Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 228



Only Krnovel

Episode 228 Kim Min-woo John

Amir Galenoei is the head coach of the Iran national team.

Born in Iran, he was born and raised in Tehran. He is a player turned coach who made his debut in the Tehran Youth Team and went on to play for the national team.

In fact, coach Amir was negative about this evaluation match against Korea. If it had to be held, it had to be held at Iran’s home.

However, the Iranian Football Federation rejected Coach Amir’s request. As expected, they must have asked Korea for some dollars as an invitation fee.

Otherwise, there would have been no reason or need to accept this confrontation with Korea.

However, the showdown was decided upon by the orders of the higher-ups, and the location of the fight was set to be Korea’s home.

“Fuck.”

Korea at the moment is literally at the peak of its skills.

A team that has won overwhelmingly against Japan, which is considered the strongest team in Asia, once away from home and once at home, with a score of 3-0 each time.

Going away and fighting against a team like that, not even at home? At this crucial moment when the FIFA rankings are already ambiguous and we have to somehow maintain or raise them.

‘He is a goalkeeper that many great coaches around the world have not been able to break through. Even if the media criticizes him, we should aim for a draw.’

Iran happened to be a powerhouse when it came to defense.

Historically, they have been notorious for their suffocating defense in the World Cup, and if they were to use that kind of defense in Korea, it would be difficult to break through even for teams with the best skills.

Thus, Amir Galenoei decided and refined the tactics and strategy for the expedition to Korea, which could become Iran’s grave.

When reporters asked him on the day of the match how he would get through Kim, he gave a vague answer that he would review his tactics for the World Cup.

No matter what, I couldn’t say I would stop the bus during the evaluation match.

And the game began.

Coach Amir scratched his neck and looked at the situation. The players stopped the bus according to the tactic, and no one went up to the Korean camp.

Korea came out aggressively as soon as the game started, but they started to struggle against Iran who was lying down openly.

‘Okay. The picture is as expected.’

Of course, you can’t do ten backs for 90 minutes.

If we go all the way to the end of the game with one tactic, the opposing coach, unless he’s a total idiot, will find a way to destroy the game before then and make things difficult for us.

So, you have to modify your tactics depending on the situation.

Of course, the basic tactic is based on ‘all-out defense’.

“korea-!”

Clap clap— clap— clap clap—!

The cheers from over 60,000 spectators in unison were truly tremendous. It was thrilling, even goosebump-inducing.

In this overwhelming atmosphere, coach Amir was momentarily tempted to abandon defense and switch to an offensive tactic and die an honorable death.

I wanted to go to a slugfest and hear the cheers of the audience here… .

Of course I knew it wasn’t possible. I was tempted to do it, but I had absolutely no intention of actually doing it.

Anyway, the Iranian national team was successfully blocking Korea.

Time passes by and the scoreboard shows 10 minutes, 15 minutes, 20 minutes left in the first half.

The possession ratio widened to 7:3, but compared to that, there was only one effective shot. And that effective shot was not very valuable either.

‘The opponent will start to get angry soon.’

Amir instructed his assistant coaches to get up front as soon as they win the ball and launch limited counterattacks.

Of course, the number of counterattack personnel is limited to about three.

If you go up any higher and get hit with a counterattack, even a goal, it will be a regret for eternity.

It was clear that the opponent had also ordered a change in tactics, as there was a clear difference from before.

The line was raised higher than before, and the goalkeeper also moved out of the penalty box to stand right behind the centre-back.

“I decided to lie down, so you are going to make me get up?”

The opposing coach’s choice was an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. If you use ten backs, we will shut up and attack… … .

‘You made a difficult choice.’

They have a monster defender named Kim and an iron wall goalkeeper named Kim, so they’re going to trust them and keep going until they score a goal.

“Use it.”

I didn’t expect it to turn out like this.

What should I do?

A momentary brain freeze… .

And little by little, the influence of the tactical change began to show up all over the pitch.

“““Woo …

A pass from a Korean midfielder playing for Paris Saint-Germain. The pass was aimed precisely between the players and quickly hit the gap in the Iranian defense.

It takes only a moment for Manchester United’s Kim to enter the penalty box after receiving a pass from Paris.

Goalkeeper Alireza makes a quick decision and rushes out of the goal.

In a tense situation, ManU Kim slightly folded his ball instead of shooting. It seemed like he was going to beat the goalkeeper, but they collided and ManU Kim rolled over.

Alireza also rolled in late. But the situation seems clear… .

Beep!

The referee awards a penalty kick.

Director Amir touched the bridge of his nose.

‘shit.’

It’s already been destroyed?

Even countries that are considered much stronger than Korea had a hard time breaking through Iran’s Tenback, so quickly?

And the PK was prepared by South Korea’s captain Son Heung-min. Watching, coach Amir felt his mouth drying in real time.

and…….

Crash!

First half 25 minutes.

Son Heung-min’s first goal.

The stadium erupted in cheers for them to leave.

This is what it feels like. If all the audience here erupted in cheers at once… .

“Fuck.”

A goal was conceded too early.

Since we’ve conceded one goal, should we quickly change our tactics and attack Korea?

Director Amir had different thoughts.

Even though we scored one goal, we have to continue playing defensively to drain the opponent’s stamina…

‘My strategy was not wrong.’

What just happened was something of an accident.

First of all, we need to continue to play defensively.

If you overturn the tactics you prepared because of an accident, that too is disqualification as a manager.

* * *

In the football market, Europe is the center of the world.

The center of the world does not arbitrarily turn its gaze to the outside of the world.

In particular, Asia is a region that is at the periphery of the periphery in the soccer field, and among them, Far East Asia is the region that is geographically the farthest from Europe… … Even in this day and age when social media is developed, it is a very distant region.

But here, there are Europeans who subscribe to soccer channels and spend a whopping 25 euros (about 36,000 won) a month just to watch the games unfolding in East Asia.

Her name is Sophie Marceau. No, she will be Sophie Riva… … .

South Korea vs Iran.

It was an evaluation match.

Sophie Riva rested her chin on one hand and watched, startled by South Korea’s overwhelming performance.

“Why are you so good at this?”

Has Korea always done this well?

If we just look at our current performance, it seems like we’re better than Germany?

“Ugh… .”

By the way, why isn’t Kim Min-woo here? I even subscribed to see Kim Min-woo… .

As I was staring intently at the TV, my younger brother, who was passing by, glanced at me and started nagging me.

“What? Korea vs. Iran? Why are you watching this game? You don’t even watch Germany games?”

“Shut up, Lucas. Go do your thing.”

Sophie continued to stare at the screen without even looking at her younger brother. It was heartbreaking to see Kim Min-woo not appearing even from afar. Why was the game only taking place in the Iranian camp?

“Are you saying that Kim is Korean?”

“It’s noisy, Lucas.”

The younger brother didn’t leave and kept talking.

“Wow. Wait a minute. I think the puzzle is coming together. I don’t know why you were crying so hard last time. Didn’t you forget Kim?”

“Shut up, Lucas!”

I jumped up and tried to chase my little brother away. But my little brother just circled around and laughed annoyingly.

“I suddenly remember again! When Kim first came, didn’t you say you were nervous because you were going to be in charge of a Korean person? Didn’t you usually like K-pop or something?”

“Hey, Emma—!”

“But now you have a crush on her? Oh my, what should I do? Poor thing, sister. Would Kim even look at someone like you? There are prettier and better-looking people all over Europe. Tsk tsk tsk.”

“You little shit-”

Sophie grabbed Lucas, climbed onto his back, and strangled him.

“Ouch! Got it! Got it!”

“What do you know! What do you know! Do you know what kind of relationship I have with Kim!?”

“The stone-faced teacher who once taught German and his students… … kkung!”

“I’m dating Kim, you son of a bitch! You don’t even know what you’re talking about!”

… The last words were stuck in my throat. It’s true that we’re officially in a relationship, but we haven’t met often, and the last time we did, we couldn’t even hold hands. Hehe… .

Sophie spoke indirectly as best she could. They weren’t so shameless that they couldn’t say anything.

“… … We’re still in contact!”

“That’s because Kim is a good person, so he’s answering the phone— kkung!”

“You should get hit.”

Sophie beat up her younger sister thoroughly. Of course, it didn’t seem to cause much damage, perhaps because of the difference in their physical size, but it felt good.

The little brother shouted surrender and ran to his room, and Sophie sighed and sat down on the sofa again.

In the meantime, the first half was almost over.

Additional time is 2 minutes.

The game was still dominated by Iran’s defense and Korea’s offense.

Korea has yet to break through Iran’s suffocating defense, but repeated and sustained defense will eventually create gaps.

South Korea captain Son took advantage of the gap and was stopped by an Iranian defender, resulting in a free-kick foul.

“… Hey! That location!”

The position where Kim Min-woo was in charge of the goal!

The Iranian players also knew that giving a free kick foul to Korea would be very dangerous, so they protested strongly to the referee, but it was not accepted.

and…….

[Kim runs slowly. He is the goalkeeper who has scored every free kick goal except one.]

[One exception was a pass to a teammate, and that player scored a goal against Arsenal. Kim’s free kick, which was also rampant in the Premier League and Bundesliga, is going straight to break down Iran’s defense.]

Sophie clapped her hands in delight. For the first time, Kim Min-woo’s face was captured in a full shot on the screen.

Soccer cameras have high resolution and can clearly show the players’ faces, but Kim Min-woo always looked different from other players whenever he was caught on camera.

… … Are you crazy?

[In the chaotic atmosphere, the free kick is slowly prepared.]

Sophie picked up her phone early. To send congratulations. And to show that she was watching the game live.

Because if I don’t tell you, you won’t know. Hehe.

* * *

The game was going as expected, or even more overwhelmingly than expected.

I never thought a team of Iran’s caliber would go down like this against Korea.

Iran is a team that even the world’s top teams cannot easily break through if they decide to do so, but coach Leon Harpers ordered everyone to attack in order to break the momentum.

And the tactic appeared to be working as Son Heung-min scored from a penalty kick.

The problem came next.

Iran remained very cautious and did not come up again after that.

Even though we conceded a goal, we just kept repeating defense, and I also got a lot of benefit from it while on the national team.

I glanced at the crowd that filled the stadium, even though the ball wasn’t coming anyway, and it was truly surprising that all the dots that looked like dots were actually people.

And now.

Just before the first half ended.

I left the protesting Iranian players alone and was talking to my teammates about the free kick.

“Minwoo. Are you going to wear it?”

“Yes, brother. I will hit you myself.”

“Show me, Minwoo~”

Kim Jun-young also joined our meeting in a humble manner.

“Wow. I finally get to see Minwoo hyung’s free kick right in front of my nose….”

“Junyoung. Watch and learn. Minwoo is better than hyung.”

Lee Kang-im pats my shoulder and says.

Then, Kim Jun-young’s reaction was a masterpiece.

“Uh uh… isn’t that obvious?”

“Hey… As expected! Kim Jun-young from ‘Then he must have gone to Manchester United’! Hyung, you’re scary. I’m afraid you’ll eat Hyung later.”

“Oh, that’s not what I meant―”

“Okay, honey. It’s too late.”

I didn’t pay attention to what Kim Jun-young and Lee Kang-im were talking about and prepared for the free kick.

The referee blew his whistle immediately, and I scanned the goal with eagle eyes.

And then… …after turning on the quick and accurate kick.

‘If you block it, I’ll admit it.’

It’s been a really long time since I’ve scored a free kick.

The sound of the net splitting was not heard because of the anticipation of the crowd. It was too noisy around.

But I could tell.

“Whaaak―!”

The reactions of my fellow players. The reactions of the Iranian players. And most of all, the 60,000 spectators who made so much noise that the stadium turned upside down.

‘You put it in.’

I guess he went in.

I confidently ran to the corner kick area and swept the grass. As I swept the grass, my teammates who were running to congratulate me also swept the grass with me.

Yeah, that’s camaraderie.

I smiled, feeling my heart pounding.

‘It must be nice to have real strikers. Don’t they feel this way every time they score a goal?’

60,000 spectators are excited by my one goal. It’s an emotion that an ordinary goalkeeper can never feel.

“Minwoo! Good job!”

Son Heung-min came over to me and hugged me while we were sweeping the grass together. As I quietly stayed in Son Heung-min’s arms, the cheers of the crowd grew louder.

And other players come and surround us.

“Ugh. I can’t breathe.”

The players come crowding closer, as if they can’t hear me. Oh no…