Just based on Yuya's bodily gestures, Hiro could feel the sincerity behind his words. And since he never held any grudges against him, despite his recent rude behavior towards him, Hiro readily accepted his gratitude without pressing further on that matter.
"Don't worry about it and play it cool, no pressure"
Hiro had countless reason to be furious at him but despite that he neither raised his voice nor pointed out his flaws, all he did was to suggest him to take it easy and tried to take some pressure off of him.
But just because Hiro had decided to let go of the fact that because of his selfishness he had nearly costed his team a crucial goal didn't mean that others were also willing to let go of him.
Specially coaches, they couldn't be swayed by emotions.
They were well aware of his actions and currently manager Makoto was already planning on replacing him. Sure, he finally scored a goal. Sure, he could put the blame on his desperation.
But no matter what reason it be; he had done wrong. And that was a fact that couldn't be changed no matter what.
Turning his gaze towards his notebook, manager Makoto scribbled something on his notebook before heading back towards his seat with a solemn expression on his face. Just by looking at him, one could hardly tell what was running on his mind currently.
Soon as every players from both the team got to their respective position, referee took a glance at his watch before blowing the whistle he had trapped between his lips.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtBeep!!
Again with the sound of the referee's whistle the game resumed in full swing.
Having made that error which costed their team one precious goal, players of Aomori learnt from their mistake and started guarding against Hiro.
They could no longer lower their guard like they had done before.
But now with this goal, the arrow had already left the bow. And now all they could do was shield against this arrow which was heading towards them at threatening pace.
Unlike before, now Hiro was running all over the field. And those players who were supposed to mark him had no choice but to follow him.
However instead of moving up-field, Hiro was dropping deep and playing as a deep lying playmaker. Before his movements were mostly limited at the other side of the half-line.
But now that he was dropping deep, he was playing more like a true midfielder rather than a false nine. Supporting his teammates and initiating attacks, he was stabilizing his teams midfield.
This action didn't go unnoticed as the manager of the opposing team immediately caught the whiff of Hiro's intention. But what could he do?
He had two options; either to yell his findings or wait for halftime to inform his players. But who knows, until then his team wouldn't concede another goal because of this trivial change.
After that previous goal, the pressure on the opposing team had already increased but now that they had to face against this unforeseen variable — situation have gotten even harder for them.
And their struggle was quite evident to even naked eyes.
Even the fans could tell that they were struggling. It was like non of them knew clearly about what to do while encountering such situation.
And because of their previous blunder they were even afraid to improvise their tactics. Fear of getting blamed, fear of being the scapegoat and fear of facing the wrath of their coaching staff was preventing them from improvising their strategies.
Aomori being the league leader had an impressive squad. But since this team emphasized more on discipline, it lacked creative players who could add some spice on the team.
Sure their players were physically fit and could execute the strategies flawlessly but once a variable occurs, everything starts to fall apart. One could even accredit that the glory of this team to their strict style of playing football.
They could be even regarded as a notebook team.
Acting as an fulcrum, Hiro connected the passes between his teammates while at the same time created spaces in the formation of the opposing team.
If anybody studied Hiro's heat map currently, they would mostly find his movements concentrated at the middle third.
Playing one-two passes with Akihiro, all of a sudden Hiro burst into acceleration. Immediately the player that was assigned to Hiro moved his body forward to stop Hiro from advancing forward.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmSuch tactics where a player in front would use their bodies to stop speedy players was often used by those players who couldn't compete against the other players in terms of speed.
And almost everybody in league was aware of the speed of Hiro. Once he starts running, anybody could barely catch up to him.
So as there's a saying that goes by, "Prevention is better than cure"
Players of the opposing when encountering Hiro would always try to stop his movement beforehand than to compete against him in terms of speed.
Noticing the intention of the opposing player, Hiro immediately changed his direction. But so did the opposing player whose eyes was converged at him solely.
The moment that player left his position to chase after Hiro, a space opened up in his original place from where Akihiro who despite being not fast as Hiro easily got past without any trouble.
In this attack Hiro was merely a decoy. A decoy to distract the opposing player.Akihiro as he moved forward sent the ball flying toward a boy with pretty face who had a knack for scoring goals.
Renji was the same player who had been drafted along with Akihiro in the trial.
With a pretty face and a haughty demeanor, he had quite the fan following. Although most of them consisted of female fans but yeah he was quite famous.
Renji then upon receiving the pass easily dribbled past the defender in front of him. But no sooner had he got past the reach of one defender, he immediately got surrounded with two more.
Which in turn pushed him to make a pass.