Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 96

< 095 – The Difference of a Number 9 >

Should I call it a bullet, or a cannonball?

It was too heavy to be a bullet and too fast to be a cannonball.

Johan’s first shot, a mid-range shot, tore through Manchester City’s net as if to rip it apart.

If Rishard greeted with a light dribble, Johan’s greeting was this:

A powerful shot from the start.

From the moment he entered the stadium—no, from last night.

No.

From the moment the league championship was confirmed.

For the first time, Johan looked forward to game day.

Because he wanted to vent his anger quickly.

So, there was no need to measure.

The time from the first touch to the first shot was only about 10 seconds.

Even counting from the start of the first half, it was 5 minutes.

“What, what is that?”

“Did they score already?”

“Hey, aren’t you going to block? What are you doing?”

The Manchester City stands, which had been laughing and chatting just a few seconds ago, fell silent.

Everyone had a bewildered expression.

It was unexpected.

No, everyone knew better than anyone that Johan Van was a crazy monster striker.

But it’s his first final.

This was his first experience playing a single game for the championship trophy.

The atmosphere of the final is a different kind of pressure than a league game.

Even the spectators watching were nervous.

But, to be able to take a shot like that at the start?

The most powerful shot he’s ever seen?

Manchester City fans could only close their mouths with a hollow expression.

“Uwaaaaaa!”

“Ro, Rohan! Catch Dad!”

“Uwaaaaaa!”

“Aish, these guys!”

Conversely, the West Ham stands were naturally in chaos.

Seok-ho Ban and Rohan were losing their minds and cheering, and only Kim Ra-hee between them looked embarrassed.

Simply, it was a natural scene for Kim Ra-hee, who believed that her son was the best in the world, but an unbelievable scene for the two of them.

It wasn’t that Johan scored in the final that was surprising, but the quality of the shot was surprising.

“Crazy! What did I just see! How can you shove it into that course at that speed!”

“It was a knuckleball! There was no spin!”

It was a shot too fast to follow with the eyes, but Rohan saw it clearly.

That there was no spin on the ball.

How can you take such a shot while running, not even standing still?

Anyone who has played soccer even a little would be shocked.

That is to say.

The Manchester City players couldn’t help but be shocked by that goal.

“…”

While everyone was dumbfounded, Samir Rishard stared at Johan silently.

It wasn’t the first time he’d met him.

They had met once in the league.

He remembered being quite impressed back then.

He thought it would be fun to play with that guy.

‘Hmm.’

But now wasn’t the time to just be impressed.

His expression.

It was very different from then.

*

The game resumes with Manchester City’s kickoff.

A goal conceded fairly early.

It was a time when a team like Manchester City wouldn’t care.

It wasn’t that there hadn’t been such an accident during the long league race.

The experience of conceding a goal at the start.

When such an accident happened, Manchester City always pushed so hard that the opponent regretted scoring.

Taking twice as much as they received.

However, after the game resumed, Manchester City simply passed the ball slowly as if nothing had happened.

That was partly because there was still a long time left, but also because they were afraid.

The fear that they shouldn’t give West Ham the right to attack even once today.

They just conceded a goal like that, so how could they not care?

Johan, his condition didn’t seem normal today.

The Manchester City stands were getting cold as they watched Manchester City circling around the outside.

On the other hand, the West Ham stands were in full swing.

“Come on in! Come on in!”

“Don’t gamble unless you’re sure!”

“Their specialty is out! Caressing soccer!” [A style of play focused on short, controlled passes.]

West Ham was mocking Manchester City, who couldn’t easily come in, by raising their voices.

Clearly, Manchester City was holding the ball, but it seemed like West Ham had taken the atmosphere.

“Hey, here.”

Anyway, just because they’re afraid of giving up the right to attack doesn’t mean they can’t attack forever.

Eventually, Rishard stepped up.

Rishard, who went down to the half-line to catch the ball, started looking for a way forward.

His intention was to build up from here.

As I said, Rishard’s range of activity is wide.

It’s not easy to deal with him starting to dribble down here like this.

Because if you move in a wide area rather than a narrow area, the concept of marking is likely to be disrupted.

‘It’s probably the right again.’

Rishard slowly dribbled the ball and started setting his course.

Johan was standing in front of him, but he didn’t care.

Rishard also knew that he wasn’t the type to defend.

So, he was going to pass him by as he was.

But,

Tatatat-!

‘Huh?’

Rishard was embarrassed by the unexpected pressure.

Because Johan, who didn’t budge even when he passed right in front of him, started running towards him.

It wasn’t just Rishard who was embarrassed.

Even the West Ham players were embarrassed.

“Hey, kid… ?”

“What, what is he doing?”

The players doubted their eyes as they watched Johan sticking to Rishard.

In an instant, they came to their senses.

Once again, they realize what kind of game today is.

They gave Manchester City the achievement of their first league championship.

Today is a good opportunity to avenge that regret.

It’s an opportunity worth risking your life for.

Johan is showing that with his body.

By defending, which he would never do normally.

Then, the older brothers can’t just stand still.

“Line up, line!”

“Distance! Don’t fall apart! Don’t give up the middle no matter what!”

West Ham exchanged loud calls and prepared for defense.

That appearance looked quite solid.

Johan’s pressure had a great awakening effect, but it didn’t really seem effective.

To be honest, Johan’s defensive skills were terrible.

It was impossible to steal the ball from Rishard with just willpower.

However, that amateurish pressure, pushing with his strong physique, was making Rishard embarrassed.

“Bleep-!”

Rishard was pushed over by Johan’s physical pressure, and the referee’s whistle blew.

“Why?”

Johan looked at the referee with a bewildered look.

As if to say, it wasn’t like he was deliberately pushing him, he just fell over on his own while competing, so why is it a foul.

But Johan didn’t seem to know that even if he just bumped into him slightly, it would be like a traffic accident for the other person.

‘What power…’

Rishard put the ball on the ground, sticking out his tongue.

Just because Rishard has a lot of injuries doesn’t mean he’s a weak player in physical fights.

Rather, he has a low center of gravity and a solid core, so he doesn’t fall easily.

However, even for such a Rishard, Johan’s physique was on a different level.

He is confident that he will not lose the ball.

If there is only a referee.

However, he didn’t want to mix bodies.

Today’s game is today’s game, but it’s the time before the Champions League final.

There was no need to take unnecessary risks.

Paah-!

The game resumes with a short pass.

Soon, Johan sticks to Rishard again.

Rishard kicked it long to the side to get away and started running away from Johan.

‘Aish.’

Johan sighed once and gave up after thinking about following him to the end.

This is the limit.

If he wanted to, he could blow it out of the touch line, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Anyway, as a result, Johan failed to steal the ball from Rishard.

It was enough to make Rishard deviate from the path he had originally intended.

And that was in line with the direction that coach Schmidt emphasized to the players the most today.

“Drive them to the side no matter what. Never give space in the center. Do you all know what I mean?”

It was Jamie the coach who usually conveyed coach Schmidt’s intentions, but today, coach Schmidt gave instructions directly to the players.

That gave the players the feeling that today’s game was that important,

And all the players put that instruction in their heads as a top priority.

Rishard easily broke through West Ham’s left line, Nathan and Petrovic, and broke through.

At first glance, Rishard’s appearance of breaking through so easily may make you think that West Ham’s side defense is too poor.

That’s not wrong.

But what is clear is that it is to some extent what West Ham intended.

Manchester City also knows that West Ham’s left is a weakness.

Then, it is natural that they will try to break through that side a lot.

Rather than blocking the breakthrough itself, they give it up to that point, but block the ball coming up to the center no matter what.

To make Manchester City’s attack spin around the periphery.

The fact that they gave Price a shot at the start of the game was a mistake due to being overwhelmed by the atmosphere of Wembley [A famous soccer stadium in London].

This time, West Ham was blocking all the routes that could lead to the center.

Manchester City, who had been doing well on the right, passed the ball back and switched directions to try to attack again.

And this time, they broke through the left well, but since there was no suitable opportunity in the center, they passed the ball back again.

Manchester City is only circling around West Ham’s box.

Manchester City was clearly the strongest team in the league.

Manchester City is the team closest to perfection among the current Premier League teams.

However, that doesn’t mean they don’t have any weaknesses.

Manchester City’s weakness is that they don’t have a fixed problem solver.

Manchester City doesn’t use a professional attacker, that is, a striker.

Commonly referred to as a traditional number 9 [Referring to the jersey number typically worn by strikers].

Of course, Manchester City’s scoring ability is better than teams with top-notch number 9s.

Rishard is natural, and wingers like Araujo and midfielders like Jack Price also have scoring abilities that are no less than those of ordinary attackers.

In addition, coach Ernesto’s attacking tactics are also the most cutting-edge in Europe, so Manchester City has won the most goals in the league even without a professional attacker.

Rather, the scoring sources are diverse, so it is even difficult from a defensive standpoint.

But that’s the story when things are going well.

When things don’t go well, Manchester City plays really frustrating games.

They prefer to create things in a delicate way rather than stabbing directly, and since there is no professional attacker to rub in the box.

There were rare cases where they ended up just scratching the surface without substance.

Just like now.

Today, West Ham’s central defense was quite solid, and because of the thought that it could be dangerous because of Johan if they didn’t make it perfect.

A more frustrating flow was continuing.

“…”

Manchester City’s coach Jose Ernesto watched the game with a stern expression.

That’s why, that’s why coach Ernesto thought of Johan as soon as he saw that player as the ‘completion’ of the current Manchester City.

If such a perfect striker was in the box, there would be no need to go around and around.

Damn it.

It’s frustrating.

It’s really frustrating.

It wasn’t just coach Ernesto who felt that frustration.