Chapter 888: Sealing the Deal!

"Wait, what?!"

"A clearance? Defense, get it done!"

Honestly, the first instinct that all the players on the pitch had right now was that this was just a normal clearance. After all, Morita did so under the pressure of one Mainz player, and it seemed like he didn’t look at the spot where he sent the ball to before whacking it randomly.

That was why no one really took this seriously, with the Mainz players just warning their defender to receive it properly, or it would take too much time to get the ball back to the frontline if a mistake happened.

However, only one player knew what was inside Morita’s mind, and that person was none other than Mark Uth, the goal scorer who was currently running with every last bit of the stamina that still remained in his body.

"Well, I cannot say that I will always give you a chance, but if you see me holding the ball, start running. If you are in a decent position, the ball will be flying toward you."

At least, this was what the Japanese midfielder promised before the second half began, and honestly, after the same scheme was successful in the first goal, Mark Uth had already forgotten about it, finding himself to be satisfied with just one goal on his bag.

Hell, that thought was cemented further when the team lost Malick Thiaw on the back, making him think that it was time for the team to prioritize defense first.

However, right in that moment, his eyes caught Morita staring at him, and the man didn’t know how, but being driven by his instinct, he started pouncing with the best speed he could muster right now, running as fast as possible.

’Damn! If it was you, you would be able to find me, right, Morita-san? This should be nothing for you, right?’ He gritted his teeth, trying to

Then, true to his prediction, the ball somehow went longer than any Mainz defender anticipated. The closest one, the player with the number 19, just stared at the sky while moving back little by little, trying to get his position right to receive the ball.

However, in the end, he miscalculated, exactly the way Benjamin Stambouli did in the third penalty incident, and Mark Uth didn’t need to be told twice to know that this was his chance.

"OH! Yes! Come on, Mark!"

"This is our chance! Get the job done!"

"Seal the win!"

All the Schalke players got excited out of nowhere, while the home team succumbed to panic once again. No one really thought that such a mistake would happen, and while the other defender reacted quickly to rush back and chase after Mark Uth, the striker had already pushed the ball slightly further as he dribbled it closer to the penalty box.

As for Mark Uth himself, with no one able to get closer to him, the striker had all the time in the world to look at what was in front of him. The opponent’s goalkeeper had already started to move, and in that moment, with his breath starting to shorten, he forced his mind to calculate everything.

’Okay... Keep calm, no need to rush things up... Just watch where he would move... Left? Right?’

The moment he saw the goalkeeper shift as if he was about to pounce on him, a little space opened up, and Mark Uth didn’t hesitate to send the ball there.

BAM!

A ground ball, straight to the area between the legs!

The goalkeeper reacted, but that blind spot was one of the hardest places to stop for the goalkeeper. As a result, the next thing he knew, the man turned around, just to find the ball already on the back of his net, giving Schalke the second goal of the game.

"YES! Come on!" Mark Uth laughed before rushing to the corner and hitting a knee-slide while celebrating in front of the empty stand there. "Let’s fucking go!" He laughed, waving around like crazy as if the stands were full of people right now.

"Hahaha! Nice celebration, Mark!" Morita laughed, joining the celebration with a big hug. "I told you that I would always be able to find you, right? How is it?" The Japanese boy laughed smugly right now, giving the striker a big thumbs-up.

Mark Uth had the corner of his lips twitching a little when he heard that. Still, he had to admit that Morita was right in one regard. The midfielder could get the ball anywhere inside the stadium, so if the frontline players couldn’t receive one, it should be because their positioning skill sucked.

The others joined the celebration, leaving all the Mainz players staring at them with a mixture of envy, worry, and jealousy. Honestly, they were probably in the worst scenario that they had ever experienced in their little history.

It was not like they were not used to defeat. Hell, they had even suffered a worse score, like losing against Union Berlin 0-4 this season. However, the process was not as humiliating as today, when they got three chances to score from a penalty, with none of them failing to get into the back of the net.

It was clear that they became a backdrop of the historical event, and in the future, when people mentioned a team that got denied three penalties in a row, they would definitely point their finger at the Mainz team this year.

Just thinking about that was enough to make them so depressed, making their skin crawl.

Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do about it. Hell, with them being down by two goals, their spirit was basically destroyed, and they were unable to get up from this state.

In the end, they just spent the rest of the game like a bunch of restless zombies, following the flow without any desire to fight back. Schalke was more than happy to see this, as they didn’t need to work hard anymore.

In the end, the score lasted until the very last second of the game, before...

FWEEE! FWEEE! FWEEE!

The game was finally over, and Schalke would be back in Gelsenkirchen with full three points from today.