Football: King of Penalty Area
Ch. 14 - First Round (Gelserkichen FC Yunior)

After seeing the SC Leverkusen Youth Team stop their mad attack, the Gelserkichen FC Youth Team could finally sigh in relief and they started an organized attack.

Team Coach Yunior Gelserkichen FC who stood in the command area also let out a long sigh. He glanced at Timo who was standing not far away, and laughed. ‘Timo, your team's physical fitness starts to decline, and the first half starts to improve. The time before halftime is taken over by me!’

. . . . .

The forward field pressing strategy of the SC Leverkusen Youth Team had problems, and the Gelserkichen FC Youth Team began to take the opportunity to counter-attack. At the same time, Team Yunior Leverkusen was in front of the danger, which made Timo standing in the command area look serious.

In the 40th minute of the first half, Junior Team Gelserkichen FC launched a counter-attack on the right, and directly tore the defense of Team Yunior Leverkusen SC. Right-back Gelserkichen made it past Eden Krause and got a chance to make a triangular upshot near the bottom line!

The ball slid past Alex and flew towards the right side of the empty net without a keeper. Number 9 striker Gelserkichen greeted the pass with a hard volley.

The air at Haberland Stadium became tense.

On this perilous occasion, Mark who became Team Goalkeeper of the SC Leverkusen Junior High, jumped up and bravely saved the football to the bottom line with his left hand!

Just barely!

Yunior Leverkusen SC team finally let out a long sigh, after making sure they did not lose the ball in this dangerous attack.

Both Matija and Alex just nodded and patted their chests, and Mark stood up from the grass and shouted at the guard, indicating that they should not leak.

“Hei! Be calm and focused, don't just pay attention to the ball. See other players appearing in front of goal!” Mark was dissatisfied with the team's panicked defence.

Missing the opportunity to break into the opponent's goal made Gelserkichen's players a little sorry. After that, Junior Team Gelserkichen kept pushing the ball forward, they tried to come up with more chances to create goals.

Three minutes later, Junior Team Gelserkichen made a quick counterattack. The No 9 striker who got a long pass from Jerome took a strong long-range shot outside the box. The ball shot out like a cannonball and hit into the top right of the goal!

Mark jumped up and tried to stretch his left arm upwards. He wants to lift the ball out of the crossbar. However, the ball was too fast and failed to touch his fingertips.

The faces of the players of Team Yunior Leverkusen began to tense up, and the heart of Team Yunior Gelserkichen went up and down, did the goal finally come?

"Young!!!..."

A loud bang rang out, the ball hit the edge of the outer beam and then flew out of the field.

‘Hai!’ Gelserkichen once again let out regret, they almost scored, and then they clapped as they were one step closer to the goal.

Timo looked serious to the extreme. He clapped loudly and cheered the players hard. While his heart went up and down with every attack his team suffered.

Gelserkichen created two dangerous chances in three minutes that almost changed the score on the pitch. The Leverkusen players on the pitch also started to feel heavy pressure and their breathing became difficult.

The game continued and Mark kicked the ball far forward with a big kick. He'll launch a quick counterattack. While watching the football in the air, Raynaldi who was already preparing at the halfway line of the field started running wildly towards the ball.

Beside him, Jerome tried to knock him down by impact from the side. However, Raynaldi managed to hold it in and keep his balance after staggering a bit. Raynaldi was finally able to escape from Jerome's guard and immediately shot towards Gelserkichen's goal.

Raynaldi prepared as if he was going to shoot hard. However, it stopped his footwork and turned it into a loop shot that bounced over the head of Goalkeeper Gelserkichen. The ball forms a parabola and immediately falls into an empty goal.

“Biip” Referee whistles after making sure the goal is legitimate. The score changed 1-0 to Leverkusen's advantage.

“Gooal!!” Raynaldi roared out his feelings, since the beginning of the game he was repeatedly dropped with physical confrontations that upset him.

Herman who was closest to Raynaldi's position immediately dropped it and was followed by Joshua and Ivan who jumped up to them forming a human tower.

Raynaldi painstakingly stood up after being hit by three of his teammates. “S*alan, do you guys want to kill me!” Raynaldi.

However, Joshua, Herman, and Ivan only laughed out loud in response.

After Raynaldi's goal, Gelserkichen's Junior Team regained control of the football and launched a quick strike against Leverkusen's Junior Team.

In the face of the continued high-intensity suppression by Team Yunior Gelserkichen, Leverkusen's defensive line was again torn apart by the other party. Junior Gelserkichen's team suddenly made a Panjang pass halfway through, and broke through the defensive line of Team Yunior Leverkusen from the middle.

The ball drilled and flew into the penalty area!

Number 9 striker Tim Yunior Gelserkichen, running like a Cheetah. In one move, he managed to surpass the two centre-backs of Team Yunior Leverkusen and hold the ball inside the penalty area.

Mark ran to the front and tried to close the space to reduce the wiggle room of the opposing player. However, Striker Number 9 saw Mark's position and outwitted him with quick footwork and passed him easily then kicked the ball into the empty net.

It's ruined! Finally the hard-earned goal is quickly equated by the opponent.

The whistling referee announced that the goal was legitimate. Then look at the watch in his hand and go back blowing the whistle the first half sign is over.

Junior Gelserkichen's team rejoiced after successfully equalising before halftime and turned the score back to 1-1.

Yunior Leverkusen's team fell silent, and the players lowered their heads as they returned to the dressing room.

Standing in the command area, Timo shook his head helplessly. In the last moments of the first half, he lost the ball.

If his team can hold back the last few minutes, with the score 1-0 going into the second half, Team Yunior Leverkusen can play without much pressure in the second half.

But now it's completely different, and his team lost momentum in the final minutes which might have been a blow to a young team that hasn't matured enough.

What can Timo do when his team loses a goal?

Of course, just a push.

"It doesn't matter to be equalised in the first half, we still had 45 minutes in the second half to get back to winning and winning!"

Timo said out loud. "In the beginning of the second half, we still had to strengthen the attack like we did in the first half, and strengthen the attack in the middle and the front pitch!"