Lazy Genius Striker [EN]: Chapter 156

< The Special Assistant >

“GOOOOALLLLLLLLLLL-!”

The stadium announcer’s booming shout echoed through London Stadium, and the roar of the crowd in response washed over the field.

“COME ON-!!!”

Capello sprinted along the goal line, arms outstretched, roaring with elation.

An even greater cheer erupted for Capello as his teammates, fists raised to the sky, rushed to mob him.

“Nice-!”

“Good job!”

The West Ham bench exploded in celebration, everyone jumping up and cheering.

A goal that came sooner than expected.

Even with Johan on the team, they hadn’t anticipated cracking Juventus’s defense so easily.

It was especially impressive that Capello finished Johan’s pass, rather than the other way around.

“Reminds me of my prime,” Kane said, a nostalgic expression on his face.

It was truly Johan’s perfect movement and pass that evoked memories of Kane in his glory days.

“···”

After celebrating for a long time in front of the roaring crowd, Capello walked over to Johan.

He extended his hand.

“Nice pass.”

“It was a good run.”

With Johan’s fantastic pass and Capello’s clinical finish, West Ham took a 1-0 lead.

*

“···.”

“···.”

Juventus seemed a little stunned by the unexpected goal.

In truth, the fact that Capello himself scored wasn’t the primary concern.

The significant point was that Johan had initiated the attack.

Receiving the ball deep in the midfield, drawing the defense’s attention, and then threading a pass into the space behind the defenders.

Johan’s play, resembling a second-line playmaker, caught Juventus completely off guard.

Juventus had thoroughly analyzed Johan from every angle.

Their performance analysts had even visited London Stadium to observe Johan firsthand.

Analyzing Johan’s heatmap [a visual representation of where a player spends most of their time on the field], revealed that over 95 percent of his touches occurred inside or near the penalty box.

This indicated that he wasn’t typically the type to receive the ball in deeper positions unless it was a counterattack.

But he had done just that.

Because they hadn’t anticipated it, their reaction was delayed, and they conceded a goal.

West Ham had clearly prepared a strategic surprise.

“What should we do?”

“Tch.”

Barzagli and Marchisio exchanged worried glances, searching for a solution.

They had already conceded a goal; there was no going back.

The crucial question was how to respond.

If Johan repeated the same move, how should they react?

Should they maintain their normal defensive positions?

Or should they track him relentlessly?

“···”

“···”

Barzagli and Marchisio struggled to find an answer, and before their impromptu strategy session concluded, the whistle blew to signal the restart of the game.

Even for these seasoned defenders, Johan presented a perplexing challenge.

*

“God of soccer! God Johan!”

“That was truly the mark of a soccer master!”

In the stands, which were buzzing with excitement, Rohan and Ban Seok-ho struggled to regain their composure.

It was a truly breathtaking goal.

The defense was blatantly focused on Johan.

They had been anticipating how Johan would unlock the early goal the team needed, but they hadn’t envisioned this approach.

“Johan would have excelled even as a midfielder.”

“He would have thrived anywhere. Defense, even goalkeeper.”

“Maybe he would have been the best goalkeeper ever.”

“Anyway, it was an amazing pass. This will really complicate things for the Juve guys.”

“It’s not just a simple goal; it’s a strategically significant one. Now, how are you going to respond? You Italian guys in prison uniforms [a playful jab at Juventus’s black and white striped jerseys].”

Finding an immediate solution wouldn’t be easy.

If Johan continued to make these ‘helper’ moves, how should they counter it?

Regardless of the Juventus defenders’ experience, making rapid adjustments during the game would be difficult.

At best, defensive tactics could be tweaked after the first half, during halftime, and in the second half.

So, the conclusion is clear.

Score as many goals as possible during the first half.

Of course, they would also need to maintain defensive focus.

If finding a clear defensive solution proved difficult, shifting the focus to attack was the natural course of action.

As expected, Juventus began to press forward aggressively after conceding a goal.

“Nice, good! Guimarães!”

“Nice defense!”

“Good concentration!”

Fortunately, the players’ concentration seemed to have sharpened.

This was the effect of the first goal.

With the goal created by Johan’s exquisite pass, all the West Ham players could feel it in their bones.

It’s the Champions League, it’s the round of 16 tournament, it’s Juventus, but it’s just another game.

It’s just another game they play every time.

They couldn’t help but feel confident.

Especially,

“Capello is on fire today.”

“He’s pumped after getting a taste of scoring.”

“Italiano genio! [Italian genius!] Capello!”

Capello’s movements became even more energetic.

Normally, Capello wasn’t a particularly noticeable player in defense.

He wasn’t the type to actively run around and defend.

But today was different.

As if there were two Berkleys [referring to another energetic player on the team], Capello was tirelessly running and contributing to the defense.

Again, the power of scoring seemed to be immense.

Capello, with his strong sense of pride, would have wanted to put on a good performance against Juventus.

That desire is amplified when he gains momentum.

“Good! Nice pressure!”

“Let’s go up! One more goal!”

After scoring the first goal, the atmosphere at West Ham was electric.

*

Juventus coach Mariano Benetta was biting his nails, deep in thought.

Now, 30 minutes into the first half.

The tactics he had implemented had backfired when they conceded the first goal.

He had devised a strategy to solely contain Johan, no matter what, but the player had still managed to create a goal.

It was a major headache.

All he could do was instruct his players to increase the tempo and be more aggressive.

That meant he still hadn’t figured out how to adjust the defensive tactics.

If they couldn’t stop Johan, they could never win this game.

Juventus was certainly not a weak attacking team.

However, they couldn’t compete with West Ham, who had Johan, in terms of attacking prowess.

Moreover, the opponent was riding the wave of the home crowd’s support, and their defense was becoming increasingly solid.

‘It would be great to tie the score…’

If they could equalize before the end of the first half, they could regroup during halftime and turn the game around in the second half.

But even if they couldn’t tie the score.

In fact, his desire was even greater to maintain the current score.

London Stadium.

To be honest, he had thought it would be easy.

However, experiencing the game firsthand was like being in hell.

A much larger venue than their home stadium, the Allianz Stadium.

And the fans’ enthusiasm was no less than that of Juventus fans, perhaps even more intense.

Until he experienced this directly, he was determined to secure a win unconditionally.

Now he had no choice but to change his mind.

He would be satisfied even with a draw.

He would be satisfied enough.

Coach Benetta’s ambition had shifted from victory to simply securing a draw.

However, West Ham, having gained momentum, was like a sailboat catching a tailwind.

It began to accelerate even further.

Paang-

Paang-!

The ball didn’t necessarily have to reach the opponent’s goal through Johan.

If Johan was positioned on either the left or right side, the opposite flank was wide open.

West Ham continued to exploit that gap, and opportunities kept arising.

However, Juventus still insisted on focusing on Johan, relying heavily on the goalkeeper’s saves.

But even if Yashin [Lev Yashin, a legendary Soviet goalkeeper] replaced Petrucci, the current keeper.

There was no way to stop all the shots raining down on them.

“GOOOOALLLLLLLLLLL-!”

The stadium announcer’s second shout came in the 40th minute of the first half.

This time it was Bailey’s goal.

While Johan was drawing the defenders to the right, Capello delivered a cross-field pass to the left, and Bailey, with an open opportunity, calmly slotted the ball into the net.

This goal was West Ham’s way of posing a question to Juventus.

‘What are you going to do?’

Would they continue to focus solely on Johan and collapse, or would they change their plan now?

From West Ham’s perspective, the answer didn’t matter.

On the other hand,

From Juventus’s perspective, choosing an answer wasn’t easy.

<2-0! West Ham is dominating Juventus throughout the first half and taking the lead!>

The game continued into the second half.

*

For Coach Benetta, halftime today felt like the shortest of his career.

It was a difficult decision.

But there was no choice.

“Normal defense?”

“They couldn’t bear being beaten while watching with their eyes open.”

“Hmm. Is that really the answer?”

“There was no right answer in the first place.”

In the second half, Juventus’s defenders resumed their normal positions.

This meant they no longer adopted unbalanced defensive positioning, being led around like bees by Johan alone.

It couldn’t be helped.

They couldn’t persist with tactics that had completely failed, surrendering the first half 0-2, until the second half.

Also, their pride was wounded.

It was about conceding goals to players other than Johan.

They would rather concede to Johan, a world-class player.

They felt humiliated at the prospect of conceding to players who weren’t even at the Champions League level.

Also, they hoped for a glimmer of possibility.

They hoped Johan wasn’t in peak condition today.

Whatever happened, they hadn’t conceded a goal to Johan during the first half.

If Johan was at his best, he wouldn’t have been so quiet, and he wouldn’t have played the role of connecting passes from deep, as he did in the first goal.

Maybe Johan’s condition wasn’t optimal today, and if so, could they contain him with a normal defense?

That was Juventus’s desperate hope.

Therefore, Juventus eventually abandoned its existing defensive tactics and reverted to its original formation.

However, the London Stadium began to heat up even more with that decision.

The Hammers already knew what they would witness during the second half simply from that change.

Unleash concentrated pressure on Johan?

It was obvious without even seeing it.

It was clear that Johan would go wild.

뻐어어어어엉-!

14 minutes into the second half.

Hurrichel’s goal kick soared deep into the Juventus half,

파아앙-!

Johan lightly flicked it on with his head on the right side.

Winning an aerial duel with the opposing full-back was a piece of cake.

And,

The same went for the next one.

“···”

“···”

A moment of confrontation.

Johan, facing the opposing full-back with the ball,

탓-!

Made a sudden feint as if to burst down the line.

The opponent’s defense also shifted in that direction.

However, Johan didn’t touch the ball and didn’t go out.

“Keuk···!”

The defender, realizing he had been deceived, stretched out his foot, losing his balance.

However, he couldn’t reach the ball.

파팡-!

Avoiding the outstretched defender’s foot with a La Croqueta [a dribbling move where the player uses the outside of one foot and then the inside of the other to quickly change direction].

After controlling the ball with both feet,

타타탓-!

Johan surged straight in.

Johan broke through on the side and penetrated the right side of the box, immediately drawing back his right foot as if to shoot.