My system allows me to copy talents

Chapter 361 Japan u17 vs Argentina u17 VI

As the players of both teams took their stance, the referee glanced at his watch before blowing his whistle to announce the commencement of the second half.

Right now, while most of the fans had already returned to their seats, some were still hurrying to their seats with their hands full of snacks and soft beverages. And, the stands were still as lively as ever with the chants and the chatters of the fans.

In large letters and numbers, displayed on the scoreboard was the present score of the two teams competing in this match, Argentina u17: 1 vs Japan u17: 0.

Beep!!

The clock started ticking again.

Both teams started ferociously, each more sharper and daring than before. Clashing against each other, each tested their resolve. And, the audience upon witnessing such clashes taking place on the field became even more excited.

For some while, the momentum continued to shift without any stop. But none managed to procure any results from it.

Finally, in the 67th minute of the match, the opposing team stumbled upon a threatening opportunity that could make a difference in the scoreboard. Failing to connect a pass, Takeshi gave the ball away.

Capitalizing on the blunder made by Takeshi, the opposing player immediately pressed forward without wasting any time. With swift passes, they quickly moved the ball forward while Hiro and his teammates started to fall back.

Shun and other defensive members of his team immediately became alerted as they started fortifying their defense line, checking on every member and possible gaps the opposing team could possibly exploit.

It was a moment of emergency. And, no one was willing to let the other team dictate the game any further.

Falling back while appearing rather troubled, Hiro looked around him to see if he could find an opportunity to disrupt the build-up of the opposing team before they could even reach their defensive third.

With three forwards up front and three midfielders providing support to those forwards, they left no spaces open. And, the way they were rushing forward, altering each other's position was somehow confusing his teammates.

Though they had numerical superiority, the opposing players barely displayed any hole in their formation for them to exploit. And, from the backline, their fullbacks were also pressing forward to provide support.

Truly, it felt as if every member of the opposing team was behind this attack.

If only he had his skill, Hawk eyes, he might be able to locate gaps that he might not have been able to locate right now. Oh, how handy that skill would have come right now.

But, he could do nothing about it. And, whining about it wouldn't make the situation better either. Right now, all he could do was try his best to stop the incoming attack of the opposing team.

Then all of a sudden, Takeshi performed a sliding tackle on Claudio who was moving the ball forward.

Beep!!

The referee blew his whistle, stopping the game midway after witnessing that sudden tackle from Takeshi which sent Claudio flying away.

That tackle seemed completely unnecessary given the position of Claudio who was quite far away from the post and was surrounded by the players of Japan. Even if he broke free from Takeshi, Yutaka and Akutsu were right behind him.

But those desperate eyes of Takeshi spoke everything about that tackle. Probably he did so because he felt like he had to redeem himself since he was the one to give the ball away.

The tackle in itself wasn't rough but the intention behind that tackle appeared quite obvious. It was a tackle that was performed out of desperation. And, for that reason, if not getting booked, Takeshi would probably receive a warning.

But, the referee decided to go for the worse and booked him. Even so, while his teammates tried to appeal, Takeshi remained tongue-tied appearing rather distressed.

Since others weren't as observant as Hiro they were not aware of it but Hiro who had looking his way knew that Takeshi's emotions were starting to affect his performances. And, if it continued, it might get even worse. Another such tackle and he'd be out of the game.

Takeshi's mistake was bound to cost them a lot.

Thus, unwilling to let one person's emotional state affect the entire team, Hiro looked at the direction of the substitution box to see whether the coach had noticed this change or not. If he had not, even if it meant upsetting Takeshi, he'd personally suggest the substitution of Takeshi.

But as he turned to look in the direction of Manager Haruki, he noticed that he was already preparing to make some changes. Witnessing such a scene made him feel at ease.

Since he wasn't required to suggest any substitution, he then changed his focus to the thing he could do at the moment. And, that was to calm his teammates. Arguing more with the referee would only result in more bookings.

In a while as the commotion subsided, from the sidelines, the assistant referee raised his substitution board hinting at a player change for the Japanese side. And, the player that was going to get replaced came as a surprise.

The Japanese side was replacing three players in total and one of them was their number 10.

"What? Me?" appearing rather flabbergasted while pointing his finger towards himself, Hiro questioned as he heard the announcement about the player change.

He getting replaced so early in the match, that it had never occurred before. Sure, he had made many mistakes today but he was still creating many goalscoring chances. If not for his efforts, they wouldn't even have registered any shots on target today.

So, why was he getting replaced?

No matter, how hard he tried to think about the reason behind his replacement, he couldn't come up with a satisfactory answer.

"What? Replacing the best player in the team...., What is the coach thinking about?"

"Seriously, taking out our best player?"

Many fans cried out, as they expressed their shock and disappointment upon hearing the announcement about the player changes.