Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 242



Only Krnovel

Episode 242: The goalkeeper who breaks the will

It’s the winter transfer period in early January, and we hear real-time news about which club is signing whom and which club is releasing whom.

The Premier League went ahead with its scheduled league schedule.

Tottenham faced Arsenal in the North London derby, while Wolverhampton clashed with West Ham.

Manchester City faced Leicester and Liverpool faced Bournemouth.

Manchester United also played their game in the meantime.

Away to Brighton.

I still remember.

I made my Premier League debut against Brighton at the beginning of the season and scored a free-kick goal.

After that, I remember scoring a goal against Liverpool and most of the clubs that faced us were extremely cautious.

If we are careful not to give away free kicks in front of the goal, it will eventually allow our attackers to attack a little more freely, and even if no free kicks are awarded, it will be a huge advantage for the team.

‘If you are conscious of my free kick, don’t act roughly, and if you do that, the attackers’ shooting angles will open up easily, and the snowball will keep rolling and Manchester United is currently in first place…’

Ahem. It’s all my fault!

Is it because Kim Min-woo, who is invisible, is helping that Manchester United’s attack seems to be doing better than last season?

And Brighton, the team that gave me my debut goal, were extremely wary of me.

It was clear to see the play style from a distance.

‘Why are you thinking like this?’

Unlike at the beginning of the season, he looks very nervous.

When we first met, Brighton seemed to fight as fiercely as other teams, but now there is not a single docile lamb.

Even when they took advantage of the opportunity to counterattack into the Manchester United camp, the number of counterattacks was far less than that of other teams.

‘You can’t score against me anyway, so let’s draw?’

Haha. Man U isn’t Hannover~

I watched the game unfold in the Brighton camp from the goal post and occasionally participated in the build-up.

In fact, Brighton’s game management seemed to be working well until the first half. In the first half, Manchester United’s characteristic finishing problem held them back, and they failed to score despite having several opportunities.

But in the second half, Giovanni’s mercenary skills began to shine.

Giovanni, who realized that no one would show up anyway, took out Shaw and brought in Kim Jun-young.

It was three hundred.

It’s a tactic that isn’t used much by Manchester United, although it may be used by other teams.

This tactic has tactical flexibility as its strength, and as is typical of Pep’s favorite tactics, a refreshing attack began.

It was as if he had borrowed Pep’s style of football.

‘Yeah. This is it. This is soccer… .’

Football where the goalkeeper does nothing and everyone else does everything. That’s football.

Even the way they pressed their opponents resembled City. As Brighton passed the ball around inside their own box, Manchester sent seven men near the box to press.

Giovanni’s question was, “Can you continue to play defensive football like this?”

Strong teams can usually get out of these situations by relieving the pressure on each player individually, but weak teams can’t do that. That’s why they’re weak teams.

Brighton eventually lost the ball near the box after four United players pressed them, and were left bewildered when Kim Jun-young and Hoilun ran into the box and exchanged one-touch passes.

It was a scene I had never seen before in Hanover. I was so proud just watching from afar… .

As they slowly advanced towards the goal with one-two passes, the Brighton defenders became anxious and ended up making deep tackles.

in other words,

Beep!

It was a penalty kick.

If you can’t withstand the pressure and do a deep tackle, you should get a penalty kick, right?

The penalty kicker was captain Bruno Fernandes. As expected from a player who has been through a lot, he took the kick with ease, as if he had been training.

What happened next was obvious.

With one goal down, no matter what they do they lose, so Brighton raise their line and it’s back to being a dogfight like before.

If it were the Giovanni I know, I would have dropped the line here and played defensively, but perhaps he judged that there was still a lot of time left in the game, so he countered.

And as the game became muddy, I, who had been sucking honey from the back, started working in earnest.

“Come on! Stick to it!”

Shouting at the defenders to play their defense properly.

“Tchcha.”

Just block the balls that don’t make sense.

As Brighton surged forward, United responded.

Greenwood, who came on as a substitute, passed a through ball to Kim Jun-young, who was unmarked, and Kim Jun-young entered the empty box and passed to Hoilun.

‘Oh my. I should hit you myself, Junyoung… .’

He has a tendency to be picky when it’s important, for fear that people might say he’s not a Korean player.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the pass was blocked by a Brighton defender and returned to Kim Jun-young.

Just like a yo-yo.

The goalkeeper didn’t expect the defender to block the ball with a tackle, so he anticipated it and ran like me, leaving Brighton’s goal open.

The ending was obvious, with the goalkeeper lying in front of the goal.

Kim Jun-young’s light touch and kick.

“yes!”

I warned you clearly. Don’t follow me. I show such overwhelming force that it’s trendy these days to predict and run, but if you follow me without thinking, this is what will happen.

Kim Jun-young, who has tasted a goal for the first time in a long time, clenches his fist and shouts in front of the fans.

There are Brighton fans over there, Junyoung… .

When he clenched his fist in front of the Brighton fans, their fans were understandably furious, and the Brighton fans responded by throwing clumps of garbage at him.

‘Is that kid doing that on purpose?’

If you look at the personality that explodes from time to time, it’s possible.

.

.

And the match ended 2:0. Manchester United won. 16 wins, 3 draws, 1 loss in 20 matches. 51 points.

‘It’s a bit disappointing that we lost 1 game.’

If I hadn’t been injured, I would have been able to chase Arsenal’s undefeated title run. Kabi.

* * *

After the match against Brighton, Junyoung and I immediately got on a plane and headed to Turkey.

During the A-match period, the domestic players have already been called up and are training, while the overseas players have been called up late and must train together.

[Sophie: I’ll be watching the national team game. Fighting haha]

I closed my eyes for a moment while exchanging messages with Sophie. There were three teams in total that we were competing against in Turkey.

Canada. Denmark. Ghana.

Denmark is similar to us in FIFA rankings, while Canada and Ghana are far behind. And all three of those countries have already qualified for this World Cup.

‘If we don’t perform well six months before the World Cup, it will be a disaster…’

Oh well, it’ll be fine. I just have to do my job well. Not get in trouble. That’s what I’ve always done well.

This is especially important in tournament competitions.

Whether or not we score a goal determines whether we advance to the next round or not, so if we do well, Korea can continue to advance.

‘Hehehe. In a team game with 22 people, if I do well, I can advance.’

It’s a very selfish position.

A goalkeeper can do things that are absolutely impossible for other positions.

I thought about it a little more, then fell asleep in my airplane seat.

* * *

Canada was one of the main characters of the 2026 World Cup. It is the country that will host the World Cup along with the United States and Mexico.

Of course, there are real protagonists. Canada and Mexico are just supporting characters, but they still receive various benefits as host countries.

Things like confirming qualification for the World Cup finals without having to go through separate World Cup qualifiers, or being seeded as the 1st seed in the finals and playing against fairly easy-going countries regardless of FIFA rankings.

Canada was even lucky that the countries it faced were quite capable.

Croatia, Iran, New Zealand.

Croatia may be tough, but Iran and New Zealand could have won at home and advanced.

Especially in this World Cup, there are many participating countries, so even if you place third, there is a chance of advancing, so it was even more worth a try.

“As you all know, Korea is stronger than Iran. These days, Korea is destroying both Iran and Japan and reigning as the strongest country in Asia. You all know that, right?”

That’s how Canadian national team coach John Herdman introduced Korea before the game. In fact, the players, even if they didn’t know exactly, vaguely knew that Korea was a strong team.

In Korea, there is Son from Tottenham, Hwang from Wolverhampton, Double Kim from Manchester, Lee from Paris, Kim from Munich… there are so many.

I also know that there are quite a few promising or famous European players.

“And training should always be more intense than the actual fight. Training like the actual fight. The actual fight like training. Okay?”

South Korea was a mock opponent for the upcoming World Cup, especially Iran.

They are the same Asian team, have similar strengths, and are stronger.

If we can produce meaningful results or content here, we can look forward to the upcoming World Cup.

In that sense, Canadian national team winger Alphonso Davies felt a pleasant thrill before the game.

‘It’s been a while since I’ve had a rematch with Kim.’

Alphonso Davies is a second-choice winger at Bayern Munich, but is a lone striker in Canada.

Alfonso entered the stadium with excitement for the match against the powerful team that had been the subject of much talk, but he felt a little dispirited.

‘…There are no spectators.’

This A-match, held in a neutral country, had almost no spectators. The already small stadium felt empty.

“Use it.”

But the opponent is a team ranked in the top 10 in FIFA and is the famous South Korea, so why are there so few spectators? That’s surprising…

Although it was awkward, we had time to shake hands before the game.

Alphonso Davies felt a little intimidated as he shook hands with the South Korean players.

The famous Captain Son.

Kim, the barrier that still shows its appearance in Germany.

Kim, a monster who is a comrade but also a fearful enemy.

Kim is a sub at Manchester United, but he shows a good performance every time he comes on.

‘…? How many Kims are there?’

And countless other famous players.

In terms of power alone, they are not at all inferior to powerhouses in Europe or South America.

Some of the national team teammates were already shaking hands with the Korean players, and some of them were even sweating because they were nervous.

Before shaking hands and heading to his own camp, Alfonso shouted to his players.

“Don’t be nervous! They’re people just like us! There’s nothing to be scared of!”

But it seems like the seeds didn’t work.

‘Fuck.’

If you go into the game feeling nervous beforehand, you won’t be able to perform at your best.

Beep!

And the game begins.

Contrary to my concerns, the game went more smoothly than expected.

‘Huh? What is it?’

5 minutes after the game starts.

Alfonso noticed that the Korean players were not in good condition. So it was worth a try.

“Hey! Over here!”

Alphonso received the ball from a teammate and ran down the flank. Alphonso, who is second to none in terms of speed, ran along the flank and took down the opposing fullback after a physical fight.

‘This is an opportunity!’

Three Korean players came closer and narrowed the angle, but there was no angle to hit anyway.

Alphonso floated the ball over and David, unmarked inside the box, volleyed over with one touch.

It was an accurate shot that went into the goal at an angle.

Alfonso, who has been playing football for decades, intuitively knew that the shot would go in.

and…….

“What?!”

You’re stopping this!?

Even on the surface, it looked like it had been blocked very easily.

Kim catches the ball, stands up awkwardly, and shouts to the players around him.

I can’t hear it, but judging by the decibel level of the screaming, it doesn’t sound good.

“shit….”

I remember when Kim was in Hanover.

Those nightmarish times.

A crazy monster goalkeeper who never allowed a goal to be scored despite dozens of valid shots.

Since then, Canada has had more opportunities than expected.

First 10 minutes.

David’s mid-range shot with the opponent trapped in the box.

Alfonso, who was watching from the side, thought once again that this was the one. It was a gut feeling.

It was an unmarked chance and the angle of the shot was artistic.

‘This is unconditional!’

And David’s shot was blocked by Kim who flew in quickly. It was a save that left me dumbfounded even as I watched.

“What the fuck….”

It’s not like Marvel movie heroes play soccer.

… and Canada’s sharp appearance was just up to that point. Korea, which had been out of its mind in the early part of the first half, gradually regained its original form and soon began to push Canada back to the half court.

A mistake by the Canadian defender.

Forward Kim’s solo dribble.

The goalkeeper comes out and tries to block it, but Kim manages to spin around without losing the ball.

Meanwhile, the goalkeeper returns to the goal, but Paris’ Lee, who received a pass from Kim, shoots with one touch.

I thought our goalkeeper would jump up and block the ball like Kim, but not all goalkeepers can do it like Kim.

Crash!

South Korea’s first goal.

Alphonso Davies sighed in despair at the sight.

Suddenly, I thought of Hannover from last season. Their offense was completely ineffective, and they lost the game after making a mistake while playing well.

‘shit….’

Alfonso shook his head and thought.

Maybe we can have a tea party today?

I wonder if I’m the only one who thinks like this, my colleagues’ faces are also dark.

Although the captain tried to cheer them on by saying, “It’s okay, it’s okay!”, the shadow of defeat was already hanging over the team.

Even though the game hasn’t even started yet!

‘It’s all Kim’s fault.’

Two crucial saves that completely destroyed team morale.

And even the opponent’s click goal.

This is a situation where you can’t help but lose motivation unless you have a strong mentality… .