My Goalkeeping System

Chapter 52 No Urgency, No Tactics

The clock was showing twenty-five minutes now, twenty-five minutes since the match began and Unique FC were still one goal behind.

That goal from Tello had taken them by surprise, the way he took care of Jonas and the way he fired the shot from there were things that had taken them by surprise.

Litno FC were a side quite similar to Unique FC, they liked to keep the ball just like them and that was the reason why Unique FC were struggling a bit with possession here.

From the time they conceded that goal to this point, they had only managed to get one shot on target.

A ball that had been crossed deep into the box, Fred rose high and met it with a nod but it had deflected on the head of the player who jumped up with him at the same time and fell toward the goalkeeper for an easy catch.

After that it was as though they had run out of things to do, every other attempt by them to start an attack had failed and they had just resorted to pointlessly passing the ball around.

'I knew it was going to turn out like this at some point.' Dave thought stuffing a piece of pizza in his mouth.

The Angel had just entered the thirtieth minute as Pirlo received the ball from Edward at the edge of the box and quickly rolled it down to Norman Kole.

"We have just fifteen minutes to go in on the break and Unique FC are still trailing behind," Jim said.

"I think they lack the urgency to really get the ball forward and do anything, they are playing it safe for the meantime," John said.

"Playing it safe won't equalize that one-goal lead," Jim said as the replay of that goal by Tello was showing on the screen now.

The way the winger got rid of Jonas without even touching the ball was one of the best parts leading to that goal.

"He was like, hey, Jonas stop me if you can," Jim said.

He wanted his team to win, he really wanted them to win as that was the only way they could move closer to their goal of qualifying for the UEFA conference league but watching Jonas get deleted like that gave him some kind of satisfying feeling.

He claimed to be the best left back in the team but his form had just been terrible in the last three matches and it looked like it was going to continue with this match.

Emma had been quiet for quite a while since the match began, she had her legs crossed on the couch with a slice of pizza in her hands and her gaze on the television's screen.

Dave turned his gaze to the table where her glass of juice was standing untouched with his empty cup standing beside it.

He then turned his gaze to her and that was the moment the two made eye contact.

It stayed like that for about ten seconds before she quickly turned to her glass of juice and grabbed it.

"I told you, you would have to go get your refill yourself." She said,

"Please." Dave pleaded.

"No." She said trying to look at him with a straight face but the smiles were just coming in from nowhere.

"Baby please."

Emma stared at him without knowing exactly what to say to him, she wanted to say no again but when she opened her mouth something different had come out.

"Fine," She said as she rolled her eyes before grabbing the glass cup and getting up from the couch. "But no amount of begging will change my mind the next time."

"There won't be a next time," Dave muttered with a little chuckle.

"What was that?" Emma asked quickly, turning to him.

"Nothing." He said, shaking his head.

She stared at him for a while before she slowly turned and continued her walk to the kitchen.

"Oh, he's crossed it to Nico who's in space, that is certainly a goal! What a goal!" Jim screamed.

Nico pulled off his top and started flinging it as he ran to the sideline with his teammates chasing him.

The guest fans were going wild with cheers and chants now.

"What a cross! What a volley!" Jim exclaimed. "That was sensational!"

"How did that happen?" Dave said with a horrid look on his face as Litno FC's scoreboard switched from one to two with Unique FC's side still showing zero.

He had only seen the cross and the volley at the edge of the box, he had no idea of how the attack started but that was nothing to be worried about as the replay was going to be shown very soon.

Minino had carelessly lost the ball in the middle of the pitch to one of the opposition players who quickly extended the ball to Nico.

The center forward found Tello making a run down the right wing and quickly passed the ball to him.

Jonas tried to bring him down with a sliding tackle but that had gone horribly wrong for him as Tello tipped the ball before jumping over him to continue his run.

He found Nico at the edge of the box as the defenders had quickly run past him to defend a possible cross or even a shot from Tello but none of them had remembered to mark Nico.

He received the cross from Tello and neatly slotted it at the bottom left side of the goalpost.

There was exactly nothing Alexander could do about that shot, he was glued to the spot as the ball rolled into the net.

"Look at the look of devastation on the faces of the players here, with just seven minutes left for the break, they are two goals behind now," John said.

Mateo didn't know how to feel about that goal as he fell back in his seat. You couldn't imagine what was going on in Ferran's mind now as he was watching what was going on on the pitch with a face void of any expressions.

"I heard Jim scream, who scored?" She asked before turning her gaze to the screen to see that Litno FC were two goals up now.

"Oh." She said before dropping the glass of juice on the table and sitting beside him.

The match had continued but Dave no longer had confidence in his teammates doing anything as that was what they had been doing since the match began, nothing.

No through balls, no exceptional individual performances, no breaking into defenses, they just didn't know what to do and still, Norman wasn't ready to make any changes yet.

"Just so that you are aware, we've finished the juice," Emma said but there was no response.

After seven minutes and two minutes of added time without Unique FC being able to do anything Unique, the referee had blown his whistle to signal the end of the first half.

"There you have it, the first half comes to an end with Litno FC leading the race after having slotted two goals into the goalpost of the hosts, and with them not being able to respond to the goals it had stayed that way," Jim said.

"Like I said before, they've just not had that urgency to push forward, you know, get the ball forward and do something and they also seem to be lacking the tactics to do anything meaningful," John said.

"Yeah, and the mistakes from the left side of their defense especially is the reason why they are two goals behind now," Jim said.

"Tello seems to be too much for Jonas, he has to find a way to stop him or they are going to be conceeding more goals in the second half."

"The players are making their way down the tunnel now to have a little rest before the second half kicks off," Jim said. "It has been a one-sided half so far and if Norman doesn't make any considerable changes to his team and tactics then it might as well continue that way in the second half."

'If this match ends with us losing then qualifying for the conference league just got tougher.'

There was no other way to say it, given the fact that Lesica United were able to surprisingly hold Supreme United to a one-one draw last night, and losing this match would mean that they would remain five points behind Lesica United who had easier matches upcoming.

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Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If I get up to a hundred golden tickets before the end of the month I will release six chapters on the first of December.