Born Goalkeeper God

Scoring a goal should have called for celebration, especially when it was the goalkeeper who scored. That was even more worthy of going wild over.

However, Mo Qiong felt awkward. He had not wanted to score that goal.

But the ability was too domineering. He had only let his mind wander for a moment, and his trap had turned into a shot.

It was too high-profile. It made him feel like he had gone overboard with a cheat.

Using cheats was fine, but once this cheat was activated, it could not be turned off. It caught him somewhat off guard.

At that moment, his teammates surrounded him, praising him madly. The more excited the scene became, the calmer Mo Qiong grew.

He thought to himself, Would it be too suspicious if I didn't celebrate?

After freezing for a full three seconds, Mo Qiong's expression changed. He put on a look of wild delight, pumped his arms, and shouted, "Was that awesome or what? Was that kick godlike or what?"

His teammates laughed. "Awesome, awesome! That was an insane play!"

"That kick was absolutely brilliant!"

He joined his teammates in celebrating hard. In such a heated atmosphere, no one questioned whether his shooting posture had looked a little awkward.

The first half ended quickly. Riding their lead, everyone held their heads high as they returned to the locker room amid the home crowd's cheers.

In contrast, the sports academy team was completely dumbfounded. They had never expected to concede.

Even if they did concede, it should have been after they had scored three or four against the other side, giving them one out of courtesy.

It was a friendly, after all. As a sports academy team, that was how they had always played against campus teams.

But this time, they had dominated the entire match and torn the opposing defense to shreds. Their left flank in particular had been completely crushed. Twelve shots on target in the first half—what did that mean? Under normal circumstances, it should have been 4–0 already.

After playing so fiercely, it would have been one thing if they had failed to score. Yet they had actually been scored on by the goalkeeper instead.

The entire sports academy team was dejected, and they fell silent upon returning to the locker room.

But instead of scolding them, the coach said seriously, "You played well. You're all in form."

"Huh?" Everyone stared in disbelief.

The sports academy coach said, "This isn't your problem. I underestimated them too much. I originally planned to use this friendly to test the lineup, warm up, and check your condition, so I didn't prepare any tactics... I never expected Yan Da to have a professional-level goalkeeper."

"Professional-level?" Zhang Xin was shocked. Their team was technically professional too, but they could only be considered semi-professional, in the C-League. They would only reach the B-League if they fought their way out of the East China Region's Super Group, and they had been working hard toward promotion.

Yan Da's team was different. Its members would all have their own careers in the future. They would neither become nor want to become professional players.

The coach said, "And at least A-League level!"

"Damn, did they hire a ringer for a friendly?" Zhang Xin asked blankly.

"Not a ringer. I checked the number one's information. He's a Yan Da student, a sophomore, not yet twenty years old, from the mechanical and electrical engineering department," the coach said.

"Mechanical... electrical engineering?"

The coach said, "His major isn't important. What matters is his talent. He hasn't received professional training. Several times when he should have come off his line, he didn't, and his saving and blocking posture isn't standard either. But his reactions are fast, he's calm, and his instincts are sharp. More importantly, look at his physique. He's one meter eighty-nine, with long arms and long legs. He's born to be a goalkeeper."

"Without professional training, he easily collected nine of your dangerous shots. From the way he saves, his balance and wrist control are simply terrifying. And... he's very confident! He's the most gifted kid I've ever seen. His talent alone swallowed up your shots."

"And there's another pleasant surprise. His shooting is extremely accurate. Forget that goal; you were far too relaxed at the end. What really caught my attention were his long passes during counterattacks. He always found the only player up front with pinpoint accuracy, and the placement was excellent every time."

"If you were that center forward..." The coach pointed at Zhang Xin. "We'd have been hit for four or five goals already."

The sports academy players sucked in breaths, feeling that their coach was exaggerating.

They had initially planned to score four or five against the other side...

Zhang Xin immediately lost his temper. Even if he worked hard for his whole life, he would probably only muddle along in the B-League.

But football always had monsters with extraordinary talent. Forget twenty-year-olds—even eighteen-year-olds made it into the Chinese Super League.

Seeing everyone discouraged, the coach said, "Don't be depressed. I'll assign tasks for the second half. Yan Da's defense is full of holes. You'll have plenty of chances to score!"

Though he said that, the coach no longer cared about winning or losing.

The tactics and adjustments he emphasized next were all aimed at Yan Da's goalkeeper, Mo Qiong.

He intended to use this friendly to secretly assess the goalkeeper of this amateur team.

Yan Da's amateur coach, however, had failed to see any of that.

He only felt that Mo Qiong had played well and withstood the pressure from the sports academy team.

He gave Mo Qiong plenty of encouragement, saying his final goal had been a stroke of genius, praising him for giving the team a one-goal lead and telling him to maintain his form.

The two coaches were focused on entirely different things. As for that final goal, the sports academy coach did not think it was particularly difficult. When both sides had relaxed, it was nothing unusual for a goalkeeper to suddenly get an idea and lob one toward goal.

The key was the accuracy of his long passes. With that kind of accuracy, putting a little more force into the ball and sending it into the goal was perfectly normal. That had been their own goalkeeper's lapse.

Could they really expect to keep scoring through goalkeeper lobs? Impossible.

The second half began quickly, and Mo Qiong noticed that the sports academy had adjusted its formation.

They had four players on the front line. Had they lost their minds? Were they going all in?

Only two minutes after kickoff, Mo Qiong felt the pressure.

Their defense was completely torn apart, especially Wang Xiong. Though he was the captain and was passionate about football, his technical ability was truly hard to praise.

Several of his passes were too slow and got intercepted.

And whenever the defense lost the ball, the sports academy's forwards immediately threatened the goal guarded by Mo Qiong.

Mo Qiong faced a shot almost every minute. Though many went straight out over the end line, and the occasional shot on target was easily collected, the situation looked awful.

He knew shots of that level posed no real threat, but the schoolmates did not.

The stands were tense, afraid that the school team would concede at any second.

Every time he collected a shot, Mo Qiong quickly distributed the ball. At first, he merely threw it directly to the midfield.

But their defenders were not the only poor ones. Their midfield was poor too. Whenever they tried to thread a pass to Han Dang, they always threaded it to an opposing player instead.

A few minutes later, the ball would often return to Mo Qiong in the form of another shot.

"Hold it together! Is that a back pass or an assist?" Mo Qiong was normally good-tempered, but even he could not help snapping at Wang Xiong.

Wang Xiong had clearly been overwhelmed. He was dazed, reverting to his habit of frantically passing back to the goalkeeper the instant he touched the ball.

Mo Qiong had raised this issue more than once, but Wang Xiong could not change. Whenever he got confused, he only knew to pass back to him.

The problem was that he could not even pass it properly... Who the hell had ever seen a back pass that required the goalkeeper to chase after the ball?

If Mo Qiong had been a little slower, it would have been a gifted corner.

Just now, Wang Xiong's pass had gone too wide. Mo Qiong took several steps after it, only to see Zhang Xin reach the ball, followed immediately by a cross.

Mo Qiong was out of position and nearly gave someone an open goal.

Fortunately, he retreated decisively. At the critical moment, he threw himself into a diving save and flicked the ball to the right back with his fingertips.

Mo Qiong knew exactly how to set a landing spot for different balls. If he had dared to "bat down" that kind of shot just now, it would not have meant he was in great form. It would have meant he was a goalkeeping god!

"Awesome! Your arms are fucking long!" the right back exclaimed after clearing the ball.

The sports academy forwards were on the verge of collapse. They could flick that out too?

The stands erupted in gasps. Everyone only felt that it had been far too close.

At the same time, Yan Da's coach shouted, "Good! Stay steady! Stay steady and we'll win!"

It was normal for Yan Da's coach to praise him, but at some point, the sports academy coach had also come over. Seeing the save, he celebrated along with them. "Good! Great save!"

"Huh?" Yan Da's coach was utterly baffled. Your player had an open goal and it was saved—what are you celebrating for?

The sports academy coach did not care what anyone thought. He stared at Mo Qiong with shining eyes, exceptionally excited.

Only he knew just how difficult it had been to flick that ball to the right back. The amount of force and control required had been incredibly demanding.

Even a Chinese Super League goalkeeper would have performed excellently just by knocking that shot outside the frame, and that would have been rare.

More often, they might only alter the ball's trajectory slightly before it still ended up in the net.

Yet Mo Qiong had pushed the ball to a player on the right side of the penalty area, effectively removing the force from the shot altogether. How steady were those hands? How strong was he?

In fact, from the way Mo Qiong had repeatedly batted down shots and thrown the ball one-handed directly to midfielders' feet, he had already realized that Mo Qiong possessed immense hand strength.

Now, with an extreme diving save that poked the ball to a teammate with his fingertips, Mo Qiong had displayed his physical gifts as a goalkeeper even more clearly.

"A born goalkeeper god."

The sports academy coach had stopped caring about the result the moment he recognized Mo Qiong's talent. Whether they won or lost this match was far less important than seeing through Mo Qiong's potential.

"Great play! Keep it up!" The sports academy coach beamed, hoping his own players would force even more of Mo Qiong's potential out.

Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought he was part of Yan Da's coaching staff as well.

Mo Qiong did not know any of this, but he truly wanted to change the situation.

He was too tired. Being pinned in front of his goal and bombarded with shots was not pleasant.

The defense had provided him with absolutely no help.

But that was understandable. With four forwards pressing up along with the midfield, even if there had been no gap in strength, the defense would still have been thrown into chaos.

"At this rate, we'll concede sooner or later. Everyone's been beaten senseless." Mo Qiong could tell that the defense had completely lost confidence. Their mentality had collapsed, and they desperately needed a counterattack to save them.

If they could score, it would definitely change their morale.

But he had passed to the midfield many times, and his teammates were simply not good enough. They could not even organize a decent attack. Passing to the defenders... forget it. He did not dare.

As for personally taking another shot, that would not do either. One goal by a goalkeeper was already more than enough for him, much less two.

"You're pushing up so high. Do you really think we have no forward?" Mo Qiong held back his frustration as his gaze locked onto Han Dang once more.

Bang!

A long pass tore across the field, its target the inside of Han Dang's shoe.

To prevent Han Dang from failing to reach the ball, he directly set the landing spot on Han Dang himself.

As roommates, he had seen Han Dang's football boots many times and knew every detail. The inside even had Han Dang's name written on it.

In other words, Mo Qiong could not see this landing spot right now, but he had seen it before... it was a landing spot that existed in his memory.

Han Dang moved toward the penalty area while calculating where the ball would land.

As the ball dropped, he cushioned it with his chest, hooked his right foot up, and tapped it. The ball struck the name on the inside of his boot perfectly and bounced a short distance away.

Han Dang charged forward with the momentum, suddenly facing the goalkeeper one-on-one with the ball...

That was the most comfortable first touch he had ever made!

Even he admired his own ball control.

Unfortunately, he soon regretted his shooting ability. The opposing goalkeeper was also formidable and tipped the ball out over the end line.

"Damn! That didn't go in?" Han Dang covered his face.

Mo Qiong was helpless too. Having a chance did not mean scoring was guaranteed. A one-on-one merely meant the odds were high. If it was guaranteed, what would goalkeepers be for?

It could only be said that after conceding once, the goalkeeper had focused hard and performed steadily.

"It doesn't matter. There'll be plenty of chances..." Mo Qiong did not care at all. Whether Han Dang scored was Han Dang's business. Mo Qiong only needed to feed him the ball, threaten the opposition, and force them to pull back their overly aggressive formation.

But the sports academy coach apparently had no idea what he was doing and stubbornly insisted on competing through forward power.

He had no intention whatsoever of making that highly aggressive formation pull back.

Thus, throughout the entire second half, the sports academy team pinned Yan Da down and fired shot after shot.

Meanwhile, Mo Qiong bravely collected the shots, rapidly launched counterattacks with long passes, found Han Dang's position, and created favorable chances.

Again and again, every pass pierced through the defense and let Han Dang receive the ball in supreme comfort.

How could it not be comfortable? Every pass was aimed straight at the name on Han Dang's boots!

Gradually, Mo Qiong became more and more proficient with his ability. It was not actually difficult to control, as long as he kept his attention on having a target.

The target had to be clear. The clearer it was, the more precise the result. It could be a target from memory, and the ball would ultimately land where that target was currently located.

During that time, Han Dang had so many chances that the opponents directly fouled him down outside the penalty area, giving them a free kick.

Mo Qiong thought about it but did not step up. Although they had a free-kick taker, for an amateur team, anyone who raised their hand and said they wanted to take it could try experiencing a free kick.

He knew that if he took the free kick himself, he would definitely score.

But Mo Qiong did not care about that kind of glory. He only wanted the match to end easily so he could quickly find somewhere to study his ability.

Little did he know that even this had already drawn intense attention from the opposing coach.

His saves, his counterattacks, and those terrifying long passes sharp as blades had the sports academy coach dancing about at the side, thrilled beyond measure.

The coach rubbed his hands together, shook his head in amazement, and clicked his tongue repeatedly, as though he had discovered a treasure.