Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 286



Only Noblemtl

Episode 286: The Goalkeeper Who Leads Counterattacks

Group I, Game 1.

The United States in pot 1 and Norway in pot 4 had a fierce battle and ended up with a 1:1 draw, with each team earning one point.

Now it was Korea and Côte d’Ivoire’s turn.

The first leg of the South Korean national team’s journey to the North and Central American World Cup begins here, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.

It was a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium that opened in September 2020.

It cost nearly 6.6 trillion won just to build the stadium (it’s as fancy as a celestial nation would want), and while it could originally accommodate about 70,000 people, it was increased to about 100,000 for this World Cup.

And surprisingly, all 100,000 seats were filled for today’s game.

What’s even more surprising is that most of those 100,000 seats were filled with people cheering for Korea.

In the stadium, there was a steady round of applause and intermittent shouts of “Republic of Korea!”

They say there are over 560,000 Koreans in California, so there’s a reason why LA is called the special city of South Korea…

“It feels like the World Cup was held in Korea.”

A word from Kim Jun-young while warming up before the game. Everyone agreed.

Actually, we were lucky. Korea was assigned to Group I, and Group I was in the western United States, and it was also lucky that they were playing in LA, California, which has the largest Korean population.

We warmed up in a home-like atmosphere. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous, but I felt energized knowing that most of the 100,000 spectators here were cheering us on.

Since it was Korea’s first match, many Koreans came, but what was most encouraging was that foreigners also came to cheer us on.

‘This is… the effect of K-culture?’

Thanks to BTX, Bong Joon-hyuk, and everyone else who spread Korean culture.

After the warm-up is over and everything is ready for the game.

Looking at the players, most of them were in poor condition, contrary to expectations. Son Heung-min in particular was like that.

“Whew… Shit. This is driving me crazy.”

“Why are you like that?”

“No. Nothing.”

“It doesn’t seem like it’s nothing.”

When the other players kept asking him questions without listening, Son Heung-min revealed the reason. The reason why Son Heung-min’s expression was particularly dark and unpleasant was because of nervousness.

The pressure and tension of competing on the huge stage of the World Cup.

The enormous weight was so oppressive that it even crushed Son Heung-min, who had been through a lot.

“oh….”

But what’s really strange is that while most of the veterans are very nervous, the younger players don’t seem to be that nervous.

First of all, it was the same for me.

Kim Jun-young also looked a little nervous, but not as much as the other experienced players. Lee Kang-im looked like he was going to a friendly match.

“Excuse me, wait a minute! Everyone! Before we leave the stadium, can I say something?”

I called the players together before the game, because it seemed like they needed a little encouragement.

Actually, I was a little nervous, but I pretended like nothing happened.

I called the players together, paused for a moment, and then shouted.

“Everyone, you don’t have to be so nervous! We won’t lose today. Remember that our team’s goalkeeper is Kim Min-woo. I will never concede a goal!”

“Okay! Let’s go, let’s go!”

Kim Min-je responded to my shout. Then the other players responded with “Woo! Woo!”

If it had been Ivory Coast back in the days of Drogba, they would have been a threat, but not now. Barring a shocking upset, this match is ours to win.

* * *

The arrangement is that Korea won, but if you ask if Côte d’Ivoire is an easy team, that is absolutely not the case.

First of all, Côte d’Ivoire brought in a large number of players of its own descent who are playing in Europe for this World Cup.

It is the same behavior as Ghana in the last World Cup.

So, although the FIFA ranking is 38th, foreign media outlets are evaluating it higher than that.

‘Nevertheless, we have to win this game.’

The next match is against the United States, and it is certain that the match against the host country, the United States, will be a difficult one, so we had to make sure to win this match.

Above all, most of the spectators gathered in this stadium are cheering for us, so we cannot afford to play a shabby game.

In this first match, Korea adopted the 4-4-2 tactic. Previously, coach Leon used the 4-3-3 formation as if it were nothing, but he changed the tactic for the most important test.

There were several reasons for this, including Hwang Hee-cheon’s injury and the fact that they didn’t like using the 4-4-2 formation, but historically, the Korean national team has often used tactics that start with a back four.

‘Also, in soccer these days, the formation keeps changing depending on the situation.’

Modern football is one where formations can change at any time and in any situation. The basic plan for the first half is 4-4-2, but we can also change to 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, or 4-4-1-1 at any time.

The first match of the World Cup group stage for South Korea, which everyone is looking forward to.

Beep!

Started.

As soon as it started, there was a shout of “Wow!” and a chant of “Dae-han-mi-guk!” All kinds of things could be heard, making the surroundings chaotic.

‘So our family is among them?’

Not only Shin-ah and her mother, but even her father flew to the United States for this match.

I have to do well.

I have now cleared all thoughts outside of the game from my mind and focused on the first match of this World Cup.

The game started with South Korea’s victory.

I watched carefully in front of the goal to see what direction the game would take.

And after about 2-3 minutes, I got a rough idea.

‘Isn’t this similar to the last game against Honduras?’

I thought Côte d’Ivoire would come out aggressive and fight back against us, but they didn’t.

Côte d’Ivoire played defensively against a Korean team that is still considered to have infinite power. It seemed like they wanted to check how good their opponents were in the beginning.

‘then….’

If the opponent sits back and plays defensively, shouldn’t I also actively participate in the build-up?

More than anything, I wanted to make more use of the ‘Wedge-Shaped Goalkeeper’ that I had strengthened with the specialization enhancement ticket I obtained last time.

If you have a spear that is over 2m wide, isn’t it natural for humans to want to stab their opponent with it?

The problem is.

“The ball isn’t coming….”

It was a good phenomenon.

It meant that he was only playing in the Côte d’Ivoire camp.

Listening to the almost one-sided cheering, I went left and then right, following the flow of the ball.

And finally the ball comes to the back.

It seems like the opponent has filled their defenses tightly, making it difficult to break through. In that case, I guess I should help.

I received the ball from Kim Min-je and briefly glanced across the opponent’s territory.

‘There is no place to give it.’

So I sent him a long way to where my running mate was. In this game, Kim Jun-young was deployed on the right wing.

Coach Leon also seemed to think it was quite tasty to place Son Heung-min up top and Kim Jun-young on the wing.

Boohoo!

My long pass, which was connected long, went to Kim Jun-young. Then, Côte d’Ivoire’s reaction was excellent.

Three people nearby ran over and two of them grabbed Kim Jun-young and competed with him, while the remaining one stood guard in case a loose ball fell.

I saw it and briefly admired it.

‘You’ve analyzed our team thoroughly.’

It was obvious that they had done a lot of analysis. The moment I got the ball, I thought that they were a bit too cautious. It really felt like the World Cup was the World Cup.

‘Today’s game will be harder than I thought.’

Kim Jun-young lost possession of the ball under the pressure, and I also stepped back. Now it was the opponent’s turn.

* * *

Leon Harpers’ expression remained fixed throughout the first half. He had thought that this could happen and was proud of having prepared for it, but the actual game was full of uncertainty.

This match was going in a completely different direction than I had expected.

Above all, it was obvious that they had thoroughly analyzed us, unlike any other team we had ever met before.

‘It’s almost like… … they’ve dissected us down to the molecular level. They seem to know exactly what we’ll do in certain situations.’

Leon felt in this first match that the World Cup is not an easy stage. It is a dream stage for him personally, but the World Cup is also a big event for the country.

I couldn’t help but think that Côte d’Ivoire had worked hard to qualify for the tournament.

of course.

‘Nevertheless, we are dominating the game. The opponent’s power is also considerable, but we are focusing only on defense. The opponent’s goal is a draw.’

It seemed like they were determined to split the points. Of course, Leon had no such intentions. They absolutely had to win this first match.

If we can’t get a team like this, then frankly speaking, there’s no hope for the future World Cup.

‘But it’s too easy to be more aggressive here because the back space is open. Even though our goalkeeper is Kim, we still need to deploy some defensive personnel.’

It was too much of a burden to make any major tactical changes, so Leon decided to just sit back and watch the game.

For now, the remaining first half will have to be played out through the players’ individual skills.

I continued to watch the game with that thought in mind.

The opposing fullback has the ball, but Kim Jun-young on the wing rushes in and applies pressure.

The opposing fullback was startled by the pressure and tried to pass the ball to the player right in front of him, but Kim Jun-young ran towards that player and intercepted the ball.

‘good!’

The ball bounced once under pressure, and Son Heung-min picked up the loose ball. Son Heung-min immediately ran after the ball, and Kim Jun-young followed right behind Son Heung-min.

And Lee Kang-im filled the position that Kim Jun-young should have filled through switching.

Son Heung-min immediately connected with Lee Kang-im. Everything went smoothly as if it had been planned in advance.

Lee Kang-im, who received the ball, entered the box from the half space and tried to shoot, but the angle was not good and the goalkeeper blocked it. However, it was a good attempt.

“It’s okay! I’m doing well!”

Leon shouted that, although it was hard to hear because of the crowd’s roar. The atmosphere in the stadium was also very good. First of all, most of the crowd was on Korea’s side.

It was the same just now.

As soon as Kim Jun-young blocked the ball and the attacking action continued, a voice full of anticipation, “Wooooh,” erupted.

What if the opponent catches the ball?

It was a fierce jeer. In fact, it was an even more one-sided atmosphere than Sangam.

The game progressed quickly again, this time to a corner kick from Ivory Coast. A header was attempted, but it was a header that Kim Min-woo could not even hope to make. Kim Min-woo blocked it easily as if he was playing catch, and attempted a throw that he had not shown recently.

Shot put used to be a specialty. But these days, it’s not shown at all, so people have forgotten about it, but it’s finally happening.

If you pick it up with your hand and throw it forward, it will instantly lead to a counterattack.

“Go! Go! Go!”

Leon was thrilled by this sudden turn of events. And Korea has two strikers who can score in this situation.

Son and Kim! Hwang are there too, but they are injured now so they are excluded.

Kim Jun-young catches the ball and hits it forward.

In line with this, Son Heung-min, Lee Kang-im, Lee Ja-seong, and Yang Hyeon-ju, who played in place of Hwang Hee-cheon, also ran together.

Ivory Coast also ran as hard as they could to return to their own camp, but the current situation is 5 offense and 4 defense! The number of offenses was higher!

Kim Jun-young ran to the opponent’s box in an instant and passed the ball to Son Heung-min, who was in the center of the box.

He was worried that he might try to dribble past him or that he would waste time, but the Man Utd striker passed the ball in the way Leon thought was best!

Next is Son Heung-min.

The ball came, but there was one defender attached to it, so it was difficult to hit it directly. From here on, we had no choice but to trust the individual skills of the players.

And Son Heung-min raised his right foot to avoid the ball passed to him by Kim Jun-young.

‘!?’

The ball slipped through the gap raised by Son Heung-min, and the ball went straight to Lee Kang-im, who was running alongside him.

In that situation, Lee Kang-im kicked the ball with his left foot instead of his right foot in the opposite direction to where the goalkeeper was facing in order to score a goal.

Lee Kang-Im fell down after the opposing defender tackled him from behind, but the ball had already gone flying.

The goalkeeper dives to react, but―

“““Waaa …

The tremendous cheers of 100,000 spectators.

The net rippled and the ball clearly crossed the goal line.

“Okay! Yes! This is it! F*ck!”

Leon clenched his fist and uppercutted the air at that incredible goal scene. It felt so good, I thought my brain would melt.

What a comeback! What a goal! I love it!

I was really worried that the game would drag on and end in a draw, but I was worried for nothing. This team was just too damn perfect for that.

France? Fuck you.

Brazil? Come out and see me.

If I had the mood right now, I could kill anyone.

Leon couldn’t hold back his joy and hugged the coaching staff. Eugene Ho was there too. It didn’t matter whether he was a person he usually hated or not, he hugged them as soon as he saw them.

“I LOVE FUCKING KOREA!”

Leon liked it so much that he shouted.

Kim Min-woo’s shot put-like counterattack attempt was actually a development that even Leon could not have imagined.