Chapter 666: Second Half of the Game!

Soon enough, the referee finally came into the locker room, breaking the awkward and tense meeting inside. He didn’t need to say a single word, as his presence alone was enough to announce that the second half was about to begin.

After talking so much in this short break, Frohling took a big sip of water from his bottle. His face was drenched in sweat, and his pale face was so red from the blood rising to his brain.

"I have said all the necessary things here, and I don’t need to add more here." He took another deep breath, saying in a calmer tone. "I just want to emphasize that even if we cannot win, we still have to show that we are a stronger team! Not scoring a goal can be a factor of luck, but at least, we cannot slack off even for a second on the pitch, do you guys understand?!"

"YES, SIR!"

After this, the players walked back to the pitch again, not daring to show any lazy attitude. Still, it wasn’t like they were in a high-motivational state, but more like a bunch of soldiers who were forced to go to the battlefield after making a mistake in front of their general. Some players looked so miserable that people were afraid they would pass out in the middle of the game later.

The only saving grace here was the cheers from the supporters, as even if the team didn’t play well, they still got unconditional support from those on the stand.

"Come on, Higo! Second half, fight harder!"

"Nassim! It is time to score a goal!"

"Luca, we will rely on you! Don’t hesitate on the frontline!"

This support was enough to warm the players’ hearts. However, there were still some players who walked like a stiff robot, and when Higo caught one of them on the defensive line, he couldn’t help but approach that poor boy.

"Come on, Levent! No need to think too much about the first half!" He patted the Turkish fullback on the shoulder. "You are lucky you still have a chance to fix your mistake, so just make sure you don’t waste it away! Ask Randy to go to the flank so that you don’t need to carry the burden by yourself, and don’t try to show any fancy move! Make sure you are stable and always ready in defense; that’s all I ask."

Levent Mercan smiled weakly at Higo, yet no answer came out of his mouth. Higo could only sigh helplessly, knowing that his words failed to reach the boy’s head.

’Yeah, in this case, a thousand words don’t matter for him. He needs one good play to rebuild his confidence, or he will always be a big burden that I have to keep an eye on in this game. I have to talk to Brackelmann about it."

The captain also took a glance at Mercan when Higo spoke out his mind, and he nodded solemnly at the goalkeeper. "Don’t worry, I will also keep an eye on him. As long as any attack comes to that side, I will be ready to give support and force a cross, so make sure you don’t miss one, okay?"

Higo snorted before punching the captain’s shoulder lightly. "Don’t worry, leave everything to me!"

FWEEE!

A minute later, the referee finally blew the whistle, starting the second half of the game. Right off the bat, several SC Verl players rushed instantly, trying to put pressure on Schalke since the very first second of the game. It seemed that they still maintained the same level of confidence after having great momentum in the first half, wanting to capitalize on it into a goal as quickly as possible.

Unfortunately, Schalke’s midfield line today was not strong enough to let them get out of this pressure. Their coordination and off-the-ball movement were not up to standard, so to not let the defensive line suffer, the best way they could do was to give up possession far from the back.

SC Verl started their wave of attack soon enough, and just like the first half, they put their target on the left side of Schalke’s pitch, eyeing Levent Mercan like he was an easy meat to snatch. It seemed that they had already done their homework, noticing that the Turkish fullback was not in the best state today.

Higo was slightly worried when he saw this. However, it seemed that he overthought it, underestimating Levent Mercan’s ability to handle this situation.

Even though he was under a lot of pressure, once the Turkish boy put his mind in the right place, he was a decent fullback, handling everything with ease. It also helped that Brackelmann and Marcel Langer, the man who replaced Schopf earlier, kept switching their role to help that side handle all the incoming attack, reducing the threat to almost nothing.

So far, ten minutes had passed, and SC Verl failed to take advantage of their momentum to score a goal. Hell, the only threat coming to Higo was a simple cross that didn’t take too much effort for the boy to catch, and besides that, everything seemed to be a light job.

If anything, it was Schalke who got a chance to score the goal first.

It all came from Idrizi and Fontein playing a combination pass in the midfield, wanting to get out of the opponent’s pressure. However, the Kosovo midfielder also noticed that the opponent’s side rushed too far from their original position, and he also caught a movement on the right side.

Thud!

With a little chip to get through their defensive side from above, Idrizi managed to deliver a pass to Nassim, who managed to sneak from behind, and the Moroccan winger didn’t disappoint, pushing the ball with his left foot and running as quickly as possible, leaving everyone in the dust.

"SHIT! He escapes!"

"What the fuck are you doing?! Stop him!"

Some of the SC Verls defenders tried to rush back, but Nassim was a bit faster. However, right when he slowed down to shoot the ball, the boy suddenly felt a light push coming from behind, and right after that...

Brugh!

He fell inside the penalty box, followed by the sound of the whistle being blown by the referee.