My Goalkeeping System

Darwin took three steps backward and looked up to make eye contact with the ball before he quickly leaped toward the ball and sent it flying toward the bottom right side while Dave dived toward the left side of the goalpost.

"He's sent the keeper the wrong way!"

As soon as the ball rolled into the back of the net, Darwin took off toward the corner kick spot as his teammates chased him from behind and the fans burst out with screams of joy.

"What would you expect from a dead ball specialist?!" Jim exclaimed. "He's put his team in front."

Dave had a frustrated look on his face as he picked up the ball and kicked it into the pitch.

"Unique FC took the lead early on in the first half and now they are one goal behind after a well-taken penalty kick from Darwin to extend his perfect penalty record this season," Steve said.

"Come on guys, we still have close to thirty minutes left in the match, we can't lose this match, we have to at least get a draw," Adolf said to his teammates who were all in the area now. "This is a setback but we've suffered the same setback twice this season and managed to pull through and I know we can do it again."

'Yeah, but you're forgetting that we suffered a similar setback against them in the first leg and we weren't able to pull through.' Dave said subconsciously.

<Hey, be positive, this team is better compared to that one, haven't you been seeing the differences?>

'I know but I can't be positive when I know that both of the players up front have been wasting chances, chances that Mateo or Merino could have easily finished, it's the sixty-fourth minute Norman doesn't want to bring them on yet.'

Norman was standing on the sidelines watching everything and after witnessing that goal from the penalty spot, he didn't have a pleasant look on his face.

"Should I tell the two wingers to start warming up?" His assistant who was also standing beside him asked.

"Yeah," Norman said.

The match resumed as Fred quickly passed the ball back to Ferran who quickly passed it back to Adolf before Darwin got to him.

"Sixty-seven minutes on the clock right now, will it be enough for Unique FC to get an equalizer or will Frono FC just extend their lead?" Jim said.

"I think Norman has finally decided to bring on Mateo Smith and Christian Merino, the two are currently warming up on the sidelines."

"Mateo Smith, Unique FC's magic man, I'm pretty sure the outcome of the match would have been different if he had started," Jim said.

"I agree."

Roland rolled the ball back to Dave before Seth could get to him and without wasting time, the goalkeeper sent the ball to Norman who pushed forward with the ball before sending it to Ferran with a low long pass.

Ahmed quickly closed up on the midfield Dynamo to try and dispossess him of the ball but he didn't even flinch as he used his back heel to nutmeg him before making his way past him to receive the ball at the other end.

"Waooh, Ferran just took out his anger on Ahmed," Jim said.

The crowd had gone wild for a few seconds after noticing that incredible display from Ferran.

He pushed further down with the ball before lobbing it into the box toward Fredinho.

One of the defenders who had the name Lobo and the number three written on the back of his jersey rose high to meet the ball but his arm had gotten in the way in the process and the ball bounced on it before falling to Fredinho's foot.

"Handball!" Fred and Edward yelled before raising their hands but Fredinho didn't care as he quickly shot the ball toward the goal post but it went flying over the bar instead.

"Hey, that was a handball," Ferran said quickly making his way to the referee and before the official knew it almost all the Unique FC players in the area had gathered around him but they weren't the only ones.

"Yeah, that was a handball but it looks like the referee is having a hard time making a decision," Jim said. "I don't think the handball was intentional so the decision could go either way."

"Yeah, but it looks like he's going to check VAR now," Steve said.

The players waited on the pitch as the referee made his way to the VAR monitor to check what was the outcome of the handball.

"That's definitely a hand ball, a penalty," Mateo said as he adjusted the hands of his long-sleeved jersey.

With play stopped in the meantime the two wing forwards were getting ready to come on.

After about seven minutes of checking VAR, the referee made his way back to the pitch.

He blew his whistle and pointed at Frono FC's goalpost before pointing toward Unique FC's side of the pitch.

"No penalty, Unique FC definitely won't be happy about that decision," Jim said.

"Seriously?" Ferran said, looking at the referee with a stunned look on his face.

"Corrupt VAR." Mateo pouted as he made his way toward the official with the substitution board.

"Looks like Fred Miles is going to be coming off for Mateo Smith," Jim said as the official raised the board to show the number nine in red and the number ten in green.

There was no reaction from the crowd whatsoever as Fred quickly made his way out of the pitch.

Mateo gave him a fist bump and patted him on the back before quickly making his way into the pitch.

The youngster received a standing ovation as he jogged toward his position.

"Mateo Smith is on the pitch and you can tell just by the reaction that the fans are really happy to see him there," Jim said.

The official raised his board again to show the number twelve in red and the number sixteen in green.

"Harry Norman will be the one to make the way for Christian Merino," Jim said.

As soon as Merino entered the pitch, Norman raised his hand to do the substitution sign which he made sure that all his players saw.

'Finally switching to four three three.' Dave sighed inwardly.

With the substitutions done for both teams, it was now time for the game to resume.

"That should have been a penalty," Dave muttered as he hadn't quite gotten over that decision by the VAR.

<Just let it go, there's a high chance that you guys are going to get an equalizer now>

Frono FC played the ball in toward their right midfielder and the ball had gotten to him.

He brought it down with his chest and was about to turn with it when Mateo swooshed in from nowhere and stole the ball.

"That's one way to steal the ball," Jim said.

Mateo passed the ball to Ferran as they were a couple of players in his way.

"Minino," Jim said as soon as Minino received the ball from Ferran.

The midfielder tried to push forward with the ball but there was no way so he passed it back to Norman Kole who didn't waste time in passing the ball to Ferran.

"Ferran."

Ferran moved forward with the ball before finding Merino at the edge of the box.

Merino received the ball and quickly crossed it low to Mateo who was on the same line as him on the other side.

"Mateo."

Mateo received the ball and moved clear of Logo with a quick one-two before passing it back to Merino who quickly passed it back to him after he had maneuvered his way past two defenders.

"Mateo's still going on and he's through on goal."

Jim wasn't exaggerating when he said that. Mateo had the ball at his feet now with the goalkeeper being the only one standing in his way.

"Mateo!!!" Jim exclaimed as the winger fired the ball toward the goalpost.

***

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I'll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.