Greatest Of All Legends - Chapter 189

Chapter 189: Road to Liga NOS Champions 2019/20 XVI
The assistant referee on the sidelines held up the board to show the number of added minutes as the match neared ninety minutes.

Four minutes would be added as injury time which was enough time for anything to happen.

Jason who was still looking for space realized that he no longer had the luxury of time to look for the opportune moment to break through the opponent’s defense.

Since the opportunity hadn’t shown itself, then he had to create the opportunity himself so keeping his eyes on the ball that moved around, he slowly moved nearer to the center of the penalty area from the left side of the 18-yard box.

While Jason slowly moved towards the center of the Tondela team’s 18-yard box, his teammates exchanged the ball among themselves.

Finally, the ball reached Fabio Viera who was standing about a dozen yards away from the Tondela team’s 18-yard box.

As soon as he received the ball, the Tondela players came at him, but as he was looking for a passing option, Jason who had made it to the center of Tondela’s 18-yard box quickly rushed out while asking for the ball to feet.

Fabio Viera didn’t hesitate and quickly sent the ball to Jason who received it just outside Tondela’s 18-yard box with his back facing Tondela’s goal post.

Jason had barely gotten the ball under control after receiving the pass when someone slammed into him from behind.

Jason did not need to look behind him to know that it was a Tondela player who was making his presence known, but scoring a goal was the only thing on Jason’s mind at the moment so he did not back down and immediately his brain started coming up with escape maneuvers that could get him through on goal.

However, before his mind was made up, his body had already started moving out of habit, and Jason still with his back facing the player and Tondela’s goal immediately moved his body as if he wanted to turn left.

The player behind Jason could see all his movements and quickly moved to follow after Jason, but then all of a sudden Jason’s body which had been moving towards the left suddenly shot back towards the right faster than ever.

The player immediately tried to follow Jason’s movements but at that moment, it was like his brain was short-circuited and his movements stiffened leaving him unable to react immediately.

He could only watch in a daze as Jason turned towards the right, sweeping the ball along with him.

The Tondela player’s shock didn’t last long however as he quickly recovered and went after Jason almost unconsciously, but due to his slow reactions, Jason was already almost out of reach and he could only stretch his hand out to grab Jason’s jersey.

Luckily his hand managed to grab out the collar of Jason’s jersey and he yanked hard, pulling Jason to the floor.

*Fweeeeeeee*

The referee’s whistle went off immediately and it was only at this moment that he realized that he and Jason had crossed the line and were now in his team’s 18-yard box.

The referee ran to them and pulled out a red card immediately because despite him not being the last man, after Jason dribbled past him, he was already through on goal and had enough time to take the shot before any of the other players could even move, thus the Tondela player had obstructed a goal-scoring chance with a foul.

The consequence of that was a red card and a penalty.

Other Tondela players quickly ran over and while some of the players protested the red card, some tried to argue that Jason had not yet crossed the line when he was pulled down so it could not be a foul.

The place where Jason had fallen was at the edge of the penalty box, so it was true that it was a bit difficult to tell where he had actually been fouled and the Tondela players tried to argue that it was outside the box so that they wouldn’t have to face off against a penalty this late in the game, especially when they still harbored hopes of equalizing.

While all this was happening, Jason got off the ground with the help of Viera who pulled him up, he was a bit annoyed about the player who had brought him to the ground and caused him to lose his goal-scoring chance, but since he had gotten a penalty instead, his annoyance didn’t even show up on his face.

Instead, he went to pick up the ball and waited for the referee to quell the situation so that he could take the penalty.

He was sure of where he had fallen and he knew that if it was checked with VAR, then he would still be granted the penalty, so he wasn’t unsure.

He also wasn’t going to concede the penalty that he had gotten from his efforts to anyone, dead ball specialist or not, hence he already held the ball while waiting.

He wasn’t interested in hearing any stories that touched emotions because he wouldn’t be shaken and he most definitely would not be giving up a chance to add to his goal tally.

While Jason waited with the ball in hand while conversing with Viera, the referee had to deal with the Tondela players.

He wasn’t going to budge on the booking decision and the player would definitely be sent off, but he had to go and check with the VAR and confirm whether to give a penalty or a free-kick.

It took almost three minutes since Jason had been pulled to the ground before the referee finally finished checking everything that needed to be checked and just like Jason had expected, a penalty was given.

Jason’s teammates could already see in his eyes that he wasn’t going to give up the penalty so they didn’t even bother to ask, especially as Telles who usually took penalties for the team had already been subbed off.

With all that clear, Jason put the ball down on the penalty spot and took five steps back, counting the number of steps internally before taking a deep breath and locking eyes with the Tondela goalkeeper.

*Fweeeeeee*

Hearing the referee’s whistle, Jason started walking towards the ball, his footsteps light, but his eyes stayed locked on the goalkeeper’s eyes and his face was an image of a hundred percent composure.

The Tondela goalkeeper didn’t know what to make of Jason’s literal staring contest right before taking the penalty, but his eyes stayed on Jason’s eyes as he tried to determine Jason’s intentions for the ball, but no matter how he looked, there was nothing to see and it felt like he was looking into a fog.

With a hundred percent composure in his eyes, on his face, and in his movement, Jason walked up to the ball and hit the ball with very little power sending it toward the right side of the goal yet the Tondela goalkeeper had already dived towards the left in confusion of the situation.