Second Chances: Indonesian Football Player

Chapter 126's

*PRIIIITTT*

All the players have taken their starting positions on the field. The referee looked around the pitch once more before blowing the whistle and gesturing for the match to restart.

Nicklas Pedersen, one of Gent's attackers, kicked the ball back into the half area, starting the game once again. Renato Neto, the defensive midfielder in Gent's 4-4-2 diamond formation, took the ball deep in his half of the pitch and directly aimed it towards right-back. Over the next few seconds, the Gent players passed the ball around their backline, trying their best to slow down the tempo of the game.

However, Anderlecht did not want to let any of that happen. Their players swarmed half of Gent's field with tight pressing and closed almost all the routes the opponent passed. They played like they had consumed a strange dose of energy-boosting elixir. They're in overdrive.

Every time a Gent player touched the ball, Anderlecht's players would immediately press tight, forcing him to hand it over to his teammate. If other players receive the resulting pass, other Anderlecht players will also do the same.

However, Gent players remain patient and keep trying to pass the ball in their back line despite the pressure. However, the Anderlecht players did not give up either.

They continued to use high pressing tactics while suppressing their 4-3-3 formation to narrow the space in the middle. Anderlecht continue to create an intense atmosphere around any opponent who has the ball, making it difficult for Gent players to distribute or receive passes.

That way, Anderlecht's team managed to force his opponent to play a high and long ball towards their two attackers. But that was what Nero and his team-mates had anticipated.

Michael Heylen, Anderlecht's centre-back, came into action and intercepted a long ball by heading it before two Gent attackers could reach it. He steered it back to Silvio Proto, the goalkeeper.

Anderlecht returned to possession for the first time after scoring. But Silvio did not linger - long. He ran to the edge of the box and made a long throw to the left side where Fabrice N’Swhen waiting.

Fabrice received the ball with a deft touch and released a cut-back pass into the middle of the field towards Ronald Vargas, who is now a defensive midfielder .

Upon seeing Ronald receive the ball, Nero ran into open space outside the rival's strong pressing zone. Ronald saw him a moment later and passed the ball to him. But by the time he received the pass, Christopher Lepoint, Gent's left-back midfielder, had already begun pressing him.

Nero looked around, looking for a teammate to pass. Surprisingly, opponents have marked all the Anderlecht midfielders. Even Ronald, who had just passed him, had been sealed off by one of Gent's attackers.

It seems that the opponent has decided to use a high-pressing strategy to pressure Anderlecht into losing possession of the ball. They keep the Anderlecht players tight deep within their own turf.

However, Nero did not panic due to the pressure. Instead, he brought the ball to the ground with his back facing the left midfielder Gent, who almost hit him.

He then pretends to go to the right, forcing Christopher to follow his body's deception. But a moment later, he braked for a moment and turned around, going to the left with the ball stuck to his right foot. With that one move, he managed to lose the left midfielder Gent, creating a yard of space for himself in the process.

However, he did not let himself relax just yet. His football instincts chanted that Christopher had re-improved his pace and would be behind him once again in mere seconds. So, he does not laze around and flick the ball further to the left, gaining extra space.

The adrenaline flooded his system as he assessed the situation on the pitch. His mind went into higher gear to utilize his Perfect Vision and build a mental map of all the players in his field of vision. Meanwhile, he continued to move, going further than the opponents surrounding him.

In an instant, three linear paths connecting several of his teammates appeared in his visual field. They emerged as a thread of almost intangible thread, stretching from him to his teammates. Furthermore, Zachary realized that it was not in his mind, like the mental map he used to track other players, but projected where his eyes explored.

Nero was startled for a moment because this was the first time he had faced such a situation. The threads almost fascinated him to the point of making a mistake and making an amateur mistake by leaving the ball. But luckily, he had already stepped a few yards away, midfielder Gent. And thus, he took a few seconds to recall himself and control the ball before it was too late.

Meanwhile, he also used those few seconds to observe the linear passing path and decide where to distribute the ball as quickly as possible. He can see that the three threads in his visual field are linked to the zone around his teammates, who are unmarked or have a metre-long space to process the ball.

Nero smiled inwardly, realizing that thread was the perfect guide that revealed the best and most suitable passing options available to him on the field. But he still had to decide where to feed because his thread thread thread was only a visual guide.

As a midfielder, he still has to use his game intelligence to determine which of the three passing routes projected in front of him will produce the best results. He can't just base a decision on a teammate who is open to receiving a pass. If he does that, he will eventually pass the ball out to his teammate who is completely unsuited. That's not acceptable. What he had to consider, however, was the performance of his teammate during that match. Only then could he release a long-range pass that could have a real impact on the match situation.

Nero continued to observe the thread and noted that one of the threads extended to an empty spot behind Gent's defensive line. In just an instant, he matched the thread with the mental map in his head, and everything clicked at that moment. He managed to conclude that Matias Suarez was the player most likely to make a run from the left wing to a position behind defender Gent.

Nero decided to follow the flow and pass into that position immediately because he knew very well that Matias, the left forward who came on as a substitute, was in his best form. The attacker was even instrumental in building Anderlecht's first goal. There is no reason not to trust him to beat the defenders and connect with his pass.

The entire process of Nero receiving the ball and releasing the pass occurs in just a span of a few seconds. The Gent defenders could not react fast enough for the instant transition from midfield to attack by Anderlecht.

Immediately after Nero let go of the pass, Matias broke away easily from the left wing after losing a player who was guarding him, right-back Gent. He cut behind Gent's defensive line from the wing, running to receive a pass from Nero.

In no time at all, he connected with Nero's pass after beating centre-back Gent at high speed. He headed the ball slowly forward, pointed it forward and immediately darted like a bullet train towards Gent's goal. The goalkeeper came out of the net to meet him, but Matias dodged it with a deft touch and slotted the ball into the empty net.

2:2.

Anderlecht managed to score again in the 70th minute, equalising the score against KAA Gent. Matias ran to nero in the middle of the field and hugged him. "Great inspiration and vision" he said.

"Thank you, it was a spectacular finish there," Nero replied with a smile. He was in a good mood after finally increasing his mastery of Perfect Vision. He even used it to make incredible assists during the game.

Matias smiled and was about to reply but stopped at the next moment. The other Anderlecht players eventually chased them and started jumping towards them to celebrate the goal.

Meanwhile, some Anderlecht fans at the Ghelamco Arena Stadium started cheering and singing as if they had already won the game. The guest team on fire.

"Okay, guys," shouted Bram Nuytinck, Rosenborg's captain for the match, applauding. "We have a game to win. Let's get back to our position and do our best. We'll celebrate on the bus home after the game." He first paused for a moment, like he was preparing himself to do something important before shouting. “ANDERLECHT! GO GO GO!"

"ANDERLECHT, GO GO, ANDERLECHT..."

The other players, including Zachary, shouted together before returning to their positions on the pitch. They are all excited to restart the game and try their best to win the game.

**** ****

In the away side's technical area, Coach Marcel's face smiled as the match restarted. Come back Anderlecht seemed so real to him.

It has only been a few minutes since he made two substitutions. But his side had already scored two goals and equalised the score with about 20 minutes remaining for the final whistle. What's more, the players who score are the ones he just put into the game. Coach Marcel could feel a bloated satisfaction in him as he followed the process on the pitch.

"I think we can now safely conclude that Nero is a genius at distributing the ball" said Bersch Hill, assistant head coach, grinning. "I still don't believe he can see any weakness in Gent's defence and connect with Matias to create that goal. He would definitely be the man of the match if we win this game."

"Alright, we just wait until the game is over" replied Coach Marcel, his view still following what happened on the pitch. "In the meantime, tell Leander to warm up. We might need to replace Ronald before the game is over. He looks tired."

"All right," Coach Hill agreed, still grinning. "I'll tell him soon."

"Thank you" said Coach Marcel, returning his attention to the pitch. He did not want to miss the game change.

Anderlecht have just recaptured possession after using high-pressing tactics to force Gent defenders to play long balls once again. Ronald, Anderlecht's defensive midfielder, jumped high inside his own half of the pitch and headed the ball back towards Gent's side of the pitch.

Nero reacted immediately and chased the ball. He used his high physique to outscore Christopher, Gent number 8, and head the ball into Gent's penalty box.

Fede Vico, Anderlecht's centre-forward today, chased the ball and managed to control it with his chest in the attacking third, even when under pressure. He brought it to the ground while holding down centre-back Gent with just his incredible physique.

An additional Gent player came to close it soon after. However, Fede made the right decision and passed the ball back into the middle third, where Nero waited. The Asian boy had just opened up to receive the ball from the attacker. Coach Marcel nodded in agreement because of the boy's magical feeling in positioning himself on the playing field. He could always find a gap between the players while easily losing his guard.

In the middle third, Nero controlled the ball with a deft first touch, passing the ball past Christopher, a Gent midfielder, in the process. He crunched the ball so naturally that Christopher could not expect a simple loop over his head and ended up losing his way for a moment.

Nero quickly surrounded him while chasing the ball. He then brought it to the ground in a quick and smooth motion. However, before he could go any further, Christopher managed to retrace his steps and pull his clothes. The Gent midfielder gripped Nero's shirt taking him to the ground like they were in a rugby match rather than a football match. It seemed that the loop Nero was doing over his head was a little bothering him.