Chapter 708: Adjustment Leads to a Goal

Well... It wasn’t like Higo himself avoided the sweeper-keeper role or that he didn’t want to help build up the play. No, this had been his role for more than two months with the second team, and he had done everything perfectly.

The crux of this matter, though, was that the situation was different. The second team was a strong team in the fourth division, so they had the privilege to do so. However, the main team was considered the weakest one among the other Bundesliga teams, and they couldn’t really afford to play with fire right now.

Just as Higo stated in the game against Hoffenheim, it wasn’t like one system was the best against the other, but it all depended on what the team needed.

Now, though, that the team needed him to act like a proper sweeper goalkeeper, Higo didn’t even blink, joining the build-up as the eleventh player on the pitch to receive the pass. Just as the coach expected, this bait was so tempting that Werder Bremen players started to push forward, wanting to kill him as quickly as possible.

’Oh, well, Frohling-sensei wanted me to be the bait, right? Then, let’s see if his heart could handle this.’

When two players came to his side, the boy didn’t rush to kick it as far away as usual, just waiting patiently for them to get closer. Even though they were already within his range, he was still quite calm, passing the ball to the flank side where Jonjoe Kenny stood even further back, just right next to their own corner flag.

That was how deep they wanted to bait Werder Bremen players to get them.

The left back was quite uncomfortable when two players were coming at him, passing the ball quickly to Hofmann in the middle. Still, the midfielder was getting pressured by another player with a green jersey, so he sent it back to Higo again, forcing the boy to handle the decisive pass here.

Why decisive pass?

Because this little triangle sequence between him, Kenny, and Hofmann managed to drag four opponent players to the left side, forcing them to run all the time. Even though in the end, the latter had to fall on the ground due to the opponent’s pressure, the advantage was still completely on Schalke’s side, as the path on the right side was quite open.

Thud!

Higo didn’t use too much force, just a little chip to bypass the crowd in front of him. However, it landed perfectly on Weston McKennie’s chest before the American midfielder turned around and increased his speed.

"OH, SHIT!"

"Go back! Go back! Don’t let them push further!"

All the Werder Bremen players rushed frantically, trying to recover to their original position. Well, not that Weston would give them the chance, as he sent a through ball to the exact same flank, where Fabian had already used his speed to fight against the defender close to the penalty box.

This time, though, the situation was different.

Schalke managed to isolate the defender there, so that if that man was stupid enough to rush at Fabian, it would be easy for the blonde boy to get through that side quickly. No, the priority here was delay, but that was also what Fabian waited for after being suppressed physically and numerically since the beginning of the game.

With quick footwork, he fooled the defender in front of him, acting like he was going for a stepover move before cutting straight inside the penalty box.

"FUCK!" That defender cursed so loudly after getting his ankle broken by Fabian.

Of course, the blonde boy would never waste such a chance away. He took a glance at the goal for a second to confirm the goalkeeper’s position, and once everything was okay...

BAM!

He bent the ball with his right foot, straight to the top corner of the far post. It was a perfect shot as the ball got through two players who tried to block it, and even if the goalkeeper dived spectacularly, the ball still slipped through everyone’s grasp, hitting the back of the net quite violently.

"AAARGH!" Fabian roared immediately, punching the air like crazy. Soon, everyone followed the boy, knowing that this was the goal that they had been waiting for.

"Come on, Fabian! That’s a crazy curve!"

"Damn! I’ll forgive you for not passing the ball to me! That’s an awesome shot!"

"Hey, hey! Don’t forget about the pass from me!"

Everyone laughed so happily right now, not even caring about the depressing silence around them. All the home team supporters on the stand just looked at the ball in the net with disbelieving eyes, wondering how the fuck their team could fall this deep into this hole.

Frohling himself also let out a relieved sigh. Honestly, he also acknowledged Higo’s words that this team wasn’t ready for an approach that let them build up the play from the goalkeeper. However, in the end, he still gritted his teeth and gambled everything, and fortunately, he won it all with this one goal from Fabian.

Now that they had the lead, they only needed to do one thing here.

"Go back to the original formation! Hold them back and defend with your life!" His shout echoed throughout the whole stadium. "Come on! Go back and maintain your discipline! We are going to steal three points from this city!"

All the players with blue jerseys perked up immediately, giving their coach a big thumbs-up.

"Don’t worry, Boss! Leave everything to us!" Weston laughed, licking his lips hungrily as he was getting ready for another confrontation.

Higo also nodded on the backline, punching his gloves for a moment to adjust them while also getting ready for what would happen next. He knew that the opponent’s attack would be more fierce, so the boy also put his concentration at the highest level right now.

’Now that the frontline has already done their job perfectly, it is time for me to work harder today!’ He slapped his face quite loudly. ’Come on! Whatever attack they would throw at me, I will stop them all! Second win in a row, here we go!’