Chapter 694: The End of the First Half

Honestly, the blunder itself was not that bad. Juan Miranda just lost the ball near the flank, and as long as he could stall for more time until the other players recovered to their positions without letting the ball go to the middle, everything would be alright.

However, the Spaniard had a change of attitude right after he realized that the ball was lost to the opponent’s side. If before, he was still strolling around casually as if the pitch was his own property, now, his face went so pale as he rushed as quickly as possible to recover the ball. It seemed that Higo’s fury earlier was successful enough to intimidate him.

Well, usually, Higo would be happy when his action managed to wake up his teammates. However, not in this case, as what Miranda did was probably the worst reaction the man could pull right now.

By rushing recklessly like this, he opened up a room behind him, and with a little flick to his left side, the Hoffenheim player there, Pavel Kaderabek, escaped from getting rammed by Miranda before sending the ball to the middle, straight in front of the penalty box.

There, Christoph Baumgartner controlled it lightly, turning around so casually without any Schalke players trying to interfere before launching a shot with his right foot.

BAM!

The ball went through Ozan Kabak and Oczipka’s bodies so easily, curling slightly to the corner of the goal. Fortunately, it seemed that the Austrian forward was a little bit too hasty, not wanting to get caught by any Schalke defenders around. Not only did his shot have no power, but the direction was weak, and if anything, the curve motion only made it easier for Higo to handle.

The boy didn’t even need to jump or dive, just shifting his position lightly to the near post. In the next second, the ball went straight to his chest, and the boy was quick enough to use both his hands to secure it perfectly.

"Yes! What a save, Higo!"

"Nice! It is good that we have a good one in front of the goal! Nice action, Wakabayashi!"

"Higo! Higo! Higo!"

All the Schalke supporters on the stand behind him started to cheer his name, finding the boy to be way more reliable than what the rumor said. However, right now, Higo didn’t have any energy to answer their enthusiasm.

Hell, usually, he would search for anyone on the frontline quickly to launch a quick counterattack, but this time, the boy didn’t try to rush things up. He just bounced the ball on the ground calmly, looking at Juan Miranda on the flank with a blank expression.

It was not a malicious or threatening one. No, Higo knew that it was not acceptable on a football pitch. However, Juan Miranda still had shivers down his spine right now, feeling like the polite boy who would always greet everyone during the training session was like a devil reincarnated today.

Not that the Spaniard could blame Higo, since it was his mistake in the first place.

BAM!

In the end, after taking his sweet time while also letting all the other players move away from his territory first, Higo finally couldn’t help but launch a Hail Mary pass as high as possible. This was also a way to vent his frustration, as it was quite therapeutic to see something fall dramatically from the sky.

Of course, the boy could also see that Frohling was not happy with his action. However, that was the least Higo could care about, as his priority here was to kill the opponent’s momentum first.

’Screw being a sweeper goalkeeper! No one is good enough on the back; why would we stick with this for so long?’ Higo cursed inwardly while also taking a deep breath, letting a rare chance of him not being attacked be the perfect time for him to observe his surroundings.

’How could they play half-asses like this in front of around 50,000 people who come to support them? Are they not ashamed or what here?’ Higo felt the corner of his lips twitching again when he saw more people slacking off on the pitch. ’Honestly, Frohling-sensei has been in this first team for around 6 months, right? How could he not solve this mess immediately?’ A big question flew through his head.

Well, that was a question for a different time. For now, though, Higo didn’t dare to lower his focus, not when he also had to be guarded against his own teammates.

Fortunately, the latest one from Juan Miranda seemed to be the only mistake happening in the first half. No one really wanted to face Higo’s wrath again, so while the ball was still moving around in a dangerous area in front of the penalty box, the players in front of Higo would clear everything so quickly the moment two players were coming at him.

Oh, that still didn’t mean Hoffenheim would change their approach. After all, their attack was still stronger than ever, threatening Higo so many times so far. Hell, at one point, he had to jump amidst five tall guys around him to fight for a cross, and even at that time, the only thing he could do was to punch it away, not catch it.

Besides that, Hoffenheim also barraged his goal with so many shots from all directions. However, everything was still under his control, not letting a single ball fall into the back of his net.

So far, he had already made 6 saves, which was higher than even the best goalkeeper in the Bundesliga in every game. The number was a lot, indeed, but some of them turned out to be quite easy ones that needed him to pick up a ground ball without even moving.

As time went by, no one realized it at first, but in the next second...

FWEEE! FWEEE! FWEEE!

The referee finally blew the whistle three times, sending the players back to their locker room for their short break.

FC Schalke 04 1—0 TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.