Chapter 658: Back to Practice Again! The Team’s Current Situation!

That visitation from Morita was just a small episode in his three-day break. However, besides that boy, no one truly came to check on Higo’s situation. Honestly, if he didn’t know better, the boy would think that he was being isolated right now.

However, once he took a peek at the team’s schedule, Higo realized why no one was here to visit.

’Yeah, we are on a tight schedule, with a game in the middle of the week. They should be at Köln for the away game, right?’ He muttered under his breath.

The schedule was indeed a little bit cruel with Schalke II. They didn’t even have any time to celebrate their win against their lifelong rival, as they had to go for the away game against Köln II. It was another strong team in this division, the second squad for another Bundesliga team.

The crazy schedule was far from over, since they had to fight for another game the next Monday. This time, their opponent would be Bonner FC, a team from a small city called Bonn, one hour away from Gelsenkirchen. It was another away game, and the most fortunate part for the team was that the city was only 15 minutes away from Cologne, making the trip easier for the players.

Of course, Higo didn’t need to care about that right now. After all, he was not even getting included in the squad for that game, so his main task was to recover as quickly as possible.

During that time, he didn’t stay idle. Even though the doctor had already given permission not to train, Higo started doing light warm-up in his free time, not wanting to lose his momentum after such a crazy performance in the derby game.

That wasn’t the only thing that motivated him, though, as the boy had just found out about his friends’ situation back home.

’Kawabe-kun and Big Zee have just debuted with Urawa Red Diamonds in the J-League game, and a week before, Mamoru has just created a big storm by becoming the youngest goal scorer in J-League history with Shimizu S-Pulse. They are all playing in the top league, while I am here, stuck at the fourth division. No, that cannot do. I have to climb up as quickly as possible.’

This was the news that Kumiko sent to fuel him up. After all, she seemed to notice that the boy got a little bit cocky, what with him having five clean sheets in this competition. This was her way to remind Higo that this shouldn’t be his final destination, but a little stop for his long and bright career.

Of course, even with Higo being so motivated like this, it wasn’t easy to get into the first team. After all, Schalke’s main team still had a strong goalkeeper in Alexander Nubel, one hailed as Manuel Neuer’s successor. However, Higo wasn’t anxious here, believing the rumor that spread in the air about Nubel starting to put pressure on the team’s management to be allowed to join Bayern.

’The transfer will happen sooner or later, probably next summer. I still have at least eight months to improve myself. When that time comes, I have to snatch that main spot immediately!’ He clenched his fist secretly.

His change of attitude also got noticed by the coaching team. Even though they were currently on the road, Frohling and his team still paid attention to Higo’s condition, and when the head coach got a report of him starting to train alone, he couldn’t help but nod in approval.

"Yes, Higo! That is the right attitude! Don’t just get satisfied with your achievement here! Your target should be the main team, so don’t stop improving yourself!"

"Sure, Sensei. Don’t worry, I will maintain this level of discipline." Higo nodded while wiping the sweat on his face after another one of his training sessions.

Time passed by, and soon enough, the boy also started learning about the team’s results in the two away games they played. It wasn’t a big surprise that their team’s defense became weaker without Higo’s presence in between the posts.

In the first game against Köln II, they were forced to chase from behind after being down by two goals in the first half. It was fortunate that Luca Schuler’s dominance in the aerial duel managed to help the team tie the score. Yeah, in the second half, the tall striker scored two goals from the same scenario: a big cross from the flank.

This also became the first time Schalke II conceded a goal in this competition. Before, Higo got five clean sheets, keeping the goal secure from any of the opponent’s attacks. It seemed that Schalke’s defenders hadn’t gotten used to his lack of presence, not expecting that their backup goalkeeper would be this bad.

They also didn’t show that much improvement in the second game. Against SC Bonner, the team that had only scored 5 goals in the first 6 games, Schalke still conceded a goal here. Their defense was full of holes, and in the end, they had to accept the bitter pill here, dropping a full three points against a team that was only two spots away from the relegation zone.

Two away games, one draw and one loss.

Honestly, this was a bad result, especially considering they got four wins in the first five games. Still, the head coach was not worried about this. After all, this was a long competition, so it was normal for the team’s performance to drop like this. It also didn’t help that they had to play three games in nine days, only getting two days of rest in between them.

Frohling had already expected the team to drop some points, and in hindsight, he was relieved that the team also suffered a loss on this trip. After all, being unbeaten for a long run was so tiring that he didn’t think his team was capable of maintaining the right mindset when that happened.

However, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t change anything here. After the bad result in this trip, he clenched his fist on the way back home, inwardly muttering, ’Next game, we will have Higo back at the goal again. That will be our cue to bounce back higher than ever’