Keep it in the Family (228) - World Cup • Group Stage • South Korea vs New Caledonia II (Patreon)

Now, you might reasonably think that the easiest thing for me was to keep running at the defenders. After all, that's what a forward does. And by all accounts and testimonies, I was a damn good one.

But I didn't; I was neither God nor infallible. If I believed there was a better alternative to a direct run that could potentially get me dispossessed, I'd take it.

Sure, I did occasionally still opt to go for a long dribble when the moment was ripe. Most of the time, however, I'd choose the safest and more intelligent alternative.

I slowed down for just a moment.

There were a cluster of defenders in front of me. Their coach must've prepped them on this scenario, to deal with Jun-hwan's special clever playmaking and Jae-il's insane acceleration and creative flair.

But I didn't need acceleration to open them up. A feint. Left? 'Nope~ right.' Their defender fell for it.

I was moving again, but not to dance around their entire backline. I was just waiting for the right opportunity to─oh, there he is!

Sung-tae, bless him, had read my intentions perfectly and made a blistering run down the right flank. I spotted the gap between two defenders, and with a bit of force, a wicked outside-of-the-foot curler sent the ball through it.

Sung-tae caught it in stride, took one touch to control it, and whipped in a cross.

He had three targets in the box. I was there, but their captain was marking me. Jun-hwan was lurking at the edge of the area. And then there was Seong-min, who had made a late run.

The cross was high, and it soared way above everyone's heads, but luckily finding Dae-hyun right on the opposite flank, who rose like a titan and stopped the ball with his chest. One touch to kill the momentum. Another to adjust the angle, and he powered a shot back into the box.

The goalkeeper for New Caledonia parried it with a strong fist, but the rebound fell right at my feet. 

So close to the net, I didn't hesitate. I gave a nod of acknowledgement to Adriano watching over me, and ripped a page off his book. My foot slammed into the sphere with enough force to hit a satellite if I aimed a little higher.

It went in with a speed and angle that only the very best could've hoped to save it.

And while New Caledonia's keeper couldn't be considered the very best, he was blessed with a teammate who sacrificed himself to block it with his life. 

Literally, he threw himself in front of the goal line and stopped the shot with his crotch. I could almost feel every single man in the stadium flinching unisonly at what looked like a genericide.

The future of New Caledonian’s football wouldn’t certainly come from his balls. 

He was out of the game for a while, the poor boy, and we were awarded a corner as a consolation.

Sung-tae and Dae-hyun looked at me as if I'd murdered someone.

I shrugged. "Shit happens." Like, what the fuck did you want me to do?

Jun-hwan merely grinned. 

The corner was wasted, and so were the next ten minutes of the game.

I could feel the heat of the pressure as New Caledonia tried to assert their dominance through set-pieces and long throws. They had some good opportunities that we managed to thwart before they could get too close to our own box. I was helping with that, of course.

But it was the other half of the pitch where I was really taking over. By the 20th minute, that's when our entire team started pushing back for fucking real after those probing touches. 

It was then that my team realized they were one of those teams that seemed a lot bigger than what they actually were, mostly due to their physical presence and size. New Caledonia wasn't really that good of a team. Their FIFA ranking spoke a lot.

Compared to our AFC cup, at least, they weren't up to par, and it showed.

I was in my zone. That's the only way I can describe it.

I didn't think. I just did.

I'd receive the ball, and somehow, a path would appear. It wasn't always a straight line. Sometimes, it was a little pass back to Jun-hwan, a one-two with Dae-hyun, a sudden diagonal run that dragged two defenders with me and left Sung-tae free on the wing.

My feet whirled around the ball in circles. The overstep had the defender backpedal continuously until I burst with speed, cutting into the other direction.

I huffed a breath.

This is it.

One of those opportunities.

The defender tried to latch onto the back of my shirt.

I kicked it up a gear, blitzing past another obstacle whose leg would have swept me off my feet. I took my chance before the final line of defense could swarm me. 

Right as I chugged relentlessly towards the incoming defenders, I flicked a pass towards Jun-hwan—who back-heeled it without looking—right into my path as I'd continued my run.

The Caledonian defenders found themselves displaced and ill-positioned to stop Adriano's fire from leaving my right foot.

The crowd in front of me was already standing up before the sphere even finished its journey.

To everyone, it was a foregone conclusion. That brief pause—someone’s holding his breath—as the ball fell into that perfect trajectory that you simply knew. ‘This is it… he’s gonna score.’

I exhaled. 

A ripple of white mesh.

The crowd’s deafening cheer hit me like a shockwave. 

The scoreboard lit up.

And if I managed to avoid the swarming from the opposing team, I couldn't stop the swarming from mine.

“Jae-il, you glorious bastard! You did it again!”

Jong-su was already on top of me, his arms wrapped around my neck in a headlock that was more affection than restraint. Sung-tae joined in the pile, yelling something incoherent about how that was 'the goal of the tournament.'

I just laughed, patting Jong-su on the back until he let me go, my eyes immediately scanning for Jun-hwan who came up to me with that haughty Vegeta walk. I wouldn't have been surprised if he just crossed his arms, looked away, and huffed, as if to say 'tch, I expected nothing less.'

Instead, he gave me a smile and a high-five.

Before we finished celebrating, I ran up to a camera panning onto me, and curled both of my thumbs and index fingers into a heart shape. A silent message to the three women watching back home. I knew they were.

Amidst congratulatory pats from my teammates, we jogged back towards our half.

The game resumed without too much fanfare.

My goal, clearly, kickstarted something in my team. Maybe a glimpse of assured victory. Or they figured out that we were better and should take advantage of it.

New Caledonia's attempts to rally were met with an iron wall.

Midway through the first half, after another intercepted pass, we found ourselves on a swift counter-attack.

The ball moved from Dae-hyun to Sung-tae, then into my feet. I saw Jun-hwan's run and slipped a pass through the eye of a needle.

Jun-hwan beautifully pawed the ball away from a Caledonian player's lunge, then lobbed it towards Dae-hyun.

From Dae-hyun to me.

From yours truly to Sung-tae.

Then back to me again.

I sliced it towards Jun-hwan, who leashed it towards Sung-tae, who triangulated back to me. 

Their backline was running left and right, tightening around me. I back-tracked with the ball.

I ran a circle around them, not attempting a dribble, but merely dragging them out of their hole. A couple of stationary feints—before Jun-hwan ran past my periphery, calling for the ball.

I delivered it.

He, in turn, gave it back to me. 'Let's fucking tiki-taka the shit out of them.'

I grinned, bright and wide.

Jun-hwan and I fooled around a bit, one touches, a continous back and forth that was soon joined by Sung-tae. A triangle among the three of us that became more and more a merry dance.

By now the crowd was up again, cheering, watching.

New Caledonia had lost their defensive structure. Impatience is an ugly beast. The structure slowly came apart, leaving a gaping hole when one of them tried to intercept a pass.

Jun-hwan quickly gave me a perfect through-ball, in which I tore open their entire right wing with my acceleration. 

‘Shit…’

The ball nearly went out of the line from an overarching touch, but I toed it back into the turf right in time. 

The goalkeeper was in front of me, expecting an impossible shot between the legs? I had no visible openings from this position. It was an awkward angle. I couldn't score from here.

I looked up.

Saw a familiar mop of sweaty hair. 

And smiled.

I sliced the ball, low and sharp, right towards my running partner's feet. 

Dae-hyun was caught in the middle of the fray, with a bunch of Caledonian boots sliding across the grass to block the pass… with the keeper leaving a gaping wound on the goalpost's sternum. 

He tapped it in.

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