Football: King of Penalty Area
Ch. 08 - Amateur Games

Raynaldi sat on the sidelines watching the match between Team Marin and Team Mark take place. Actually the strength of both sides is almost the same in Raynaldi's opinion, but the difference is that Team Marin has a stronger attacker while Team Mark has better defenders. So that makes it seem like a one-sided match.

The match lasted for 25 minutes finally Marin Team who had tried to attack repeatedly finally got a golden opportunity in front of goal. Marin who received the breakthrough pass of his team-mates faced one-on-one with Mark.

Without waiting for Mark to close his shooting room, Marin shot towards the right corner of the goal. But Mark responded well, and with his long arms managed to pull the ball out of goal range.

“This is really worthy as the main goalkeeper of the junior team, he really is ‘jenius’.” Raynaldi who saw the extraordinary rescue felt astonished for a moment.

After 15 minutes, Mark's team got a counter-attack opportunity and managed to release a sharp pass into the penalty box. But unfortunately the attacker from Team Mark wasted the opportunity and his shot soared far above the Marin Team goal.

The match again continued with almost balanced conditions and finally the first half ended without a goal created. This result was in fact in line with Raynaldi's expectations, however the ability of the two teams was almost equal and held each other back.

“Yo, Marin how do you feel against a semi-professional player?” Raynaldi who saw Marin's depressed face could not help but tease her a little.

“What do you expect? It really makes people desperate.” Marin sighed and felt somewhat depressed.

“Alright, I'll be playing for the last half of the game. Let's do as best we can.” Raynaldi patted Marin on the back and calmed her down.

“OK. Since you're going to play in this round, maybe we can score.” Marin still strongly believes Raynaldi's ability in finishing in front of goal. For him Raynaldi's ability to score while playing with their amateur team was like an adult man playing against children.

“I'll try my best.” Raynaldi replied with a smile.

“Joe, you will come out in the second half according to what we discussed earlier.” Marin steered his team and replaced other attackers in the team other than himself.

“OK, I'm also almost out of breath.” Joe who looked a little chubby replied with a gasp of exhaustion.

“Come get ready, the second half will start soon.” Marin clapped and cheered on her friends.

“Yo, Ray. Finally couldn't stand to play? Come on I won't let you score easily.” Mark who saw Raynaldi play started to get excited. For him to play in amateur matches just to fill free time, but it would be a good thing to have a good opponent.

“Yes, get ready Mark. Maybe you will take a lot of balls from the goal.” Raynaldi was also quite excited against a Mark-level goalkeeper.

The return match starts with a kick-off from Team Mark, they try to hold the ball for as long as possible by continuing to pass while keeping a distance from the opposing players. After continuing to pass for more than ten minutes, Team Mark finally sent a long pass forward. But unfortunately their bait is too far to be pursued by their team attackers.

In the 60th minute of the match, Marin who received a pass from his team's defensive midfielder managed to outwit the opposing defensive midfielder. As he glanced forward, he could see Raynaldi was already preparing for the anti-offside and passed forward without hesitation.

Raynaldi who saw Marin's pass immediately ran forward and left two unprepared centre-backs. In one-on-one condition with Mark he calmly brought the ball to the opponent's penalty area while paying attention to Mark's position.

Score changed Marin Team 1:0 Team Mark.

Mark who saw him had been deceived Raynaldi swore annoyed. “Damn it, if you're a guy kicking a ball himself!”

“Hahaha... Mark, you're still too naive. Football is a team sport. So no matter who scores, it's the team that wins.” Raynaldi only laughed when he saw the annoyed Mark.

After a while, Mark finally calmed himself down. As a professional goalkeeper, he is very good at controlling his emotions. “Hmph... I won't let you play again.” Mark was upset.

The match continued with kick off from Team Mark, they still use the same tactics to manage the attack slowly by continuing to pass the ball. In any case all amateur teams will only have one way of playing that does not change.

When the game goes boring with a continuous short pass that stops in the middle of the field. Raynaldi finally got a chance to cut through defensive midfielder Tim Mark's pass and then carry the ball forward alone.

Raynaldi saw the two centre-backs driving him simultaneously and calmly rolling the ball over the centre of them both and then sprinting forward relying on his pace leaving the two centre-backs late in response.

Raynaldi again faced Mark one-on-one, this time reducing his speed slightly when dribbling as Mark tried to close his shooting room. However, before Mark could close Raynaldi's shooting room, he immediately kicked the ball unprepared and the ball shot into the top corner of Mark's left hand.

Score changed Marin Team 2:0 Team Mark.

“Hahaha..this time the score changed again. How do you feel Mark?” Raynaldi who saw Mark was stunned to feel joy in his heart.

“Damn it, you can still shoot without such preparation? What kind of a freak are you? Have you practiced shooting since you were in the womb?” Mark was also stunned to see Raynaldi's shot. He's seen the same guy do that, and he's the German forward, Jan Flitz.

“Hahaha..” Raynaldi just laughed in response to Mark's swearing. However, Raynaldi also said, ‘I've played football in two lives, although not all as a professional player but I've played hundreds of amateur matches for fun.’

The game continued and the ball was still flowing in midfield as usual, Raynaldi who saw this felt

nostalgia because in his previous life he also often played like this. In an amateur match looking for not a win but fun, if the team wins the game it is just a bonus.

Raynaldi also still remembers the words of a football legend, ‘Soccer's purest is when you see 22 young men playing in the city park. Because what they are after is not victory but happiness.’

In the end the match ended with a score of 2:0 for the Marin Team victory. After the game the two teams shook hands and laughed together, this is not an official match and everyone comes to this place to exercise and have fun.

“Playing against you is different from when you are on a team with you, you are like a lottery ticket that is not bet on.” Mark hugged Raynaldi and patted him on the back.

“Haha Raynaldi chuckled when he heard Mark.