Chapter 627: Morita in Control! Higo’s Bold Action!

The ball curled sharply to the far post, enough to make everyone hold their breath unconsciously. Nassim himself was confident with his shot, narrowing his eyes quietly while also getting ready to jump and celebrate when the ball was in.

Unfortunately, though, even if the opponent’s goalkeeper failed to reach the ball, the shot itself was still a little bit high, and as a result...

Thud!

The ball flew a few centimeters above the crossbar, only hitting the top of the net before falling back to the ground.

"Wait, what?!" Nassim, who had just raised his hands, put them down immediately, clutching his head in disbelief. "That is still not enough?!" He asked with a heavy English accent.

This exclamation was enough to snap everyone out of their daydreaming, and after realizing that the chance itself failed to get the team a goal, the supporters on the stand couldn’t help but groan.

"Damn! That was so close!"

"If it was Nassim last year, he would be able to whack it perfectly! He hasn’t gotten enough warm-up yet!"

"Hey, hey, don’t forget about that pass from that Japanese boy! He sure has a great vision!"

Even though the supporters were disappointed that they failed to open up the score, they still applauded Morita and Nassim for the great chance that was enough to make them hold their breath unconsciously.

As for those two players themselves, Morita just strolled back to the midfield, while Nassim gave him a big thumbs-up from afar. The Moroccan winger didn’t forget to shout, "Good pass! I will wait for another one later!"

Still, this chance was a good wake-up call for the Monchengladbach side. After this, they started to tighten their guard in the midfield, especially toward Morita. They would put one player to shadow the boy within three meters, and the moment the midfielder received a pass, that shadow’s task was to kill the boy’s momentum, enough to make him uncomfortable controlling the ball.

It was such an extreme adjustment, as they really treated Morita as a superstar. However, the build-up for that attack earlier was enough to give them an idea of how dangerous Morita was, and it would be stupid for them to brush it off as nothing.

Unfortunately, though, this tactic didn’t work as perfectly as they imagined. Even under such immense pressure, Morita didn’t get flustered at all. If anything, he was able to change his approach perfectly. Instead of controlling the ball, he acted like a perfect wall, redirecting any pass toward the teammates who were in an open position.

Not only that, but Morita also had one more weapon here. His passing ability was stronger than anyone thought, as the boy could launch a very good long ball without having to trap it first, even under the opponent’s pressure. So far, he had already sent three in that exact scenario, and three of them always found his teammates perfectly.

Unfortunately, neither Fabian Reese nor Luca Schuler managed to capitalize on the chance. The left winger got trapped on the corner one and sent an imperfect cross in the second chance, while Luca Schuler failed to whack the ball perfectly, only hitting the defender in front of him.

Nevertheless, Morita’s display of his ability was enough to show everyone that he was not playing around here.

On the other hand, Monchengladbach was still struggling to adapt to the situation on the pitch. They tried so many times to hold possession for a while, and yet, whenever their players tried to take control of the midfield, the pressure led by Morita and Jonas Hofmann was enough to kill any momentum they wanted to create.

This cut off Mönchengladbach’s supply to the frontline, letting their two strikers just run around for nothing. Poor them, they hadn’t even touched the ball yet besides the kick-off so far, having not received any pass from the back.

This made Higo quite jobless so far, just strolling around in front of his own penalty box helplessly. Yeah, he even dared to move that far beyond the goal, finding that no threat would be good enough to breach the team’s defense.

’Yeah, maybe this is the problem that a goalkeeper from an offensive team has to face, huh?’ He couldn’t help but smile wryly.

So far, he had only touched the ball three times, and in all of those chances, the boy just redirected it to the closest open defender to him. Not much complication, and he spent his time freely again, wandering around while also spectating the game from his spot.

However, his chance for action finally came, and it was far from his comfort zone.

On the left side, Fabian Reese somehow got entangled with the ball on his feet, giving the defender there a chance to snatch the ball away from the winger. That defender saw the two strikers on the front starting to run, so he also rushed things up, launching a long ball into Schalke’s territory without hesitation.

’Shit! Here we go!’ Higo widened his eyes in anticipation.

From his position, the ball was still quite far, so the best action should be for him to drop back a little to wait for the attack. It also helped that the team’s defensive line reacted properly, fighting for the best position against the opponent’s striker.

However, right before he took action, his clairvoyant ability told Higo exactly where the ball would fall, and an idea suddenly popped inside his head. Instead of dropping back, he glanced at the other players who were waiting for the ball to fall, calculating everything inside his head for a second before rushing forward.

His movement was subtle enough not to catch the others’ attention. However, before the ball could touch the ground, he suddenly appeared there, just three meters from the penalty box, receiving it with his chest while also intercepting the pass instantly.

Not stopping just like that, Higo also glanced at the frontline quickly. He noticed some of his teammates were in a good spot, and after picking one of them to send the ball to, he couldn’t help but grin here.

’Well, Nassim, it seems that this is your lucky day!’

BAM!