Assist! Gareth Speed's Appreciation

Assist! Gareth Speed's Appreciation

The first half ultimately ended with the score at one-one.

After coming off, Maël sat down with Gilbert, and the two of them hydrated and stretched together, letting their stamina recover.

"I'm exhausted."

Gilbert looked bitter as he sighed. "The Rhythm is too fast. Not only do you have to keep running, you have to stay focused at all times too. The pressure on both body and mind is huge."

"You could write a thesis on it."

Maël felt the same way, but he teased him first. "On the Physical and Mental Toll of High-Tempo Duels."

Gilbert rolled his eyes. Neither of them said anything more, and after more than ten minutes had passed, they returned to the pitch.

"Beep!"

With a whistle, the second half officially began.

Maël focused completely and once again started running tirelessly.

He knew very well that if he kept running like this, there was a high chance he would cramp up after the seventy-fifth minute, but he still made no attempt to manage his stamina.

It was the same reasoning as before: first impressions were extremely important.

He wanted to fight for a brief highlight moment, not ration his stamina just to finish the match.

After running for a while, he noticed that once the second half began, because the players had grown familiar with one another, their understanding had improved.

The Rhythm of the match sped up again, and possession changed hands at a blistering pace.

Every player had to keep switching roles, sometimes sprinting quickly into open space, sometimes suddenly turning back to help their teammates defend.

Bang!

In the sixty-fourth minute, Yellow Team midfielder Janu Hans suddenly sent out a Long Pass. He found Ward on the right flank with precision, and after controlling the ball, Ward drove straight into the penalty area, facing the defensive line head-on.

Before the defenders could surround him, he spotted Center Forward Evans's position and played the ball in.

Bang! Clean and decisive, Evans snapped his right foot through the ball and pushed it into the bottom corner. Swish!

Two-one!

Yellow Team, with stronger Overall Strength and a lead in possession, naturally took the lead again! "Beautiful!"

Maël benefited from his teammates' work and did not hold back his praise. He ran toward Evans and the others, joining the celebration.

After the restart, Red Team launched a counterattack.

But after several all-out attacks came to nothing, they once again fell into a disadvantageous state.

Head Coach Kevin also brought on the two players from the bench at this moment. He took off Yellow Team's Center Forward Evans, then substituted one of Red Team's center backs.

When Maël saw the two newly introduced players, his heart stirred, and he gained confidence in putting up numbers again.

Kevin had practically made two opposite substitutions, both of which favored Yellow Team's wing Crosses.

He took off Evans, who was not good at headers, and brought on a tall Center Forward over 1.9 meters; then he took off the Red Team defender who was better in the air and brought on a center back who was just over 1.8 meters.

Was this meant to give that tall Center Forward a chance to show his strengths?

"I just happen to be able to provide that, and show my own strengths along the way."

Maël smiled, ran even more actively, and his desire to get to the byline and Cross reached its peak.

With a tall Center Forward like that standing in the middle, his Crosses became much easier.

As long as the ball traveled fast enough that the Goalkeeper could not come out and claim it directly, and as long as it had enough height, the chance would naturally appear! He let out a long breath. The frustration from having several Crosses cleared faded, and hope returned.

Bang!

His next chance to Cross came in the seventy-first minute. It did not create a goal, but it did create a successful aerial challenge.

Because the tall Center Forward had not prepared well enough, he jumped a little late, which meant the final header had little power and was easily caught.

But after the substitutions, the increase in Yellow Team's threat from Crosses was immediate!

"That'll work, brother! Send in a few more!"

The tall Center Forward gave Maël a thumbs-up and began taking this young lad's passing seriously.

Maël waved to him, then turned his head and saw that he seemed to have been targeted by the opposing wide midfielder, who was deliberately following beside him.

In a 3-4-3 formation, defending the wings generally relied on the two wide midfielders dropping back.

If the wide center back in the back three had to come out for one-on-one defending, that meant the defensive line had already reached an extremely dangerous moment.

Maël had been matched up against this wide midfielder since the start. Fortunately, the other man had stronger attacking attributes and had not put too much pressure on him.

But now, things seemed different.

"Lotton. You're going to remember my name."

Lotton had already realized the threat Maël posed to his defensive line, and he no longer looked down on him at all.

He was a powerful young midfielder, the type who looked as though he had astonishing core strength. He was also the one who had tackled Maël to the ground at the start of the match.

Maël likewise told him his own name and was not too worried. As long as he did not give Lotton a one-on-one opportunity, he still had hope of getting the ball out.

The chance came in the 78th minute. The Red Team's midfield won the ball and launched a counterattack, the whole line charging toward the Yellow Team's half in spectacular fashion.

But during the switch across the pitch, the pass was too weak and was cut out by the Yellow Team midfielder Janu Hans.

The situation changed in an instant! "Pass!"

Janu Hans played the ball out to Maël in space on the wing, and Maël immediately carried it toward the byline.

"Thud, thud, thud!"

The heavy sound of studs pounding the turf rang out. It was Lotton, sprinting back at full speed, trying to use his pace advantage to tackle Maël from behind.

Bang! But he had not expected that after noticing him tracking back, Maël would slow down, glance up, then casually send in a cross.

He had no intention of going all the way to the byline. He blasted it straight from forty-five degrees behind the edge of the box!

The ball curled into the penalty area, and the Yellow Team's tall center forward's eyes instantly lit up. He first lowered his center of gravity, then leapt high, looked back over his shoulder, and whipped a header toward goal.

Under everyone's gaze, the ball spun toward the goal and finally hit the net with a swish.

Again! Three-one!

"Yeah!!"

After landing, the Yellow Team's tall center forward roared excitedly, then rushed toward Maël, who had supplied the pass for him. "Nice! Bro! Nice!"

Maël was also extremely happy. With one goal and one assist to his name, this time he could not pretend to be calm even if he wanted to.

The two acted like they had known each other forever, leaping high and bumping chests.

"You and I can't do without each other."

Like Wolong and Fengchu, the two excitedly praised each other. Maël patted him on the shoulder, sounding rather mature beyond his years. "Congratulations."

Only Lotton was left behind with a gloomy look, never having expected Maël to refuse to play by the usual script.

Didn't most wingers like to carry the ball toward the byline?

After that ball, Maël gradually ran out of stamina. The coaching staff on the sidelines noticed this and sent Evans, who had gone off earlier, back onto the pitch to fill in as a winger.

After Maël came off, he took a towel and lay on the ground, stretching his leg muscles to avoid soreness tomorrow.

At some point, Joelson walked over, smiling openly, his thoughts completely unconcealed. "You really gave me a huge surprise, kid. One goal and one assist. Great performance, great stats!"

"If only it had been in the Championship."

Maël looked relaxed and joked about his training-match stats. "Wouldn't that make my value shoot up by a hundred thousand straight away?"

"Seventeen years old, with one goal and one assist in the Championship."

Joelson thought for a moment, then shook his head. "Transfermarkt would immediately list your value at three million euros."

A three-million-euro value?

Maël raised his brows and smiled. It sounded good. Unfortunately, this was not the Championship.

A burst of footsteps suddenly sounded behind him. He looked back and saw Mr. Gareth Speed walking over.

"Maël."

Gareth Speed gave him a smile. In truth, for someone of his level, just that simple expression explained many things.

He definitely admired Maël's ability and the talent he was showing at this age.

"I believe you'll definitely get your chance this season."

Gareth Speed left him with that sentence, then glanced at Joelson and said to him, "Keep a closer eye on them. Don't let those bad lads in the team lead them astray."

"Of course."

Joelson nodded in agreement, then watched Gareth Speed leave.

Once the man had gone some distance away, he excitedly came to Maël's side and clapped Maël heavily on the shoulder. "Did you hear that? Did you hear that?"

He felt as if he had finally made some contribution to the team.

"Is a chance all I want?"

Maël waved a hand and made another one of his clumsy jokes. "What I want are goals and assists in a professional league, and a three-million-euro value."

For some reason, whenever he was happy, he really liked joking around with people.

Skill: Observation Lv1

Proficiency: (36/300)

Glancing at the progress of his new skill after the match ended, Maël was very satisfied. This rate of improvement was beyond his expectations.

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