As soon as the 30 minutes are up, Sae Itoshi immediately stops his movements and looks towards the bench. His meaning is clear: If you're not going to make a substitution, then take me off the field. You won't? I'll walk off on my own then.
Faced with such a forceful Sae, the football association's head, Jingo Raichi, looks awful. This match is a matter of their organization's reputation. If their carefully selected U20 national youth team loses to the Blue Lock team, would it prove that Blue Lock can nurture talent? Of course not. It would only prove the incompetence of the Football Association. After all, the Blue Lock project has only been in operation for a few months.
So this is a difficult situation. If he doesn't make a substitution, Sae will throw in the towel, and the national youth team will have no chance of winning. If he does, he'll have to use players from Blue Lock, which would still feel like a defeat. More importantly, the personal loss for him would be too great.
After much hesitation, he gives the order for a substitution.
"Ryusei Shidou, Yukimiya, get ready to go on."
He's given up. He can't afford to lose this match. It's not just about losing money; he'll also have to face the fury of Hirotoshi Tsurugi, and getting fired will be a certainty.
The fourth official quickly raises the substitution board, signaling the national youth team to make a change.
"The national youth team has decided to make a substitution."
"The match has only been going on for 30 minutes, but the national youth team has already requested a change."
"Let's see what changes this brings to the national youth team."
It's rare to see two substitutions so early in a match, especially when both are strikers. Ryusei Shidou and Yukimiya enter the field. The players they replace, Igarashi and Chigiri, don't high-five them, because Ryusei Shidou has no intention of high-fiving those "losers."
"They're coming on, Ego."
"Hmm."
"Is this going to be bad for us?"
"Probably. Ryusei Shidou and Yukimiya are both players with very strong individual styles. With Sae Itoshi in control, they will only get stronger."
"Then..."
"Don't worry. Our ace is still smiling."
Hearing this, Anri Teieri instinctively looks for Tendou and indeed sees the handsome player with one hand on his hip, a slight smile on his face.
Tendou looks directly at Sae Itoshi and challenges him, "Are you ready?"
"Yeah, let's start."
He means that the real match is just beginning and the previous 30 minutes didn't count.
Tendou hears the double meaning in his words and scoffs, "In that case, let's reset the score to zero, genius."
"No need."
Sae Itoshi frowns. The word "genius" from Tendou sounds grating to him. Besides, his intention is for them to turn the game around from now on, not to reset the score. This guy's mouth is really annoying. However, Sae doesn't intend to get into a verbal spat with Tendou.
He really doesn't talk much. Since the match started, apart from complaining about his teammates, he has only said one sentence to Rin. Only with Tendou does he feel like responding, because he considers Tendou to be a player on his level.
"These two..."
Isagi Yoichi watches them from the side. In his world, some people emit their own unique light. But only Tendou and Sae are especially dazzling and profound.
The national youth team has a free kick. The ball is about 25 meters from the goal, a very dangerous position. Sae Itoshi is the team's primary free-kick taker, so of course, he will take it. But Ryusei Shidou walks up to him.
"From this spot, I can score directly!"
"You can try it, but..."
"Ah, you're worried about that Tendou guy."
Ryusei Shidou really wants to take this kick. His purpose for coming on the field is to shoot and score, but Tendou is a big problem.
"That guy's eyes can see the future. He's a monster."
"The future?"
"You didn't know?"
Sae Itoshi shakes his head. "I just felt it a little when I played against him earlier."
Even in his eyes, Tendou's movements are extremely sharp and he always kicks the ball towards the opponent's "weakest" spot. But he never expected that someone's eyes could literally see the future. When he and Tendou made eye contact, Sae quickly looked away. There's a chilling magic in Tendou's eyes.
"Can you tell me more about his eyes?"
"I don't know the specifics. Simply put, Tendou can read an opponent's moves in advance by noticing things that others don't. Pretty amazing, right? I really want to get his contact information. If we win this match, I'm definitely going to get it."
Sae Itoshi automatically ignores the rest of Ryusei Shidou's words.
Noticing things others don't?
He has met many geniuses with outstanding vision during his years in Europe. Especially after he started playing midfield, he met some players who played as if they had a bird's-eye view, always able to pass the ball to the most lethal spots. But seeing the future? He had never encountered that before.
Sae takes a deep breath and asks, "What's the best option you see?"
The subtext is, I'll let you take this kick. How will you take it?
"A direct shot," Ryusei Shidou replies honestly.
"Is that the best option you can see?"
"Huh?"
"You have to aim for the boundary between a realistically possible technique and an ideally possible one. That's where you find inspiration."
Inspiration, or creativity, is one of the most fascinating things about football. The Latin school of football is famous for this. Ronaldinho, for example, was known as the "football elf." His unparalleled creativity was so amazing that fans joked he sacrificed all of his good looks for it.
Inspiration?
Ryusei Shidou grins. "Talking to you makes my whole body tingle."
"In that case, let's try it. But it's an incredibly difficult move. Can you keep up?"
"Who do you think I am? Just go and chase your dream, devil." Sae's response is concise and powerful.
Beep!
The referee's whistle blows. Ryusei Shidou immediately runs towards the ball.
"This feeling..."
Tendou, in the wall, sees Ryusei Shidou's movement and feels a memory flash through his mind. His brain quickly searches through memories from years ago, and he realizes that a scene like this happened in the original Blue Lock manga. But the big data analysis shows that Ryusei Shidou's chance of scoring is only 35%, which is not as high as Sae Itoshi's direct shot.
The "monster" inside his body tells him to keep his eyes on Sae. But a similar thing happened with Tabito Karasu before.
"I've collected data from several matches, and this is still happening."
"Is it Sae Itoshi? He's allowing Ryusei Shidou to have more possibilities."
While he's thinking, Tendou's body is already moving. This time, he doesn't fully trust the big data analysis. Instead, he moves according to what his "six eyes" see.
"He's moving. It's coming."
Isagi Yoichi is also in the wall. He glares at Ryusei Shidou, ready for a direct shot.
But Ryusei Shidou isn't the one taking the shot. He runs past the ball and moves horizontally, sprinting towards an open space.
"What?!"
"A fake shot? A direct run?"
Isagi and the others can't figure out what Ryusei Shidou is trying to do. Just like in Blue Lock, they couldn't understand his thoughts or actions.
"Wait!"
Someone realizes Ryusei Shidou's intention. It's the "Princess," Hyoma Chigiri. He sprints out of the wall and chases Ryusei Shidou to intercept him.
"He's trying to get into open space to receive a pass from Sae and then shoot."
A play like this is very difficult to pull off. But if the person is Ryusei Shidou, it's a different story.
Thump!
Sae Itoshi kicks the ball. He doesn't shoot directly; he passes the ball just as Chigiri guessed. Chigiri's gamble paid off.
However...
His move was also seen through by Sae. Chigiri dives forward, attempting to head the ball away before Ryusei Shidou can get to it. But the ball flies past his forehead by a fraction of an inch.
"I can't reach it?!"
"No way. Sae Itoshi aimed for the absolute limit of my fastest speed."
Chigiri is shocked. For the first 30 minutes of the match, besides the first goal, his opportunities to participate in the attack were very limited. But even so, Sae Itoshi had him all figured out.
"Oh no!"
In his line of sight, Ryusei Shidou is already in mid-air. His body is almost horizontal, performing a bicycle kick. From the very edge of the penalty area, he is about to shoot. The human wall is on the other side, focused on Sae. Now, Ryusei Shidou has a direct shot at the goal.
It's over!
No matter what, Chigiri can't stop him. He can already see the goal being breached.
But...
Zzzap!
A familiar flash of lightning streaks across his vision in an incredibly shocking way. In an instant, Chigiri's heart, which had just died, suddenly comes back to life.
"It's impressive that you were able to chase the ball this far, Chigiri. You've improved."
"Tendou?!"
Thump!
...
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