The Rise of the Iron Wall!

"Oh! Yes, Rafal! Well done!"

"Nice catch! Nice catch!"

All the Union Berlin players sighed in relief when they saw the goalkeeper on the ground, clutching the ball tightly as if he was afraid that it would run away from his hands. Even though the attack wasn’t that dangerous and they were confident that they could win the aerial contest against two of Schalke’s strikers, it was better for the goalkeeper to snatch it, playing everything safely here.

Meanwhile, both Caligliuri and Gregoritsch clicked their tongue in annoyance. The former turned to Todibo, who had just sent the cross, and shouted, "Good cross! Next time, send it a little bit closer to the penalty spot; I will still get it!" His tone was so confident that he didn’t even hide anything from the opponents around, revealing what kind of cross he wanted to receive.

Todibo was stunned for a second before, in the end, the French defender smiled lightly with a thumbs-up. "Don’t worry, Cali! This is just the beginning!" He shouted with his thick French accent before running back to his own territory again.

After this, Union Berlin didn’t launch a counterattack quickly. No, they still used the same approach as before, waiting patiently while also defending their area with high discipline, blocking off all the attacking routes toward their own goal.

Schalke also retained possession here, getting the ball quickly before starting to play around with it in the middle of the pitch.

From the data alone, this was basically a good thing, as the team had already gained 61 percent of the possession just in the 33rd minute. This showed how dominant Schalke’s midfielders were, controlling the whole game with ease.

Well... That was if people looked at the written data on paper.

IN reality, though, the possession itself was far from being high quality. After all, most of the time, the ball would only be sent back to the defender for them to reroute again, and the first moment Union Berlin tried to put pressure, they would just pass the ball back again.

Most of the time, the ball just moved around in the backline without anyone knowing how to send it to the top two on the front.It was clear at this point that Morita’s absence hurt the team the most, as they didn’t have any creative player who could break through the thick wall in front of them.

If anything, though, it was Union Berlin who finally launched a dangerous attack after a period of vacuum a moment ago.

This time, everything started from the left side, where Benito Raman and Juan Miranda’s combination failed there. They might be able to escape from the opponent’s defender, but their one-two pass got cut immediately in the midfield when the Belgian winger was trying to catch in, and then, without hesitation, Union Berlin’s captain, Christopher Trimmel, launched a quick long pass to make the striker run.

BAM!

"Oh, fuck!"

Ozan Kabak and Omar Mascarell shifted toward that side quickly, trying to put pressure shoulder to shoulder. Honestly, it was quite intimidating to be surrounded by two giants in front of him. However, Anthony Ujah was not a soft-hearted person; before he got completely trapped, the Nigerian striker sped up immediately, leaving those two in the dust.

In the end, the man won the sprint contest, and with one touch of his toe, Anthony Ujah managed to control the ball into his possession. It wasn’t a perfect touch, of course, as the ball bounced a little bit further than necessary.

Still, with Schalke’s defenders behind, his speed could still afford this little mistake, as he started to lean his body toward the goal and was ready to fool Higo between the posts.

Or... At least, that was what the Nigerian striker initially hoped.

However, right before he was about to swing his foot, someone suddenly appeared next to him, charging at him with a little pressure on his body. Poor man, he widened his eyes in shock, probably not believing what he was seeing right now.

’How the fuck is he already here?!’

The charge itself was not that hard. No, in fact, it was quite light, and in a normal situation, Anthony Ujah would never fall from this little contact. However, right now, he was about to shoot, so his center of mass was quite off. This was enough to shake his balance, and the next thing he knew...

BRUGH!

The man got thrown away like he was getting slammed by a truck, and the ball escaped from his possession to Higo, who ran forward to pick it up.

"Yes! Nice defense, Timo-san!" Higo grinned, high-fiving the center back who was the culprit of everything here with one hand while his other hand was still carrying the ball.

"Ahaha! That’s nothing!" Timo Becker smiled a little as if this play didn’t excite him at all. "It is you who told me what to do, so you deserve the credit here."

Indeed, it wasn’t like Timo Becker was being humble right now. No, his move was already according to Higo’s instruction, as he clearly remembered what the boy said during one of their little conversations since the game began.

"If an opportunity for the opponent arises, make sure you move two steps back, Timo-san. I don’t mind that we couldn’t get the opponent into our offside trap, but Oz-san is quite reckless as a defender. I need you to be ready to clean up his mess when something bad happens."

Although it was quite an insult toward the Turkish defender, Timo Becker couldn’t deny the truth behind Higo’s mockery, and this play basically proved that the goalkeeper was right in his judgement.

As for Anthony Ujah himself, the Nigerian striker got up immediately, shouting, "REF! Can you see him putting his body on me?! That should be a pen!"

The other Union Berlin players also complained, but unfortunately, the referee just shook his head firmly. It had nothing to do with him not wanting to deal with angry Frohling, of course. No, the man would never do something that would give the home team an advantage out of fear.

Never.

Still, the man looked at the linesman on the sideline who was definitely closer to the crime scene, and since his assistant shook his head, the decision stood.

"The contact is fair! On-site decision! Play on!"