Chapter 696: Half Time Break (II)

Soon enough, the break was finally over, and the crowd started to cheer once again for the players. In the family box, Chiaki also clapped with a happy giggle, especially when she managed to find her brother with the binoculars in her hand.

"Oh! Ryu-nii doesn’t have the scary face again! It seems he is not angry with his friend anymore!" She squealed excitedly.

Kumiko also noticed this, and while she could see the awkwardness between Higo and the other Schalke players, at least the boy was quite calm right now, being able to communicate with anyone without any frown on his face.

"It seems his coach knows how to handle a temperamental boy like Ryukkun, huh?" Ayaka couldn’t help but mutter.

The girls couldn’t deny this. They heard about the head coach so many times from Higo, and even though the man had so many flaws, one of his best qualities was that he was always willing to listen to the others and accept his mistakes when he was being pointed out.

The fact that Higo was able to come out of the locker room with such ease after getting so heated in the first half earlier showed that the man should be willing to listen to his complaints and make an adjustment according to them, which showed how good he was in this regard.

"Does that mean things will be better in the second half?" Minami chimed in with a question.

"That depends," Kumiko answered. "Schalke’s side could definitely be better, but if Hoffenheim also becomes more aggressive, that would still lead us into a bad place."

Minami nodded quietly, looking at her son on the pitch with a complicated mood. Out of everyone else here, she was the one who knew less about football and its intricacy, so the woman couldn’t predict what would happen next. Still, that didn’t stop her from worrying about Higo, especially after she saw what happened in the first half earlier.

’Kami-sama... Please, let everything go smoothly for Ryukkun there...’ She prayed inwardly.

Higo himself didn’t know that he was becoming his family’s focus right now. Well... No, if he thought about it, the boy would know immediately. However, right now, that thought had never crossed his mind, as the goalkeeper was still focusing completely on the game that would be restarted in a moment.

"So, Frohling-sensei said that the only players who can take a risk in my territory are Morita-san and Weston-san?" He asked Waldoch next to him in confirmation.

"Yes, those two are the most capable players we have to handle the ball, and we need someone to be the bridge here. We cannot always kick the ball out of our territory mindlessly, after all. You okay with that?" The Polish man asked cautiously. He always thought that Higo had a good temper, but the boy had already proven otherwise in the first half.

"Sure, I don’t mind." Higo nodded quietly. "Honestly, it is not like I oppose keeping the ball on the ground, but I just need the others to recognize danger when it really comes and act accordingly, not just sticking with the ball possession style like a stubborn mule and ending up with the team being in a more dangerous spot."

Waldoch couldn’t help but flinch when he heard that. This had been a big problem since the season began, indeed, but Nubel himself was also the type of goalkeeper who enjoyed the thrill of inviting danger to his own territory so that he could get his teammates more open space. It caused a lot of problems before, but since this was also Nubel’s playing style, nothing was changed at all, which resulted in the team suffering a lot from so many basic blunders in the past.

Now, though, with Higo between the posts, the style was different. Even though the boy was still willing to act as an outfield player, joining the buildup attack, he still prioritized the team’s safety first. As long as his goal was safe, he could accept anything that his teammates did on the pitch.

Honestly, there was no wrong in either approach, just depending on what kind of team they were playing for.

In a big club like Bayern Munich, they would prefer Nubel’s style more. After all, besides the fact that their defensive line was strong enough to handle the opponent’s pressure, sometimes, they would need a more adventurous goalkeeper to bait the opponents to break their own formation, giving the team a chance to make a breakthrough in their attack.

However, for a team like Schalke, which was the worst defensive team in this league, what they needed was not adventure, but stability. That was something that Higo could bring for them, and that was also something that Frohling saw clearly. That was why he didn’t mind the boy arguing heatedly with him in the locker room earlier.

The moment everyone was back on the pitch again, Higo could see the awkward air between him and the defensive line. Well, he knew full well what to say when it came to this.

"I don’t care what Sensei said in the locker room, just make sure you don’t hold me back in the second half, okay?"

This sentence alone was enough to make some of the guys growl in fury. Even though they admitted that they were wrong in the first half, that didn’t mean they didn’t have any temper here.

"Don’t think just because you have a good first half that you can look down on us, Brat!" Ozan Kabak scowled with a thick vein popping on his forehead. "Just wait, you won’t see anyone coming at you after this!"

Seeing the others also show similar reactions, Higo couldn’t help but snort. This was the trick that he always used on Makino and the others back in Hakodate Nishi whenever they were being too nervous, as somehow, provocation always worked the best to dispel all the awkwardness in the air.

’Okay, now that everyone is in a better state, the second half should be easier, right?’