Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 96



Only Krnovel

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I left the locker room with my teammates.

And they lined up at the stadium entrance.

The Olympics. The first button. There is an old saying that says you have to button up the first button well, so I was nervous and worried that something might go wrong, and my mood was up and down.

As I was waiting for the moment to enter the stadium, suddenly someone tapped me on the head from behind.

Of course, I thought Lee Jin-seop was joking and my eyes lit up with rage.

And when I look back···.

“uh?”

“Long time no see?”

The main character, who looked like he was going to joke around at any moment and smiled brightly at me, was a teammate and a former teammate.

Taylor Nielsen.

A player who was briefly selected by Yan early in his career, but later returned to his original position after showing hopeless performance.

And that player who has been warming up the bench for a long time since then and has often been substituted in to rest the starters when the team is winning the game.

“Nielsen?”

“What’s with your expression? You didn’t know I was on the US team, did you?”

He rolled his eyes. His teammates were watching the situation with interest.

“···No way. Of course I knew.”

“But why didn’t you come to me? Why didn’t you even contact me once?”

Oh, wow. This is such a strong pressure. Now, how are you going to break through, Kim Min-woo? You’re blocked on all sides!

“······Of course, we are enemies. We are teammates in Hannover, but we are players representing our respective countries, so I didn’t want to bother you by contacting you or visiting you. I wouldn’t react even if it was Jan, not Taylor, right now.”

I didn’t even know what nonsense I was talking about. I just blurted out whatever came to my tongue.

But Taylor responded by grinning and tapping the back of my head, as if the tongue thing was rolling better than I thought.

“We’re on the same team, so can’t you just let me score one goal?”

I answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“Absolutely not. Even if my grandfather played as an American striker, I would stop him.”

“Ooh. This is hot. Let’s have a fun match, Dude.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Nielsen looked at him with a look of like, “What the heck?” However, when the captain of the US team shouted at Nielsen to go back to his seat, Nielsen quickly disappeared.

‘Wow. Nielsen was on the US team.’

There was no mention of it in the data shown by Coach Choi, and the striker’s name was written in abbreviations, so I couldn’t even imagine that they were teammates.

I never thought I’d see my Hanover family here. What a small world…

“Okay, let’s go!”

And then we entered the stadium.

I nodded and shook off the encounter I just had.

It was a welcome encounter in an unexpected place, but Taylor Nielsen will likely leave for another team next season. Or go on loan.

‘He showed some pretty good performances, but overall, he was a player who wasn’t that great even in the second division.’

It may be a bit odd to evaluate a teammate like that, but that’s the truth.

They say data doesn’t lie, and if we look at Nielsen by that data, Nielsen was a player who was more suited to the third division than the second.

‘If today weren’t a once-in-ten-years day for Nielsen, he’d honestly be a player that even Jinseop hyung would have been able to beat.’

Nielsen, I’m sorry. We have to win this game.

***

And the game began.

Although the match was led by the United States, the national team showed a good performance in the evaluation match, and as if to prove that it was not a waste of time, they stole the ball after 30 seconds.

In the last match against Ukraine, Eom Won-seok, who had to feel his limits countless times against Mikhail Mudrik, stole the ball from the side and advanced.

Jo Young-woo also moved quickly to the position he had to move to without even looking.

There is no right way to move in this situation as a striker, but the rule of thumb is to move into a position that is good for receiving the ball.

Jo Young-woo did so.

Before being surrounded by American players, Eom Won-seok passed the ball to Cho Young-woo, who did a half-turn while receiving it and then passed it to winger Yang Hyeon-ju on the opposite side.

Yang Hyun-joo, from Celtic, should have kicked the ball right away after receiving it, but he hesitated for a bit and took his time, and in the meantime, the attack was blocked by an American defender’s foot.

Although it was a pity, Jo Young-woo cheered loudly and brought energy to the show.

‘You know what? It’s strange. Whenever I come to the national team, I feel energized and I feel like I’m doing much better than when I was in Sangmu.’

I’ve had that thought since I played in the Asian Cup. I don’t know why, but I felt like I got better when I was with the national team, and it wasn’t just my feeling, my indicators also jumped.

‘Is this the type of person who only does well in the national team?’

It’s so funny.

Clearly, my old self wasn’t like that.

And the game resumes.

Neither we nor they gave an inch to the fight for the Central Plains and put all their efforts into it.

But it wasn’t easy to decide.

Because it would be fatal if either Korea or the United States were to lose to each other.

For both of them, this first match was very important, and that was why it was a showdown between the two powers. A head-on showdown. The match took on the appearance of a chicken game from the beginning.

‘The sea I longed for.’

Jo Young-woo thought that this kind of game flow was not bad. In fact, it was good.

Because we have Kim Min-woo on our team.

18 consecutive clean sheets in the Bundesliga.

Clean sheet in all matches of the Asian Cup.

And an invincible goalkeeper who did not concede a single goal even in the final evaluation match.

Why would you drag a goalkeeper into a mud fight when he’s got one? I’d rather have one.

“oh.”

However, it seems too early to feel relieved as America’s offensive power is sharper than expected.

Above all, since there is a teammate like Kim Min-woo among the opposing attackers, they may know of Kim Min-woo’s weaknesses that we don’t know.

‘I need to help you out.’

These days, if an attacker is not active in defense, he or she will naturally be eliminated.

Cho Young-woo actively participated in the pressure and helped reduce the defensive burden. The US national team eventually responded to the strong pressure from Korea by lowering its line and watching.

***

Taylor Nielsen knew Kim well.

I couldn’t not know.

How can you not know that the youngster from the same team beat the unshakable starter Ron-Robert Ziller and handed the captain’s armband to Henrik Fischer, the kid who eventually caused Ziller to leave Hannover after a ping-pong-ping-pong competition?

He was a really solid guy.

Only eighteen. He’s a great goalkeeper for a rookie who hasn’t even made his professional debut for a year.

‘When we’re comrades, there’s no one as reliable as me, but when I think of him as an enemy… damn it.’

I never imagined that such a terrible scenario would become a reality.

Actually, the Korean national team was nothing special.

There were some pretty good players, but looking at the overall player pool, I thought the US was better than Korea.

However, if Kim is guarding the Korean goal, it is a different story. Kim is a goalkeeper who can never score in the normal way.

Would you believe me if I told you that the only goal I’ve ever scored was once in a penalty shootout? And that’s after playing in over 18 games.

“Yeah, Nielsen. You’re on the same team, so you know each other well, right? What kind of guy is Kim?”

Before the game, the spotlight was on Taylor Nielsen, with questions asked not only by the manager and coaches but also by the players.

Kim asked how he should proceed.

Nielsen wanted to offer a solution, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t imagine scoring a goal against Kim.

But I couldn’t say in front of the national team, “That guy is a monster. No matter what I do, he can’t score, so I’ll give up early and go with a strategy of getting a draw.”

They won’t listen to you and will instead see you as a defeatist.

So Taylor Nielsen, like Professor Alan Grant in Jurassic Park, presented a solution with confidence and determination.

“You have to give up the idea of ​​creating your own goal against Kim. There are two ways to do it. You can score a goal when there is an unmarked chance with a pass play. Or you can score a goal with a powerful shot that cannot be blocked even if you block it.”

“···What does that mean? You can’t stop it even if you try?”

“That’s literally it. Kim made a save, but when the ball is too strong, sometimes it bounces back. That’s what I’m aiming for.”

The director heard that and laughed as if he was dumbfounded.

“What is that? Isn’t that just relying on luck?”

“A lot of Bundesliga managers have tried to get through Kim, and come up with all sorts of crazy tactics. But the player we’re going to face is the one who made all that nonsense useless. The manager. I respect you, but there have been managers with better tactical skills than you who have tried to get through Kim and failed. Don’t try to do anything, and just do as I say. That’s probably the best chance of success.”

The director silenced Taylor Nielsen with a clap of his hands.

“Okay! Okay! I’ve listened to what the non-expert said! Nielsen, aren’t you deifying your teammates too much? That doesn’t mean you’ll get promoted.”

My colleagues laughed out loud at those words.

Nielsen blushed, but instead of smiling, he shook his head and gave a warning.

“I told you clearly. All the coaches who were better than you failed. Honestly, no matter what our team players did, they couldn’t get through to Kim. I can guarantee it after watching him for over half a year.”

“Yeah, yeah. That doesn’t mean Trump will win the election, Taylor.”

‘What the hell, you little brat!’

Taylor was furious.

How dare you mock this serious warning in this way!

And most of all, I’m a Democrat!

*

“Fuck.”

Taylor Nielsen’s warning eventually came true.

All of America’s attempts have failed.

The Korean defense was stronger than expected, but in some cases, the US team broke through the defense, and missed shots every time when only one goalkeeper was left.

“Kim. Stop it gently.”

Kim glanced at Nielsen, who was coming closer, and threw the ball forward. I was amazed every time I saw him. That incredible arm strength.

“What the hell happened? You couldn’t throw like this before. Are you on steroids or something?”

“Well, it’s similar.”

“what?”

It was a joke, but you got this? Wait. But is this a joke?

“By the way, Wilson is doing okay today. He almost lost a point because of his characteristic composure.”

“Then what should I do? I couldn’t put it in.”

As Kim said, today was a day of something. Since I knew that I couldn’t do anything against Kim, I created a complicated situation to create variables, but Kim read them all and blocked them.

A monster of a guy.

“By the way, can I stay here?”

“huh?”

“It seems dangerous.”

Kim’s gaze was followed. Korea’s chance to counterattack. America’s crisis, but it was too far away.

“I guess I’ll just pretend to run. See you later, Kim.”

When I waved, Kim waved back. I thought he was cute because he was still young.

But the problem is.

“Woooooo!”

“···Damn. The game is over and this is happening.”

Nielsen, who was running, walked again. The opposing attacker scored a goal. It was a familiar winning pattern for Hannover. Kim blocked all the dangers, and in the meantime, Hannover’s attackers scored a goal and did their part. Then, the game was won.

If the attacking team can’t do one person’s job, it’s a draw.

“That stupid director bastard.”

Taylor Nielsen shook her head as she cursed the director who had insulted her.

They will obviously lose to France, and it seems difficult to win against Egypt, which has a superstar player named Mohamed Salah.

Well then, the US team is going to be eliminated super fast. If it’s going to happen, I hope they cut the coach.

***

After knocking on the door for a while, it finally opened.

Since Eom Won-seok was in good form for this match, he threw a quick and accurate kick, exchanged it with Lee Kang-im, and received a pass from Lee Kang-im to the back space and passed it to Jo Young-woo, who was nearby.

Jo Young-woo did not kick right away, but calmly deceived the opposing defense with a feint motion and then kicked the ball strongly into the right goal with an unmarked chance.

The opposing goalkeeper read the direction the wrong way and fell to the ground with his back to the ground.

“nice.”

During the Asian Cup, the Korean national team’s performance was so good that it made you wonder what they were going to do, but after a little time and the addition of overseas players, the Korean national team’s performance improved to a surprising degree.

Yes. This is the level of the golden generation. I watched Jo Young-woo salute the camera with pleasure.

By the way, how did you not win the Asian Games gold medal with this squad? Does that make sense?

‘Ah. Could it be because I’m not here? I admit that.’

The goalkeeper’s role in soccer is somewhat large.

End

ⓒ Doctor Am