Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 231



Only Krnovel

Episode 231: 7 months

The first ever 48-nation World Cup.

One difference from previous World Cups was that the third-place teams in each group could also advance to the round of 32.

Of course, not all third-place teams can advance.

Only the top eight third-place teams from each group will advance to the round of 32.

Since it is a 12-team group format with 4 teams, you only need to place in the top 8 out of a total of 12.

“france!”

An American soccer legend smiling and unfolding a piece of paper with France written on it. I don’t know who he is, but he is called a legend.

“Spain!”

“Argentina!”

“Netherlands!”

In this way, the Port 1 countries were assigned to each group.

The fate of this World Cup is still unknown.

From now on, it was important. Port 2.

While she opened the countries in the capsule one by one with a smiling face without knowing anything, Leon chewed his lips and waited for his turn anxiously.

“Croatia!”

“Uruguay!”

“Morocco!”

They are not opponents that you can easily see. However, they are countries that you will never get along with.

“Colombia!”

“germany!”

Germany was in Pot 2 of Group E. Funnily enough, Mexico was in Pot 1. It may not be the Group of Death, but the positions of the countries in Pots 3 and 4 will be different… .

‘As the number of countries increases, the number of draws also increases significantly.’

Japan, a neighboring country and rival, was placed in Group G. Pot 1 of Group G was Portugal.

Next up is Switzerland. Group H. Not really interested.

and…….

“korea!”

Korea was drawn into Group I. Pot 1 of Group I was the United States. Leon’s head is spinning quickly.

‘Getting into the host country port? Not bad, huh?’

It’s much better than having Brazil or France in Port 1. First of all, the team selection was very well done.

Leon knew that his expressions were being broadcast in real time, so he never smiled and controlled his expressions.

I continued to watch the draw ceremony as if nothing had happened.

After a while, the time for the 3-port comes again.

“Iran!”

Leon laughed bitterly.

‘You’re lucky… .’

Iran was narrowly relegated to the third pot, perhaps due to the 4-0 defeat in the evaluation match last November.

However, it turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the host country Canada was relegated to group 1.

Canada-Croatia-Iran… I think it would be worth trying all three.

And again, countries that have little interest are called out.

Cameroon, Austria, Nigeria… … and many other countries.

“Egypt!”

Egypt, with 3 points, were placed in Group G.

Portugal, Japan, Egypt.

The country where Mohamed Salah is.

Group G also looks more difficult than expected.

“catarrh!”

The third pot in Group H, sandwiched between Groups G and I, was Qatar. I wasn’t particularly interested.

“Côte d’Ivoire!”

Group I, Pot 3 were African countries.

Korea has traditionally been said to be weak against African countries, which is not good news.

So back to the 4th port again.

“New Zealand!”

Group A is aligned like that.

Canada-Croatia-Iran-New Zealand.

It wouldn’t be strange if anyone from Group A made it there. Croatia is a sure thing.

“china!”

China was in Group E.

It was a group with Mexico and Germany.

Leon secretly wished China good luck.

“Sweden!”

Pot 4 of Group G was Sweden.

Portugal-Japan-Egypt-Sweden.

Group G certainly doesn’t look easy.

“Norway!”

Group I, which includes Korea, has also been completed.

United States, Korea, Côte d’Ivoire, Norway.

“shit.”

It just so happens that the country that Erling Haaland belongs to is in our group. That 4-pot was basically just a disguise.

Norway was very strong for a 4-port team.

Even if you can’t hit it, it’s at the 3-port level.

“… … This concludes the draw ceremony!”

And the draw ceremony is over.

With 48 countries participating, the draw took quite a while and Leon felt a little drained.

‘There is no absolute winner in Group I. They are all just average.’

They are all opponents worth a try.

No, I even thought that maybe Korea could advance through the group stage in first place.

‘First of all, there’s the Netherlands in Group J right next to us. If we advance to second place and are unlucky, we might have to play against the Netherlands.’

It’s not that I don’t want to face them because they’re my home country, but I didn’t want to face the Orange Legion because they’re such a powerful force. And that too from the round of 32.

That’s not right.

With just seven months left until the World Cup, Leon plans to use the remaining time to prepare well and climb as high as possible.

First and foremost, goalkeeper Kim must not get injured. Absolutely not… .

* * *

Manchester United are currently ranked 1st in the Europa League group stage. 5 wins out of 5 matches. 15 points.

Because the points gap with the second place is significant, coach Giovanni selected all non-regular players for the last remaining away game against Union in the hope of a grand victory.

Even I, who usually plays as a regular in this match, was benched.

I was lost in thought as I watched Kim Jun-young running around here and there.

Of course, I couldn’t concentrate on the game at all. After all, whether we won or lost, our team was not going to be eliminated from Europa League.

Literally, this match was essentially a dead match. No matter what the outcome was, the result wouldn’t change much… .

So I thought about the World Cup draw that took place a few days ago.

‘Why did we have to fight Holland?’

I will be meeting the striker with whom I had a showdown of pride at the Ballon d’Or awards ceremony. He is an opponent I have not yet met in the league, hmm… .

If I were to concede a goal to someone, Holland would be one of the top candidates.

Of course, I still had the ‘ordinary’ trait that I had not used and was just keeping.

If anything, I was thinking of using that trait before the match against Man City. To be honest, even I’m a bit nervous about Man City.

Other than that, I wasn’t particularly worried about the US or Côte d’Ivoire.

In fact, it was a stroke of luck that we didn’t face Tier 1 countries like Brazil or France. We would eventually face Pot 1 countries in the tournament, but we didn’t care.

There’s still too much time left to worry about what happens in seven months.

Beep— beep— beep!

“… What? It’s over already?”

The away game against Union ended 2-1. It is a rare win for Manchester United in the group stage. Kim Jun-young played well in this game, providing 2 assists.

I praised and encouraged my teammates who finished the game with other players.

.

.

And the news I heard late.

“… What? Hanover fell?”

There was news that his old team had been eliminated in the group stage of the Champions League.

Fortunately, they were eliminated in third place and moved on to the Europa League.

Although they will not be meeting Manchester United, who qualified in first place, right away, if Hannover survives well in Europa League, there is a chance that they will face Manchester United.

“Ugh.”

When I heard the news, I felt sad and complicated. But at the same time, I also felt a sense of pride, thinking, “What if I’m not here?”

‘But I hope we don’t end up with Hanover.’

I didn’t want to get involved with my old colleagues or my old manager. I just wanted to leave it as a good memory.

If we go up against Hanover, that’s something we can’t do to Sophie either.

* * *

The next game was away to Fulham.

It may seem like a team that can easily be overcome by Manchester United, who are currently in first place, as they are a team that has been going back and forth in the lower-middle ranks, but it is unclear in the current situation where Giovanni’s ward is open.

‘But why doesn’t Johnny come out…?’

If Johnny Evans was in it, I’d roll my eyes.

Fortunately, Manchester United were not in that bad of a state, and although they had some key players injured, they still had a decent starting lineup and went into the game.

““Go Go Fulham!””

Fulham’s home ground, Craven Cottage, has a capacity of around 30,000, but the supporters’ voices were just as loud as those at other stadiums.

‘Are you saying that Seol Ki-Hyeon used to play here?’

First of all, he was a member of Fulham, but the story is that he only played in a handful of games… sigh.

I think it’s because our seniors have paved the way for our juniors to come to Europe and compete comfortably.

If it weren’t for our early predecessors who threw down the gauntlet to Europe, wouldn’t we have experienced those trials and errors?

I am both fortunate and grateful.

“Please! Please adjust the players’ scrum accordingly!”

Although there was no real situation yet, I shouted at the top of my lungs and coordinated the defense.

The flow of the game was something I had seen a lot when I played for Hannover.

A tight midfield battle.

Both teams are having a hard time striking and are playing an exploratory game.

Give it to the side and then forward.

I pulled it back because it didn’t seem like it would work, and then to the side.

I looked all the way up and then back again.

From the perspective of those watching the game, the flow continues to be extremely boring and dull.

In addition, it seems that the EPL is also studying the Hannover approach that the old Bundesliga adopted recently.

Seriously, some experts have even said that attacking Manchester United is meaningless, so it might be better to just play tight and aim for one point.

Of course, that doesn’t mean much because the weight gap between Manchester United and Hannover is like Andromeda.

The reason Hannover struggled against openly locking down opponents was because the team was too weak, even though it was in a weak weight class.

But Man U is different.

Even though Manchester United are known for being a tough team, they are still a top-tier team in the EPL.

and…….

‘Why did the other person come first?’

The two teams, who had been engaged in a scouting battle, stopped checking each other’s bodies and began a full-scale match.

The attack has begun.

It was Fulham’s turn to strike.

This happened because Manchester United players went too far forward in an attempt to steal the ball from their opponents.

Fulham just passed the ball around, but Manchester United’s midfield melted away.

I immediately lowered my center of gravity and prepared to block.

Now that the central plains had melted like cotton candy, what happened next was set.

Fulham advanced straight towards the penalty box, and our centre-backs had to stay back and narrow the shooting angle.

Eventually, I have to step forward.

‘The right one is fake.’

One player made a sharp turn to the right, but the shooting trajectory had already been created.

This is a picture of a black player running all the way from the center and kicking a shot.

I watched the trajectory, prepared, and flew my body according to the opponent’s shooting motion.

More precisely, he flew as soon as he saw the shot coming.

‘Huh!’

It was a ground ball shot, but it landed right in my arms. Thank goodness.

“Kim! Good job!”

“As expected! I believed in you~”

The defenders come running up to me and give me some words of encouragement. I give them a stern look, but I know better than anyone that this isn’t the defenders’ fault.

This time it was the central government’s mistake.

It shouldn’t have been broken through so easily.

Even for a team that is ranked first in the Premier League, and even if they were missing some of their regular players, that was definitely an eye-watering performance.

Giovanni also seemed to know about it as he was jumping around across the field.

“Ugh… .”

The problem is, this was just the beginning.

I felt it in the last match against Aston Villa, but with five starters out, the empty spots were definitely felt.

Everyone was impatient and there weren’t enough players to catch up.

After a few more attacks, Fulham attacked again.

This time it was a corner kick.

I was more confident than anyone else in corner kick situations, but I hated chaos in the box more than anyone else, so I wanted to get out of this situation quickly.

Beep!

And the referee’s whistle.

A trajectory is created instantaneously.

‘It’s dangerous!’

The trajectory was such that it went right into the goal.

I flew again.

It was a header that came in with a single strike into the grass, but it was so sharp that I couldn’t catch it.

Then, the Manchester United and Fulham players nearby grabbed the loose ball and struggled for a while before the ball went out of bounds.

During the competition, the two fought, shoving each other’s shoulders, as if their feelings had been hurt.

The referee came quickly and stopped me, and other players also intervened to mediate, but I just lay there and caught my breath.

“Fuck… .”

Why do we have to struggle against teams in the lower half of the league, not even Manchester City? This is not why I left Hannover.

He consoled his excited colleagues, letting out his complicated and subtle emotions with a sigh.

They’re not kids, but they’re playing in the world’s best league. Why do they get excited so easily? Seriously, foreign kids are secretly in strange places—

“What the hell are you, you punk!”

And then one of the Fulham players came up to me as I was intervening and shoved me on the shoulder.

I smiled at this polite gesture.

“This fucking kid.”

Come to work. Let’s see who is the best in EPL today.