[Yes, the match has begun. Manchester City, wearing sky blue on the left side, have come out in a 4-2-3-1 formation. Emmanuel Adebayor is up front as the lone striker, with James Milner, Ho-young, and David Silva lined up behind him in the second line. Manager Guardiola has abandoned the 4-3-3 formation he used to insist on at Barcelona.]
[It looks safe to say that the tactical focus has been placed on Ho-young, with everything shaped around him.]
Manchester City had set up an asymmetrical system.
James Milner, who was strong in defensive work, was positioned slightly deeper on the left flank, while David Silva pushed higher up and took charge of playmaking from the side.
No matter that it was only a friendly, City had come fully prepared because this was still part of their build-up for the season ahead.
And their opponent was not a team to be taken lightly.
LA Galaxy.
They were the dominant force in the United States, having lifted the MLS title the previous season.
In Korea, they were known as the club Hong Myung-bo had played for, one of the heroes of the 2002 World Cup semi-final run, and recently they had built up their reputation further by investing heavily and bringing in famous European players at club level.
David Beckham had joined in 2007, and Robbie Keane followed after him, making them an exceptionally strong team by American standards.
Another star player was America's number one striker, Landon Donovan.
Every summer, LA Galaxy played friendlies against European clubs, and in the past they had usually arranged matches against major clubs.
Everything was for commercial success.
That was why they had originally been looking to schedule Manchester United or Barcelona again this time, but to everyone's surprise, they switched their opponents to Manchester City.
The board's judgement was that Ho-young would draw more attention than Rooney or Messi.
The appearance fee for Manchester City was also lower than for Manchester United or Barcelona, so for LA Galaxy it was a win-win.
For that reason, the stadium was packed to the brim.
It would not have been an exaggeration to say they had all come to see Ho-young.
Americans preferred American football and basketball to football, but Ho-young's popularity transcended sports.
Alongside Michael Jordan and Mayweather, he was one of the most famous sports stars in the world.
Anyone interested in sports, not just football, knew the name Ho-young.
To them, a Korean name was unfamiliar and hard to remember, but the people in the stadium had remembered it clearly.
"Ho-young!"
"Ho-young!!"
StubHub Center was filled with voices cheering for Ho-young.
It was hard to tell whether this was LA Galaxy's home ground or the Etihad Stadium.
Even the fans supporting LA Galaxy could not take their eyes off Ho-young's every move.
Whether he had the ball or not, they simply stared at him blankly.
[Ho-young is very lively from the start. It looks as though he's trying to leave his footprints all over the pitch.]
[He really is incredible. It's rare for a player's off-the-ball movement alone to draw this much attention.]
Transcendent versatility.
Ho-young was covering a vast area by himself in a variety of ways.
[Ho-young presses!]
[Sean Franklin can't move forward and passes the ball back.]
[Dan Keat receives it. He takes a step back and looks upfield.]
[Ah, Ho-young changes direction!]
[Ho-young's pressing does not stop! He cuts off the passing lane forward.]
With no easy option, Dan Keat had no choice but to play the ball back.
They could barely get out under the pressure, but whenever they tried to launch a long ball, Ho-young sprinted over and cut it out every time.
And it was not only him, the other players were also applying intense high pressing and forcing the opposition back aggressively.
It was a very different Manchester City from before.
[You can already smell Guardiola's influence. They are clearly trying to execute the 'six-second rule', winning the ball back within six seconds through thorough and powerful pressing.]
[Indeed, it will be very interesting to see how the tactics that failed at Barcelona will be used at Manchester City.]
In truth, it would be unfair to call Guardiola's six-second rule a failed tactic.
Barcelona's league points total at the time had actually been excellent.
It was just that Real Madrid had been even better.
And now that same image was beginning to appear at Manchester City.
Guardiola, the manager on the bench, and Ho-young, the manager on the pitch, were gradually becoming one and turning into something complete.
[Beckham is moving busily, but it doesn't look easy for him.]
David Beckham was second to none in work rate.
But in pressing, work rate, tackling, and everything else, Ho-young was superior, and he was erasing Beckham completely from the game.
It was the kind of sight that would shock Beckham's fans.
[Manchester City are slowing LA Galaxy's passing and forcing errors, making them self-destruct.]
Sure enough, the effect showed almost immediately.
[Ah, Bryan Jordan makes a mistake. The ball goes straight to Manchester City!]
That was where Manchester City's flow began.
David Silva drifted into the centre, and Ho-young moved up on the right to form an asymmetrical front two with Adebayor.
[One of Guardiola's specialties, positional changes. He identifies the players' talents and moves them into more efficient roles.]
In attack, David Silva came into the middle and joined the offensive phase.
It was because Guardiola believed, from his own analysis, that David Silva suited the central area better.
It was also one way of exploding the team's scoring power.
And then, in the 20th minute of the first half.
Manchester City, with their shape carefully organised, began to torment LA Galaxy relentlessly.
The players kept creating space, and Ho-young attacked those gaps with threatening movement.
From that point on, the flow shifted once more.
[Adebayor pulls wide, and Ho-young moves up as the lone striker.]
As that happened, LA Galaxy's deep defensive line began to shake.
Manchester City targeted that point and applied powerful pressure from midfield, gradually isolating LA Galaxy's defenders.
It was right then.
[One-two between David Silva and Ho-young. David Silva has the ball.]
[Ho-young makes a run through the middle of the second line!]
After dragging the defenders wide, Ho-young used his speed and acceleration to break forward again into the front line.
With holes already opening all over the defence, creating a scoring chance was as easy as taking candy from a baby.
This was the tactic Guardiola and Manchester City had prepared.
At the centre of it was Ho-young, and the finish was his responsibility too.
And soon, it brought results.
[David Silva threads a through ball into space!]
[Robinson and Leonardo try to chase, but they can't get there! Ho-young reaches it!]
Tap!
A perfectly precise first touch without the slightest wobble.
'This is it.'
In that moment, Ho-young felt it.
His touch on the ball was anything but ordinary.
Perhaps because he had been training steadily, the side effects he felt whenever he controlled the ball were much weaker than before.
He felt confident that he could now handle the ball completely at will.
And then.
Thud!
[Gooooooal!]
[Ho-young slots it away with ease! That's unquestionable finishing ability! Manchester City begin to pull ahead!]
The first goal came in the 28th minute of the first half.
The football itself had been more subdued than the fans had hoped for, as they expected an explosive performance, but for Ho-young it was an immensely satisfying result.
The tactic felt plain on the surface, yet full on the inside.
It was an intelligent tactic in which he did not have to overwork his body or mind. Simply moving as the manager instructed created perfect chances and goals.
Above all, it had the advantage of making things physically comfortable.
Since Ho-young did not need to spend long stretches on the ball, he did not need to waste as much energy, and he also received far fewer concentrated tackles.
Right man, right place.
Guardiola had assigned every player a role suited to them, and through that process, he had lightened the burden Ho-young had to carry.
The understanding and chemistry between the players were still not polished enough to say the football itself was excellent, but once the tactic fully sank into the team, it looked as though they could produce something incredible.
What they needed right now was time.
[We expected it, but the gap in quality really is severe. It feels like watching a first division side against a second division side.]
[Ho-young is dangerous even when he doesn't have the ball, and dangerous when he does.]
Especially when he had the ball, he was beyond imagination.
The more he touched the ball during the match, the more his feel for it improved, to the point where beating one or two pressing opponents was effortless.
[Ho-young beats Robinson and drives forward!]
[Leonardo is coming across!]
Having once again succeeded in dragging defenders out, Ho-young chose not to continue the dribble. Instead, he slipped a pass to James Milner and then made a run forward.
The exact same pattern as before.
Only the sequence had changed slightly, the overall structure of the attack was the same.
The result was the same too.
[Gooooooal! Ho-young scores his second!]
[Once the goal opened up for him, there's been no mercy since. LA Galaxy keep getting hit by exactly the same pattern.]
[More accurately, they are not allowing it on purpose, they know it is coming and still cannot stop it. Manchester City are playing efficient football with well-managed energy. That will be a huge help when they are involved in multiple competitions.]
But LA Galaxy's response was not weak either.
Just before the end of the first half, Adebayor lost possession, and in an instant it turned into a chance for LA Galaxy.
The flow suddenly quickened.
And then, as expected.
[Beckham on the right side looks up. A right-footed diagonal cross into the box!]
[Donovan with the headed shoooot!]
[Ah, Joe Hart saves it! The delivery was perfect, that was close!]
Class is permanent.
It had not resulted in a goal, but David Beckham's cross was as world-class as ever.
Ho-young looked at him with admiration in his eyes.
[David Beckham]
[Possessed Talents: Dead-Ball Specialist (T), Kicking of the Dead-Ball Specialist (SU), Unrivaled Crossing (SS), Artistic Sculpted Looks (SS-), Astonishing Work Rate (S+3), Sharp Off-the-Ball Movement (S), (More...)]
(You may covet one talent if the conditions are met.)
(If you covet a T-grade talent, you can acquire part of the sense.)
(For T-grade talents, you can acquire part of the sense by fulfilling Hidden Condition 3.)
(S-grade and above can only be coveted after achieving the hidden condition.)
(Condition 1: Play football together for 90 minutes)
(Condition 2: Record more attacking points than David Beckham in the match)
(Condition 3: Win the match by 3 goals or more)
(Hidden Condition: Opens when you covet at least one talent)
(Hidden Condition 3: Record 2 assists with right-footed crosses in this match)
At last, a title-grade talent he could covet.
And to be able to covet David Beckham's talent from the very start was deeply moving.
The conditions were demanding, but if he set his mind to it, none of them were impossible.
Ho-young shouted at Adebayor.
"Keep moving around inside the box!"
Now it was time to show what a delivery cross born from transcendent ball sense looked like.
(To be continued.)