Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 165



Only Krnovel

Anticipate the expected

* * *

Vfb Stuttgart dominated the game.

The players carried out the coach’s instructions very well, so the game ended in a 0:0 tie.

However, it is very rare for human affairs to end as planned.

Stuttgart centre-back Hiroki Ito was reaching the limit of his patience.

‘That kid keeps dribbling the ball when he can’t!’

The player who made Hiroki Ito angry was Philippe Coutinho, the new player to Hannover whose reputation had now faded.

Hiroki Ito believes that Philippe Coutinho keeps trying unnecessary dribbles.

Every time, Hiroki Ito and his fellow center-back Zagadou worked together to completely block Coutinho, but as they say, even a broken clock is right once, and they kept trying, they were bound to get through a few of them.

And every time that happened, Hiroki Ito felt stressed.

‘That guy is just showing off! If it weren’t for the director’s orders, he would have started a physical fight.’

The Stuttgart manager’s instructions were clear.

Never, ever, ever commit a foul near the penalty box.

Hiroki Ito was thoroughly carrying out that order for 88 minutes in both halves.

But Philippe Coutinho’s continued individual prowess, and the stress that builds up with each passing attempt, has caused him to lose his composure.

Just once.

It was just one time.

“Wow!”

Hiroki Ito, who had refrained from an active physical fight due to the coach’s instructions, unconsciously reacted first and pushed Coutinho from the side when Coutinho opened up space for him again.

For a moment, my heart sank at the thought of disobeying the director’s orders, but when I thought about it carefully, it wasn’t such a big deal.

‘This level of physical contact is a daily occurrence in the Bundesliga. There’s no way the referee would call a foul for something like this. It was an order from the manager because he was being overly cautious of Hannover’s goalkeeper, but this is okay… … !’

Coutinho ignored Ito Hiroki’s fall and kicked the ball away. Then, when the referee didn’t blow the whistle, he was relieved and thought his guess was right.

Rather, I felt refreshed. After dribbling all game long without success (but it worked anyway), I felt like I was in really good shape.

It was when I glanced back at Coutinho who had collapsed like that.

Beep!

The referee blew the whistle.

Hiroki Ito sighed and looked at the referee, who was looking at the fallen Coutinho.

Philippe Coutinho was working hard in the meantime.

‘I just pushed you, why are you having a seizure…?’

Coutinho’s performance was beyond superb, it was excessive. He was having a seizure like an epileptic.

I thought it was such an absurd over-action that I thought the referee should have given Coutinho a card instead, but that was not the case.

Hiroki Ito’s hope circuit was just a hope circuit, and the referee’s decision was a free kick foul.

His teammates immediately gathered to protest the referee’s decision, and Hiroki Ito was thinking of protesting as well, but seeing the referee’s stern expression, he sighed, thinking it would be ineffective.

And he approached Coutinho and whispered to him.

“Stop acting. Did you only learn acting in the Middle East?”

Then Coutinho stops having a fit.

Coutinho covered his face with both hands, looked at Hiroki Ito through the gaps in his fingers, and smiled with his teeth exposed.

And that was the end of it.

He didn’t do anything like receiving it, but just stood up awkwardly.

Ito Hiroki was so angry at that shameless behavior that he wanted to hit the back of the head, but he couldn’t.

In the distance, the Hannover goalkeeper was jogging towards us.

Hiroki Ito laughed in vain at the sight.

‘What kind of team is this? Where in the world is there a team where the goalkeeper takes free kicks?’

It was here.

If only he had held out for five more minutes, including extra time, he would have achieved his goal, but he failed because he couldn’t hold out even just once.

Even Hiroki Ito watched the previous Korea-Japan match from the bench, so he was well aware of the goalkeeper’s free kick skills.

Once you get caught, it’s over.

Even in the Bundesliga, he succeeded in a 35m long-distance free kick… … huh.

After a little more time, preparations for the free kick begin.

Hiroki Ito watched from the sidelines with his hands on his hips, hoping for a miracle to happen.

Or our team’s goalkeeper will block it.

Or maybe that Kim Min-woo makes a mistake.

‘I’ve had a 100% free kick success rate so far, but that’s not data that can be maintained forever. That’s because I haven’t taken many free kicks in the first place. It’s time to fail once.’

And, if Kim Min-woo misses a free kick, they can immediately launch a counterattack and try to score a goal on the empty goal.

If that happens, it could leave a big stain on the career of that goalkeeper who has not conceded a goal since his debut.

Hiroki Ito prayed fervently that this would happen.

And then the referee blows the whistle.

Beep!

Kim Min-woo watches Stuttgart’s goal, pauses for a few seconds, then slowly begins to move.

and,

Boohoo!

There is a sound of a watermelon splitting open, and the ball flies quickly towards the goal.

At that moment, Hiroki Ito remembered a conversation he had with Stuttgart goalkeeper Alexander Nübel.

It was a story about Kim Min-woo from Hanover.

[I mean, I studied Kim’s free kicks. I watched Kim’s free kicks hundreds of times.]

[Huh? But?]

[There is a kind of rule to Kim’s free kicks.]

[There are rules?]

A brief break during training.

Alexander Nübel spoke quite seriously to Hiroki Ito, who was drinking water.

[Yes. Always hit the corner edge. All goals were like that. In other words, if you know it, the probability of blocking it increases significantly. By about 50%.]

[… Ah. If only I knew the direction of the car? Since Kim would hit the corner edge anyway?]

[That’s Ito. Kim especially likes the top corner. It’s hard to block or react to even if you know it’s going to hit you there. But, if you know it’s going to hit you there.]

[Can you stop it?]

[That’s right. I hope there won’t be a free kick situation in this game against Hannover, but if there is, I can stop it. And Kim will decide that he’s been read and take free kicks in a variety of ways from now on, but that’s none of my business.]

Hiroki Ito swallowed.

Will Alexander Nübel be able to stop Kim’s free kick as he had hoped?

And Kim’s cold shot almost reached the goal.

Nübel flew intuitively through the sky, only looking at the direction in which the ball was flying, but the ball was headed towards the bottom corner, not the top corner.

‘…this.’

Nübel’s judgment was correct.

Kim Min-woo likes corners.

But it was only half right.

Kim Min-woo also realized that his free kick would be analyzed by other goalkeepers, so he hit it with a different pitch this time.

Bottom corner!

The ball sinks under Nübel’s flying body.

The direction and timing were perfect, but the height was off.

The goal went through the goal and was a goal. It was a goal that was a disappointment with only a few minutes left in the game.

“―Wow!”

Hannover away fans cheer.

And after confirming that Kim Min-woo has scored a goal, he runs towards the corner kick.

Hannover players also run after the goalkeeper to congratulate him after he scores a goal.

Hiroki Ito looked at the poor grass and sighed.

‘…Fuck.’

When I raised my head again, sweeping my forehead, Kim Min-woo was performing a ceremony in front of the camera far away.

It was a familiar ceremony.

Tottenham Hotspur captain and South Korea national team captain Son Heung-min’s snap celebration.

Was doing it.

Somehow, I feel like I understand how coach Moriyasu felt during the last Korea-Japan match.

‘I feel like shit… .’

No matter how he felt, his critical mistake resulted in a goal.

As I was sighing, someone came up from behind and patted my shoulder.

I glanced over and saw that it was Ken Muramoto who had been replaced. Muramoto looked at Ito with pity and said a word.

“cheer up.”

“…huh.”

* * *

The match against Stuttgart was successfully concluded.

The score is 1:0, Hannover wins.

POTM was naturally my go-to as the one who scored the goal.

Before I conducted the interview, I briefly reviewed the match.

‘Hmm. I guess this is thanks to Mr. Coutinho?’

To be honest, I had a negative view of Coutinho’s dribbling.

Jan also didn’t have a very favorable view of Coutinho.

But surprisingly,

I thought that Coutinho’s attempts to disrupt the flow and tempo of the game and even miss attacking opportunities could actually be of great help to me if I thought about it a little differently.

Why?

‘Teams that play against Hannover are afraid of my free kicks. So, I try to avoid giving them free kicks by being passive in physical contact. But. So..’

Even if Coutinho dribbles past the first and second verses and continues to the third verse, the opponent will be at a loss. If he starts a physical fight, a free kick may or may not be called depending on the referee’s gaze.

Then, Coutinho will be able to move around more comfortably because of me and be able to attack more creatively, and even if he gets annoyed and starts a physical fight, a free kick foul could result.

‘Literally… … a situation where the other person is in a situation where they can’t pay.’

Whatever it was, it was good for the team.

Of course, the downside is that Coutinho is so weak that he falls down easily and the referee rarely blows the whistle, but if you keep trying, you will hit the jackpot at least once like this time and last time.

“Kim! This is already your 7th POTM selection this season. That’s an incredible record for a goalkeeper! How do you feel?”

“Oh… Is it already like that?”

I thought for a moment at the reporter’s question.

It was quite difficult for a goalkeeper to be rated as the best player in the match.

First of all, when a field player scores a goal, the honor almost always goes to the field player.

‘Maybe it’s because I live in Hanover that I get these so often.’

If I was on a strong team, I would have just been buried.

I answered the reporter’s questions with the humility that is typical of Koreans. To be honest, I referenced Son Heung-min’s interview techniques a lot.

Because our Hong is the GOAT in this field.

“You scored four goals as a goalkeeper this season. One of them was a field goal, and three were free kick goals. The success rate for free kick goals is 100%. Wow! You score better than most field players! Do you have any secrets?”

“Well, well, you have to be exceptionally talented to play here… … I don’t really have anything to say. If I had to pick one, I would say I try to keep my composure before I shoot.”

It takes talent to play in the best league in the world.

Maybe my talent is just ordinary.

But what I have on board is anything but ordinary.

And speaking of free kicks, this time they were honestly a bit dangerous.

The opposing goalkeeper also read the direction, and it seemed as if he knew where I was going to kick the ball, as if he could see the trajectory like I did.

‘They must have analyzed it. Even now, my defensive ability is being analyzed all over the world and special broadcasts are being made about it.’

Not only in Germany, but also in England, the United States, and even in Korea and Japan, special broadcast programs were aired about me, introducing my life story from the past to the present, or analyzing my overwhelming defensive abilities.

Kim Shin-ah sent me the broadcast link, but I haven’t watched it yet. I’m a little embarrassed.

‘But that’s fortunate. I changed the trajectory because I thought it would be read slowly, and the timing was good.’

From the Mexico game where I first introduced the free kick to the world, I have always aimed for the top edge of the goal.

A position where it is difficult to react if you don’t know, or where you are easily affected.

However, it is dangerous to analyze and figure it out.

I planned to practice various routes so that I wouldn’t know where I would end up in the future.

“The next match is against Augsburg. We will face Ziller, who were our rivals last season. Kim won the last match by decision. Are you confident this time too?”

“I think a goalkeeper’s competition is not the opposing goalkeeper, but the attackers. I will prepare well for the next game and do my best to show the fans a good performance.”

Reporters who are listening to my answer.

Probably when we meet Chiller in the next game, it will be our last meeting.

After this season ends, I will leave the Bundesliga.

And, apart from an international match, we will never face Augsburg again, so in a way, this could be considered a farewell match.

.

.

And the next day.

I checked the local Hanover newspaper with breakfast (my mom subscribed to it. It was fun and helped me learn German), and it had an interview I did yesterday in it.

[Kim, Ron Robert Chiller is no longer my rival!]

“No, when did I ever say something like that…?”

Anyway, incitement and fabrication do not respect nationality.