Chapter 703: Post-Match Press Conference

A moment later, Higo had already found himself pretty clean after taking a quick shower in the locker room. He went straight to the press room where all the journalists were waiting, and right when his head popped into the room, the boy was so stunned that he even had to narrow his eyes in reflex as so many blitzes were directed at him.

"Urgh... What the hell?" He blinked, trying to protect his eyes.

Fortunately, the PR person from the team stepped up to stop this. It was a lovely lady with a formal suit, coughing so loudly to stop this commotion. "You guys should know the rule in this room. No blitz is allowed here." She narrowed her gaze sharply, enough to send a shiver down everyone’s spine.

"Thank you for the help, Paetz-san." Higo sighed in relief while also taking a seat quickly next to Frohling.

The woman, Elizabeth Paetz, had her gaze soften instantly when she heard that. For ten years, the woman had been working here; she could count on one hand the players who knew her name, let alone thanked her, and Higo was definitely the latest one here.

Higo himself didn’t notice her gaze. No, the moment he sat next to Frohling, his gaze wandered around, scanning the whole room before his jaws dropped from bewilderment.

"This much?! There should be around 20, right?" He asked unconsciously.

Everyone couldn’t help but laugh here, enjoying the boy’s reaction over everything. It was clear to all the people here at this point that Higo was a complete rookie, what with him being in awe at just a mere post-match presscon like this.

"There should be around 30 people here, coming from 18 platforms to attend this post-match event," Elizabeth answered helpfully.

"Ah... Thank you, Paetz-san." Higo rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "So... How are we doing this?" He turned around expectantly, waiting for both the woman and the coach next to him to start it.

No matter how good his performance was, at the end of the day, this game was Higo’s debut, and he didn’t have a single clue on how to face such a crowd of journalists in front of him. His experience joining the post-match presscon was either the National Winter Tournament with Hakodate Nishi or a few times he had a chance with the second team, and the number was always limited to less than five people.

So, it was clear that this was a new experience for him.

Both Frohling and Elizabeth also nodded together, and the latter finally started the press conference formally.

"Okay, anyone want to ask first? Yes, the lady on the second row."

"Um... My name is Lena Krul from ZDF, and I want to ask..."

After this, the only interaction in this room was between the journalists and the head coach, with the sound of people scribbling on their notes mixing quite well. Higo just observed quietly, noticing that Frohling didn’t even show any big reaction, as if the win itself was something that he had expected before he came here.

’Yeah, as expected of the boss, his composure is top-notch.’ He nodded in approval.

Soon, however, he got snapped out of his mind when his name was mentioned by one of the journalists there.

"Peter Berg from SPORT BILD, a question for Higo. This is your debut game, but you seem to be quite comfortable scolding everyone around you today. Is this a privilege given by the head coach to you?"

Both Frohling and Elizabeth tensed up instantly, not just from the question, but also when they heard the platform where the man worked. SPORT BILD was the German version of Marca or The Sun, enjoying twisting some sentences in the press conference and making a bigger story than necessary to sell drama there.

If Higo’s answer revealed a flaw, they were so sure that he would be the biggest headline in the country tomorrow for a bad reason, and that was the last thing they wanted an 18-year-old player to suffer.

However, it seemed that they underestimated Higo here. He might be innocent, but the boy was trained well enough by Kumiko to handle this kind of situation. He just showed a little cheeky smile, coughing a little in front of the microphone before spitting out his answer.

"I wouldn’t dare to say that it is a privilege, because I am sure that if I messed up, he would get me killed in the next training session." He answered in a joking tone, enough to get everyone to chuckle.

"It is not like I dared to scold them, but I just had a better perspective at that time over the field, and I saw their positioning was off. I reminded them, and once we were at the break, I also explained it to them about this matter, and they accepted it. You can see that we have a good relationship with how we celebrate the win, right?" He ended it with a nonchalant shrug.

Both Frohling and Elizabeth couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh. Even though it was not a perfect answer, at least Higo didn’t leave any room for that man to twist any of his words here.

The more questions being thrown at Higo, the more people inside that room felt impressed with the boy here. He was quick-witted and always got the best answer without putting himself or his team under the fire. This was definitely a rare value to have for a young man like him.

"Okay, last question, please? That gentleman on the back?" Elizabeth pointed at the person sitting in the back row for the final question before this presscon was over.

"Yes, my name is Nico Heinz from WAZ, and I’m just wondering here. Higo, you have a big fanbase in this town up until now, and this is just your first game for this team. Is there anything you want to say to the supporters?"

Higo couldn’t help but smirk, knowing why the man was chosen here. WAZ was the local platform that would spread the next morning quickly, so it seemed the club wanted to enhance his reputation by doing this.

After pondering for a second, he finally said, "Well, I am very grateful for their support, and I hope that the stadium will always be this full in the future, because we will get better and better!"