My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong As Expected

Page 608

Gifu simply stayed in front of the goal, defending against Chiba's attacks. It seemed they were looking to launch a counter-attack, but after gaining possession, their movements were surprisingly sluggish.

The game was deadlocked, but even in kendo, a deadlocked football match is not interesting at all.

Before the match began, Hayama's words, "a football that doesn't look like football," unfolded before my eyes, making me smile wryly.

Totsuka, who had initially cheered "Wow!" and "Charge! Charge!", stopped talking as the game progressed, and eventually even started looking at the fans cheering in the stands behind him instead of watching the game.

"The fans were really dedicated. Both sides were shouting non-stop... Amazing!"

Totsuka is right, the volume of support is very strong.

The atmosphere in the stadium was fantastic. It had the energy of a concert.

But this only made the game seem more stagnant. Both teams kept passing the ball back and attacked the goal area, but neither was willing to shoot.

The seemingly friendly spectators around them began to lose patience after thirty minutes. The cheers gradually faded, and angry shouts and boos rose up.

"What the hell?!"

"How can you win if you don't shoot?!"

As the whistle blew to end the first half, angry shouts from the audience rained down on the departing players like autumn rain.

"...What are your thoughts after watching the first half?"

After the whistle blew to end the first half, Ye Shan forced out these words after a while.

The substitute players appeared on the field, practicing for the second half of the game.

"Um……"

Totsuka pondered how to answer Hayama's question. This reaction itself was the answer.

I spoke my mind directly.

"Honestly, it's boring."

"Hachiman..."

Totsuka was at a loss. More than the match, I wanted to keep watching Totsuka. That truly reflected my feelings. Totsuka's bewildered expression was amazing.

"I don't really like watching sports and complaining. Try harder? The athletes are definitely trying harder than the spectators. Show me your emotions? If you want to see sports that show emotion, go watch figure skating or rhythmic gymnastics. That's what I think."

After finishing my statement in one breath, I continued:

"But in the game just now, I couldn't see what either team was trying to do at all. That's not the performance of a salaried professional player. Am I wrong?"

"No. You're right."

I knew it was presumptuous of me to say such things while watching a free game, but Hayama sincerely accepted my words.

He must have more opinions than I do.

But this guy is still trying to speak up for the Chiba team.

"Chiba was under pressure to avoid losing to the last-placed team at home. So, in order not to waste their chances, they waited until the decisive moment to shoot. However, their hesitation cost them the opportunity to shoot."

"A vicious cycle..."

Totsuka looked very sad. Sad Totsuka was incredibly cute; seeing Totsuka like that was the only redeeming quality of the first half.

I'd be perfectly content with just this normally... but if possible, I'd also like to see Totsuka cheering for Chiba's victory.

"Hayama, how can we break this deadlock?"

"Replacing slow-moving players and addressing the formation itself is the fastest way."

"I see."

"Although the first half was boring, Chiba controlled the game. So it's hard to judge which part to make changes, and even whether it's appropriate to make substitutions or change formations at this time is a question. I don't know if the current coach is capable of making such judgments..."

Hayama's worst fears came true.

The first to act was the opponent, who realized they were at a disadvantage during the first half of the game.

"Hey, why did Gifu suddenly become so much more agile in the second half?"

"Hachiman is right! Why?!"

The moment the whistle blew to start the second half, Chiba faced a crisis.

Chiba was clearly slightly ahead in the first half...?

Hayama, who was sitting in his seat observing the crisis, gave the answer in a calm but confident tone.

"...It's about location."

“Huh?”

"Gifu changed tactics in the second half. Look, there were three men guarding the back line just now, now there are four, right?"

Now that he said that, it's true that Gifu's final defensive line consisted of four players lined up in a neat row, easily stealing the ball from Chiba's forwards.

Then, he decisively passed the stolen ball to the front line. The ball, which previously only moved laterally, now moved vertically.

"Would changing the defensive formation... enhance the offensive?"

"A football attack begins when the defending team takes the ball away. That's a common view."

"...I see. That's what 'defense is the first step in attack' means."

That's an interesting idea.

This explains why neither side had many shots on goal in the first half.

That was during a defensive maneuver within enemy territory.

Hearing Hayama's explanation, Totsuka lowered his brows in confusion and asked:

"But... what about Team Chiba?"

"It's hard to say."

Ye Shan crossed his arms and pondered.

"I don't know the best way. But, absolutely not—"

This moment.

A sharp, piercing whistle rang out.

"Oh no! I just said that...!"

Ye Shan lifted his buttocks off his seat and shouted loudly.

It seems that the Gifu forward seized the moment when the Chiba defense opened up, and when he reached the goal, a Chiba player collided with him.

"Huh? What happened? Huh...?"

Totsuka, whose attention was focused on talking to Hayama, seemed to have missed that moment and felt a little panicked.

"Huh? That's a foul, Chiba?"

"Hmm. Preventing a goal... Gifu's striker came to the goal unmarked, and that player interfered with him from behind. The referee will definitely issue a card. The question is, what color card?"

The stadium was completely silent, as if the commotion from just moments before had never happened.

However, the situation changed instantly when they saw the color of the sign the referee was holding up.

"Send a red card directly?!"

"What the hell is the presiding judge doing?! Doesn't he have eyes?!"

The spectators in the back stands, who had been sitting quietly watching the game, stood up at the same time and expressed their dissatisfaction with the referee by booing and whistling.

The Chiba team players surrounded the referee, protesting fiercely. Even the coach pointed at the red card the head referee was holding up and yelled at the assistant referee nearby. Even Tobe, who was supposed to be carrying the stretcher, shouted, "Hey! Seriously?!" and joined the coach in protesting the referee. You might get kicked out.

The presiding judge ignored the accusations and showed no sign of changing the verdict.

"Is there a problem with the referee?"

"...No. That was a just verdict."

Hayama's tone was frighteningly calm.

"That's something you absolutely shouldn't do... but it's necessary in that situation. Because if you don't, the opponent will definitely score."

"That's a terrible thing to say. Does it mean people should welcome rule-breaking?"

"That's football. Breaking the rules is part of the rules. I believe you understand, right?"

"..."

To be honest, my opinion of Hayama has completely changed today.

At the same time, my view of football has completely changed.

Because you have to break the rules only if you know them well... which is exactly what I've been doing all this time.

I had mixed feelings about this fact, while Totsuka, in contrast, was only concerned about Chiba's team.

"Hey! The referee raised a card! A red card! What's going to happen next?!"

"With one person leaving, Chiba will have to rely on ten people to continue the competition."

"Isn't that a huge disadvantage?!"

"Yeah. But this will finally make the competition more interesting, right?"

“Eh…?”

Totsuka was puzzled.

The true meaning of Hayama's words was quickly reflected on the court.

Observing the situation, I would describe the new offensive and defensive battle before me as follows.

"...I didn't expect the match to turn out so exciting!"

"With one less player, the entire Chiba team's mindset is unified on 'the situation is unfavorable to us.' Before, there were two conflicting thoughts: 'we have the upper hand' and 'the battle is evenly matched,' so there would always be a time lag when offense and defense were switched. But not now."

"So you're looking down on Gifu?"

"You really don't know how to choose your words."

Ye Shan smiled wryly and used this sentence to express his affirmation.

however--

"There are actually times when fewer players can make the game more favorable..."

"Isn't it interesting? Ten people with a unified mind are stronger than eleven people with a divided mind."

"Hmm...interesting."

No. I'm liking football more and more.

What was taking place on the green lawn was a large-scale experiment, similar to playing chess with humans.

That's right. Chess.

Since that's the case... the outcome of the battle is self-evident. Although Chiba seems to have temporarily gained the upper hand over his opponent—

"But...we can't win if we keep going like this."

"You always see through things in the shortest amount of time. That's right... you can't win like this."

Hearing what Hayama and I said, Totsuka looked surprised.

"Huh? Why?"

"A calm reflection reveals that Gifu has the advantage."

A simple calculation problem.

"Chiba became stronger by unifying its spirit. Why doesn't Gifu just unify its spirit too?"

"What should I do?"

"Just shout it out. Like that."

I pointed to the stadium.

The players wearing yellow captain badges on their arms shouted loudly from the back.

Gifu's formation, which had become disorganized due to excessive excitement, regrouped. Chiba's offensive immediately slowed down.

"Bi Penguin is right. Insufficient communication can be made up for in that way, but lost players cannot be replaced."