My Goalkeeping System

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"And that marks the end of the first half," Jim said as soon as the referee blew his whistle twice to signal the end of the first half.

"Unique FC would have been happy to go in on the break with that lead but Frono FC kept pushing and at last they finally got that equalizer," Steve said.

"Yeah, although Unique FC have had more of the ball, Frono FC have been the more pressing side, they didn't give the guests any breathing space and their efforts paid off at last although it may have come from a mistake."

Unique FC players didn't look happy about that equalizer as they made their way down the tunnel.

The players were all sitting on the benches in the locker room while Norman was standing in front of the board with a marker in his hand.

[ Quest failed ]

[ Darwin Shaw has scored against you ]

Dave has been staring at that message since it appeared on his screen.

Felix Nunez was a way more formidable striker than Darwin Shaw, Darwin Shaw only had eleven goals this season including the one he just scored.

He denied Felix Nunez from scoring against him in every way possible but it had only been the first half and Darwin Shaw had already scored against him.

<It's not your fault> Catherine said. <It was a deflection, there was nothing you could do about it>

'I know, I'm just a little upset that he's going to brag about how he managed to keep his word of scoring against me after the match.'

<Don't worry about that all you have to do is try your best to prevent them from scoring in the second half>

"We've been doing great but we need to find a way to stop a way to close the gaps in the defense," Norman said, circling all the spaces in their defense. "And also find a way to stop Rodriguez Seth, he's our main problem."

After taking the players through on the tactics and the ways they could stop Seth, it was now time for them to make their way back to the pitch.

"The players are emerging from the tunnel now as the second half of the match is about to kick off," Jim said as the players made their way into the pitch.

"Although Unique FC have had the most ball possession in the first half their defense has been quite lackluster in defending against Frono FC's attacks and their frontline still has that problem of finishing, so far I think Frono FC has been the better side," Steve said.

"I agree but let's see how this half is going to turn out and see which side is going to go for the winner," Jim said.

The referee blew his whistle for Unique FC to start the match from the kick-off.

They kept the ball away from Frono FC players for the first five minutes without really making any attacking moves.

"Minino," Jim said as Harry crossed the ball over to Minino on the other side.

Ahmed was quickly making his way toward the midfielder at that time so he quickly passed the ball to Edward who also had a player heading toward him at that time.

He had space to pass the ball back to any of the defenders but he had a better idea.

He held the ball and waited for the player to get closer before he quickly turned and got away from him heading down the middle at full speed.

"Nice turn from Edward and he's on the way," Jim said.

The midfielder raced down the middle with the ball, he got away from two more players with a combination of his pace and neat footwork before passing the ball to Harry on the right wing.

"That was nice from Edward."

Harry received the ball with a neat touch and pushed forward with it a little before passing it to Fredinho who was occupying the left-wing position now.

The striker tried to dribble his way past both of the players who were marking him and he had almost lost the ball in the process so he had no other choice than to pass it to Edward who quickly sent it to Ferran with a back heel pass.

"Ferran."

Ferran feigned shooting at the player in front of him to shift the ball a little to the side to find space for shooting but before he could fire the ball toward the goalpost, Darwin appeared from nowhere and pulled him down under a nasty challenge.

It was more of an intentional push than a tackle.

"Oh, that was rough," Steve said.

The referee blew his whistle and quickly rushed to Darwin to show him a yellow card.

"That's well deserved."

"Darwin Shaw has just picked up his fifth yellow card which means that he will be missing Frono FC's last match of the season," Jim said.

The push didn't really affect Ferran in any way, the midfielder had gotten up from the floor as soon as the referee blew his whistle and stopped From FC from moving forward with the ball.

"Unique FC now have a freekick at the edge of the box, this is a massive opportunity for them," Jim said.

Ferran stood over the ball to take the freekick as the referee marked a line inside the box for Frono FC to keep their five-men wall.

After watching them set up their wall and making sure nothing suspicious was going on in the box, the referee jogged out of the box before blowing his whistle.

"Come on Ferran, you can do it," Mateo muttered from where he was sitting with his fingers crossed.

"Ferran Phil has successfully converted five out of the seventeenth freekicks he's taken this season, let's see if he can add another one to the list," Jim said.

Ferran took a deep breath before slowly taking two steps back.

"It's Ferran!" Jim exclaimed as the midfielder quickly closed up on the ball and quickly sent it flying toward the goalpost with his right foot.

The goalkeeper dived toward the ball as it flew toward the top right corner of the goalpost but there really was no reason to dive as the ball hit the crossbar and fell over for a goal kick.

"Oh, he's missed it, he's missed it."

Ferran had both of his hands on his waist as he stared at the goalpost for a while before letting out a deep sigh.

"That was a really good chance to take the lead once again but it looks like it wasn't meant to be," Steve said.

The match had just entered the sixtieth minute and so far Unique FC have been keeping Frono FC at bay.

The closest the hosts had come to scoring was a shot from Seth which hit the crossbar and rolled out for a goal kick.

"Oh, that was so close."

The game was quickly resumed by Dave who didn't waste any time in passing the ball to Roland.

Roland pushed the ball forward a little before he decided to switch to the other side of the pitch.

He flew the ball over to Minino but the midfielder wasn't alone as Ahmed quickly made his way to the area and engaged him in an aerial duel.

Ahmed had won the aerial duel but it resulted in Minino falling on the floor and it didn't look like he was getting up.

There were calls for a foul from his teammate but the referee acted like he wasn't hearing them and continued play.

"Minino's on the floor but play continues," Jim said.

Ahmed pushed the ball forward a little before passing it to Darwin who didn't waste any time in sending it to Seth.

Seth maneuvered his way past Roland with the ball and was through on goal.

"Oh, Seth and he's through on goal," Jim said.

Roland had acted on Instinct and grabbed Seth on his arm before pulling him down along with him before the right winger got further away from him.

The referee was close to the area and had clearly seen that so he didn't waste any time in blowing his whistle for a foul.

"He's been pulled down in the box and it's a foul, it's a penalty," Jim said.

Unique FC players clustered around the referee to try and convince him to overturn that decision.

"You can go check VAR, that's not a foul," Adolf said.

The referee wasn't listening to what they were saying as he quickly broke free from them before blowing his whistle and pointing at the penalty spot.

"It's a penalty," Jim said.

"Roland grabbed him and pulled him down without making physical contact with the ball so that's definitely the right call."

The ball had been dropped on the penalty spot and after a little talk between Darwin and Seth, Darwin stepped up to take the penalty kick.

"Darwin Shaw has stepped up to take the penalty kick," Jim said. "He's converted all of the seven penalty kicks he's taken this season, let's see if he can add this one to the list."

'Come on Dave, you stopped Felix's penalty kick, you can stop this one.' Dave thought to himself.

The referee made sure all the players were standing behind Darwin before he blew his whistle.

"That's the whistle, this is a massive chance for Frono FC to take the lead," Jim said as Darwin stared at the ball for a while before taking three steps backward.

***

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I'll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.