237_What Changed -4
Waaaaah—
A stadium filled with cheers. Just by the fact that this was our home ground and the sheer volume of the roars, it was obvious how the match was going.
Today’s opponent was Sheffield United. Like Burnley, whom we’d met in the opener, they were a promoted team that had come up from the second division this season, but today they looked like they’d been dragged to the stadium against their will.
How should I put it? Like an elementary school kid dragged by his mother’s hand to get a vaccination. They didn’t want to be here but had to, and it even felt like they were squeezing their eyes shut, wishing this time would just pass.
Defense, defense, and more defense. The opponent hadn’t come to play football. It was as if they’d come to help us train, or to do some defensive training themselves.
To be honest, it was questionable whether even that was going properly. Once again, a roar erupted throughout the stadium.
Waaaaah—
“···”
Sitting on the bench with my arms crossed, I subtly raised my head to look at the scoreboard.
55:44
MCI 3 : 0 SHU
Around the 10-minute mark of the second half, the score was 3-0. It had just gone from 2 to 3. The goalscorer was Julian Alvarez. He’d pushed it in with an instinctive shot amidst a scramble in front of the goal.
Clap, clap, clap—
After giving a moderate round of applause, I returned to arms-crossed mode. Under normal circumstances, I should’ve been in high spirits over the team’s landslide victory. But to be honest, I’d been feeling something like jealousy since earlier. I wasn’t sure if jealousy was exactly the right word, but it was something similar.
My physical condition was good. After coming to the stadium today, warming up, and doing some light rondos, my body felt like it could fly. During shooting practice, I’d taken about five shots, and every single one had been sucked into the corners. But the starting lineup had already been decided yesterday, so I was inwardly disappointed that I hadn’t made the list and was sitting on the bench.
To be honest, until the last day before leaving China, I hadn’t felt like my condition was good. That was my own feeling, and the medical team doctor who’d accompanied us had the same opinion. The doctor had checked my physical condition every day, saying they had to report to the club, and their final opinion was that I would need to rest for at least a week or two after returning to England. It was because the Asian Games schedule itself had matches every four days. I hadn’t been without fatigue.
The amazing thing was that it hadn’t even been a week since then. A week? I’d only arrived in England three days ago. Even three days after a home match, you’d be tired, and if you added a 10-hour flight right after a match, it was only natural to be several times more exhausted.
But I was overflowing with vitality. To the point where I wondered what it even meant to be tired. By feeling alone, my body was itching as if I’d rested for about two weeks.
If I had to guess the reason, well. One of the coaches at the Asian Games had said it was the age where you could even chew rocks, so maybe I really was recovering quickly. On top of that, I suspected the dopamine gushing out of my brain was making me forget my fatigue.
Why was the dopamine gushing out?
“···”
Well, of course, it was because Jiu was here at the stadium. Sure, Jiu coming to the stadium was a weekly occurrence. But starting today, that meaning was a little different.
Until last week, Jiu had come to see me as a friend, but starting today… um… girl… girlfr… ahem. It was still so awkward that even thinking about it made my hands and feet curl up, but facts were facts.
I was now someone who had a girlfriend.
“What’s so funny?” “…Huh?”
At the sudden question, I turned my head to see Bernardo looking at me with strange eyes from the seat next to me. When I tilted my head, he pointed to the corner of my mouth.
“You’ve been grinning from ear to ear since earlier. What’s so funny?” “…Ah. Was I.”
“Are you that happy just thinking about your military service being sorted out? Congrats again.”
I scratched my head and shook my head at his words, but laughter burst out around us. The people sitting in the front row also turned to look at me, which made me feel unnecessarily embarrassed.
Well, it wasn’t not that either. Thanks to winning the gold medal, the obligation to serve as an active-duty soldier was gone. I’d received a lot of congratulations for that. I’d heard that even the club’s social media had posted a congratulatory message saying I’d been ‘liberated.’
But well… in the end, rather than the fact that I don’t have to go to the army itself, the fact that my time won’t be taken away seemed much more joyful. Time to spend with Jiu. Because that was so precious to me.
…Hm. Saponara hyung’s words suddenly came to mind. There was a time when I’d frowned at his cheesy affectionate expressions, and he’d said to me then: You’ll definitely be even worse later. I’d said I would never do that back then, but now I thought perhaps he was right.
…I might really be even worse.
“···”
Anyway. That was why I’d been feeling a bit envious since earlier. I wanted to go in and show off a cool performance too. It was frustrating sitting on the bench watching them have all the fun.
Today would’ve been nice. Should I postpone it to the next opportunity?
While I was thinking that and crossing my arms even tighter.
Suddenly!
I saw the coach, who’d been sitting in the very front of the bench, spring up from his seat. Right after whispering something to the manager sitting beside him, the coach who’d sprung up turned toward us and said,
“Rico, Mateo, Jian!”
At this point, there was only one reason our names would be called. There was no instruction other than to warm up in preparation for a substitute appearance.
“Yes!”
I sprang up from my seat, even raising my hand.
*
“Substitutions for Manchester City······”
Along with the stadium announcer’s voice signaling the substitution, I ran out onto the pitch.
Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap—
Warm applause poured in from all sides. Was it my imagination that the sound of that applause somehow felt like a ‘welcome back’? It didn’t matter either way.
“Keep it up, keep it up!”
Using all ten fingers to fold and unfold, I relayed the manager’s instructions to the players already on the pitch. Then I quickly found my position and settled in.
The 25th minute of the second half. De Bruyne was subbed out, and I came in to take his place.
Right before I came on, the manager had told me to just lightly warm up. It was natural that there was no need to overdo it, since we were already winning 3-0 and the opponent’s fighting spirit seemed broken.
“···”
Repeating those words to myself, I calmed my excited mood. My desire to show something was burning, but I couldn’t let my spirits get too high. Because that could soon lead to an attitude of looking down on the opponent.
From outside the pitch, you could say this or that. But once inside facing them, you had to respect the opponent. It was better to think of the opponent in front of you as always the best opponent. Because only then could my best play come out.
Beep—!
The match resumed, and I started my own match by looking around and slowly running.
Honestly, playing a match as a substitute wasn’t as easy as it seemed. Simply put, since you were physically more comfortable than the players who’d been running from the start, it might look easy, but that wasn’t necessarily the case.
First, suddenly matching the match tempo was difficult. Of course, you warmed up sufficiently outside, but warm-ups were just warm-ups—no matter how much you tried to ramp it up, you couldn’t bring yourself up to match tempo. Simply put, it was the difference between everyone starting at 0 and me starting at 60 when others were already at 70. That was why you often ended up following the pace of the players who’d been playing from the start.
But I’d felt it since I was sitting on the bench. Today was a bit different. Maybe because adrenaline was already filling my entire body.
This was how I felt right now. It wasn’t that others were at 70 while I was at 60.
Right now, I was at 100. Maybe even above that.
“Hey!”
Thwack—!
The moment I raised my hand to ask for the ball, a pass came flying toward me. The ball was a welcome sight.
Thwack—!
I received the ball at a position slightly past the halfway line and turned toward the opponent’s goal. Since the opponents had dropped deep anyway, I had plenty of time.
They were really packed tight. If I had to put it negatively, they were swarming. Their players surrounded the box like a fortress wall.
But the amazing thing was that I could see something. I could see it at a glance. I only had two eyes.
I could see the entire pitch, and the path I had to take, as if a navigation system had been turned on.
Taptaptap—!
I knocked the ball forward and advanced. For a moment, I was worried: there were so many paths that I hesitated over which to choose. It was better than not seeing any at all, but too many was also a problem.
Taptap—!
As I reached the line of resistance where pressure would soon come, I slowed down to a near stop and engaged in a stare-down with the opponent.
In the meantime, the light blue jerseys packed tightly here and there were busily moving to find space, but unfortunately, the opposing players were all looking at me.
Is this what it feels like to have a stare-down, 1 against 11? I didn’t want to show a pathetic sight.
Because my girlfriend was watching.
Taptaptap—!
I set my direction and bounced forward. I’d decided. I would go to the place that drew me most among the many choices.
Taptaptap—!
From the center, slightly to the left, I approached through the left half-space. Then, as if I’d neared a beehive, the swarm began to react. The bravest guard bee took a fully alert posture and came out to meet me.
But unfortunately, we were a legion of giant hornets.
Taptap—!
I used the speed of the opponent rushing toward me to turn my direction to the right. I cut the ball to the right with my left foot, then immediately knocked it forward with my right foot without killing the tempo, bypassing one defender.
“···!”
Just by bypassing one defender, the space instantly narrowed. Common sense says you should break free from pressure and move toward open space. But there are times when you have to destroy common sense.
This time, I squeezed into stronger pressure, toward the narrow space.
Taptap—!
Two defenders stuck to me at once. It was a 1v2 fight, but there was no need to take on an unfavorable fight. Let’s fight fair and square, 2v2.
Thwack—!
While keeping my gaze forward, I sent a pass to the left. I’d already seen Foden there, so there was no need to check.
But the defenders’ story was different. If the ball went that way, their gazes would inevitably turn.
In that time, I just had to quietly slip past those defenders.
Taptaptap—
Thwack—!
The moment I slipped behind the defenders, a return pass came. That meant it was time for the defenders’ gazes to focus on me again. I had to make decisions faster, move faster. Sharpening my senses to the extreme, I received the ball.
Thwack—!
A heavy first touch. It was intentional. Not a controlling touch, but a one-touch pass. The direction of the pass: straight ahead. I shifted the attention to Haaland, who boasted the most rugged face even among the rugged defenders.
In the meantime, I ran toward the box again like a shadow, diagonally to the right. Before I knew it, I’d entered the box.
The attention returned to me.
Thwack—!
While focusing my gaze on Haaland’s return pass, I monitored the movements of the defender guarding the front with my peripheral vision. I could see the last defender wasn’t holding his position but rushing forward. It didn’t seem like he was trying to intercept the pass; rather, he seemed intent on clattering into me the moment I received the ball.
Let’s use that.
Thwack—
I took the pass coming from the left with my right foot and knocked it back to the left. While the opposing defender rushing toward me hesitated to change direction urgently at that touch.
Thwack—!
In one step, I controlled the ball forward with my left foot and pushed inside. At this point, with the ball already escaping, the defender might as well be invisible. Let him try to block my path and face severe punishment.
Taptap—!
That’s right. You have to get out of the way.
Once I bypassed the last defender, my blocked vision opened up brightly. I could see the goalkeeper flustered like someone whose bedroom had been raided while they were asleep, and behind him the wide goalmouth, and behind that the fans rising from their seats.
With nothing more to look at, I struck lightly with my left foot.
Baaaang—!
The goalkeeper collapsed to the left, and the shot flew low toward the right corner.
Swoooooosh—
Thwack!
The net rippled, and I ran past the goalpost along the goal line. A massive roar followed me.
Hop, hop. Following the cheers of the fans waving their hands toward me as I ran. By the time I reached the corner flag, I sent a two-fingered salute toward the sky box where the VIPs sat.
For my own VIP… would saying that be too cringeworthy?
Whatever. It’s not like anyone can hear me.
*
“Manager?” “?”
“Shall I go tell him something?”
While the stadium was completely covered in cheers, on the Manchester City bench. While the players on the bench were clapping with their hands on their heads, the coach whispered to Manager Guardiola.
“?”
But Manager Guardiola simply had a question mark on his face. The coach asked again.
“Well, I feel like I should go tell him to take it easy and play lightly.”
“?”
“Jian. You told him to just warm up moderately, didn’t you?”
Manager Guardiola nodded silently without a word. Seeing that, the coach, perhaps feeling frustrated inwardly, spoke in a raised tone.
“So, shall I go tell him?”
Only then did Manager Guardiola look at the coach intently. The coach had an expression that said he didn’t understand, and Manager Guardiola looked at that coach with an expression that said he didn’t understand either.
Then Manager Guardiola, shrugging his shoulders, said.
“He’s just warming up moderately. Why?”
Thanks to I Jian, who had returned after finishing the Asian Games, Manager Guardiola was in quite a good mood.