Field Commander - Chapter 48

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 48.

Chapter 48.

Chapter 48.

One hour before the match.

Wembley Stadium.

After warming up on the field, we came back to rest.

“Japanese football?”

Jung Joo-young was a veteran who had played many matches against Japan.

Manager Lee Sang-cheol and the coaches told us a lot, but due to time constraints, it was mostly tactical talk.

This time, we switched from our usual 4-3-3 formation to a 4-2-3-1 formation.

Previously, we attacked and defended together, but now we’ve separated defense and offense.

“They’re completely different from us. When our game isn’t working, we put a physically strong guy up front and kick long balls, right? They don’t do that. They continue the game to the end with short, precise passes. They don’t even clear the ball in dangerous situations. They connect with passes and immediately start back build-up.”

Jung Joo-young was someone who dreamed of becoming a football coach like Hwang Ki-ho after ending his playing career.

When I wondered what he was doing alone in his room, he was preparing for his coaching license.

I also had two years of studying under my belt, so I casually brought up the topic, and we communicated quite well.

“Even in dangerous situations?”

“Yeah. Their organization and pass quality are so good that they rarely lose the ball.”

Japanese players’ physicality had improved a lot, but it still wasn’t at Korea’s level.

Korea wasn’t at the level to make precise, organized passes like Japan.

In the end, looking at this starting lineup, they put in players with good physicality.

It meant to play the kind of football Japanese players hate most.

“Why do they play that kind of football?”

“It’s policy.”

“Policy?”

“Yeah. After the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup, the Japan Football Association made a 100-year plan. They made football a lifestyle sport and decided at the association level what kind of football to play. Basically back build-up, fast and precise passing football. And having patience until the perfect goal chance comes… So they’re educated from a young age to the point where kicking long balls is taboo.”

Wow…

I had to look at Jung Joo-young with new eyes.

He knows a lot…

‘Then there won’t be many situations where we can compete for aerial duels in our half…’

Jung Joo-young spoke up.

“Strong teams like Spain… underestimating Japan because they’re Asian was the cause of their defeat. We, who play A-matches against them every year, know. How difficult Japan is to beat.”

It does seem amazing that we beat such a difficult team every year.

“As the manager said, they really hate rough physical battles. They’re players who pass to avoid physical battles in the first place. I think Japanese cultural tendencies also play a part. However, since they don’t have star players but are all at similar levels, it might be disadvantageous for you.”

Ah…

Jung Joo-young seemed to have observed me very carefully.

But what he doesn’t know is…

There’s only one reason I target outstanding forwards from opposing teams.

Only to win the match.

If there’s no such player, I just need to play the game in a different way.

“They especially show weaknesses in set piece situations, so we need to persistently target that.”

* * *

Five minutes after the match started, Japan’s wave attack began without giving us a moment to breathe.

Among all the teams we’d faced, this was the team with the fastest pass timing.

The players’ movements were very organic, agile, and full of confidence.

However, despite having three shooting opportunities in just five minutes, if they hadn’t failed their attack by circulating the ball looking for better chances, wouldn’t we have conceded at least one goal?

It’s the same now.

I quietly watched the eyes of the player who caught the ball in front of me.

It didn’t seem like he was trying to break through.

To circulate the ball, all our players were sticking close.

‘Shooting?!’

I instantly lifted my foot, and the forward, who was only about 170cm tall, shot very agilely.

The ball hit my foot and flew into the air, and Kim Seong-ryong jumped out and caught it.

He immediately returned to defense with an expression like he had completed his mission.

Since they couldn’t develop the attack further, they finished with a forced shot.

“Hey, what are you all doing right now?”

Kim Seong-ryong didn’t give the ball right away and shouted at the players again.

“Get your heads together! Control the tempo!”

Although Gu Ja-yoon wore the captain’s armband, Kim Seong-ryong was the actual captain of the national team.

This was probably the first time Kim Seong-ryong had experienced such a situation since coming to England.

But from Japan’s perspective, this method didn’t seem bad.

Looking at the Korean Olympic team’s record…

They conceded the most goals in the first 5 minutes of each half and the last 5 minutes.

The average height of Japan’s forwards was about 170cm.

But the average height of the four defenders was almost 190cm.

We had to say they came out after thoroughly analyzing Korea.

Moreover, the small but agile Japanese players were pressing and running around like crazy as if they would only play the first half, and the players couldn’t not know that losing the ball would immediately lead to conceding.

Spain and Egypt had fallen to Japan’s method.

Compared to them, the ball handling of the bigger Korean players didn’t look very agile.

The bigger problem was that Jang Jin-woo, who should be moving actively up front, was caught by one defender and wasn’t showing nimble movement.

So it was hard to suddenly pass the ball forward.

We kept making back passes.

Manager Lee Sang-cheol’s expression was dark.

‘They read our tactics and how we would come out.’

It was a situation where we had to think that way.

“Ahhhhh!”

I deliberately engaged in strong physical battle with the player dribbling the ball.

He was light as a feather so I felt no impact, but he screamed as if hit by a truck.

But today’s referee didn’t blow the whistle.

‘Not the style to whistle for rough physical battles.’

Japan seemed not to have figured this out before the match.

‘That’s what I mean.’

Japanese players quickly rushed in to steal back the ball they lost.

I glanced at Park Chang-su who was open and lightly tapped the ball in that direction.

The agile Japanese players immediately reacted.

At that moment, I dragged and slipped the ball between my legs.

Two Japanese players were caught by the feint and staggered.

‘Since they’re agile, they’ll recover quickly.’

But that amount of time was enough.

I didn’t pass the ball immediately but continued dribbling up.

I had rarely shown this kind of play during the Olympic matches, and the Japanese players seemed unaware as they continued pressing from the front.

As if inducing a back pass.

‘That’s why information is important.’

I roughly pushed away the rushing player with my body and kept running.

The player who collided with me lost balance, staggered, and fell, but again the referee’s whistle wasn’t blown.

When I peeled away that layer, a vast space opened up before my eyes, and our team players also started sprinting forward.

That said, since the speed at which I was carrying the ball wasn’t particularly fast, I somewhat expected the Japanese players to come charging from behind.

As expected…

One guy came running at me from the side with a determined expression, and it was clear he intended to stop the attack with a tackle.

‘Here we go!’

Following my instincts, I flicked the ball forward and jumped at the same time.

I caught a glimpse of the panicked expression on the Japanese player sliding under my feet, and as soon as I landed, I immediately reduced my speed and turned my body.

After avoiding another tackle from a different direction.

‘Two players.’

The fact that two people were clinging to me meant…

One of our team players was free.

Sure enough, Lee Bo-kyung, who had come out as a defensive midfielder, was running into the empty space on the opposite side, and I sent a through pass while avoiding the Japanese player who was flailing his legs while lying down.

With this, Korea had 5 players participating in the attack.

Japan had 4 defenders.

Surprisingly, I thought Japan’s defense would crumble from the sudden counter attack, but they immediately switched to zone defense and prepared for it.

‘Wow… there was a reason they had so many clean sheet games.’

Just as Lee Bo-kyung was about to touch the ball to pass it to the forward in front instead of taking a mid-range shot, he was immediately pressured.

“Over here!!!”

I shouted while continuing to run without stopping, and Lee Bo-kyung immediately sent the pass.

Right in front of the penalty area, in a position where I could shoot directly.

In that moment, one player’s movement caught my field vision.

I swung my right foot like a bow as if I was going to shoot, and the number 4 defender who was playing zone defense threw his body.

‘Geez, what an impatient personality.’

Is it strange that I’m thinking such things while playing soccer?

– Tap.

And instead of shooting, I took the power out of my right foot and sent a ground ball to the left.

I could see the ball going to Gu Ja-yoon’s feet as he penetrated between the defenders whose attention was drawn this way.

– Bang!!!

What kind of power shot is that in front of the goal?

But…

– Swoosh!!! Swish…

A pleasant sound came from Japan’s goal, and all the Japanese fans behind the Japanese goal fell silent, holding their heads.

“Yaaaaah!!!”

Gu Ja-yoon did his goal celebration, spinning his arms around.

The Japanese manager, who had been continuously giving instructions to his players from the sideline, was glaring at me with both hands on his hips.

With those deadly laser eyes as if he would split me in half.

‘High risk, high return.’

The manager couldn’t possibly not know that applying such deadly high press would loosen up the defense.

I turned my head to look at the main referee who was signaling that the goal was valid.

‘Thank you. This is really the first time I’ve ever been grateful to a referee.’

Among the teams we’ve faced in this tournament, Japan definitely seems to be the best.

* * *

“Wow!!! It’s a goal. Korea’s opening goal!”

Choi Do-hoon, who was doing the commentary, shot up with his hand raised.

The chair he was sitting on flew backward.

– Woah!!

– Wow!

– Kyaah!

– This is crazy!

– Is this for real?

– Fuck, I thought we’d get destroyed like against Egypt, what the hell is this?

…

Hundreds of comments poured down simultaneously.

“Gu Ja-yoon’s first goal of the tournament explodes in the match against Japan!”

Choi Do-hoon set up the fallen chair and sat back down.

“Wow… just when it seemed like the early game atmosphere was completely shifting to Japan, they literally shot an arrow into Japan’s heart.”

The broadcast screen showed that process several times, and Choi Do-hoon noticed something slightly strange.

– Kim Sang-hyuk is insane.

– Wow, a pass instead of a shot from there…

– Didn’t he give Jung Joo-young a similar pass in the Mexico match?

– He spoon-fed it to Gu Ja-yoon. If he hadn’t scored that, he would’ve become a national traitor.

– He barely avoided being offside by a hair’s breadth.

– But why are the Japanese players protesting to the referee?

…

The scene showing Kim Sang-hyuk aggressively charging at the Japanese player who was carrying the ball.

Choi Do-hoon knew very well how intelligently Kim Sang-hyuk played defense.

So when he first saw that scene, he thought it wasn’t Kim Sang-hyuk’s typical defensive play.

He wondered if he did it because he was angry from being constantly on the defensive.

But the scene of him momentarily looking at the referee after stealing the ball caught his eye.

“No way…”

Watching the broadcast screen replay that scene, Choi Do-hoon felt goosebumps all over his body.

He was certain it was done deliberately to gauge the referee’s tendencies.

The scene after that where he unhesitatingly and roughly knocked down the charging Japanese players with physical battles…

‘He figured out something like that during the game?’

While enduring Japan’s wave-like pressure attacks?

– But did Kim Sang-hyuk know how to make plays like that? I think this is my first time seeing it?

– I also didn’t know he could escape pressure like that?

– Was he unable to do it before? Or did he just not do it?

– The way he dragged the ball to change direction felt like watching Barcelona’s Busquets.

– Busquets is an exaggeration. How can you compare him to world class?

…

For now, Choi Do-hoon concisely explained the goal scene.

“Kim Sang-hyuk’s pressure escape and dribble, along with his wide field vision, could be said to be the starting point of this goal.”

The game resumed, and the Korean players began engaging in much rougher physical battles with the Japanese players than in the early game.

And seeing that, his goosebumps turned into certainty.

‘Kim Sang-hyuk definitely told the players about the referee’s tendencies.’

The Japanese players started getting knocked down by the rough physical battles from the Korean players, and while the whistle was blown a few times, the main referee ignored most physical battles.

“Japan, with their high FIFA ranking and actual good ability, always struggles when they meet Korea… but today they seem to be facing an even bigger struggle.”

Because of one player.

He didn’t bother saying the rest.

Half of his subscribers were female readers, and if he acted like a Kim Sang-hyuk fan, many subscribers would drop off.

* * *

‘Kim Sang-hyuk.’

Lee Sang-cheol’s gaze followed Kim Sang-hyuk’s movements for a while.

– Today’s referee is very lenient with rough physical battles.

That kind of information should be assessed by the manager and coaching staff and then conveyed to the players, but this time Kim Sang-hyuk had assessed it and conveyed it to this side.

‘You…’

You should be running while thinking so hard your head feels like it’s going to explode about how to receive the ball, how to handle it, who to pass it to, what movements to make, but you’re paying attention to all that too…?

As the players began to challenge roughly with their superior physicality, Lee Sang-cheol could see Japan’s smooth passing football completely losing its momentum.

That one player on the field had completely changed the game.

Usually such players are called ‘cracks,’ but Lee Sang-cheol had never heard of or seen a case where a defensive player was a crack.

‘You might just become the protagonist of this tournament.’

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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