Chapter 294: Intermission - The Best First Half that Hakodate Nishi Has Ever Played!

"Yes! Good job, everyone!"

"Come on, Jun! This is your best performance ever!"

"Usami, you damn miracle boy! That pass to Kenji is magical!"

"Hey, hey! Don’t praise Kenji too much, his head is getting bigger!"

Right as the players entered the locker room, the atmosphere was quite festive on Hakodate Nishi’s side. Everyone cheered and laughed, celebrating their amazing performance today. It was so strange to have this smooth game in the national phase, but at least, this was enough to boost their confidence.

"National? Just like that?! Haha!" Fujinaga laughed cockily.

Kumiko just shook her head in exasperation. Still, she let her players go crazy first, knowing that some of them had to vent out their bubbling emotions first before she went into a serious matter.

After letting them chat for more than three minutes, she finally coughed, snapping everyone from whatever they were doing there. "Okay, first of all, a round of applause for the best performance that we have ever shown this year!"

Right after that, another round of cheers and whistles echoed throughout the small room.

"Oh! Come on!"

"We are really that amazing!"

"Hahaha! Who would’ve thought that we are a strong team?!"

"Eat shit, Daily Sports!"

"Okay, okay, enough!" Kumiko raised her voice, letting them cool down a little bit. "Also, shoutout to Kenji-kunas the goal scorer, Usami-kunas the assister, and Denji-kun,who found Naoya Takahashi’s weakness and took advantage of it decisively. Without you guys, the situation would be completely different right now." She praised the three main characters in the first half earlier.

"Heck yeah!" Kenji laughed boisterously, even waving the jersey that he had already taken off by now. "Come on, everyone! Give your applause again!"

"Boooooo!" Everyone booed him playfully, even Usami and Denji, who were also following along.

Kumiko giggled at this sight before continuing, "Our defense is also amazing today. Only letting them get three shots to our goal, and other than that, Makino-kun, Jun-kun, Ishinori-kun, and Kazawa-kunprotected our area with the discipline that we want!"

"Ha! You owe me one, Chibi." Makino snorted smugly at Higo when he heard his name was mentioned.

In return, Higo just rolled his eyes sarcastically. "Should we count how much you owe me for saving your ass so many times in the past?" His smile was full of mockery, enough to shut the captain’s mouth instantly.

Before they could continue their bickering, though, Kumiko’s words were enough to silence them.

"Still, we might play good football in the first half, but that doesn’t mean there is no problem on our side." The moment those words escaped from her mouth, everyone straightened their back immediately, knowing that they had to listen carefully to what she said. "First things first, after we scored a goal, somehow, our number of fouls started to rise as well. Before, we only committed 2, but after that, we have already gotten 6. While none of them resulted in any of you getting booked, this is also a concerning matter."

They all frowned immediately at this information. "I didn’t realize it, but you are right, Kumiko-chan. Still, I cannot find any good reason for this. I mean, we still play the same way, right?" Makino turned around for his teammates’ opinion.

"Sure, we do. I mean, we didn’t increase our intensity at all." Jun also nodded in confusion.

Fortunately, Kumiko had an answer here. "This might not be the answer you like, but the reality is, after conceding the goal, all the Toin Gakuen’s players swarmed onto the referee, probably asking for a foul toward Naoya Takahashi. It didn’t change the final result, but they were able to put pressure on the referee’s side, enough to make that man get stricter against us. I mean, it also helps that the supporters are going crazy, so the referee definitely leans more toward them today."

Even though Kumiko said it casually, the explanation still angered some of the players there.

"Fuck! They are so dirty and full of tricks!" Jun cursed annoyedly. "How could they be more shameless in front of their home crowd?! Even Sapporo Otani didn’t really do that, right?!"

"Shall we lower our intensity in the second half?" Kazawa couldn’t help but ask.

However, much to his surprise, Kumiko shook her head decisively. "No, just keep it the same. If you lower your intensity, you will only get bullied later. However, make sure that all the dodgy contacts happen either at a difficult angle or far away from our penalty box. Don’t let them get a free kick close enough to our goal."

"Well... Sure."

"However, we have to take action as quickly as possible to kill the game." Kumiko then turned to all of her attacking players. "The second half starts, and they will try to get a quick goal to tie the score and bring the momentum to their side. However, we have the kick-off right later. So, are you guys confident that your blitzkrieg attack can escape Naoya Takahashi’s defensive coverage?"

The one who answered the question was Hiroshi, as the boy groaned with a glint of playfulness in his eyes. "I have been waiting for you to say that, Shishida-senpai! Kenji-kunstole all the limelight before, and now, my foot is itchy to get back into action! Don’t worry, leave this to me!"

"Hey, hey! You cannot blame this entirely on me, Senpai!" Kenji jumped immediately amidst the laughter from the others. "It is just you being too useless here! You cannot even escape from that defender’s eyes, so how could I pass the ball to you?!"

Everyone laughed so hard when those two started bickering. Even though they were the people who worked the least on the pitch, no one really minded about that. After all, those two were the players who could decide the entire game for their side, and their talent gave them the privilege to do so.

Kumiko was also satisfied with their spirit. She coughed, silencing everyone before speaking one last time, "Since the attackers are ready, we will go for our usual blitzkrieg. People will think that with one goal lead, we will back down like the first half. So, let’s give them a surprise that they would never expect!"

"Hell, yeah!"