My Goalkeeping System

The match was all squared now. Just a few minutes after Mateo had come in, he had provided a wonderful assist to Minino to put the sides leveled again and with the clock showing seventy-five minutes now, it was time to see if any of the sides could get a winning goal.

Ronino FC were the one with the ball now as one of the midfielders passed the ball to Zen who was making a run down the right wing now.

Zen tried to cut his way past Roland but the left-back had predicted his move and dispossessed him of the ball by stealing it with a little flick just before he could take it past him.

"That's a nice way to gain possession," Jim said.

Roland was leading the attack on the left wing with all the players from both teams quickly making their way toward the eighteen-yard box.

A midfielder closed up on him and tried to take the ball from him but the left-back was moving with quite the speed and with just a little turn he had gotten rid of him but not entirely as the player was hot on his trail now.

That had caused him to change course as he was now leading the attack through the middle instead of the left wing.

"Here!" Edward screamed as he got closer to him, Roland did as he was told and quickly passed the ball to him.

Edward quickly got his foot to the ball and moved forward with it before crossing it to Carlos on the right wing.

"Oh, they are starting to cook up something deadly here," Jim said.

Carlos tried to move into the box before quickly stretching the ball further down the wing and then making a cross into the box.

The cross was quickly brushed off by a defender who had gotten a sloppy head to it.

The ball fell to the feet of Ferran at the edge of the box and without hesitating, he rolled it to Mateo who was behind him.

Mateo quickly got away from the first defender with a neat turn.

"Oh, Mateo is taking on the defense here."

He nutmegged the second defender to get past him and just before he could do anything, a player collided with him from behind as one of the defenders who had gotten knocked off balance during the collision tried to get the ball away but all he had done was tip it toward Ferran setting it up properly for him.

The attacking midfielder raced toward the ball and without giving it a second thought, smashed it into the right side of the goalpost, there was nothing Andrea could do to stop that.

"They have the lead! They have the lead! Ferran has put them in front with a wonderful strike!" Jim screamed.

Mateo was complaining after being brought down in the box but after that goal from Ferran, he had quickly gotten up from the floor, rushed toward the midfielder, and entangled him in a hug as they both let out the joy they were feeling now in the form of screams.

"Yes! Yes! Yes!" Dave screamed from his goalpost.

<I wouldn't scream and jump too much if I were you, that also costs energy>

[ -1 Energy ]

<Told you so>

'Oh.'

Almost all the home fans were up on their feet now, jumping, shouting, and waving the orange colors of Unique FC.

"They finally have the lead since the beginning game, what a strike from Ferran," Jim said.

"The gameplay of the team has changed since the addition of Roland and Mateo," Steve said. "Roland has been making interceptions to start up attacks and Mateo doing what he does best, those two are the main reasons why they have the lead now."

Unique FC were leading three goals to two as the match had entered the ninetieth minute and since there had been a lot of game stops due to Ferran and Dave's problems, the referee had added ten additional minutes to the game.

"Oh, that's a lot of minutes," Jim said.

"Yeah, that's quite a lot of time for Ronino to get an equalizer," Steve said.

"Or a lot of time for Unique to cement their lead," Jim added.

Mateo had received a pass from Roland on the left wing now.

He was now running with the ball trying to see if anyone was open for a pass when one of the midfielders quickly rushed toward him from behind and brought him down with a tackle.

He had gotten the leg to his ball so the referee didn't see that as a foul.

"Oh, I expected to hear the whistle for that challenge," Jim said.

"I don't think so, he went directly for the ball and Mateo had only fallen in collision with the ball."

Ronino FC were leading the attack now as the midfielder quickly sent the ball to his teammate who was already making a run into their opponent's half.

He received the ball and just before Pirlo could get to him, he passed it to Zen who had a space in the middle to make a run because Pirlo had left his line.

Luckily Adolf was there to cover up but it looked like he was going to get there late as Zen pushed the ball forward a little and unleashed the shot toward the goalpost.

"What a shot!" Jim exclaimed.

The ball was heading toward the top right-hand corner with Dave in the middle but the goalkeeper had done what he could do.

He dived toward the ball and with the tip of his glove pushed it forward a little.

"Diving Dave!"

The ball smashed on the bar and bounced beside the goal line in front of the open net.

The ball was about to fall into the net with Roland and Sandro heading toward it at full speed.

"Oh, no, a rebound in front of the open net."

Sandro got closer to the ball first but just as he kicked it Roland arrived there with a slide and blocked it with his foot as the ball was sent flying out of the eighteen-yard box.

"Oh my God!" Jim screamed. "I thought they had finally gotten their equalizer at the dying minute."

"That was a superb block by Roland, he couldn't get there first but he knew exactly what to do," Steve said.

The ball had rolled out for a throw-in now as Dave slowly crashed to the floor.

[ -20 Energy ]

[ 3/100 Energy ]

He was breathing heavily in a way that had startled Roland.

"Are you okay?" Roland asked, moving closer to him.

Their teammates had rushed to the area to congratulate the two for those wonderful saves but lying on the ground breathing that way had killed off that mood.

"Tell the coach that I want to come off." He muttered.

"But the match is almost over," Pirlo said.

"I know but I can't continue."

"Dave Richards is down here," Jim said.

"It's probably a concussion from that collision with Sandro," Steve said.

Adolf had helped the goalkeeper up as the official responsible for substitutions raised his board which showed the number one in red and the number thirty-seven in green.

"With three minutes of additional time left, Dave Richards will be coming off for Alexander," Jim said.

Most of the fans got up to applaud Dave as Adolf helped him off the pitch.

He had turned his gaze toward Emma with a smile to see that she was also standing while clapping for him and when their eyes had met, she had returned the smile.

"Rest, we'll need you in the next match," Adolf said before running back into the pitch.

'Yeah.' Dave said subconsciously as he relaxed on the seat.

[ Quest completed ]

[ Make three crucial saves ]

[ Quest rewards ]

[ +5 stat points added to Dexterity ]

[ +20 exp received ]

<You're starting to get that sense of determination, I like that>