Chapter 697: Second Half Begins! Schalke’s Drastic Adjustment!

FWEEE!

A moment later, the referee finally blew the whistle, starting the second half of the game. Schalke did the kick-off, with Suat Serdar passing the ball back to the midfield line before he rushed forward to wait for a good ball on the frontline.

Still, it seemed that Hoffenheim started to lose their patience. They didn’t even wait for so long, letting four players rush to fight for the ball on Schalke’s territory with another three getting ready to support from behind.

It was just the first second of the game, and somehow, they already had seven out of their eleven players putting pressure on Schalke’s side.

"Shit! Don’t panic, everyone!" Weston McKennie shouted so loudly while also trying to protect the ball on his feet against two of Hoffenheim’s players right now. "Spread wider! Force them to run!"

This was always the most effective way to fight against pressure, as the players’ stamina was limited. It would always be hard to chase the ball all the time, so passing it faster would make it easier for them to get out of this situation.

The others also realized this, but unfortunately, not everyone had the quality to do that. Even though the premise was simple, to pass the ball as quickly as possible, the reality was way more difficult than anyone could think of.

The players were still used to playing around and baiting the opponent first, so forcing them to always pass the ball as quickly as possible made it awkward. Some players didn’t even look at the passing target first, just wanting to let the ball go as quickly as possible. They all started to treat the ball like it was a time bomb on the pitch.

As a result, the game became quite chaotic on Schalke’s side, with so many missed and wild passes flying around. This was enough to make everyone frown.

"What is going on? Why does the passing become this bad?"

"Shit! Is it because Hoffenheim’s pressure is too overwhelming?!"

"It could be! Come on, Guys! Stay calm! Don’t panic!"

Hearing the anxious shouts from the supporters around, even Minami couldn’t help but feel worried. Even though she didn’t understand a lot about football, the woman could see that Higo’s team was getting pushed back too far, and the opponent was starting to get closer to her son’s area right now.

"Is the situation really that bad?" She murmured to Kumiko, who sat next to her.

"Well, it might look like they are in a bad state, but no, it is not as bad as you can think of, Obaasan." Kumiko smiled calmly. "They have a change of approach in this second half, and right now, the players are still trying to get used to it. The first ten minutes will be dangerous for them. However, once they get the hang of it, they will be stronger than in the first half."

Minami and Ayaka let out a relieved breath when they heard Kumiko’s analysis. They didn’t even question it, knowing that the girl was the most knowledgeable person among the three.

Kumiko herself started observing the game more carefully. As a former head coach—even though it was just for a high school level—it was not hard for her to understand what Frohling was trying to do here.

’Instead of letting everyone dictate the tempo, he let Morita and that number 2, Weston McKennie, do that role. Now, every ball would go to those two first, and they will be the drivers who determine the team’s tempo. It will be dangerous, putting a big target on those two’s heads. But that would also minimize the chance of making a mistake, as those who don’t have the ability are now being prohibited from acting like a big shot. The adjustment is quick, nice.’

Unfortunately, if even Kumiko, who was just sitting on the family box, could see this, all the Hoffenheim coaching staff on the sideline would also be able to figure it out as well.

Even though so far, they managed to force several missed passes from Schalke, it was still far from enough, as Weston and Morita would always be able to react quickly to recover it. Now that they knew those two were the main focuses of Schalke’s build-up play, there was only one thing they needed to do here.

"Get closer to that number 18 and 2! Make sure they don’t have any room to breathe!"

The players on the pitch perked up immediately, and they changed their target straight on the spot. If before, they would still rush all around the pitch to put pressure on each one of Schalke’s players, this time, they just waited until the ball was coming to those two. It was easier and consumed less stamina for their side, which made things easier for them.

Unfortunately, this also put pressure on Morita and Weston, as they had to move faster and smarter to avoid the clash against Hoffenheim players. So far, five minutes since the second half began, they had already been pushed to the ground three times each, and while the referee always called them fouls, the situation wouldn’t always be like this for the rest of the game.

’Tch! We need to do something quick!’ Morita scowled while wiping off the dirt on his jersey after falling on the ground.

Still, it wasn’t until a few minutes later that a change could be seen here, and surprisingly, it came from none other than Higo on the back. After receiving an emergency pass from Jonjoe Kenny on the right side, he didn’t search for any empty teammate around him. No, his eyes darted to the frontline for a moment before he exerted all of his strength on his right foot, launching a long pass toward the left flank.

BAM!

This move caught everyone off guard for a moment. However, one player had already started running before the pass even came, and when he saw the ball was flying ahead of him, the boy couldn’t help but show a wide grin on his face.

’Ha! That is one hell of a pass, Ryusuke!’