Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 83



Only Krnovel

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Karlsruher SC had a rather complicated relationship in the last match as well.

Midway through the league. 4th and 5th place. Same points. Go for it or sit back.

And he surprised Jan’s Hanover by countering and almost taking the win.

And as time passed and the league was coming to a close, Hannover and Karlsruher maintained a similar relationship as back then.

The end of the league. A showdown between 2nd and 4th place. Both teams must get points to hope for promotion.

In the last match, Hannover were lucky enough to get a penalty kick after regulation time to take all three points, but this time they were not so lucky.

“Eww!”

Karlsruher’s striker screamed after missing several chances.

The attackers who had to get through me usually reacted similarly to that.

The reaction was delicious, but I was too tired today to think about anything.

‘It feels like playing with sandbags…’

The trait ‘Wedge-shaped goalkeeper’ was definitely a big help. Especially when combined with quick and accurate kicks, the accuracy was incomparable to before, and thanks to that, he created many scenes that made Karlsruher’s heart sink.

But the problem is that it ultimately did not lead to a ‘goal’.

Hannover wasted just as many attacking opportunities as Karlsruher did.

‘Come to think of it, I remember the opposing goalkeeper doing really well last time too.’

And we had to finish the game without anyone smiling.

It’s a draw.

We each took a point, which was a big deal at this crucial time.

‘It’s frustrating. I can’t even play as a striker.’

I briefly imagined myself playing as a striker.

It’s possible, but if you want to start over as a striker, your existing goalkeeper stats will be useless, so you’ll have to start from zero.

I immediately erased that thought from my mind. It was a wild fantasy.

And the locker room we entered was as gloomy as expected. Since Karlsruher had to beat us to hope for promotion, this match was one where there were no winners and only two losers.

“It’s okay, everyone. It’s okay.”

Jan muttered like this.

I glanced at Jan’s face.

Jan looked like she was going to cry if you poked her.

And after a little while more, suddenly Jan screamed.

“it’s okay!”

The players looked at Jan and the coaches in confusion. Head coach Elmare smiled brightly and told them about the other team’s situation.

“Jean Pauli has been defeated!”

The players, who had blinked for a moment, realized the meaning later and shouted, “Wow!”

I also stood up from my seat and hugged my colleagues and celebrated the occasion.

“Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh!”

And the players danced and enjoyed themselves as if they had won the game. Sophie, who accompanied them, was taking pictures with her camera. She said she was originally from the marketing team, so maybe she was going to post it on SNS?

It doesn’t matter. There’s no snack more delicious than the guy ahead of you falling down.

*

Since it was the latter half of the league, all the second division teams played their games on the same date and at the same time.

So soon, the situation of other clubs also began to come in one after another.

1st place Jean Pauli was defeated by the disaster relief team ‘Osnabrück’.

Second-placed Hannover drew with fifth-placed Karlsruher, third-placed Hamburg beat Paderborn, and fourth-placed Holstein Kiel also beat their opponents Düsseldorf.

So the final ranking list is.

===

1st place. Hannover. 62 points.

2nd place. St. Pauli. 62 points.

3rd place. Hamburg. 62 points.

4th place. Holstein Kiel. 59 points.

5th place. Karlsruher SC. 58 points.

===

“Fuck, my god.”

The players who had gathered in a row to check the rankings all whispered with shocked faces. It could happen like this.

The rankings were readjusted based on goal difference, and since I had kept many clean sheets, Hannover was clearly ahead of the other teams in goal difference.

I glanced at Sophie, who was holding a camera next to me, and asked.

“Sophie.”

“yes?”

“Has there ever been a time in the Bundesliga when teams were tied for first through third with one game remaining?”

“···Well, I haven’t seen it.”

“Right?”

Sophie nods.

Certainly, this seems to be an uncommon case wherever you go.

A league where the final ranking is decided by the last match. Even the fiercely competitive EPL wouldn’t be like this.

“Wow. So we’re going to play against the 4th place team again in the final round?”

Corsic muttered. The players seemed rather interested. This kind of thing is really rare in a player’s life.

“Damn. If we’re not careful, we could end up in the playoffs···.”

It was something that came out while Jan was gossiping with the coaches.

When I thought about it carefully, that was it.

The worst case scenario was 3rd place.

Even if Jean Pauli wins, Hamburg wins, and Hannover loses to Holstein, they will still be tied on points with Holstein.

Hannover’s goal difference is so overwhelming compared to other clubs that Holstein is no match for them.

So, even in the worst case scenario, we were in the playoffs.

‘So Holstein will only have a chance if Hamburg or Jean Pauli lose?’

If Holstein beat us and either Hamburg or Jean Pauli slip up, it would be an epic.

If both slip and Holstein goes straight to promotion, it will probably be a huge topic of conversation in Germany as well.

However, it wasn’t the worst situation for Hannover either, so we were able to leave Karlsruhe in a bright mood despite the draw.

***

As the Bundesliga 2 rankings became uncertain until the very end, the German media began to pay close attention to it.

Wouldn’t a league be more exciting if you couldn’t know until the end?

Even the first part wasn’t much of a topic of conversation because that damn Bayern Munich had already won the championship.

The news that Bayern Munich had won the Bundesliga was now so obvious and predictable.

Because it was a team that had been monopolizing the championship since 2012.

What does it matter whether Munich wins the 11th or 12th consecutive championship? The Germans are already thinking, ‘Well, that’s it.’

《······Maybe this is the future that the Bundesliga should be aiming for? How long are we going to have to watch Munich’s dominance of the championship? Now people are assuming that Munich will win before the season even starts······.》

Kim Shin-ah, who was reading a translated German article, stopped reading and blew a bubble gum.

‘These days, machine translation is really good. The writing style is smooth and not awkward.’

Of course, Shin-A watched the match between Hannover and Karlsruher SC this morning.

This is something I always think about when watching Hannover’s games, but unlike other teams, Hannover’s goalkeepers seem to be caught on camera a lot.

‘But is it because you’ve done so many preventive actions?’

Shin-ah went into KakaoTalk and posted a message in the family group chat.

[Kim Shin-ah: It’s late, but 17 games of clean sheets, good job]

[Kim Shin-a: But I felt it during the Asian Cup too, but it suddenly felt like things got better? Wasn’t it a weakness in the build-up? LOL]

Then, Kim Min-woo responds right away.

[Kim Min-woo: Kim Shin-ah, who is bad at soccer, discusses the build-up?]

[Kim Shin-ah: Now I know a lot about soccer, so don’t ignore me]

[Kim Min-woo: Go study lol]

[Kim Shin-ah: ㅗ]

While browsing through the community, Kim Shin-ah happened to come across a video posted by Hanover.

It was a video of Hannover players celebrating as if they had won the game after confirming that the number one spot had slipped.

“I have to keep this as a GIF.”

Kim Shin-ah edits videos into animated GIFs.

If I post this in the group chat every time something happens, I’m going to throw a tantrum, right?

“Okay! Break time is over!”

Shin-Ah raised her head and looked at the members entering the empty classroom.

They were club members.

Dance club.

Shin-ah went up a grade and was now a second-year student, but she continued to attend the dance club.

reason?

What···.

‘For high school students, physical strength is also important. He said that it would be better to include active activities rather than just sitting and studying.’

It’s not that much, I only do it for 3-4 hours a week at most.

“If we practice a little more, we might be able to upload it to YouTube. Shin-ah, fighting!”

The members especially praised Shin-Ah, who was particularly good at dancing. Shin-Ah smiled, put her phone in her pocket, and stood up from her seat.

“But why do you only practice old dances? Back then, you only did new songs.”

“There are a lot of people who cover the latest songs. You have to be different to get people to pay attention.”

Is that so? It seems right.

Soon the club president started playing a song, and we each took our places.

and······.

Roly Poly

Roly Roly Poly~

***

Holstein Kiel, who have to face Hannover in the final round, were busy analyzing their opponents.

···In particular, Kim’s analysis of the absurd feat of 17 clean sheets was quite persistent and detailed.

“As you can see, Kim’s defensive skills are out of this world.”

Holstein’s head coach gave Kim several examples of saves, all of which came in ridiculous situations.

“I can guarantee that his one-on-one saves are better than any other goalkeeper playing in Germany. Kim’s 17-game clean sheet record proves that.”

Holstein’s attackers sat on their chairs and listened to their coach.

Relativity.

I needed a counter to that crazy goalkeeper from Korea.

“You might ask, ‘If he’s good at 1-on-1 defense, why not just do 2-on-1?’ But Kim blocks that well too. Whether it’s his animal instincts or his quick wits, when that happens, he’s like a ghost, holding off the player who’s going to receive the pass. Just look at his movements now.”

The head coach played a video of Kim’s moves just before he made a save. This time, it was a video of how Kim made a save in a 2-on-1 situation.

Watching it and listening to the head coach’s explanation, Holstein striker Machino thought to himself.

‘There’s no way, then? How are you supposed to put it in? No, to begin with, with that level of ability, wouldn’t it be enough to experience the future for about 3 seconds first and then return?’

As I watched the description and video, I even had doubts. I wondered if, if I took off the skin, it would not actually be a human, but an alien pretending to be a human.

“······It’s clear that he’s a great goalkeeper, but Kim also has his weaknesses.”

The attackers all watched those words with interest. And the TV screen moved to the next video.

“This is a scene from the round of 32 of the Pokal Cup. It was Hannover and Dortmund. And here Kim scored his first and last goal.”

The video being played was a penalty shootout. But do you think a penalty shootout resulted in a goal?

Anyway, what the head coach said was true.

The kicker was Julian Brandt, who watched Kim until the end and saved his shot until the very end, eventually scoring a goal.

“Even this one read the direction. This guy is crazy.”

The players watching burst into laughter at the head coach’s words.

“This is the only goal Kim has scored. How do you think Julian Brandt scored against Kim? Anyone know?”

Machino raised his hand.

“Yeah. Machino?”

“He used psychological warfare. He watched the goalkeeper’s movements until the very end, and he held back his shot until the very end, deciding where to shoot. And then he scored.”

“That’s correct.”

The head coach nodded and continued.

“All the other kickers in Dortmund have already decided where to take the kick. And they get blocked. Or they miss. You know what’s scarier? Kim knows where the shot is going. He doesn’t move when the shot goes too far. In my opinion, it’s not that he can’t react, but he’s convinced that it’s a miss and he doesn’t move. I’ll show you the video.”

Then it really happened.

Kim read all the other kickers’ shots. Kim blocking an opponent’s shot to the right. Kim blocking a strong shot to the center with both hands. And most importantly, Kim flinching and not reacting to a goal aimed at the upper right post bar.

Machino thought, leaning forward.

‘Sure, it’s a bit weird, isn’t it?’

It’s not that I didn’t react, but it feels like I’m not reacting. I thought about it myself, but it doesn’t make sense. I’m not reacting because I think it’ll be a mistake…

Is that what you see when you hear the head coach say?

“Well, actually, when I first came up with this hypothesis, I was so scared that I even thought Kim might be human. But he is human after all. He almost got eaten during the last Karlsruhe battle. Phil Neumann barely managed to kick him out. Anyway, back to the main topic.”

The head coach came to a conclusion on how to score a goal against Kim.

When Machino heard it and judged it, it seemed quite plausible.

‘He scored against a goalkeeper who had kept a clean sheet for 17 games…’

That would be kind of fun.

And as a result, if we succeed in promotion…

‘This will be really fun.’

Machino smiled and looked at Kim on the screen.

Last time we played against Hannover, it was Chiller instead of Kim that we were able to play against, but this final match, Kim will definitely be playing.

That guy beat the unstoppable starting chiller with 100% skill.

And I wanted to take that guy’s first goal, even if it was possible.

If possible, let’s get the team promoted together.

End

ⓒ Doctor Am