Chapter 523: Taking Proper Advantage
The game was thirty minutes gone and although both sides had put in great efforts to deal a great blow to their opponents, the match was still goalless.
If there was any match that didn't fit the description of one-sided in any way, it would be this one.
Both sides had been at each other's neck not letting up even for a moment as they ran across the wet pitch, an aftermath of the already ceased rainfall. It was an intense match but Dynamo FC were definitely feeling the heat more with Dave providing cover fire from the goalpost whenever the ball got to him.
However, the goalkeeper was yet to make a direct attempt from the goalpost, he wasn't doubting his accuracy or anything after all he had put in a lot of effort to improve over the past couple of months, the system didn't really do anything to improve that for him. The reason why he was hesitating to take a direct shot was because of the opposing goalkeeper.
Trying a direct shot while he was still on his goal line had a very low success rate and that would mean his team losing possession, if he was going to try a direct shot, he needed the perfect chance.
Moving on, there had been a shared total of twelve shots between both sides so far with Dynamo FC having to face seven of those shots, four of them were on target but Victor did really well to make sure his team didn't go behind.
Unique FC faced the remaining five of those shots with only two of them being on target.
One of those shots was a wonderful overhead kick from Damian inside the box, that was going for the top right corner and it would have been such a wonderful goal but luckily for Unique FC Dave was able to get the tip of his glove on it just in time to send it over the bar.
The second shot came from Frank just outside the box, a powerful low strike from the midfielder which he aimed to tuck into the box from the bottom left corner but once again, Dave was able to get to it in time and deny his effort.
The match was in the thirty-second minute now and through most of the game, Frank had been having serious trouble shaking off Roland, forcing him to switch toward the middle most of the time.
Once again, the attacking midfielder was trying to get past the fullback who was matching his every move with a shared intensity.
Afraid of losing the ball, the midfielder switched toward the middle with the ball before firing straight for the goalpost.
As expected, his target was off as Dave and everyone else watched the ball fly over the bar.
"Oh, wasted attempt from Frank."
"Screw this." The midfielder scoffed as he turned around kicking the floor.
The fans from both sides were still doing a great job at keeping the spirit of their teams alive with every other sound being made at the stadium being drowned out by their enthusiastic chanting.
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"We have Dave now, your chances are futile!"
That was the prevalent chant on the Unique FC side of the stands and Dave couldn't help but smile as those words resounded in his head.
'I'll try my best to live up to your expectations today.' He said inwardly as he dropped the ball on the edge six-yard box.
<You better, else they'll be hell to pay>
He sent the ball rolling to Roland after letting out a soft huff and as soon as the fullback got his foot on the ball, he sent it rolling to Ferran.
"Ferran."
Frank quickly rushed to the midfielder from behind in an attempt to dispossess him but before he could get to him, he flicked the ball to Mateo who was almost at the center of the pitch.
Connell was already waiting up ahead, and as soon as Mateo got his foot on the ball, he charged straight toward him.
There were a lot of players that would work on but unfortunately for Connell, Mateo wasn't one of them.
Just as he got close enough to the midfielder to take the ball away from him, he pulled the ball back, causing him to miss the tackle by just a few inches.
He didn't stop there and tried once again, this time trying to read Mateo's movement unaware of what he was in for.
He feigned moving toward the left with the ball and impulsively, Connell followed only to find the midfielder quickly switching to the right.
He had already completed his movement but he managed to force his foot toward the ball only to find it switched toward the other side by Mateo.
It was like he was stuck in some sort of trance as Mateo repeated the faint once again before faking a shot at the midfielder.
He took the bait and the next thing he knew, the youngster had gotten past him with a neat nutmeg.
The crowd erupted in cheers as the Dynamo FC midfielder absorbed the shame and turned around to chase Mateo who had already put a distance between them.
"My goodness, Connell is definitely going to have a nightmare about that one."
The other midfielder tried to quickly corner Mateo from the right but by switching further toward the left, he was able to completely avoid him, getting the ball away from Frank with neat footwork in the process.
"Mateo's still moving with the ball and he seems to be trying to cook up something dangerous here."
Roland moved in past the fullback further down the left flank at that moment and without hesitation, Mateo played him through.
"Oh, Roland's through and he has a lot of space to cause trouble."
The fullback drove the ball toward the box with the opposing fullback right behind him trying to stop me and one of the center backs trying to cut him off from the right.
Just as the fullback got to the edge of the box, he feigned firing at the center-back before flicking the ball to Ferran in the middle near the edge of the box.
The midfielder had both Connell and Frank around him and to avoid losing the ball, he pushed it to Mateo who quickly pushed into the box with his first touch, skillfully getting past the defender in front of him.
"Oh, Dynamo FC are in trouble, surely now!"
He did not waste time pulling his foot back as soon as he got the opening to do so but he seemed to have gotten knocked off balance at the last moment and his shot ended up going straight for the goalkeeper.
"I can't believe it, Victor stopped it."
Mateo bit his lower lip in frustration at that missed opportunity as the fans let out a series of sighs of exasperation.
Victor on the other hand quickly got up on his foot and launched the ball forward, a desperate attempt to start a counterattack.
"Oh, Dynamo are trying to take advantage of the situation."
He aimed for Damian who was near the center of the pitch, however, the striker seemed to be blocked by Adolf at that moment.
That turned out to not be a problem though as Damian quickly sent the ball rolling to Frank who was quickly racing down the right flank with Roland right behind him and everyone else rushing to cover up to either defend or help in taking advantage of the situation.
Frank knew Roland wouldn't let up even after getting his foot on the ball so he quickly paused, allowing the fullback to slide past him before quickly cutting to the right with the ball to get past him once again.
The midfielder continued racing toward the goalpost putting a little distance between Roland but he still had Adolf right beside him, aiming to get to the goalpost first and stall him.
"This is a wonderful chance for Dynamo to take the lead."
As Frank got closer, Dave pulled further back toward his goal line, a worried expression on his face.
'This isn't looking good.'
<You can say that again>
His worry didn't come from the midfielder with the ball at the moment but rather from the opposing player right behind Adolf.
The defender got into the box before Frank with Damian right behind him, and as soon as Frank got into the box, he pushed the ball to the striker from behind Adolf.
"I'm not sure there's anything Unique can do about this now. "
It was an easy shot into the goalpost from the left so everybody expected Damian to shoot, even Dave who had already gotten ready to dive toward the area.
However, what the striker chose to do left them all in awe.
He feigned firing toward the goalpost, getting Dave to react before returning the ball to Frank who quickly slotted it into the goalpost while Dave was still on the other side.
The midfielder got pushed down by a rushing Roland at that moment but he quickly got up on his feet afterward and took off toward the sidelines screaming at the top of his voice.
"A wonderful combination from the striker and midfielder to make sure that ball got in, there was absolutely nothing Dave could do about that."
The away fans were screaming and jubilating now as Dave crashed down inside his goalpost with a heavy sigh.
'That was dirty.'
<Looks like they understand the level of danger you pose to them. But it's not like they're going to get a chance to do that again>
'I hope not.'
"With the break fast approaching, Dynamo FC have taken the lead, after taking advantage of a failed strike from the home team to start a counterattack." Jim articulated.
"Mateo must be thinking that he should have put that away now."
The midfielder was standing near the center of the pitch at the moment with his hands on his waist and his gaze on the floor, a heavy feeling consuming his heart.