Chapter 411 Assertion Of Dominance
Ballena United couldn\'t believe what hit them with that second goal.
Just a few minutes ago, they were leading the game, and then Unique FC equalized and now they were leading.
The home fans took the opportunity to up the tempo of their singing and chanting.
The whole atmosphere in the stadium was now mesmerizing which was good but their main goal was to give their team that extra boost of confidence and intimidate their opponents.
Looking at what was going on on the pitch now, that seemed to be working because Unique had almost total control of the game.
Ballena United players just couldn\'t hold on to the ball for long anymore.
"It looks like Ballena United have suddenly forgotten how to work together."
Roland neatly swept the ball off the feet of the right winger who attempted to dribble past him and as soon as he got up with the ball, he sent it flying over to Minino.
"Nicely done by Roland."
Minino brought the ball down with his foot, and Just before the player heading toward him could get to him, he played the ball short to Martinez who immediately sent it rolling to Ferran who pushed a little forward with it before he found Merino on the right and sent the ball rolling to him.
Merino quickly spotted Mateo making a run past the right back marking him and quickly sent the ball flying over to him.
"Oh, this could become something."
Mateo brought the ball down with the opposing players right behind him and without hesitation, he fired the ball toward the goalpost before he was pushed down.
The goalkeeper was glued to a spot as the ball ended up hitting the post before rolling out for a goal kick.
"Oh, that was so close, they\'re really trying hard to stamp their authority here."
Mateo sat up on the floor and raised his hand to call the referee\'s attention to him being brought down inside the box, but it didn\'t look like the referee was going to listen to him.
The match continued with Unique FC still bossing the game but Ballena United were starting to pull themselves together bit by bit.
They were getting closer to Unique FC\'s goalpost and were able to get a few shots off, but none of them were able to get to Unique FC\'s goalpost because the defense just blew them off before that could happen and then the ones that managed to get to Dave were nowhere near being any threat to him.
Despite looking very mediocre in attack they were doing pretty well in stopping Unique FC from getting a third goal or perhaps you could call it luck because the home team seems to have hit the crossbar four more times after that one from Mateo.
"At this point, I think it\'s fair to say that Unique FC are doing a crossbar challenge instead of actually trying to score, that\'s so many woodworks hits in a short amount of time," Steve said as soon Martinez hit the crossbar with his effort from outside the box.
"That was the closest one so far," Jim said.
The match had just entered the forty-fifth minute now as the official with the board raised it to show that there was going to be three minutes of added time.
"Three minutes before the first half comes to an end."
Unique FC were the ones with the ball here and they were moving it around quite slowly like they were stalking but there really wasn\'t any reason for them to do that.
Minino received the ball from Ferran, and just before both of the players heading toward him could get to him, he sent the ball rolling to Martinez who immediately sent it flying over to Mateo with his first touch.
"Mateo."
Mateo brought the ball down with his chest but he didn\'t move with it immediately and waited for the player heading toward him to get close enough to him.
As soon as the player got as close as he wanted him to be, he feigned passing the ball to Ferran before quickly getting past the player with the ball.
"Exhilarating."
He raced down the wing with the ball, and just as he was about to run into the right back there he tipped it right over for him just as he got past the right back.
Mateo got hold of the ball and raced into the box with it.
"Oh, Mateo\'s cooking something here."
Just as the winger got into the box, he suddenly paused allowing the right back to zoom right past him, and just as one of the center backs tried to take the ball off his feet with a slide, he quickly shifted to the right with it before firing it right at the goalpost.
The ball was sent flying toward the right side of the goalpost, and although the goalkeeper managed to get his hand on it, it wasn\'t enough to stop it as the ball ended up smashing right past his hand and into the goalpost.
He had everyone at the edge of their seats when he made that run into the box and now he had them off their seats.
The crowd went wild as the winger raced to the sidelines shaking his head.
"I knew something was going to happen there, he did really well to put that away," Jim commented.
"Yeah, that was a magnificent goal, I wonder what\'s going to beat that today."
Unique FC players were screaming in front of the fans now, you could feel the joy coursing through their veins and of course, the one from Minino was two times more than everyone.
\'Well, that confirms why I got a quest like that, they are easy.\' Dave said subconsciously.
<Yeah, that\'s confirmed now>
After that goal, the game continued but just as the first pass was made from the kick-off spot, the referee blew his whistle twice to bring the first half to an end.
"Well, that was quite the first half," Jim said. "Ballena United struck first from the penalty spot but it didn\'t take long before Unique FC struck back to get an equalizer and after that, they struck two more times to get a comfortable score."
"Ballena United are obviously outclassed in this match, I thought that they might give Unique FC a run for their money given their total performance so far this season but I guess that really isn\'t the case." Steve expressed.
"You never know, Steve, they may come back in the second half to surprise. As unlikely as that may sound, it\'s not impossible."
"Well, we\'ll just have to wait and see."
The players were in the locker room now with Norman standing over them.
He was very happy that his team was leading comfortably, but he still had a couple of things to talk to them about.
There was no scolding or shouting just normal team talk because there was no need for all that in this situation.
After talking to the players, he left them to get some rest before they would be called back to the pitch.
It didn\'t take long for them to be called back to the pitch and now it was time to see how the second half was going to play out.
Ballena United were the ones that started the match from the kick-off spot in the first half which meant that Unique FC were going to be the ones to do it in this half.
Fredinho was standing over the ball waiting for the referee\'s whistle, and as soon as he heard.
"There\'s the whistle and the second half is on the way," Jim commented.
"Time to see how this half plays out."
Unique FC were moving the ball around gracefully here and it was obvious that Ballena United players were starting to get a little frustrated and the atmosphere wasn\'t making things any better for them.
Roland received the ball from Martinez and immediately sent it back to him before both of the players heading toward him.
The two sent the two opposing players back and forth until they decided to use their hands.
That was when Martinez decided that he had enough fun playing and sent the ball flying over to Minino who sent it rolling to Ferran with his first touch.
Ferran quickly moved the ball to Fredinho who had to send it back to him because he was in a pretty tough spot.
Ferran sent the ball rolling to Mateo who decided to move back with it instead of immediately going on the offensive with it.
He quickly scanned the box and found what he was looking for.
Without hesitation, he sent the ball flying in, Ferran, Merino, and Fredinho were all there but Fredinho was the one who managed to get his head on it despite the challenge from the defenders against him.
This time, it was another confusing header from the striker. The goalkeeper was glued to a spot as the ball hit the top right-hand corner before falling into the goalpost.
"Oh, they\'ve done it again! That\'s their fourth and most importantly, Fredinho just got that hat trick!"
The striker took off to the side and as soon as he got there he let out a scream as he jumped up.
"Now, that\'s what an assertion of dominance feels like."