My Goalkeeping System

The first half had finally come to an end with the score still one goal to two.

Right now Unique FC players were in their locker room where Norman was telling them something.

"You guys have really tried in this match, we have the lead and that's something to be happy about," Norman said. "Dave, the whole defense, the midfield, and the forwards you have all tried but the defense has the lowest performance out of all three positions."

"Just say it, coach, we've been horrible defensively and if it weren't for Dave, I'm not sure if we would be able to boast of a halftime lead," Adolf said.

"Yes, our defense has been horrible defensively and there have to be changes tactically and player-wise," Norman said, looking directly at Adolf.

"Do what you have to do, coach," Adolf said with a nod.

After talking to the team about other things, it was now time for them to start making their way back into that pitch for the second half.

"And now the players are matching into the pitch to kick off the second half of the game," Jim said.

While the rest of the players were making their way into the pitch, Dave stopped on the sidelines.

[ 86/100 Energy ]

[ 90% stamina remaining ]

<You see how well your stamina and energy recovery have improved?>

'Yeah.'

The goalkeeper was really glad to see his stamina and energy bars at high numbers going into the second half, they had never been this high going into the second half of a match since he got his system.

He turned back to look at the stands and as soon as Emma had spotted him looking that way, she started waving at him.

He returned the wave with a smile on his face before turning his gaze back to the pitch.

[ +2 stat point added to dexterity ]

[ Dexterity: 25 ]

"Looks like there's going to be two changes from Unique FC," Jim said.

Both wingbacks from Unique didn't look anything close to promising during the first half so Norman had decided to bring them both out before the second half kicked off.

Norman Kole came off the thirty years old Luis Roberto and then Jonas Blue came off for Roland Ryle whose name was being changed.

"Last week's player of the week, saved a goal that Sandro still can't believe didn't score and came on in the second half to score the late equalizer against Litno FC last Saturday," Jim said.

"Besides those beautiful moments, he has also been a crucial left back for Unique FC, with his wonderful interceptions, wonderful passes, and great gameplay," Steve said.

The referee blew his whistle as Fred quickly passed the ball to Minino who didn't waste time in rolling it back to Luis Roberto.

"Forty-five minutes more to determine what the outcome of the match will be," Jim said.

Unique FC were hoarding the ball here as it had been seven straight minutes without any player from Spree City touching the ball.

"Spree City had the higher possession by just two percent going in on the break but it looks like Unique FC wants to change that in the second half," Jim said.

The ball was passed to Roberto on the right wing and the right back pushed forward a little before crossing it to Edward on the left midfield position.

Edward quickly passed it to Ferran who pushed forward a little before passing it back to Edward.

The left midfielder's path was blocked here so he had no option besides passing it to some behind him.

He rolled the ball back to Roland who didn't waste time in crossing it to Minino on the right.

"Minino."

Minino trapped the ball with his feet and didn't waste in setting Merino up with a through ball.

Merino got on the ball, found Fred in space, and quickly crossed the ball to him.

"Oh, this looks promising."

Fred was totally unmarked at the edge of the box with two defenders heading toward him now.

He was as calm as ever as he trapped the ball and slotted it toward the bottom left side, the keeper dived toward it but he couldn't get to it.

"Fred!" Jim screamed. "That's a goal, Unique FC has gotten their third."

"No, I think it's an offside," Steve said.

The linesman had his flag up and the referee who had clearly seen the offside.

Fred's celebration was pointless as the referee blew his whistle and pointed to the spot before pointing to their side.

"Yeah, that was clearly offside, that won't count," Jim said.

"Don't worry you'll get it next time," Mateo said and patted Dave on his back before jogging backward to his position.

The free kick was played short to Jamie who didn't waste time in crossing it to Kelano.

Instead of going straight through his wing, the winger decided to cut in through the middle.

"Looks like he's afraid to go through Roland," Jim said with a chuckle.

Kelano raced forward a little before crossing the ball into the box but he seemed to have overhit.

"Oh, that's not going to get to anyone," Jim said.

Everyone including Dave thought that ball was going over until it banged on the crossbar and fell into the net.

"What the heck!" Jim exclaimed.

'What just happened?' Dave said with a pondering look on his face as he stared at the ball that was now sitting in the net.

The referee blew his whistle and pointed to the kick-off spot as Kelano and his teammates took off to the sidelines with screams of joy.

"That's a goal, I thought that ball was going out," Steve said.

"So did everyone else, look at the baffled looks on the faces of Unique FC players, they are on leveled terms again," Jim said.

"How did that ball go in?" Dave muttered with his hands placed on his waists.

<In situations like this you should always follow the ball, I thought you already knew that by now>

Dave let out a deep sigh before he picked up the ball and threw it toward the kick-off spot.

"They are leveled again with a lot of time left in the game, this is starting to look like a fierce battle between both sides," Jim said.

The referee blew his whistle as Fred passed the ball to Minino who quickly rolled it back to Ferran.

Ferran got away from the defender trying to take the ball from him with some neat footwork before passing the ball to Luis Roberto who had covered up on the left wing now.

Roberto got the ball and tried to dribble past the player heading toward him but that had gone terribly wrong as the player quickly muscled him off the ball before passing it to Torres who was running into the free left wing now.

"Oh, that's terrible from Roberto," Steve commented.

"Yeah and that could be costly," Jim said.

Torres raced toward the goalpost as Aima and Adolf tried to cut him out but that was exactly what he wanted as he got closer to the box before squaring the ball to Felix with a low cross.

Felix slid toward the ball in an attempt to get into the goalpost but Roland had gotten there first with his own slide which had gone terribly wrong.

The left-back hit the ball in the process of getting it out of there and the ball flew straight through the middle while Dave had already dived toward where he knew Felix was going to place the ball had he gotten to it first.

"Oh, no it's an own goal," Jim said.

"No," Roland said with a frustrated look on his face before crashing down on the floor.

"Why does this keep happening?" Dave said, slamming his hand into the ground.

"It's only been two minutes since that equalizer and now Spree City are leading for the first time since the match kicked off," Jim said.

"Unique FC are looking really disorganized here and if they fix themselves up quick, this match isn't going to end well for them."

****

Hope you enjoyed the chapter.

If I get up to a hundred golden tickets before the end of the month I will release six chapters on the first of December.