Chapter 335 – Lots of Food (1)
335
I was worried throughout the game.
That the tempo is too fast.
It is an obvious fact that rapid acceleration and deceleration puts more strain on the body than running at a constant speed. If there is a rough competition and frequent change of direction, the consumption of stamina increases exponentially.
That’s why even if it’s intense when it’s intense, it’s soccer that needs to be controlled when it’s controlled, but Jorge can’t slow down the tempo because he’s going crazy.
In such a tight game, the moment one side loses momentum, the victory is on the rise.
Even if you know it’s impossible, if you get one goal, you run with a clenched fist to make up for one goal somehow so that you don’t lose momentum. But maybe it’s the same for the opponent, after scoring an equalizer, the other side gritted their teeth and ran, so I couldn’t help but follow this again.
As a result of frantic beating throughout the first half, replacement cards began to appear from the beginning of the second half.
And before the 20th minute of the second half, not only our team but also Spain made the decision to put in all replacement cards.
That’s exactly what I thought, but… The problem is that everyone seems to be exhausted before losing momentum.
“Heh, heh… Fuck Jonah is really hard. My heart will burst.”
“Hee, hee, hee, don’t tell me. Heck, breath, breath, I’m dying.”
“Why is this bastard breathing so dirty? Oh, shit in your pants.”
“Now. Let’s move to block the corner kick.”
The fighting spirit to block Spain’s attack even while getting tired and close to exhaustion… No, if you look closely, the tiredness is the same as that one.
But that can’t undermine the mentality of the national team players.
All Spanish players play in one of the top leagues in the world. On the other hand, since our players are young or some of them play in Asian leagues, it must have been more difficult to keep up with the tempo. Especially mentally.
‘For a moment. When your mental power runs out, your concentration starts to drop, and then you make a lot of mistakes—’
Spain’s corner kick situation.
Whether in Korea or Spain, while I was exhausted and took my place in the penalty box, I was standing outside the penalty box in preparation for a counterattack as usual.
“Concentrate until the end! Focus, focus!”
And again— the number of injuries soaring—?
That’s right, wounded! I don’t even have a replacement card, so watch out for injuries—
The moment you try to open your mouth again belatedly, the players rise all at once toward the high-flying ball.
Two players, staring at the ball with slow vision for an instant, jumped in and—
Thud!!
Beep, Beep-!!
“Fuck! Medical team! Hey, come in quickly!!”
“Shit!! Stretchers!! Stretcher!!”
While the game was temporarily suspended due to injury, the coach called some players together.
“John! Gather them!”
Goalkeeper is a special position.
Field players also have different required capabilities depending on their location, but goalkeepers are far worse than that. First of all, it’s the only position in football where you use your hands.
If there was a replacement card, it would of course be replaced with the second goalkeeper, but the replacement card ran out.
When this happens—
“Goalkeeper gloves. Who will wear it?”
Inevitably, one of the field players has to put on the goalkeeper’s gloves instead.
Why? Otherwise, we would have to play the game without a goalkeeper, but as anyone would expect, without a goalkeeper, a goal would be scored just by hitting the shot.
No one dared to open their mouth to the director’s question.
If it’s just a league match… Or, if it was a normal A match, he would have substituted for the goalkeeper. But now the stage is the World Cup. That’s World Cup quarterfinals.
This is already the third time that South Korea has reached the semifinals, but the last two times they had to kneel in the semifinals.
And now. The chances of advancing to the finals have never been as high as now, when we reached the semifinals for the third time, so what if we go in as a pinch hitter and make a mistake? In a situation where national expectations are higher than ever, where they can reach the World Cup finals for the first time in history, isn’t it a situation where they can be blamed for ruining the game?
Everyone knows that pressure, that pressure, no one can readily raise their hand—
“I will do it.”
“Mmm, what? You?”
“Hey! If you see the keeper, who will attack!!”
“Hold this bastard. Put down your gloves when you say respect.”
I’m different.
“I will do it. I have a lot of kkabang tickets, so it’s okay to make mistakes.”
Burden? Feeling of pressure?
No way.
Who brought Korea to this place?
How active have I been?
Even if I make a mistake and get frustrated in reaching the finals, who can criticize me?
… Of course, being a netizen isn’t that rational, so there will be all sorts of swear words, but so what? Although he is a superstar with few antis, it is impossible not to have none at all. And if you’re a superstar, the number of enemies is staggering.
Swear all you want on the internet.
I know him well because I once watched a national team game and became a keyboard warrior. I will praise you again for doing well. That’s why I don’t get hurt as much by malicious comments on the Internet.
Because you are confident
Furthermore-
“And above all… Everyone knows my goalkeeper skills.”
“… Ah. That’s right.”
“This bastard keeper is good too.”
“Uh? For a moment… Could this be surprisingly good?”
Surprisingly, I’m also a really good goalkeeper.
* * *
People are not as rational as you think. It’s not as rational as I thought.
If people are the incarnation of rationality and rationality, there will be no one who doesn’t study hard, no one who doesn’t exercise hard, and no one who doesn’t work hard.
It’s probably a very healthy and orderly society.
And filthy uninteresting.
Fortunately, however, people are creatures of emotion and instinct rather than reason and rationality, so the world will not be so boring. That’s why I’m going to have useless thoughts like this.
‘If you look at the stats, I think you’ll do well even if it’s not soccer… No, even if you’re not a striker, wouldn’t you be good at other positions?’
For now, defenders are excluded.
Because the defense stat is too low.
Midfielder… Not bad. As for the attacking midfielder, he is confident. He did well in practice as well.
After removing the defender and midfielder, the only remaining position is goalkeeper.
So I tried.
It wasn’t too much of a chore. In practice games, it is often the case that the field player is in charge of the goalkeeper and the goalkeeper is in charge of the field player.
“Hey~ Hong Min-joon, what is this bastard? What are your reflexes!”
“Wow, what kind of beast are you? Is it a wild animal? Crazy.”
“100 million… Is that crazy guy’s goal kick distance true?”
The result is what you think.
I’m short for a goalkeeper, but considering that there were some legendary goalkeepers in their 170s, it’s worth considering.
And now.
‘Tie situation… No matter how much I focus on attacking, the odds of winning are low considering Spain’s offensive power that Jorge is enduring. In Spain, there are many threatening players even without Raul, but we have a goalkeeper missing… Worst case scenario, when I score 1 goal, they can score 2 goals.’
I didn’t decide simply because I was a much better goalkeeper than any other field player, or because I was able to overcome the pressure of the World Cup final stage.
Of course, those were also important reasons, but this is the reason why I decided to wear goalkeeper gloves more than anything else.
Because I was certain, not certain, that if someone other than me had replaced the goalkeeper, he wouldn’t be able to win the game.
No matter how much I play, if I score 1 goal and the opponent scores 2 goals, there is no answer.
Since the field player is wearing goalkeeper gloves, the opponent will not spare his shot and will be hit with a bang, but can he really stop it? In a situation where you focus on attacking to keep up with the score?
If our team was a team with extreme defense, you would not have known, but Korea is a team with firepower, not defense.
Even now, both teams have scored 6 goals, but how many more goals will be scored if 10 people who are exhausted and lack of concentration play. And our team without a professional goalkeeper will score more goals.
In that case, I’d rather see the goalkeeper.
For now, the score is 3:3, so at least if we don’t score a goal, we won’t lose.
Why is there such a proverb?
Offensive creates fans, and defense creates victories.
The original text is the legendary college football coach Paul Bryant’s Offense sells tickets, defense calls championships Offense sells tickets, defense wins championship. Well, they mean something similar.
* * *
“Oh oh… ! Oh my god! Jim, what am I looking at!?”
“Holy Shh!! Holly, Holly Shh!!! I can’t believe it! I can’t believe my eyes!! Korea, is the choice right now? South Korean director Park Ki-young… I made a very, very big decision!!”
“This is crazy! It’s crazy!! Who is wearing goalkeeper gloves now, the Korean coach needs to realize that!!”
“Hong Min-joon… EPL’s best goal scorer, Ballon d’Or winner… Comes wearing goalkeeper gloves… !”
The game resumed with Hong Min-joon as goalkeeper.
In an absurd, unexpected situation, even the Spanish players made dumbfounded expressions and soon began to laugh.
‘Hong Min-joon? It’s fucking scary… But goalkeeper Hong Min-joon isn’t scary at all.’
‘Thank god. I thought I might lose because of that crazy guy…’
On the surface, he showed an arrogant attitude, saying, “How dare you rub the likes of Hong Min-jun on Jorge?”
What an excellent and threatening player Hong Min-joon is. He doesn’t know how many players he has bumped into in the game.
In fact, Hong Min-joon’s performance in today’s game was an overwhelming performance that made even the player who was proud of his skills go cold, and really reminded him of ‘defeat’… It’s different when it comes to goalkeepers.
No matter how good the goalkeeper is, he will dribble and score goals.
“Put it on your mind! When a chance opens up, don’t hesitate and connect it with a shot!”
At the coach’s cry, the Spanish players nodded their heads as if it were natural, and as soon as the game resumed, shots like fireworks broke out.
“Rodri, Rodri… As it is, shot teeing— well kicked— uh, uh!?”
A stunning mid-range shot headed for goal, but—
Tup!
The thick goalkeeper gloves jumped up and caught the ball effortlessly.
“… To?”