Chapter 621: Higo in Action!

The rest of the first half somehow became a big show for the Schalke II team. Even under the opponent’s constant pressure, the possession moved flawlessly, just like a river flowing freely to the sea. From one player after another, they all played a big role in keeping the flow on their side.

Of course, there would always be one player that was pushed to the spotlight, and this time, it was none other than Morita.

His positioning was always perfect, moving around where the ball was to be a help there. He might not always receive a pass, but his presence would be a great distraction as he would attract at least two players on his side, giving a good space behind him to exploit. Then, once he received the ball, the boy would always know the route to escape, getting rid of the pressure easily.

Honestly, looking at him from the back, Higo couldn’t help but think, ’Does that mean he could play his role and Saito-san’s one together simultaneously with such perfection? If so, why would the national team need those two to play together?!’

Speaking of Higo, though, the boy also started to get involved in the built-up play. At first, it was just simple recycling the pass, giving the back line another option to pass when they couldn’t find a good one in front of him. However, as his confidence grew, he started to play more boldly.

At first, it was just rerouting the pass, keeping the flow safe.However, soon, the boy also became brave enough to wait, baiting the opponent to put pressure on him and give more space around.Then, on several occasions, he also launched a long pass that would always meet his teammates on the front line, never missing a single one.

Yeah, it was crazy when everyone thought about it, but long passes were always Higo’s weapon since the beginning of his career. He had been sending long passes for more than a thousand times, from Kuroki, Kenji, Hiroshi, Tagawa, to the players in Schalke right now as his targets. There was no way he would mess up something like this.

However, in Frohling’s eyes, this added more value to Higo’s resume. The coach’s eyes were shining brightly as he muttered, ’With the threat from his long pass, we can add more variety to our offense, and the speed could also be increased as well. Damn! How could I only know his talent right now?!’ He clicked his tongue in annoyance, berating himself for not noticing Higo’s amazing long pass talent in the training session.

Not that the coach could be blamed for this. Higo had just gained confidence after he knew full well that he could survive as a sweeper-keeper in this game. Just like what those old coaches said, 1000 training sessions couldn’t replace one serious game when it came to players’ confidence.

Higo didn’t just play a big part in helping the team’s build-up. No, as a goalkeeper, he still maintained the highest standard in protecting the goal, never allowing any threat to escape from his grasp.

So far, in total, he had already made three saves. The first one came from a high cross which his defenders failed to anticipate. The header from the opponent’s striker was dangerous, but Higo managed to move in time, letting the ball fall in his grasp. Then, the second one was a long shot, low and going to the corner spot. It was quite troublesome, but Higo’s hand managed to reach the ball in the last second.

The last one, though, was more troublesome. Somehow, one of their strikers managed to sneak into the penalty box after receiving a pass from his teammates, fooling two of Schalke II’s defenders. He had a big chance to face Higo in a one-on-one situation, and yet, in that moment, his shot only met Higo’s left foot, deflecting the ball away from the goal.

Three saves might not be that much for Higo’s standard, but that was only because Schalke II was an offensive team, not like Hakodate Nishi. Still, those three saves were enough to impress everyone else here, giving them a sense of security that in the back, Higo was there to take care of the problem.

"Damn! That new goalkeeper is good!"

"How could we have two new Japanese players for almost nothing?! Are we running a dark art or what?!"

"We are just stealing two treasures! Hahaha! I cannot wait to see them playing in the first team!"

Unfortunately, Higo’s performance was over soon enough. After the break, the coach took off eight players on the pitch, replacing them with new players from the bench. The reason was simple. The man wanted to try as many players as possible. This time, though, Higo was out, while Morita stayed on the pitch.

With Morita dictating the tempo, they still maintained a strong foothold in the second half. However, it was clear that the team was weak in several areas. The left side was breached so many times, and Morita didn’t dare to pass the ball back to one particular defender with the jersey number 33 due to that man’s clumsiness.

Not only that, but the goalkeeper was also quite weak. His positioning was shaky, and he was also so cocky at the goalkeeper position, liking to play with danger. Just a mere thought of him receiving a back pass from the others was enough to send a shudder down everyone’s spine.

Hell, the team even conceded one goal in the second half. Not that it was the goalkeeper’s fault, as the shot went straight to the bottom corner of the goal, a difficult place to reach. However, Higo saved a similar type of shot earlier, so the comparison was hard to ignore.

’Yeah, as expected, Higo’s presence on the back is better.’ Morita sighed helplessly.

Fortunately, the team managed to hold on until the end of the game. It was a sloppy one with the opponent having so many times overturned the score, but the moment the referee blew the whistle, all the players with the blue jersey couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh.

The first pre-season match was finally over, and they started it with a positive result.