The game kicked, and the opposing team in blue received the ball first. They chose to pass the ball around the back for a bit before starting to move up the pitch. They moved the ball in triangles, so there was always an open man to get the ball. Rei's team in red dropped their depth and created a low block so all of their team was behind the ball. The red team started increasing the pace, so they could find a gap. And they did. They put a through ball on the left-hand side. The striker was through, the goalkeeper would win this attacker versus the goalie. The keeper went out at the perfect time, and he claimed the ball well.
Now it's the red team's time to attack the midfielder, and he started the counter-attack. He found Naruhaya after the orange-haired boy used his off-the-ball. To get the ball. Naruhaya, out of his peripheral, saw Rei bursting through, so he released the ball. The ball was a bit in front of Rei, but
nevertheless, he reached it and drove through the pitch at blazing speed, and tucked the ball into the back of the net.
He pumped his fist and ran back to the center circle.
The game restarted again, and the blue team, without wasting any time, pushed up the pitch. They stopped the ball and passed the ball around with haste in the final third. Rei's team returned to the low block tactic and tried to hunker down. Rei decided to press high and quickly, the defender was shocked and Rei stole the ball.
Now he has green space and acres of field to stretch his legs, Rei accelerated his fastest pace and was quickly coming up on the goalkeeper. He saw Naruhaya bursting through "Square pass Rei" he called Rei and decided to square as he had already scored once in this game.
Naruhaya passed it into an open net and wheeled around in celebration. "Whoo c'mon!" Naruhaya cheered. The blue team returned to restart the game with 15 minutes left of the first half. The blue team tried a new tactic of the wingers dribbling past the fullback, on the wing, and crossing it into the box for the striker to battle for.
They could not do that till the end of the first half, so the teams went in after the first half. With the blue scoring two goals, to the reds' nil. Rei went into the changing room happy with his first-half performance, he had got an assist and one goal. He sat down to gain some energy and drank some water.
10 minutes later, and it was time for the second half to begin, the red team started with the ball and chose the tactic that the blue team used for a majority of the first half. They then played the ball around the ball in their own half, and then they played a ball to the wing. The winger dribbled past a player and burst through the wing to try and get a good crossing angle. He could not see one, so he passed it back to the midfield, which switched the ball to the other wing. The winger found an overlap to the left back, he sprinted in to the space behind the defender and put a cross in, hoping Rei or Naruhaya would get their head on the ball.
Kageyama jumped up high, hoping that he could get reach the ball and put it into the net. He skimmed the ball and felt his head reach it. That was all the ball needed to go into the back of the net.
Kageyama went and cheered, and the red team felt that was all she wrote for the red team.
The game continued and the demoralised let-in near goals, but the red team could not finish the ball. Soon it was time to close the game and as what would be the final play of the game. Rei ran through to goal as a long ball went towards him, and all he needed to do was chip it over the keeper to give him a hat-trick. He wheeled off in celebration.
The coach blew the final whistle and called the players in "Boys well done today and I and the other coaches will go and figure out who we will put on the squad and put on the notice board in a few days", "Aye Coach!" the players said.
Players went into the changing rooms, the red team went in happy and the blue team went in feeling dejected and disappointed. Rei took off his boots and put on his other clothes and walked towards the park, which was where they were going to bunker down for the night. He sat down on a bench and went to get his sleeping bag from his bag. When he saw the same old man from yesterday. Sitting on the bench across from him.
"You come here often, old man ?" Rei asked "Yeah, I do I come here to forget my failures", the old man replied. "What do you do that was that bad, if I may ask myself?"
"The hopes of a nation once rested on my back, and I failed Japan ", the old man said.
"So just who are you old man" Rei questioned
"My name is Toby Makino",