My Goalkeeping System

442  Deja Vu

That goal from Mateo was pretty devastating for Frono FC, but they had to pick themselves up and see what they could now that they still had time, because if they ended up losing against Unique FC today then it would be the first time in a long while that they lost all their matches against Unique FC in a season and they didn't want that to happen.

"Unique FC are going to try and get back into the game as fast as possible, but obviously, Unique FC won't make that easy for them," Jim commented.

They were trying to be a little conservative here passing the ball around slowly mostly on their side of the pitch to drag out Unique FC players and although that was working, they still weren't able to find that space that they needed to strike them, and when one of the midfielders attempted to send the ball over to Seth on the right, Roland ended up stealing it and now the home team were back with the ball.

"The men in orange are back with the ball, they really can't let Frono keep it for too long," Jim commented.

"Or perhaps, Frono FC should be careful with the way they move the ball around," Steve added.

Roland had to quickly push the ball to Martinez as soon as he got his foot on it, and without hesitation, the defensive midfielder quickly sent the ball rolling to Minino.

"Minino."

As soon as the ball got to Minino, he moved forward with it a little before he quickly turned back and passed it to Ferran who was on the center of the pitch.

"Ferran."

Ferran had Ahmed and another player quickly heading toward him from behind at the same time so he had to send it to Martinez who quickly played it short to Roland as soon as he got his foot on it.

The difference in quality when it came to teamwork and cooperation was quite evident on the pitch.

Unique FC have been the exact definition of a team working together on the pitch since the start of this season and that was obviously the reason why they have been doing what they have been doing this season.

Yes, they were a couple of brilliant individual performances here and there but at the end of the day, everything came down to their superb teamwork.

Five minutes had just passed now and Unique FC were still with the ball, no shots had been fired during this time but they had made a couple of attempts to attack, and when it failed they just moved the ball back and tried to restrategize.

Not touching the ball for five whole minutes was starting to get on the nerves of Frono FC players as they were starting to get quite aggressive with the way they were chasing the ball now, but Unique FC were still doing pretty well in keeping the ball away from them while avoiding getting fouled.

Minino received the ball from Martinez with a neat trap, and just before Ahmed could get to him with a ferocious slide, he sent the ball flying over to Mateo on the other side and jumped over the midfielder.

"Mateo."

As soon as Mateo got his foot on the ball, he quickly pushed it to Ferran before taking off toward the box.

"They're pushing forward once again."

Ferran quickly turned to the right to avoid the player in front of him, and after getting away from him a little further, he sent the ball rolling to Merino down the right.

"Merino, he pulled off the assist for the opener, can he think of something here?"

Merino was a bit hesitant here as he slowly pushed the ball toward the left back but perhaps he was just stalling because as soon as Martinez entered the area, he pushed the ball back to him and the defensive midfielder quickly sent the ball rolling to Mateo near the edge of the box.

Mateo tried to dribble his way through both of the players and find that space to take the shot, but that didn't work out quite well for him as Ahmed quickly popped up from behind and swept the winger off his feet right there just at the edge of the box.

"Owwww, that's a terrible challenge from Ahmed."

Mateo was still trying to get up from the floor now as the referee blew his whistle and quickly rushed to Ahmed with a yellow card in his hand.

"No doubt, that's the first booking of the game."

"Yeah, and they also have a free kick to deal with now."

Frono FC had to set up their four-man wall inside the box as both Ferran and Mateo stood over the ball right at the edge of the box.

"Looks like it's between Ferran and Mateo in this one, it's obviously Mateo, Ferran rarely takes free kicks these days," Jim commented.

"Not calling up Dave again, Mateo's a really good free-kick taker, one of the best in the league at the moment but I sort of feel like Dave is better even if he hasn't taken that many free kicks." Steve articulated.

"Yeah, I get that kind of feeling too but we can't really say until they have both taken the same or close to the same amount of free kicks which I don't think is possible unless Dave goes to a club where he becomes the dedicated free kick taker."

The only thing everyone was waiting for now was the referee's whistle, and as soon as that high-pitched sound pierced the air, Mateo quickly closed up on the ball and fired it toward the goalpost with his right foot.

"Mateo!"

The ball was sent flying toward the top right-hand side of the goalpost right at the end, he really put a lot of effort into trying to make sure that went in.

However, Emerson reacted fast enough and was able to get his hand on the ball just in time and send it over the bar.

"Oh, what a save from Emerson!" Jim exclaimed.

The crowd let out a loud gasp after witnessing that save from the goalkeeper. That was already one of the first-spot contenders for the best saves of the season.

"Wonderful save from Emerson, but now they have a corner kick to deal with."

Ferran was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle with everyone else running around inside the box, and as soon as he heard it, he took two steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying in.

Adolf was in the box to contest for the ball this time, and it looked like the ball was coming his way.

He sprang up to get his head on the ball with one of the opposing defenders right behind him, and just before he could get his head on the ball, he ended up getting pushed from behind as the ball dropped to the floor along with him and Emerson quickly rushed to grab it.

The defender quickly raised his hand calling for a foul but he didn't need to because the referee saw everything.

He blew his whistle before quickly pointing to the penalty spot.

The defender was just lucky to have not gotten a card, but still, Frono FC players were not happy with that decision as most of them were gathered around the referee now.

"Adolf was pushed inside the box, and now it's a penalty for Unique FC, they have a chance to double it."

There was nothing the players were going to say that was going to dissuade the referee and if they became too persistent then he was just going to show them a card.

While the stubborn ones were still trying to dissuade the referee, Mateo slowly made his way to Roland with the ball in his hand.

"Looks like it's your time, buddy." He remarked before handing the ball over to him.

"Yeah." The left-back responded with a nod before taking the ball from him.

It was time to see if Unique FC could get their second goal as Roland could be seen standing over the ball on the penalty spot now.

"I expected Mateo or someone else, but it looks like they're leaving this one for the young left back. Can he put it away?"

Everyone else was behind outside the box, and after making sure that no one was trespassing, the referee blew his whistle.

The wing-back was starting to feel the pressure a bit, every single eye in the stadium was on him at the moment with the fans expecting him to score and their opponents wanting him to miss it so that they could laugh at him.

'He's right, this is a bit intimidating, but I still have to show him that I can do it.'

He slowly took two steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and fired it toward the goalpost.

Emerson went the right way, but he should have gone high instead of low.

However, Roland seemed to have overhit the ball by just a bit as it ended up making contact with the crossbar before flying over for a goal kick.

As soon as Roland saw the ball hit the crossbar, he felt a sudden spark of Deja Vu, this was exactly what happened during the pre-match warm-up with Dave.

'He was right, he knew I was going to miss it.' The left-back muttered with a devastated look on his face.

"That was a horrible horrible miss from Roland."