a<014. Chaminator on a Lamborghini (2)>

[The match is on. To the left, the Under 13 team representing Poland and to the right, FC Chabum. Commentator Yung Uk, how do you think this one will go?]

[Yes. First of all, the European players have a physical advantage so they might have a bit of an upper hand. Actually, Poland’s U13 team was the winner of last year’s European Youth Competition. It was thanks to a player named Lewandowski but since he’s not running this year, they might have a chance at winning.]

[Of course. What about player number 7, Ho Yung Wu? As a lot of the viewers know, he’s a player that has been garnering lots of attention on Run Shoot.]

[Yes. Ho Yung will be a gamechanger. No way to find out but to watch, right?]

25 minutes for the first and last half.

It would be aired on the cable channel MBS-Espn, not MBS, so they were not hoping for the highest ratings. It was the first time that a youth competition had been held in Korea, so there was a lot of interest.

However, the audience was not happy as Korea had lost 1:7 to Germany the day before.

FC Chabum was the only chance at victory.

FC Chabum had armed themselves with a 4-4-2 formation – they would pressure the whole field with an English-style “big and small” striker positioning. In response, the Poland team had employed the 4-2-3-1 formation.

“Camille! The mid! Trap them in the middle!”

The Polish players screamed at the top of their lungs.

They employed two defensive midfielders to completely take control of midfield. At the same time, 5 midfielders passed the ball back and forth to advance the line. They started attacking by using the whole field.

Their plan was to use their superior physique to pepper the field with passes.

6 minutes into the first half.

“Yaros! Now!”

Kick.

The ball, which had been passed around in a triangle formation, started rushing forward.

FC Chabum was caught off guard – their formation shook.

Chaos itself.

There was one Polish player who was taking advantage of the crumbling defence line.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski.

He burrowed in like a striker with quick feet.

‘I’m through!’

If the first touch is stable, it would make way for a one vs one situation!

Kaczynski stretched out his foot.

Bump.

‘I caught… it?’

Kaczynski’s thoughts were completely mistaken.

Suddenly, an FC Chabum player had appeared, running faster than ever, and stole the ball.

A kid with the number 7. Ho Yung Wu.

‘What? Why is this kid here? Isn’t he a striker?’

Regardless, Ho Yung kicked the ball to a short pass to the left, puffing his breath.

“Run!”

It was a situation that the team had practised many times.

Ho Yung, who had passed the ball to the side, sprinted forward recklessly.

The defence of the Polish team tried to mark him but to no avail.

Whack!

Ho Yung shook off the opposition effortlessly and kept running. It was like watching a race between the hare and the tortoise – the midfielder running after him just gave up in awe.

‘He doesn’t even have the ball yet?!’

He only had A-level strength; he wondered if that skill could keep up with the U-level sprint he was about to pull.

It was at that moment.

Boom!

“Nice pass!”

Ho Yung ran crazily toward the ball that had been passed from the side and caught the ball with a stable first touch.

Then.

“Runnnn!!”

The monster awakened.

Using Chaminator’s hit and run, he demolished the Polish defence. They didn’t even have time to react and had no choice but to let Ho Yung into the penalty box.

He didn’t stop there.

‘I’m running!’

With that one thought, he ran past all the defenders and reached the goalkeeper.

At the moment he was about to shoot –

Pow.

“Ah!”

With an explosive dribble to the right, he deceived the goalkeeper and shot straight into the goal.

Beep!

7 minutes into the first half.

From Ho Yung came the first goal.

It wasn’t a shoot – he had physically forced a goal, almost shoving the ball into the goal. The Polish team were clearly intimidated by this forceful move.

“Nice Ho Yung!”

“Haha, look how they don’t know what to do!”

The team congratulated Ho Yung, slapping his back in friendly banter.

Intimidation aside, this wasn’t what Ho Yung had planned.

‘Ah.. I wanted to do an awesome shoot but my legs are so fast that I can’t even stop myself.’

Damn.

Too fast that the legs don’t stop.

It was as if the basic hardware couldn’t keep up with the software. It was ironic.

There was something that people say. The one weakness with Du Rim’s kick and run was that the legs were faster than the ball.

‘Seriously, this is overbalanced. It’s no wonder he’s called Korea’s Maicon.’

Anyway, it would be 1:0.

[This is a wondergoal! He ran 60 metres with the ball! Amazing]

[Yes. Very good. Ho Yung… with that potential, he could be a marathon runner! Truly amazing. Honestly, because this is a full field game, I wasn’t hoping for much. But that… wow… I’m excited to see where he goes.]

The commentators were tame – Poland’s coach had an even bigger reaction.

“What is that? 9 years old?”

“… I’m sure of it.”

He was dumbfounded by Ho Yung’s performance. But it wasn’t like there weren’t kids like him in the world. In the past, Argentina’s Maradona was the same and a few years ago, Brazil’s Ronaldo was a similar case.

This, this felt a little different.

‘It’s not like he’s good at soccer….’

Well.

Like using a bazooka in a UFC match?

While these thoughts were going across his mind, Ho Yung caught another opportunity for a goal.

“Here!”

Wan Gyu, who was not phased by the double defence facing him, pushed the ball toward Ho Yung.

Ho Yung had to chase the ball due to it slowing down, and got in a fight for possession with the opposition defence.

Ho Yung looked left and right with the opposition behind him. The attacking midfielders were coming toward him to mark him.

‘There’s no space.’

There was no choice of just running straight ahead.

There needed to be a quick decision – Ho Yung shouted without hesitation.

“Run!”

Hyung Jun – who had been at the front lines – launched in, fighting for a position. They had trained together enough to collaborate in scoring a goal in a real match.

Plus, he’s over 170cm tall!

There was no way that they would lose if they just got the ball aerial.

If Ho Yung slipped the ball forward or even kicked the ball into the penalty box, it would be the best case scenario.

“Here!”

Ho Yung made eye contact with Hyung Jun who was waving his hands from inside the box.

[Ho Yung, very good. He’s looking at Hyung Jun. All he has to do is relay the ball calmly.]

[Oh ~ just as you spoke! He’s turned to the side!]

The moment Ho Yung turned his body to the left, Hyung Jun penetrated an unmarked spot in the box and shouted.

“Here! Here!”

It was a signal, asking for a lobbying pass. LIke they had practised.

But Ho Yung’s choice was different.

Shoot!

As soon as he had cleared a path with fast dribbling, he shot for the goal.

Right at the goalkeeper.

[A sudden mid-range shooooooooot!]

“Ah!”

Ho Yung’s surprise shoot curved, touching the goalkeeper’s fingertips.

But.

[GOAAAAL!]

The curving ball touched the keeper’s fingertips and shot straight into the goal.

It was an intelligent play.

[Wow! This is incredible! He shot that from way over there!]

[You can say he’s good at psychological play. He gave them space, slowed the tempo, and suddenly set up a shooting angle. It’s very intelligent. Hyung Jun’s movements were also very good.]

All mistaken.

‘This works?’

He had really made that goal on the spot with no thinking behind it.

He had questioned if it would work and just tried it with no expectations.

And it worked.

‘Wow… does Menaldo always feel like this?’

It was amazing.

That he could recreate games that he imagined. It was the collaboration between his fast legs and heavy mid-range shoot.

“Wow.”

Soccer was so brilliant when the body followed whatever the mind wanted. He wasn’t sure if these tricks would work against an adult team, but he enjoyed it for now.

“Hehe.”

It could have looked like he was mocking the other team but he couldn’t stop his laughter.

Why?

[Heavy mid range shoot (C+)] ↑

His skill had levelled up.