The Rise of the Iron Wall!

"Yes! Good job, Mamoru!"

"Come on! Keep pressuring them like that!"

All the Japan players on the front line came and helped Mamoru get up immediately, patting the boy’s back with great enthusiasm. Even though it was just a free kick, the distance and the angle were perfect, and they had so many good executioners in the team. This was basically a penalty for some players there, and that was why the enthusiasm was great.

The Senegalese team also realized that Japan should be confident in this, and they couldn’t help but feel so grim about it. The one who fouled Mamoru earlier was so helpless, as he felt like his touch was so light. Unfortunately, the referee today was in great condition, always appearing right in front of the incident.

Not only did he get caught off-handedly, but the referee also punished him with a yellow card. As a cherry on top, the foul happened straight in front of the box, which would give the goalkeeper a headache. Honestly, this was the worst-case scenario for the whole team.

"Sorry, Brother, I didn’t mean to do that..." He tried to apologize.

"This is not the time to care about that! Come on, join the wall!" The other guy urged him to form a tighter wall. "You can apologize later once we repel this attack! For now, focus!"

On the other side of the free kick, two players had already stood in front of the ball. It was none other than Morita and Mamoru, the two best free kick takers in the team. They had the delicate touch to aim for any place they wanted with decent power as well, so this chance was a perfect scenario for them.

Looking at the wall in front of him, Mamoru’s eyes suddenly lit up for a moment before he whispered at the boy next to him, "Morita-san, can I take this free kick?"

Morita raised one of his eyebrows slightly. Normally, as the main taker, he would be the one who executed this. However, since Mamoru was the one who earned this free kick, the boy didn’t mind giving the right to this. "Sure, what do you need me to do? Acting as a deception?" Asked the older boy.

"No, don’t worry, Senpai, I have an idea here."

Seeing the confidence radiating in the younger boy, Morita just shrugged, stepping back a little to give him room. Of course, Morita still stayed within the vicinity, having both his hands on his hips while looking at the goal as if he was going to take it by himself. It was always important to do this, making sure that the opponent didn’t have any idea of who would take it until the last second.

FWEEE!

The moment the referee blew the whistle, the wall in front of the goal tensed immediately, wondering who was going to take it. Morita himself just stood silently as if he was a statue, while Mamoru started running toward the ball. He was eyeing the space above the wall, giving the impression that he was trying to go there.

"FOLLOW MY LEAD! ONE! TWO! JUMP!"

The five players acting as the wall jumped together, some even closing their eyes in fear that they would get smacked in the face. However, the high, curling ball that they were waiting for didn’t come. No, if anything...

Thud!

Mamoru used his eyes as a deception before aiming low, wanting to take advantage of the players’ jumping timing to go below the feet. This caught everyone off guard, and since the referee couldn’t see where the ball was sent to, he just froze on the spot before the ball rolled quietly to the back of the net.

It was a simple yet exquisite execution from Mamoru, one that tied the current score for this game.

"OH! What a strike!"

"Goddamnit, Mamoru! What the hell is going on there?!"

"Hahaha! It is a draw again! Come on!"

All the players from Team Japan laughed as they celebrated the goal, with the main protagonist himself, Mamoru, running to the bench at high speed to hug his club’s captain, Miki Yamane. After being the team’s super sub from the very first day, this was his first ever goal in this tournament, and the boy wanted to share this joy with his senpai.

The same, though, couldn’t be said for the Senegalese team. The atmosphere on their side was so grim, and while no one pointed fingers at each other, some of the people there still received quite a nasty glare. Meanwhile, the goalkeeper was so helpless, not expecting to get humiliated like this.

"Okay, enough of this shit! This is not the time to blame each other for this goal!" Their captain finally stepped up, becoming the one who broke the tense silence here. "30 minutes to go, so we still have a chance here! We scored two in the first half; I refuse to believe that we cannot do the same right now! Come on! The real game has just started!"

Team Japan also recognized this. After their celebration, Kageyama-sensei gathered some of the players on the sideline quickly.

"Listen quickly. We have learned a big lesson in the first half, of how the opponent started exerting the power the moment we slow down the tempo. So, we cannot repeat that." The man said seriously. "Morita, Saito, stabilize the rhythm, but keep the offensive intensity the same. If anything, be bolder. Make sure that they know we will hit them harder if they are pushing too much!"

"Yes, Sir!" Those two nodded immediately.

"Also, front line, don’t lower your intensity. We are not backing down after this." Kageyama-sensei’s tone was solemn. "They might think that we are content with this result and try to control the game first, but we are going all out! Let’s try to get the third goal and seal the deal today!"

This time, the speech managed to get everyone on fire, as all the players around nodded at the same time. "YES, SENSEI!"