Chapter 477 Interesting Second Half?
The first half came to an end with Unique FC still leading two goals to nothing and the statistics board had a lot to say on how much dominance they had in the first half.
To start things off, they had seventy-one percent ball possession while the home side managed to retain the ball for what could only amount to twenty-nine percent possession.
Unique FC were able to unleash twelve shots with seven of them being on target while their opponents were able to fire shots toward their goalpost five times with just one of those shots being on target.
The away side attempted five hundred and fifty-five passes with five hundred and forty-nine of those passes being successful while the home side attempted two hundred and eighty-seven passes with two hundred and sixty-four of those being accurate.
With all these stats along with the scoreline, it wouldn't be an overstatement to say that Ronino FC got bullied by Unique FC in the first half.
And to be honest, their midfield looked tired most of the time and Unique FC made proper use of that to run riot over them.
Well, not exactly proper use because they could've had more than two goals otherwise but they managed to grab a comfortable two-goal lead in the first half, and that was all that mattered.
The players were in the locker room now with Norman standing over them and he had a very bright smile on his face, but just as he turned his gaze to Henry, that smile slowly faded away.
Just looking at the midfielder brought back the memories of that one-on-one situation that the midfielder could have put away so easily, but he ended up blasting it straight into the goalkeeper's gloves.
That was something he would have talked about if they weren't doing good so far in the game, but now, he had to shake his head to shake it off.
"You guys have done pretty well so far." He finally spoke after clearing his throat. "I wish you could have done better but I guess that's the same for every team, there's always going to be a couple of missed chances, even ones that would make you want to pull your hair out and wonder how someone could have missed that." He quickly glanced toward Henry as he added that part.
The midfielder had to put on an awkward smile to cover the shame.
"However, those are things that happen every now and then but I honestly hope it won't happen to me every now and then."
After saying that, he paused for a while to observe the faces of the players before sitting down on the seat behind him.
"We're already winning the game so there's no reason to get loud but as you all already know, leading the game in the first half doesn't mean that you should go into the second half and relax, comebacks happen a lot in football and we are not immune to it." He advised. "That said, I believe that we already have this one in the bag and if you guys keep on playing with the same intensity you had in the first half, I might end up pulling a couple off early for our next match against Supreme United."
After that, he talked about his plan to make sure they retained their lead in the second half if Ronino FC should somehow become too much for them to handle.
It was quite ironic how he didn't leave the room until it was time to start heading back to the pitch in a match they were comfortably leading in but it is what it is.
"Welcome back, everyone, the second half of the match is about to kick off as we can see the players making their way to the pitch now." Jim recited before clearing his throat. "Well, the first half sure was something, I knew Unique FC were going to come out on top but I expected Ronino FC to make it a little entertaining, the first half was just one-sided, disappointing performance from the home team so far."
"Well, the match isn't over yet, let's just hope they fix their problem in this half," Steve commented.
Unique FC fans were not taking it easy with their chants, the home fans were able to keep up with the first half, but now their voices were slowly beginning to drown theirs.
That was wild considering that they were on Ronino FC's home ground.
"Sandro has been pretty quiet so far in this match, no, he has been quiet so far this season only coming through in a few matches." Jim articulated. "He was among the top five contenders for the Golden Boot last season, but he's not even in the argument this season, only managing to score nine goals in twenty-seven matches so far."
"Yeah, this season has not been very bright for him."
Sandro was standing over the ball in the kick-off spot with both of his hands on his waist.
The only thing he and everyone in the stadium were waiting for was the referee's whistle to get the second half moving.
It didn't take long before that high-pitched sound pierced through the air, and as soon as Sandro heard it, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Xavier.
"There's the whistle and we are back into it."
Ronino FC were not trying to rush anything here, they were just moving the ball around slowly and dragging it back when necessary to push out Unique FC players and create space for their own players to move in.
Zen received the ball back from one of the centre-backs after passing it to him.
The midfielder quickly sent the ball to Xavier as soon as he got his foot on it but the striker had Ferran on him.
However, all he needed to get past the midfielder was just a little flick to push the ball a little to the left, and now he was racing down the wing with it.
He was just about to run into Roland when he quickly sent the ball rolling to Sandro who was already near the edge of the box, but just before the striker could do anything with the ball, Aima came rushing toward him with a slide.
The defender was planning to take the ball off his feet swiftly but the striker was quick enough to push it off a little to the right. However, he was not fast enough to get his legs out of the way as the defender ended up bringing him down right at the edge of the box.
The striker quickly raised his hand as the referee blew his whistle before quickly making his way to the area.
"Sandro is down at the edge of the box and Ronino FC have a free kick in the best position anyone could ask for."
"Yeah, but will they be able to put it to good use?"
There was no card for Aima and it was very understandable but Ronino FC players didn't care, they had a free kick in a very good position and they had to make good use of it.
Xavier was standing over the ball now with his gaze on Unique FC's four-man wall inside the box.
'Maybe I can finally get my first crucial save.' Dave said subconsciously as he adjusted his gloves.
<Yeah, maybe>
After making sure that nothing was out of place, the referee blew his whistle, and as soon as Xavier heard it, he slowly took three steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and fired it directly toward the goalpost, he was going for the kill.
The ball was sent flying toward the top right side, and although Dave dived toward to try and stop it, there was no need for that, as the ball ended up hitting the crossbar before flying over for a goal kick.
"Oh, it hit the crossbar."
"Just give me the failed message already." The goalkeeper sighed as soon as he crashed to the floor.
This chapter upload first at NovelBin.Com