Chapter 230 Emerged Victorious
"Michael!" Jim exclaimed as Michael sent the ball flying toward the top left-hand corner of the goalpost with a powerful shot.
Dave quickly dived toward the ball just in time and with both of his hands, he was able to push the ball over the bar.
"Another marvelous save from Dave," Steve said. "He\'s doing everything possible to make sure his team stays on top."
"Yeah, Unique FC have to reinforce their defense because it looks like Wolfsburg just unlocked it," Jim said.
Michael quickly made his way to the left corner kick spot where the ball had already been dropped for him.
"It\'s a corner kick, could be a chance for Wolfsburg to finally get that equalizer," Jim commented.
<You\'re already one goal down, Dave, remember you cannot concede any more goals in this match or else you\'ll have to completely avoid scoring in the next match which I believe will be a lot more difficult>
\'I know, I\'m not going to concede any more goals, coach will bring me off soon anyway.\'
The box was filled with Unique FC and Wolfsburg players, they were only two goals in situations like this and it was to either get the ball out of the box for the defending team or get the ball into the box by all means possible for the attacking team.
Michael had already taken two steps backward before the referee blew his whistle, and as soon as he heard the sound of the whistle, he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying into the box near the goalpost to enable any of his teammates who would be able to get to the ball to finish easier but that didn\'t go exactly as planned.
Seeing that the ball was sent flying closer to him, the goalkeeper quickly jumped up before the other players could react and caught the ball with both of his gloves.
"Dave\'s stepped up to grab the ball and prevent whatever could have happened inside of his box, that\'s a nice precaution," Jim said.
The goalkeeper wanted to quickly start a counterattack but none of his teammates were in a really good position and the only person that was close to being in a good position was Minino.
Minino wasn\'t in a tight position like the other players but there was a player just a few distances in front of him but Dave believed that he would be able to get past the player so he quickly sent the ball flying toward him.
"He\'s sending the ball out quickly, trying to start a counterattack but I don\'t think it will work."
The defender quickly headed toward Minino as soon as he saw the ball flying toward him, the two got engaged in an aerial duel and the defender ended up winning the duel but he sent the ball flying past the sidelines in the process and that meant that Unique FC had won a throw.
"Nice defending, didn\'t even give him a chance," Steve said.
Now that the ball was out of play, it was time for Norman to make his final changes in the game, Wolfsburg\'s manager was also going to make some changes.
\'Looks like it\'s finally time for me to go rest and enjoy the rest of the match from the bench.\' The goalkeeper said subconsciously as soon as he saw the official raise the board.
<Yeah, as if you need any rest>
[ 69% stamina remaining ]
[ 89/127 Energy ]
\'I don\'t really need it but it\'s necessary.\' The goalkeeper replied. \'And it looks like I\'m the first person to come off.\'
The board had the number one displayed in red and the number thirty-two displayed in green.
The fans gave the goalkeeper an ovation as he made left the pitch and he couldn\'t help but smile.
"Go do your best, don\'t let me in." He said before giving the young goalkeeper a hug.
"I\'ll try my best," Alexander said before quickly making his way into the pitch.
He shook hands with Norman who also patted him on the back before making his way to the bench where a few of his teammates were sitting.
Fred was pulled off and replaced by Gregory, Minino was replaced by Frankie and Luis Roberto was replaced by Norman Kole.
Apart from substituting Dave, the change that was going to affect them mostly was pulling out Minino and Norman knew that but he no longer needed anybody to run the game, make interceptions and killer passes, what he needed now was someone to help strengthen the defense for the final moments of the game and Frankie happened to be the right person, Frankie wasn\'t naturally a defensive midfielder but Norman had to use him as one at this moment, he switched his formation from four-three-three B to four-three-three C which meant that he had two defensive midfielders now just like his opponent Wolfsburg.
Unique FC wanted to defend their lead and see the match through to the end and Norman had just implemented the right tactics to make that happen.
Their defense was quickly reinforced and all those spaces that Wolfsburg attackers had discovered had been closed and which forced the German side to start shooting more often from outside the box.
Most of them were low shots that got blocked, two of the shots from Kendra were quite tricky but Alexander managed to save them because they went straight to him, the deflected ones were also easy to save although one had almost gone in but he managed to stop it on the goal line.
The few that were sent toward the goalpost with high or low elevation went wide and over the bar mostly but there was one that was really close to going in.
Michael broke loose from the middle of the pitch with the ball and as soon as he was as close as he wanted to be, he sent the ball flying toward the goalpost, he was thirty yards away from the goalpost.
"Michael!"
The ball was sent flying toward the top right-hand side of the goalpost with a powerful shot.
Alexander dived toward the ball but instead of using both hands to take care of it, he dived toward it with his right hand in the direction of the ball.
He got the tip of his glove on the ball but that wasn\'t enough to completely keep out the ball as the ball ended up hitting the post before bouncing close to the goal line.
The ball was about to fly into the goalpost when Pirlo quickly closed up on it, he fell in the process but he managed to send the ball far away from the goalpost with an overhead kick.
"That was a very hectic moment there but it looks like they got rid of it," Steve commented.
"That was a wonderful strike from Michael but it looks like Unique FC\'s young back goalkeeper Alexander is no joke either," Jim said. "He couldn\'t get a proper touch on it but Pirlo was there to clear and with that effort, they\'re still leading the match."
\'That was a close one.\' Dave said subconsciously before breathing a sigh of relief.
Wolfsburg totally lost their control over the match after their coach pulled out both Michael and Kendra, their attacks slowed down and Unique FC slowly began to regain control over the match.
In due time, the German side realized that there was nothing they could do anymore and that was after the match hit the ninetieth minute and the official with the board raised his board to show that there was only going to be three minutes of added time.
In the second minute of that added time, Unique FC won a free kick in a pretty good spot after Mateo was brought down close to the left edge of the box.
"Just one minute of added time left and Unique FC have won a free kick in a pretty good position," Jim said. "Will they be able to end the match with a two-goal cushion?"
Mateo was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee\'s whistle, and as soon as he heard it, he slowly took two steps backward.
\'He\'s not good with aerial balls.\' He said subconsciously before quickly closing up on the ball.
He floated the ball over the wall to try and get a perfect curve on the top right-hand side of the goalpost but the ball ended up flying over the bar while the goalkeeper was glued to a spot, it was pretty close to going in though.
"Oh, that was very close to going in," Steve said.
"Yeah, so close and the goalkeeper was pinned to the center of his goal line, there was nothing he would have been able to do about it," Jim said.
As soon as that ball went over the bar, the referee blew his whistle thrice to bring the match to a conclusion.
"It was a pretty tough match but there\'s the final whistle and surprisingly, the Bilbeth Premier League side emerged victorious."
*****
Mass release goals.
A magic castle= one extra chapter.
Two magic castles= two extra chapters.
Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.