My Goalkeeping System

The first half was quite tough for both teams but their strengths were equally matched and the match ended in a draw.

"This has been quite the first half, and while Lyon might be happy with the result so far, Unique FC aren't getting anywhere here," Jim commented.

"Yeah, they'll need to step things up in the second half if they want to turn things around." Steve expressed. "But anyway, they've handled themselves well so far, they've gotten a couple of good chances and have been great defensively."

"Yeah, but they need Mateo up front, the home fans will be hoping for Norman to bring him on in the second half."

The players were all in the locker room now and that included Unique FC players.

Norman was standing in front of them just like always and he was tapping his right foot on the floor.

"You've all done pretty well so far." He uttered. "However, we need goals or this won't end well for us. Fred, you know you could have scored from that cross."

Fred didn't reply to that and just slowly lowered his gaze.

"The midfield has been the best so far, but I need you to push up front more Frankie, your presence up there will make things easier up there."

'Yeah, he is the all-rounder after all, I just hope he doesn't get injured again running around too much.'

"Mateo will be coming in sometime in the second half as expected but if we can end this without him, I would prefer that instead. We're handling things well so far, two goals is all we need, and after that, we focus more on defense and win with the away goal rule, that's the most efficient way to do things right now."

<I wonder how you're going to deal with the not conceding a goal part>

'And why are you saying that now?'

<Nothing, I just have a feeling that things will get tougher in the second half just like it did in the first leg>

'Hmmm.'

_______ ______

A couple of minutes later and the players had to head back to the pitch for the second half.

"Welcome back everyone, the second half is about to kick off as we can see the players from both teams making their way to the pitch," Jim announced as the players made their way to the pitch alongside each other.

"Unique FC will be looking to pull all their guns for these last forty-five minutes to pull through this one and I know Olympique Lyonnais will be doing everything possible to make sure they keep them pinned them down, a draw is a win for them here today and if Unique FC somehow becomes too much for them then losing by a goal won't be any problem."

Antoine was standing over the ball now with everyone else standing by in their positions and the fans from both sides cheering on their teams.

It didn't take long before that high-pitched sound pierced through the air and as soon as Antoine heard it, he pushed the ball to Novich.

"There's the whistle and we are on the way."

Novich tried to play Marcel through but Frankie got in the way quickly so he ended up pushing it back to the midfielder behind him.

The player sent the ball rolling to Mason and without hesitation, the striker sent the ball rolling to Antoine.

"Antoine."

The winger tried to get past Roland with a body feint but Ferran showed up from nowhere and ended up sweeping the ball off his feet just before he could get past the left back.

"Ferran wins the ball for his team."

The midfielder had a lot to deal with upfront so he decided to send the ball rolling back to Frankie who immediately sent it rolling to Martinez because of Mason who was quickly heading toward him.

"Martinez."

Martinez quickly pushed past Mason with the ball before he sent it rolling to Minino.

"They're making their move forward."

Minino quickly pushed the ball to Merino who had to quickly trap back with it and find Ferran near the center of the pitch.

"Sends it back to Ferran."

Ferran got back the player in front of him with a body feint but there was another one in his way so he had to quickly turn to the right and send the ball rolling to Merino.

The winger quickly dragged the ball close to the sideline because of the player marking him.

He stalled for a while because he didn't want to act carelessly and lose the ball, he waited until he found an opening in the player's legs and he swiftly put the ball through there before zooming past him.

"He gets through skillfully and magnificently, maybe they can do something with this one."

The winger raced down the wing with the ball with everyone else quickly covering up. He was just about to run into the left back in the area when he decided to send the ball flying into the box in an effort to find either Fred or Martinez who were in the same area.

He managed to get the ball into the area but one of the opposing players in the area rose higher than both of them to get his head on the ball and push it out.

"It's cleared."

Luckily for Unique FC, the ball fell to the feet of Ferran near the edge of the box, and it looked like the winger was going to go for the shot there when Novich popped up from nowhere and brushed him down.

"Oh, dear."

That wasn't a very good challenge and the referee was aware of that as he blew his whistle before quickly rushing to the area to show the midfielder a yellow card.

"That's a well-deserved yellow card, and now Unique FC have a free kick in a very good spot," Jim commented.

"This could be their chance to move one step closer to their goal," Steve said. "The question now is, who's going to take it?"

Lyon were setting up their four-man wall inside the box now with Ferran standing over the ball with both of his hands on his waist.

Most of the fans in the stands had already concluded that he was going to be the one taking it when he quickly turned to his side of the pitch and raised.

<Looks like that's cue>

'Yeah, I know.' The goalkeeper sighed inwardly before he began to jog his way to the area.

Unique FC fans started applauding and screaming as soon as they spotted the goalkeeper making his way to the area, they knew who they wanted to take the free kick.

"Are you sure about this?" Dave asked as soon as he got to the midfielder.

"Yeah, I don't know who's the better free-kick taker between you and Mateo, something tells me you're slightly better which is sort of funny but there's no doubt that you're better than me. If we were already winning this match, I would have insisted on taking it but in a situation like this, you have to take it." He articulated.

"Looks like it's going to be goalkeeper versus goalkeeper, Dave's taking up another free kick, he's the player with the best conversion rate in the team at the moment and he has another chance to widen the gap." Jim expressed.

"On the other hand, if this goes the wrong way then Lyon could do something and make this game way more difficult for them."

The goalkeeper was standing over the ball now with his gaze penetrating the wall to get to the goalpost and Giovanni who was standing on his goal line with a calm expression on his face.

'Do I need to activate shot-stopper for this and get the strength boost?'

<Not really you already have enough strength without that, your focus should be on your technique, you'll have to find the angles to beat this one>

'Yeah, that applies to every good goalkeeper.'

After making sure that everything was ready, the referee blew his whistle, and as soon as Dave heard it, he slowly took two steps backward.

"Alright." He muttered before taking a deep breath.

He quickly closed up on the ball just after that, and with the tip of his left boot hitting the floor, he pulled his foot up front and struck the ball.

When it came to free kicks, he always preferred adding as much shot power as possible but he tried his best to refrain from overdoing it and sending the ball over the bar.

He sent the ball flying toward the top right-hand corner of the goalpost and although Giovanni managed to get the tip of his gloves on it, the shot power was just too much for him to handle as the ball ended up hitting the crossbar before falling into the goalpost.

"And he smashed it straight into the goalpost!"

The goalkeeper quickly took off to the sidelines screaming at the top of his voice, and as soon as he got there, he jumped as high as he could and punched the air.

"His accuracy is unmatched, just got it right where he wanted it and Giovanni just couldn't stop that."

"Yeah, and now they're a step closer, things are really starting to look up for them."