THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
Dead Ball Specialist II

Kristin's whole focus is on the field of play. He watched with nervous anticipation as Mike Jensen, one of Rosenborg's holding midfielders, ignored opponents before heading the newly cleared ball further out of his box. He managed to direct it to the right wing, where Tobias Mikkelsen was lurking.

Tobias Mikkelsen, Rosenborg's left-hander, controlled it well near the touchline on the right wing. And without delay, he fed it past Saliou Ciss, Troms' left-back, before beating it to speed. He immediately rushed across the touchline, heading towards half Troms like a bullet train on the tracks.

The counterattack is underway. The fans around Kristin got up from their seats due to the intensity of the lightning-fast counter-attack.

Josh Pritchard, one of Troms' defensive midfielders, immediately ran towards Rosenborg's left running to close it. Tobias doesn't try to dribble past him. Instead, he flicked the ball to his right foot and unleashed a cut-back pass into the middle of the field where Zachary had just arrived.

Zachary controlled the ball in the middle of the sprint without slowing down. Without wasting a second, he continued to run like a cheetah towards the side of the Troms field. He was so fast that he managed to run across the middle third of the field in just a few seconds.

Ruben Jenssen, another Troms defensive midfielder, came in to close out Zachary's pace as he stepped past the middle third. Zachary flicked the ball at Nicki Nielsen, who had long since raced into space and opened herself up to receive a pass on the left wing.

Nicki Nielsen did not disappoint. He made use of Zachary's pass before cutting into the field and making a diagonal run across Troms' defensive line like the wind. He was on top of one of the defenders in seconds.

Nicki did not lose her composure in the face of the defender's blockade. Instead, he began flicking the ball from his left foot to his right as he slowly approached the box from the wing.

"Graduate! Pass!" Kristin heard many Rosenborg fans at the stadium start shouting at Nicki Nielsen. It was because he held the ball longer than necessary and held back Roseborg's lightning-fast counter-attack. On the field of play, Zachary, Tarik, and Tobias Mikkelsen have arrived—and are patiently waiting for feedback from Nicki.

However, number-9 did not seem to hear the pleading call from the fans. Nicki Nielsen kept trying to dribble past Jaroslaw Fojut, Troms' centre-back, until Tromso's centre-back was forced to push his foot to make contact with the ball. The action seems to have been anticipated Nicki. In the next instant, Nicki sped up, trying to dart past Jaroslaw Fojut and step into Tromso's box.

But the Troms centre-back has no nonsense. He shifted his body slightly, putting himself into the path of the number-9 sprint. That way, Jaroslaw Fojut managed to block the attacker into his penalty box.

Kristin frowned when she saw Rosenborg number 9 collide directly with centre-back Troms before bouncing back and collapsing supine on the ground.

*FREEEE*

The referee blew the whistle, giving Rosenborg another free-kick in a dangerous position in the corner of the 18-yard box. But none of Rosenborg's players celebrated as Nicki was still lying on the ground after bearing the full brunt of the collision with centre-back Troms. It seems like he's in a lot of pain.

"It was a whole-body block of evil by Jaroslaw Fojut on Nicki Nielsen," Kristin heard Kjell Roar, commentator, say. "The referee has shown a yellow card to centre-back Troms because of that poor hindrance. He's lucky to escape the red card."

“You were right, Kjell,” Harald added. “The centre-back was the last person to block Nicki from the goalkeeper and goal. In my opinion, it should have gotten another red card for the yellow Tromso."

Kristin returned her full attention to the field. Medics have arrived and are helping Nicki Nielsen off the field. Meanwhile, Zachary had already picked up the ball and seemed ready to pick up the dead ball once again. Kristin could feel the surrounding fans getting excited as they waited for Zachary to do his magic once again.

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On the field, on the left wing, Zachary bent over and placed the ball just outside the corner of the 18-yard box. Another Zachary teammate unanimously agreed to let him take the free kick once again. Even Mike Jensen or Tarik Elyounoussi, the other dead ball takers on the team, did not file a complaint. It seemed like they had finally recognized his skills as a dead ball specialist.

"Young people, don't try to act smart by shortening the distance" the referee said, cutting it off. "Move the ball a little backwards. The breach— was committed a few meters from the penalty box. Not on the edge."

Zachary could only smile wryly at the referee. Without complaining, he picked up the ball and moved it a few yards back from the edge of the box. Zachary was not worried at all because the extra distance would not affect his accuracy that much. He spent hours training how to convert dead balls from different areas of the attacking third. He was confident he would hit the target as long as he was near the opponent's box.

*FREEEE*

The referee blew his whistle after setting the wall and the other players in the box. Zachary reacted immediately, taking a deep breath to calm himself down before retreating from the ball.

For the third time during that match, he took a short, angled punch to the ball by following Bend-it moves like Beckham Juju. He then takes the final leap step and makes the desired ideal contact with the ball, sending it spinning on a curved trajectory towards the inside of the top left corner.

The ball soars into the air, flies over the wall and then slightly swoops before curling further out— beyond the reach of the goalkeeper. And without surprise, it glides behind the net like a ballistic missile finding its intended target. The Troms guards could not even react and remained fixated on one position, seemingly wondering what had happened.

2:0.

The cheers that raged at Lerkendal Stadium were as loud as the biggest celebratory fireworks burst. Rosenborg scored his second goal in the 93rd minute, with only a minute of extra time remaining.

Zachary suddenly felt an overabundance of excitement surging through him like a comet after seeing the ball lodged behind the net. Like the previous moments, he ran to the corner flag to celebrate and express his excitement after scoring. However, before he could reach his destination, Mikael Dorsin, Rosenborg's assistant captain, intercepted him along the way.

"If you dare to take off your jersey, I'll fight you," the assistant captain shouted after pulling up Zachary's shirt to stop him from proceeding to the corner flag. "You'll get a red card this time."

"Oh," said Zachary, smiling shyly and calming down. "But I'm not taking my shirt off..." He stopped in the middle of the sentence when his other team-mates had arrived and started jumping towards them to celebrate the goal.

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