Shooting Trajectory is Visible - Chapter 301



Only Noblemtl

Episode 301 Minwoo’s Medicine

Neymar carefully cleared the surrounding grass before placing the ball on the penalty mark.

Neymar, one of the best strikers in the world and famous for his penalty kicks, didn’t let his guard down. He took the ball and glared at me.

I returned that gaze.

Now, a little later, fate is decided.

In the end, I will concede a goal. Or, even the world’s best Neymar will be stopped by me who has grown to almost perfection.

You’ll find out a little later.

I found that waiting time painful.

Because when the waiting time is long, random thoughts start to arise.

For example.

‘If I concede a goal to Neymar in this situation.’

Such assumptions come to mind.

Not only was it a historic record that my first goal was conceded in a World Cup, but the game itself was also problematic.

Once Brazil somehow manages to score a goal and then reverts to a defensive play, the game becomes hopeless.

Even the weak team’s back ten is suffocating, but Brazil’s back ten? How are they going to break through this? Is it even possible to break through it in the first place?

I don’t know.

However, if Brazil had scored against us, there was a high probability that they would have been satisfied with one goal and would have defended.

So, we must block it at all costs. We do not have the power to force Brazil to open its doors after it has closed them on purpose.

And the referee came up to Neymar and me and told us again the rules that we already knew. Don’t lift your foot before the kicker takes the kick… … Yes, yes. I got it. I know it very well.

And then the fateful moment arrives.

The referee’s whistle blew and Neymar slowly approached me, staring intently at me.

No trajectory was created.

A heart-pounding psychological warfare has begun.

As Neymar got closer to the ball, a trajectory was created.

The trajectory was at the bottom right.

‘It’s this easy?’

I tilted my body slightly to the lower right, and then the trajectory immediately changed to the lower left. I was surprised and changed my movement, and once again the trajectory was created to the right.

‘What the hell!’

In just a few seconds, a trajectory appears and disappears repeatedly. When I turn my body again, the trajectory disappears and appears again.

The final trajectory was the lower right. When I moved my body towards it again, it was the upper left. It was a deep wine-colored trajectory.

Neymar was now almost in contact with the ball.

I don’t know, I just jumped to the top left.

At the same time, a shooting sound with a bang.

I threw myself towards the trajectory, stretching my arms as far as I could.

And then I felt a blunt touch on my fingertips. It was Neymar’s shot. As soon as it hit my hand, I saw Neymar and the Brazilian players running towards me.

It was stopped, but it wasn’t over yet.

I crawled over to catch the ball that was running away from my grasp and hugged it tightly. I had to catch it even if it meant losing it.

And then my vision went black and the world became quiet. The ground around me shook, but I held the ball tightly in my arms.

I saved Neymar’s penalty kick.

‘Oh, shit.’

After breathing and exhaling for a while, I finally felt the tension release.

It was really dangerous.

Neymar’s penalty kick was so dangerous that I wasn’t sure if he could stop it again.

Above all, this is the first time that the trajectory has been this erratic. It makes me wonder if this is truly world-class.

‘If he’s like this now, then how good was Neymar in his prime?’

Maybe I was just born in a good era.

Even for a country like ours, there was nothing we could do when we had Neymar in his prime, Messi in his prime, and Ronaldo in his prime.

And then I lifted my head and looked around. The Brazilian players turned their backs and shook their heads, and my teammates… … .

“Minwooyak―!”

Suddenly, he started running wild, looking for Minwoo’s medicine.

There is no such medicine… .

* * *

Brazil’s national team coach Doribao Junior has been the most successful Brazilian coach in recent times.

In the 2022 Qatar World Cup, Brazil was expected to advance to the semifinals after beating Korea in the round of 16 and easily defeating their quarterfinal opponent Croatia, but as expected from the public opinion that Brazil is weak against European teams, they lost to Croatia and ended up making it to the quarterfinals.

The 2018 Russia World Cup was no different. They defeated Mexico 2-0 in the round of 16 and seemed set to continue their momentum by defeating Belgium, but they lost to Belgium 1-2 in the quarterfinals and were eliminated.

Let’s not even mention the 2014 Brazil World Cup. There was the tragedy of Mineirao, who advanced to the semifinals but lost 1-7 to Germany.

And coach Doribau Junior washed away the old feelings from that time in this World Cup.

It was a tough process, but we sent Germany home on penalties and advanced to the semi-finals.

In addition, Korea, which they had historically always defeated, happened to be their opponent in the semifinals. If things continued this way, it seemed like they would finally have a chance to advance to the finals for the first time since 2002.

And Brazil, which has advanced to the finals, has never missed the championship. Once they have advanced to the finals, they have always won.

of course.

That’s the story from when Korea was captured.

It would be no exaggeration to say that Korea four years ago and Korea today are completely different teams.

Korea has changed beyond recognition, to the point where the expressions “reformed” and “transformed” are not enough.

It was the same even then.

Brazil was struggling against Korea.

A penalty kick was awarded as a golden opportunity, but the goalkeeper, who has made his name known around the world, ended up blocking Neymar’s finish.

‘It’s a hazy memory from four years ago.’

I thought we would easily surpass Croatia and advance to the semifinals, but we were eliminated by Croatia.

Of course, unlike back then, we knew in advance that Korea would be a tough opponent, but even so, the match was not easy.

The tactics and movements that had been prepared in advance were being blocked by the tactics that Korea had prepared. Brazil also adapted its tactics and launched a new attack, but… … the situation was not easy.

And Brazil’s corner kick attack.

Coach Junior watched with his arms folded.

Players were gathered in the center of the box.

And Brazil, knowing that Kim is particularly strong at corner kicks, came up with a special tactic. An unconventional tactic that can only be used once per match.

It is a one-time tactic that involves crowding players in the center and kicking them further to create a free shot.

Fortunately, the tactic worked successfully.

Hafinya didn’t catch the ball that was far away, but hit it hard with one touch. Then, Kim of Munich, who was in front of the goal, headed the ball away―

“!?”

The kick location was inside the goal!

Kim’s header goes straight into their own goal!

And goalkeeper Kim reacts and jumps up to block it.

“What the heck!”

Coach Junior jumped up like Kim when he saw it. How did he stop that!? Kim kicked away the shot from Hafinya, and Kim reacted to the kicked header!

It was an unbelievable save even when watching it. This was a mistake that any goalkeeper in the world would be left dumbfounded by!

Of course, the tens of thousands of Brazilian supporters gathered at the stadium were sighing and raising their hands to their heads, and United’s Kim was shouting at Munich’s Kim with a red face. It didn’t look like good news at all.

“The saves you showed against Italy weren’t a coincidence….”

Coach Junior laughed with a devastated expression. Can we even win this?

The Brazilian players also looked bewildered after seeing that absurd scene.

‘Damn. This isn’t good.’

A goalkeeper’s continued saves boost the morale of his team and demoralize the enemy team.

And Kim’s save from the penalty spot and the save just now were enough to dampen Brazil’s spirits.

For a moment, Kim’s boast flashed through my mind. What did he say…?

[… … I still vividly remember the Brazilian players smiling and dancing every time they scored a goal against Korea. I will watch to see if they can do the same this time.]

[It’s just a declaration. This time, I won’t be able to smile or dance like I did four years ago.]

“Fuck.”

Why does the image of Neymar crying after the game come to mind? It’s still the first half, but the image of the game ending just flashed before my eyes. I guess the coach himself was also demoralized.

* * *

After an unexpectedly close first half, the second half began.

Brazil literally took the world by storm.

The attack did not let up.

With our midfield resources, we had no choice in the midfield battle with Brazil, so when Brazil attacked with all their might, we were pushed back endlessly.

To be honest, Brazil’s attacking routes were much more creative than Spain’s.

Similar, but feels a bit more superior.

They poke the ball into the empty space and somehow break through it with each player’s physical strength to shoot.

‘What the hell is this?’

This time it was Neymar.

He suddenly rushes up from the side half line and doesn’t slow down.

And with his individual skills, he passed two of my teammates at speed, and even fooled Kim Min-je with his dazzling dribbling, a style unique to South America.

Kim Min-je grabbed Neymar’s collar as if he was anxious, and Neymar fell over, causing the referee to award a free kick foul.

‘Ha. Minjesichi…’

He’s a good player, but he’s been injured and coming back from that injury and it seems like he’s been a bit out of form lately.

If we look at his performance so far, Kim Min-je has been the worst of the worst. He gave away a penalty kick in the first half, pushed a header into the goal, and even gave away a useless free kick foul…

Brazil’s free kick was exactly in the left half-space. The kickers were Neymar and Vinicius. They stood in different positions.

The referee’s whistle blew, a trajectory was created. There were three places. Damn.

And then one is gone, and Vinicius moves. It’s a fake. Vinicius flicks the ball over. And then straight away Neymar starts.

Top of the left goal post.

I jumped up and tried to catch the ball with both hands, but the ball curved so well and my shot was so strong that I ended up missing it.

And then Kim Min-jae ran over and kicked it out.

He just gave me a short pass as he was kicking it out.

‘What the hell, why is this guy doing this!’

Is this X-Man?

The Brazilian player and Kim Ji-seok were competing for the ball, and I quickly stretched out my leg to help in the competition.

Fortunately, the ball cleared the goal line.

I sighed and closed my eyes.

‘Ah, Minjesichi. Ah… .’

There really hasn’t been anyone who’s made me this upset since Youngjun Sic and Korsic.

Oh, there’s one more. Jonny Evans. Kim Min-je was almost Jonny Evans-level in today’s game.

A veteran of Manchester United. A player who makes you sigh when his name is on the lineup.

Rather than being open about it and being nervous if you can’t do it, you can’t be this nervous because a good player is not doing it.

‘If Kim Min-je tries to catch or kick the ball, I won’t be able to relax from now on.’

You never know what kind of unexpected situation might occur. Kim Min-je, who was a trustworthy man, had his reputation in my mind drop by -20… .

After a brief pause, the game resumes.

The structure of the game remained the same.

Brazil is on the move, and Korea is barely holding its breath.

The vigorous attacking power shown in the first half has completely disappeared.

Although Leon’s tactics were not much different from the first half, the problem was that Brazil had awakened.

Maybe they figured out Leon’s tactics and used them against him.

I don’t know the details. If I did, I would have directed it.

‘Is this match a penalty shootout?’

If not, there seems to be no other way than to try to score a counterattack goal by targeting Brazil’s back space, which has been depleted in overtime.

The weight class gap in the midfield was so severe, and our players’ analysis and insight were over, so the attacking power they had shown in the first half was no longer that great.

And again Brazil attacks.

Two passes make our defenders look foolish. And immediately Vinicius shoots.

It was a shot that flew but hit the side netting.

‘Not a single day goes by easily.’

I thought as I stood up from my seat.

But it’s not so bad. We even advanced to the quarterfinals with this kind of performance, right?

When was there ever a time when you weren’t an underdog?

And in these situations, holding on is my specialty. I will show you the holding skills I honed at Hannover and Manchester United. Experience it with your whole body.

Spain had already failed me and I had to pack my bags and go home.

Brazil will suffer the same fate.

No matter how much our colleagues scream that they want to lose, we will never let that happen.

Korea. Even if you want to lose, you can never lose. I have been playing with that mindset since Hannover.

After setting that mindset, I hit the ball hard. Let’s try again.