Chapter 631: Second & Third Goal!

"Come on, stupid ball! Just get in!" Fabian prayed inwardly as he had just sent a curve ball to the opponent’s goal. A bead of sweat rolled down his forehead, and yet, the winger couldn’t care less about it right now as his attention was fully on the ball. "YES! Come on!"

It didn’t take a second for him to find out the result here. The curl he sent with his right foot flew so accurately to the top bins, and even though the opponent tried to jump, it was still far from his reach, resulting in the ball slipping through his fingers.

Thud!

It was slotted perfectly into the back of the net, and for a moment, silence followed the whole stadium before cheers erupted from all over the direction.

"OH! What a goal! It sure has to be Fabian!"

"I mean, could you see that movement before taking the shot?! That composure?! He is definitely an elite winger!"

"Hey, don’t forget that Japanese boy! He takes action again!"

Fabian himself didn’t care about the commotion on the stand. After the shot was taken, the winger just rushed as quickly as possible, pointing excitedly at Morita, who was standing in his original spot with a calm expression.

"Goddamnit, Morita! Are your nerves made of steel or what?! This is your perfect assist! Come on, be more enthusiastic!" The winger laughed while pointing his finger at the midfield, wanting the crowd to cheer on them more.

"It is what I should do, what I should do..." Morita smiled calmly, dodging Fabian’s hand. However, everyone could see that the boy was ecstatic with the result, being pleased that the ball could be executed this perfectly.

The rest of the players also came along, giving the boy a high-five or just patting his back fondly. Nassim even came with a little joke as he punched Morita’s shoulder playfully, ’Next time, it will be my turn, okay? Give me the ball again!’

Morita just snorted at that. "I cannot always give a chance to someone who wastes it, okay?" He retorted.

If anything, this made the others laugh while Nassim himself just rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Indeed, he had so many chances in this game, and yet, somehow, not a single one of them managed to get into the goal. Somehow, this state reminded Morita of Kawabe from the national team, as he was also similar; always wasting a lot of chances before finally scoring a goal by himself.

Well, at least, this kind of player could still be useful for the team, what with their dangerous movement that could always put the opponent on edge all the time.

After their little celebration, the players went back to their own territory, ready to start the game again. Now, though, with them leading by two goals, the home team players were more relaxed than usual, knowing that the victory was one step away from being secured.

Monchengladbach also made a quick change after this, putting two new players to replace those who failed to contribute to the team before. Even though they realized that their chance to tie the game, let alone overturn the score, was quite slim, at least they had to try something to shorten the gap first.

True enough, once the kick-off began, they started to pour more players into the midfield, intending to suppress the trio of Morita, Jonas Hofmann, and Alexander Schopf with numbers. At least four players were fighting there, and they still had three players on the frontline who were pouncing at any wild ball coming like a starving cheetah.

This way, no matter how good Schalke’s midfield was, they started to get overwhelmed, and more leaks appeared here and there in their defense. Higo also started working harder, and while no threat came really close to his side yet, at least the boy was getting busy right now, picking up one or two crosses toward the box.

’Oh, well, at least, this is better than just standing stupidly with nothing to do. At least, this will give an impression that I work hard as well to help the team win this game.’ He thought inwardly.

Once the team started to adapt to this new intensity, though, they also changed their approach. Instead of putting back pressure on the frontline and wasting more stamina doing so, it was better to wait for the opponent’s punch patiently, letting them exhaust their resource first before throwing a decisive punch later.

Right now, Morita and the others defended their territory patiently while also waiting for a little slip from the opponent’s side, wanting to score one more goal to secure the deal.

Then, their chance finally arrived at the 74th minute, when Higo once again picked up a low cross that went too close to his side. He rose from the ground immediately, glancing around at the pitch and found one person being open on the frontline.

’Well, maybe this is what we are waiting for. Come on, Nassim! Don’t disappoint me again!’

BAM!

He kicked the ball immediately, whipping a low and yet quick diagonal pass across the center line. On the right side, the Morocco winger grinned as one more good pass was coming at him, and with a quick chest control, he trapped the ball instantly before turning around and hitting his accelerator.

"Shit! A counter!"

"Slow him down! Slow him down!"

All the Mönchengladbach defenders who were overlapping to the frontline ran back frantically, trying to get back into their position. However, this time, Nassim didn’t let anyone get closer to him. No, instead of holding the ball for too long, he passed it to Luca Schuler in the middle, and the striker redirected the ball to the other flank where Fabian Reese was running at.

The blonde winger didn’t even need to control it. The pass itself was perfect, rolling in the half-space area inside the penalty box yet still far from the goalkeeper himself. With a quick swing of his left foot, Fabian whacked the ball as hard as he could, and as a result...

BAM!

It pierced the net so violently, giving the team the third goal of the day.