Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 291



Only Noblemtl

Episode 291: The Tournament Begins

The existing South Korean starting lineup watched the game from the bench with anxious hearts.

It’s like it might work, but it doesn’t.

Norway continued to pressure Korea with overwhelming ball possession, but was struggling without scoring a single goal.

Whenever the opponent’s critical attack situation occurred, captain Son Heung-min could not just sit and watch, so he would jump up or continue to wander around.

‘I’m going crazy. I’m going crazy. It’s right for us to rest, but… .’

Watching them suffer without being able to do anything from the bench was like torture.

Despite having already won two games and having secured a spot in the tournament, losing this match wouldn’t be such a bad thing, but Son Heung-min kept pacing around the bench in frustration.

“Minwoo… .”

Son Heung-min clasped his hands together earnestly.

It was a close call, but the team barely managed to secure the win thanks in large part to Kim Min-woo, the only regular player to start in this match.

It wasn’t a big deal, it was almost the whole thing.

“Coach. Should I play instead? There’s only about 30 minutes left in the game, so running a little bit won’t cause any major damage to my physical strength.”

Son Heung-min, who found it too difficult to just watch, even suggested to the manager that he come in as a substitute. However, Leon ruthlessly rejected the suggestion.

“Son. Think about the last World Cup. How did Korea, which had made it to the round of 16 so dramatically, lose so badly to Brazil?”

“…yes?”

“There must be a difference in weight class, but more fatal than the difference in weight class was the physical problem. It would be better if you competed now, but it is not a good choice. We still have five more matches to play. So trust Kim.”

“… … .”

Five games.

Son Heung-min seemed to agree and stepped back, but continued to ponder the coach’s words.

Five games from now… … Does that mean Coach Leon is looking ahead to the finals?

But Korea made it to the finals―

‘No, it’s possible.’

Kim Min-woo also played a key role in securing the gold medal at the Paris Olympics, breaking everyone’s expectations.

He is a goalkeeper who beat Messi and Mbappe even when he was less mature and developed than he is now.

How can it not be done because it’s the World Cup?

Even without Kim Min-woo, the current Korean national team’s strength is the best ever.

‘Five games.’

Before coming to the World Cup, I had fantasized about how we would really be able to win the World Cup after watching Kim Min-woo’s performance, but once I arrived in the US and the World Cup started, I couldn’t even think about it.

Son Heung-min took a deep breath and watched the game a little more calmly than before.

Norway is lagging in every indicator but is consistently frustrated in front of the goal.

As the game went on, Korea had one of its first counterattack opportunities.

It was Kim Min-woo again.

Kim Min-woo creates a counterattack opportunity by throwing the ball with his hand just like in the first game.

And Jo Gyu-seok, who received the ball, hits it.

Although he is a player who lacks composure and decision-making in such situations, Norway was very flustered by the sudden counterattack and ended it with a foul.

Forgetting the basic premise that we shouldn’t give Korea a foul.

“Nice! Nice! Good!”

When Cho Kyu-seok went down due to a foul by the opponent and the referee immediately blew the whistle, Son Heung-min jumped up and down in joy along with the other players.

And our free kick battle weapon steps forward.

Our goalkeeper is not only good at blocking, but also good at scoring.

A crazy goalkeeper with a 100% save rate and a 100% free kick success rate.

“Ewww—!”

Kim Jun-young is hugging his body and making strange sounds as if he is so happy about something.

A free kick is about to be prepared, and Kim Min-woo takes a deep breath with his legs shoulder-width apart.

A precarious situation.

And then… … the referee whistles to start.

Kim Min-woo moved slowly and, as always, shot the ball at a precise angle into a space that the opposing goalkeeper could not block even if he noticed it.

Top corner of the right goal post.

A crazy shot that looks like it was measured with a ruler.

Even the shot was so curved that it was difficult to predict the trajectory of the ball.

What does that mean?

“Whaaaa …

The crowd roared. The net shook.

It was a goal.

South Korea’s first goal.

A goal that puts us 1:0 ahead!

It was a crazy free kick goal that made us completely forget our performance up until then.

As if he had been waiting, Kim Min-woo runs toward the corner kick, jumps with all his might, and throws an uppercut into the air.

We also ran to Kim Min-woo without saying who would go first and hugged him.

“Minwooyaaaaah―!”

The game-deciding goal.

A goalkeeper who creates his own goal because the attacking line can’t do anything.

A goalkeeper who is worthy of the description of the greatest of all time, one who will never return to the world of football.

Son Heung-min hugged Kim Min-woo while screaming along with the other players. He didn’t even hear Min-woo’s “Stop!” and “Stop!” shouts.

* * *

After Korea’s opening goal, Norway was left in a state of panic.

It would have been nice if we had each taken a point, but it was Norway who ignited the game, and the situation was turned around with one goal.

The showdown at the opposite port of Seol-sang-sang was ending in a landslide victory for the United States.

3:1.

The United States was 3 and Côte d’Ivoire was 1.

Both countries had to give it their all because losing to the other country would have resulted in elimination from the group stage, and the United States had the upper hand in that all-out battle.

And if the match ends with the current score, Norway will fall hopelessly to third place.

The United States rose to second place and Norway fell to third place with a goal difference of just one point.

The countries that meet with just a score difference are the Netherlands and France.

‘… What is this?’

But it is true that France is more burdensome.

France today was once Germany.

Norway came at us more aggressively than before, but the goal I was blocking was not opened.

Even if we send out Odegaard, there is still no change.

We guarded the goal tightly and stopped the bus. With only two rows of buses and limited time, it is not easy to score even with Mbappe and Messi next to Holland.

and…….

Beep— beep— beep!

After a long period of extra time, the game ended.

Score 1:0.

We lost by all measures but won the game by just one goal.

With this, the record against Holland is already 3 wins out of 3 matches.

‘Director Leon is also really poisonous.’

Don’t use this replacement card until the end.

All of the sub players who were selected this time played the full game.

It seems like everyone was physically exhausted, but rather than celebrating the victory, they were all lying on the ground, gasping for breath.

It was quite difficult for me, but since my position was static, I was physically less exhausted compared to players who had to run around the entire game.

And I didn’t forget to walk up to Holland, give him a hug and say something to him, saying he worked hard.

“Holland, don’t worry. I won’t concede a goal to anyone in this World Cup anyway, so you can keep trying to score the first goal for me.”

“Hahaha. Really?”

Holland burst out laughing as if he was really laughing and asked me to exchange uniforms. When I asked if he didn’t do it in the league, he said that the national team uniform was different.

I agreed and exchanged the uniforms.

‘This guy has a secretly good personality.’

I’ve only met Mbappe once, but he doesn’t seem like a very nice guy.

“Anyway, congratulations. You’ll meet Mbappe in the next round, right? Show me. Who you are.”

“Okay. See you in the finals, Kim.”

Although we had a strong rivalry, we parted ways on good terms. It was good for me that the striker who won the Ballon d’Or was igniting a competitive spirit in me.

By the way, we won 3 out of 3 matches in the group stage. This is really… .

‘Every time we went to the World Cup, the challenge was whether we could win one game or not, but now we’ve won all of them.’

It’s a world apart. It’s a world apart.

And now, it was real.

tournament.

We still had five games ahead of us, whether we would make it to the finals or not.

* * *

In this way, the group stage of the North and Central American World Cup has concluded.

It was a long moment if it was long, and a short moment if it was short.

Now, it’s time for 16 of the 48 countries to go home, and the remaining 32 countries will face off again in a single-elimination match.

This World Cup was expected to be full of surprises, but in the end, the countries we always see survive after the final matches.

The orthodox Europeans. The powerhouses of South America. The dark horse Africans. And even the small but powerful Asian countries.

South Korea’s opponent in the round of 32 has been confirmed as Senegal. I had hoped that Turkey, which we had faced in a friendly match, would advance, but our opponent was Senegal.

And Senegal?

Senegal is certainly a strong team and cannot be ignored, but looking at Korea’s current performance, it doesn’t seem likely that we will finish our journey in the round of 32.

Rather, wouldn’t it be a shocking result if Korea loses to Senegal?

“Okay! Has everyone packed their bags?”

And we moved quickly.

After successfully completing the group stage, it was time to move base camp again for the next match.

“Wow. So we have to move from the western part of the United States to the eastern end?”

Our round of 32 venue was Boston, USA. From LA to Boston. To put it simply, it was a schedule that required going from the westernmost end to the easternmost end.

Fortunately, we were given six days of rest after the final match… …but it wasn’t an easy schedule.

We boarded the plane in a good mood.

And I checked the situation of each group with my cell phone.

Group A, which includes the host country, had Croatia in first place, Canada in second place, and Iran in third place.

It was surprising that Iran, which is considered a regional powerhouse, failed to beat Canada and took second place, but it is understandable since they have the host country buff.

Group B went to Port.

Italy ranked first, Uruguay and Cameroon second and third respectively.

It was the same for Group C and Group D.

As expected, Group E was split between Germany and Mexico in 1st and 2nd place, with Ecuador taking 3rd place. (China lost all 3 matches)

Group F was the same (Argentina, Senegal, Turkey)

Until the second round, the rankings of the existing powerhouses were all over the place, but after the final round, the traffic was neatly organized.

And Group G was quite surprising.

“Japan is number one? Portugal is number two?”

The results were amazing.

Certainly, Japan is also a country with potential.

In the last World Cup, they defeated Germany and Spain, and this time they defeated Portugal and advanced to first place.

Group H was also arranged.

The UK is first, Switzerland is second, and Chile is third.

Group I was divided between Korea, the United States, and Norway.

I felt a little tired as I flipped through the pages. I thought I had seen everything, but there were still three groups left. The number of participating countries has definitely increased… .

‘As expected, the Netherlands is first in Group J.’

Tunisia is second and Denmark is third.

Group K was predicted to be a group where the other three countries would be crushed under the overwhelming first-place Brazil, but as expected, the results were unexpected.

Australia is second. Poland is third. Algeria is fourth.

I wasn’t particularly impressed. I didn’t think I’d ever meet anyone who came up.

The final Group L saw Belgium and Ghana take 1st and 2nd place, while Peru took 3rd place.

“Keuu …!”

I stretched and thought, That’s a lot.

There are so many that we have to send them home quickly. The Qatar World Cup was a group stage with 32 countries, so it was exciting, but with 16 more countries added, it felt a little loose.

It feels like the phase has fallen.

There wasn’t as much attention focused on each game as before.

Just before the plane took off, I put my phone in my pocket, thinking I’d get some shut-eye, but as soon as I did, my pocket started vibrating.

I checked with someone and it was that guy again.

[Kim Shin-a: Is it true that the Round of 32 is happening in Boston?]

[Kim Shin-ah: When will I go to the East again?]

[Kim Min-woo: Then watch it on TV in LA lol]

[Kim Shin-ah: No way]

[Kim Shin-ah: I’ll see it intuitively]

[Kim Shin-ah: I will follow you until the end of the finals]

[Kim Shin-ah: I will watch with my own eyes as Kim Min-woo’s stamina deteriorates]

[Kim Min-woo: If you had studied like that…]

Oh no. This is Seoul National University.

[Kim Shin-ah: What lol]

[Kim Min-woo: lol]

[Kim Min-woo: Is dad coming too?]

[Kim Shin-ah: Yeah]

[Kim Shin-ah: I’m going to follow along with the determination to quit my job]

[Kim Min-woo: tsk tsk]

[Kim Shin-ah: Please make my dad a Buddha]

[Kim Shin-ah: I think you’ll be able to leave the company with a smile if you win the World Cup]

[Kim Min-woo: But even if you don’t win, isn’t it possible to leave with a smile?]

[Kim Shin-ah: Oh my, the weight of the most]

[Kim Min-woo: It feels like I’m carrying all the weight…]

[Kim Shin-ah: Oh, your son is talking back?]

[Kim Min-woo: ?]