Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 146

Only Krnovel

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When the score was 2-0, Leon Harpers decided not to push any further and instead went out to consolidate the game.

It was a good choice.

In the past, when coach Shin Tae-young was in charge of the Olympic soccer team, they were leading 2-0 against Japan in the final of the U-23 Championship, but gave up three goals in the second half and lost 2-3, finishing as runners-up.

Leon may not have seen that game, but if it’s not 1:0 but 2:0, you can just focus on defense and secure the game without going overboard.

If you can’t control your excitement here and just shout “Attack forward!” and give them an excuse to score a goal, it will be a disaster.

“oh.”

Play was briefly halted as the ball went out of bounds.

Then Japan used the substitution card they had prepared, substituting five players.

All prepared replacement cards have been used up.

Just looking at the faces of the players being replaced, you can see their determination to score a goal.

‘Is it time for me to step forward?’

I wasn’t terribly worried.

Because I believe in our national team.

And more than anything, Leon changed his tactics to play this match safely rather than fighting back, so there was even less pressure.

Just do as you normally do.

Japanese attacks continued without pause.

Japan persistently attacked the right flank (because there was a monster in the center), and their intentions were well-received, so Leon decided to deploy more players to defend the flanks.

Japan has been continuously aggressive, but the results have not been borne.

‘This guy?’

I squirmed as I watched the trajectory of the curling kick go far past the goal.

And the flying shot.

Kaoru Mitoma hitting Son Heung-min in the zone.

But Mitoma is not Son Heung-min.

Although it wasn’t a Mt. Fuji explosion shot, it was a Shinkansen derailment shot.

“Come to your senses, Thomas.”

I muttered to myself lightly and took the ball the ball boy handed me.

You should do what you are good at. I understand that you respect Son Heung-min, but…

Since then, Japan has repeatedly attempted to attack as if it was being chased by something, as if it had no choice but to grit its teeth and do it.

‘It’s true that we’re pressed for time.’

Did Japan never expect this situation to come to fruition?

Japan, which had not expected to be defeated 0:2 by Korea in Tokyo, the heart of Japan, was trying to put out a sudden fire with a bucket.

“hmm.”

Another shot wide of the goal.

There was no need to be angry, so I just watched without wasting any energy.

Then, the Japanese player who made the shot clutches his head with his hands in despair.

‘The precision of the attack is too low. They are shaking up our camp, but their decisiveness is a complete mess.’

He’s good at moving around, dribbling, and passing, but his shot to cap it all off is terrible.

To the point where it’s a bit bland.

‘Is it because even Lee Kang-im and Son Heung-min are all on defense that there is no way to hit?’

Even the striker came down and defended.

From Japan’s perspective, they are becoming increasingly anxious because Korea is openly saying that it will solidify the score at 2:0.

If we don’t fight, you’ll just lose.

I keep pushing and telling him to please fight, but he absolutely does not respond···.

Time passed by like that.

10 minutes. 20 minutes. 25 minutes···.

Even though it was already the 85th minute of the second half, the score was still the same.

Leon also strengthened his defense by making appropriate use of his substitution cards, and Japan, which had no more cards, was busy sucking its thumb and watching the scene.

‘Now even the breakthrough has become dull.’

Attacking is an act that drains more stamina than you might imagine.

Japan had been pushing hard from the first half through the second half, and had already used up all of their substitution cards 25 minutes before the end, so their overall movement became slow.

‘That means it’s perfect for a counterattack.’

Use it.

If Leon just gives the order to twist and climb here, I think another wedge will appear.

Looking at the bench side, it doesn’t seem like that will be the case.

You don’t have to take such risks because you’ll win anyway.

Whether we win 2:0 or 3:0, we get the same three points.

‘That’s too bad.’

Well, it’s a shame, but as long as we win, that’s all that matters.

2:0 is also a complete victory.

“Minwoo!”

Kim Min-je passes the ball back.

The Japanese players were no longer able to apply active pressure.

It means that your stamina has been restored.

Meanwhile, a substitute player came running, but he was so slow that it didn’t even feel like pressure.

“Jinseok!”

I handed it over to Kim Jin-seok, who has been running around all day.

Although the side was completely empty, the left side, which Kim Jin-seok was in charge of, was in better shape than the right side.

Kim Jin-seok receives the ball from me, looks around for a moment, and then passes it back to me.

‘okay!’

I sent it straight ahead with one touch.

With a quick and accurate kick.

Hwang Eul-jo, who came in as a substitute for my ball, heads the ball back up during the competition.

And Son Heung-min, who was watching the situation from the side, sprinted.

All the way forward.

Yukinari Sugawara tried to block Son Heung-min, but when he realized it wasn’t working, he made a sliding tackle, but Son Heung-min dodged the tackle with a frog jump as if he found it funny.

“oh!?”

Will this work? I tried it just in case.

I watched from behind as a spectator.

The opposing goalkeeper stepped forward to close the angle to stop Son Heung-min, but Son simply struck the ball with his left foot as soon as he entered the penalty box.

Boom-!

A strong pull towards the near post.

The goalkeeper stretched out his right hand, but the ball narrowly missed the goal and hit the center of the net.

It was a goal.

“Wow!”

I clenched my fist and liked it.

Man, that guy is seriously crazy.

What’s up with the decision-making?

‘Hyung Hong Min, at that level, I think you should just make him the top striker for the national team.’

Son Heung-min runs towards the camera to do the click ceremony.

Our Hong has much better finishing ability than the current national team strikers.

If we had depth like Japan, we could have put Son Heung-min at the top like Tottenham’s Son and used more diverse tactics…

It would be possible to try a two-top strategy with Cho Kyu-seok or Hwang Eul-jo as Son Heung-min’s partner, but the two-top tactic that the previous manager had already experimented with just didn’t feel right.

Unless someone suddenly appears out of nowhere in Korean soccer, this is the maximum.

‘It’s too bad.’

Personally, I wish Seungwoo Han and Junyoung Kim would grow further and join the national team to form the Suyang High School trio, but I know better than anyone that it would be difficult to achieve.

“Minwoo. You worked hard.”

Kim Min-je approaches me, covered in sweat, and smiles happily.

That guy, he’s even scarier because he’s smiling at that impression.

“The game isn’t over yet. I’ll get your congratulations later.”

“Hey kid, you’ve got a professional mentality. You’re not keeping shutouts for nothing, are you?”

“I also have to keep focusing on keeping a clean sheet.”

A virtuous cycle of no losses.

I tend to stay focused until the final whistle blows to literally end the game, trying to keep a clean sheet.

Goalkeeper is a position where one mistake can result in a goal being scored.

Kim Min-je looked at me with eyes of admiration, then tapped the back of my head and answered.

“Okay. Let’s try a little harder.”

Beep- beep- beep─!

And the game was over.

The Japanese players all looked at a loss, as if they were shocked by the 0:3 defeat, while our players, on the other hand, were jumping for joy in their seats.

“Brother. You’ve worked hard. Everyone has worked hard.”

I was the first to approach the defense and encourage them.

There are several complex reasons for our 3-0 victory today. First of all, it was me. Then, the opponent’s self-destruction. Lastly, it was the dedicated defense of my teammates.

‘The fact that I didn’t feel any particular threat means that my teammates did everything they could to avoid giving me a shooting angle, and in reality, the Japanese players hit me because they were frustrated.’

Oliver Kahn blamed the defenders for the goal.

Let me add to that.

‘The clean sheet is also the fault of the defenders.’

Rather than ‘fault’, it would be ‘virtue’.

Anyway, I was very proud that I not only returned alive from the expedition to Japan, but also successfully took revenge.

The hardships of losing 2:3 in the Asian Cup (I didn’t have that).

The public opinion that Japan is one step, or rather two steps, higher has always been heard.

Today’s game has completely extinguished and turned things upside down.

‘We are the emperor of Asia!’

To be exact, Australia, who won the Asian Cup, would be the first place, but that’s… honestly, it’s just luck of the draw…

“As expected, our Minwoo! Hyung was trusting you?”

Kang-Im Lee came to me with a smiling face and hugged me. I laughed too and patted Kang-Im Lee’s back.

“Since you won the Olympic gold medal, you should win the World Cup too, right, hyung?”

Lee Kang-im became quiet for a moment at my words, then suddenly shouted.

“Hey! You’re saying that now? Isn’t that obvious?”

“Ugh. Right?”

“Yeah! So you, don’t get injured or anything all of a sudden?”

“I’m fine because I’m healthy.”

“Oh right. You were an alien, right? Hehe.”

I then went into the locker room, greeting other national team teammates and the coaching staff.

The MOM interview with Korean reporters immediately after the match naturally went to Son Heung-min, who scored multiple goals.

The Battle of Tokyo.

The great upset that Korea became famous for in 1997 when it defeated Japan 2:1 in the World Cup qualifiers held in Tokyo.

But now it’s time for a renewal.

To the Battle of Tokyo in 2024.

With this 3-0 landslide victory, Korea took first place in Group B (with a tied point total or multiple goals scored), and completely crushed Japan in both the score and the match content.

Just looking at the interview atmosphere, it was really warm.

“I’ll say it again. This is the kind of football I will show on the national team. As long as I am the national team coach, I will always pursue this kind of football.”

The national team coach Leon Harpers was also very excited and made encouraging remarks.

“Winning 3-0 against Japan, and in Tokyo, Japan’s home stadium, is so······ meaningful and I’m really happy. I’d rather give credit to Minwoo than myself. I’m really happy because I think we got our revenge for the Asian Cup so perfectly.”

Even our Captain Son couldn’t contain his joy.

Even when looking at all age groups, including the multi-goal match against Japan, we were recently lagging behind Japan, but we couldn’t help but be happy that we crushed Japan starting with the U23 team and up to the senior national team.

And then the reporters started asking me questions.

“Player Kim Min-woo! Just like the previous match against Mexico, you scored a goal from a free kick in this match! You said that if you get the chance, you’ll try to score a goal from a free kick in the match against Japan. How do you feel about that now?”

“Unlike last time, this time the score was 0:0 so I was a little worried, but many of my teammates including Hong Min believed in me so I was able to do it and I’m glad I succeeded.”

An interview like this requires a little MSG.

To be honest, no one believed me except me. They looked at me with suspicion and worry.

But I understand. It’s unprecedented for a goalkeeper to step up as a free kick taker.

Since I am about to go down a path that no one has gone down before, it is only natural that I am looked upon with suspicion by the original pioneers.

“Right now, there is a lot of praise for Kim Min-woo both domestically and internationally. Legendary players like Lee Yoon-jae and Kim Byung-jin from 2002 are praising Kim Min-woo as a goalkeeper who comes once in a thousand years or once in ten thousand years. What do you think about this?!”

Wow, wow. I get that you’re feeling good about crushing Japan 3-0, but let’s calm down, Mr. Reporter.

And yet, I couldn’t stop laughing.

It always feels good to have someone in authority put you up there.

“I don’t think I’m at a position to be evaluated to that extent yet, and I would like to thank the legends who made such remarks.”

“Do you still feel that you are lacking in many ways when it comes to thinking for yourself?”

A reporter trying to frame it as humility.

I knew it was going to happen, but I was thinking about hanging on, so I decided to just go ahead and do it.

“Yes. It’s been just over a year since I made my professional debut, and my career has been lacking. I won the 2nd division last time, so I’ll win the 1st division of the Bundesliga this time and look back on my surroundings once more.”

“Ohhh! Okay, Kim Min-woo! I’ll be looking forward to it!”

As Korea rang out its legendary 3-0 victory in Tokyo, Japan, on the other side,

“Hey! Moriyasu! Are you kidding me?”

Although the Japanese are known for rarely doing anything conspicuous in public, today’s game enraged even such people.

The 68,000 spectators who came to the stadium in Tokyo expecting to beat Korea to a pulp started to get into a commotion as they shouted and threw things at the Japanese national team who were running away in a hurry······.