The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Soon enough, all the players from both teams were lining up, shaking hands with each other before starting the game. Higo walked straight behind the team’s captain, Omar Mascarell, and there, he could see the opposing players whom he had to face today.

’Yeah, fuck! They are so fucking tall and muscular! This means they are going to use the same exact strategy, relying on long passes, right? Oh, man... This will be an ugly game...’

For a second, Higo felt pity toward any people outside who decided to watch this game on TV. Even though the number wasn’t that much, they most likely wanted to watch a good game, and unfortunately, today was definitely not one of them.

Higo himself walked immediately to the northern part of the pitch. He knew that once Omar lost the coin toss, the Spaniard captain would pick this side to play for the first half. True enough, a few seconds later, the man came back to the team, shrugging helplessly while saying, "They got the ball."

Once again, Higo was so speechless at this predicament. For two years he had played football, and yet, somehow, his team’s captain had never won a coin toss even once. This was too bad to be brushed off as a coincidence.

’Oh, well, this is what I got in return for my clairvoyance ability, right?’ He twitched the corner of his lips helplessly.

In front of him, the defensive line was also getting ready. Timo Becker and Ozan Kabak were still communicating with each other, while Juan Miranda and Jean-Clair Todibo could be seen doing a little warm-up to loosen their muscles.

Still, overall, the loss of their two main players didn’t seem to bother Schalke at all right now. Oh, it would affect them in the middle of the game later, of course, but right now, at least, the players were quite calm, believing that it wasn’t really that big of a problem for them.

After waiting for a while, the referee was finally ready. The man stood at the center circle, watching two Union Berlin players standing in front of the ball while also glancing around for a moment to make sure everything was okay. Then, a moment later...

FWEEE!

The whistle was blown, starting the game between Union Berlin and Schalke 04!

Even though it was just a game between two middle-to-bottom-tier teams, those two didn’t treat it casually. No, the players—at least from Schalke’s side—charged forward without hesitation, led by Michael Gregoritsch, to put early pressure on the opponent’s side.

"Cali! Keep an eye on that number 30! Cut off the passing line there!"

"Beni! Nassim! Follow me! Let’s kill them quickly!"

"Weston, fullbacks! Get ready to support! Don’t let them slip away so easily!"

The command was sound and clear, showing that the Austrian striker knew what he was doing here. The rest of the players were taken aback for a moment since this was definitely not in Frohling’s playbook. However, they remembered clearly one thing that the head coach said about Gregoritsch before the game began.

"When it comes to defense as an offensive player, he is definitely the best among you guys, so you can trust him with that."

Just a short sentence, but at least it was enough to dispel the doubt lingering in their heart right now.

This move also caught Schalke off guard, as they all knew that Schalke had never done this before. At first, their players still tried to retain possession as long as possible, wanting to find a possible route to break through by taking advantage of the home team’s pressure that went too far right now.

Still, it was clear that their players weren’t built to play possession football.

Some of their players, like Keven Schlotterbeck and Robert Andrich, might still be able to get away from the pressure around them, but the others weren’t that good. In the end, rather than panicking under Schalke’s high press that kept getting closer to their penalty box, their goalkeeper, Rafal Gikiewicz, didn’t hesitate to kick the ball as far away as possible, clearing it from his own territory.

"YES! Come on! Nice press, Nassim!"

"This is our chance! Wingers, send the ball to me!"

It was clear that Michael Gregoritsch was the most excited player on the pitch right now. He kept moving around, and his mouth was also running loose, spouting so many instructions in a heartbeat. Honestly, it would be impressive if he didn’t collapse at the end of the first half.

Union Berlin players themselves didn’t really mind about this change of possession. Their best weapon was always counter and transitional attack, so they were so used to not having that much ball in the game, anyway.

No, rather than playing a possession game that could get them killed, it was better to set up a low-block defense to repel all the opponent’s attacks first before considering a quick counterattack when the chance arose.

In the end, it was Schalke who got the first big chance in this game.

It all came from the combination between Todibo and Nassim, and the Moroccan winger used his gravity that always managed to attract two or even three opponent players to let the fullback escape before he sent the ball further down the flank, forcing Todibo to penetrate through the opponent’s right side.

"OH! Come on, Todibo!"

"Easy there! You have time!"

True enough, the closest Union Berlin defender to him was still three steps in front, and this gap was enough to let the French defender glance for a second toward the box. With two tall strikers, of course, there was no need to complicate things.

As long as the ball could be delivered perfectly, it was bound to be a big chance for the team, so Todibo just lifted the ball high to the sky, letting Caligliuri and Gregoritsch fight for it.

However, right before those two could get in touch with the ball in the air, the Union Berlin goalkeeper had already made his move, and in the end...

BAM!

The closest one here was the goalkeeper’s two hands, snatching the ball away from the two dangerous strikers in front of him.