Chapter 375 Sparking Things Up
The second half was set to kick off as the players from both teams were already making their way to the pitch now.
Dave was the last player in his team to enter the pitch as Norman seemed to be talking to him about something as they walked down the hallway.
"Welcome back, everyone, the second half of the match is about to kick off as we can see the players making their way to the pitch now," Jim said.
"Well, the first half wasn't exactly thrilling despite the good chances both teams managed to pull off, I hope the second half will be different." Steve expressed.
The players were all on the pitch now as Henry was standing over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle.
The referee made sure that everything and everyone was ready before he blew his whistle to kick-start the match.
"There's the whistle and we are on the way once again."
As soon as Henry heard the whistle, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Conrad who immediately sent the ball rolling back to the defender behind him.
They were passing the ball around near the center now while looking for a way through but they weren't able to find any so they decided to start moving the ball back, an attempt to drag out Unique FC's defense of course.
Well, it worked in dragging their midfield forward and that was when Fraser found the opportunity to get past Ferran.
Conrad got hold of the ball and immediately understood what the winger was trying to do as he quickly sent the ball flying over to him.
The winger brought the ball down with his chest as soon as it got to him and now he was heading toward the edge of the box to face Roland.
Looking at the way he was running, it was clear that he was ready to face the left back.
"Fraser is still going here."
Roland knew that it wasn't a good idea to rush toward someone with the ball without thinking properly because that is exactly what they would want you to do.
He waited for the winger to get closer but that still didn't help him as he managed to sweep the floor with him when Roland pulled him on his shorts.
That slowed the winger down a bit giving Pirlo the time to get to the ball and clear the danger.
Fraser was quite pissed off by that dirty challenge and he seemed to be making a fuss about it with Roland now.
"Oh, tensions are building up here, that pull from Roland wasn't something nice to do."
The referee saw everything clearly and had to step in, he gave the foul in favor of Villarreal and after that, he showed Roland a yellow card.
"That is a well-deserved yellow card right there," Steve commented.
The left-back knew what he did, so he didn't complain or try to fight back but he prevented what would have most likely translated into a goal and that was the reason why he had a cheeky smile on his face right now.
Even after missing that opportunity thanks to Roland playing dirty, something he wasn't used to doing, Villarreal now had a pretty good chance to try and level the score.
A free kick right at the edge of the box, a very good position for a free kick master to put the ball into the back of the net from.
Unique FC had to form their four-man wall inside the box and they didn't forget to put someone under.
Fraser was the one standing over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle.
"His first goal against West Ham United last week came from a corner a little close to that same area. Will he be able to pull it off again and give this game a little bit of spark?" Jim expressed.
After making sure that everything was ready, the referee blew his whistle and now it was time for the young winger to test Dave.
He didn't move immediately after the whistle and just kept his gaze on the ball for a while before he slowly took three steps backward.
After that, he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying toward the goalpost.
The ball flew toward the top left-hand side of the goalpost just exactly where Dave predicted him to place it.
He dived toward the ball with his right hand just at the right time and he was able to get to it fast enough to tip it over the bar.
He could have gone for the catch to try and add to his one-touch saves for the quest but that was a very tricky shot and he had to do what he had to do.
"Oh, that was so close!" Jim exclaimed. "If that was any other goalkeeper, I am positive that that ball would have gone in! Dave is just so unbelievable with the things he can do now."
"Agreed, that was a very well-placed free kick, Fraser could have gotten his second free kick goal in two matches but unfortunately, he was up against Dave."
That was a magnificent save from Dave just like the commentators said but now they had a corner kick to deal with, one of the spot kicks that Dave always gets wary about.
When comparing a free kick to a corner kick, the goalkeeper was quite confident with his ability to save a free kick compared to a corner kick.
To him, anything could happen from a corner kick, a deflected header, a tricky ball, and even an own goal.
That was the reason why he was always on high alert whenever it was time to take a corner kick.
Antonio was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle and as soon as he heard it, he slowly took two steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying into the box.
"It's flying in."
The ball was sent flying toward Henry and Adolf who contested for the ball in the air but Henry ended up winning it.
The striker sent the ball flying toward the right side of the goalpost with a header but unfortunately for him, his shot didn't have much power to it and ended up being an easy catch for Dave.
"Easy catch for Dave."
This was one of those opportunities that Dave always looks for in a match, a counterattack opportunity and he was going to put it to good use.
He found Minino down the right and didn't hesitate to send the ball flying over to him with a very long throw.
"Unique FC are looking to start a counterattack here."
Minino caught hold of the ball right on the line dividing the pitch but his path was blocked by a Villarreal defender so he quickly passed the ball to Ferran who quickly took off with it down the middle.
The midfielder tried to outrun the player that was already hot on his trail when he received the ball but it didn't look like that was going to work and to avoid losing the ball, he sent it rolling toward Mateo.
"Oh, looks like their counterattack has been stopped, what are they going to do now?" Jim commented.
Mateo caught hold of the ball and was about to try something with it when he heard Roland yell his name from behind.
The winger didn't hesitate to send the ball rolling to the left back as soon as he asked for it.
As soon as Roland got his foot on the ball, Fraser tried to steal it from him from behind but Roland was already aware.
He moved a little to the side with the ball, and with a roulette spin, he zoomed past the winger and was heading down the middle now.
"He has asked for an all-out attack, how about we do that now?" He muttered as he made his way down the middle with the ball.
"Looks like Roland wants to start something here."
The left-back was about to run into a Villarreal player when he found Mateo on the left and quickly sent the ball rolling to him.
All Mateo needed was a single touch to send the ball flying into the box as he found Fredinho making a run into the box at that time.
Unfortunately, the ball wasn't able to get to Fredinho before it was headed away by one of the defenders in the area.
The ball fell to the feet of Ferran who quickly sent it rolling back to Adolf with a backheel pass.
Adolf got to the ball and quickly moved a little to the left with before passing it to Mateo who had drawn back a little.
"The danger is still lurking around their box."
Mateo spotted Merino lurking around the right side and as soon as he made eye contact with the right winger, the winger dashed through and he sent the ball flying over to him.
The ball got to the right winger right on cue and with his right foot he fired the ball toward the goalpost.
There was nothing the goalkeeper could do about that as the ball flew past him and into the goalpost.
"It's in! They've finally got that second goal!"
Merino let out a scream as he raced to the sideline and kicked the corner flag with his teammates right behind him.
That celebration didn't last for long though as the referee blew his whistle pointing at Villarreal's box and when they turned their gaze to the lineman to see that he had his flag up.
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Happy new month guys.
With this month, I've decided to set up a favorable mass-release goal.
For every set of gifts worth 3000 coins, I will do a three chapters mass release.
Every 100 GT= 4 chapters mass release.