters today to make up for the lost days.

Hey, everyone sorry for not updating for a while, I was down with a fever but I'm starting to feel okay now. I'll try to update one or two more chapters today to make up for the lost days.