Greatest Of All Legends - Chapter 30

Chapter 30: Porto Juniors vs Familicao U-19
The cheers of the crowd reached an all-time high as the ball nestled into the back of the net from Goncalo Sousa’s header.

{What a goal from the young striker!}

{An incredible jump to connect with the cross from the wing-back and send the ball into the back of the net with a bang in the early minutes of the game} the commentator shouted in an excited voice as the crowd went wild and the striker took off towards the sidelines and jumped up while pumping his fist in jubilation.

The whole team gathered around the scorer in jubilative moods, and they shared hugs, hand-fives, and smiles with each other before heading back to their half at the prompting of the referee.

Soon the game kicked off once again and the match resumed with FC Porto Juniors in the lead and they began to play like they were in the lead since they had the momentum.

The players moved further up the field and the forwards began to make more frequent runs at the opposing team’s defense, constantly trying to find spaces to get a shot away.

In less than ten minutes, the Porto team had already managed to get another four shots away with three of the shots being off target and the last one saved by the heroics of the Familicao team’s goalkeeper, otherwise, they would already be down by two.

With their team almost getting another goal, the Porto team got even bolder and constantly looked for even more attacking options, but that was when the unexpected happened and the Familicao midfielder, Toki Yukutomo managed to steal the ball from Joao Teixeira in the midfield before setting off on a lightning-fast counter-attack.

The Porto defense that had been playing a high defensive line was too slow to turn around and before they could make up for this playstyle that had turned out a mistake, Toki already sent a sweeping pass behind the defense and into the path of an approaching striker that was free from his markers.

Some of the Porto team’s players looked at the assistant referee wondering how the striker was so free, but the flag stayed down and the striker continued chasing after the pass.

Pedro, the goalkeeper for the Porto team quickly ran out of his goal, hoping to reach the ball before the striker of the Familicao team but unfortunately, he wasn’t fast enough to match the striker’s pace and ended up having the ball chipped over him and falling into the back of the net.

GOAL!!!

1 : 1

The Familicao team had equalized in the 23rd minute of the game just eleven minutes after they had gone behind.

The cheers from the few happy Familicao fans were no match for the booing from the Porto fans but the Familicao players didn’t care and gathered around the goalscorer to celebrate.

Jason watched the events of the match with an impassive face from the bench, but the same could not be said about the players who shared the bench with him or the coach.

Their joyous moods had been toned down quite a bit after seeing their team conceding a goal and being equalized.

Antonio in particular had a frown on his face, but he refrained from letting his anger show and simply barked orders at the players on the pitch, reminding them of their game plan and telling them to tighten up defensively and not lose the ball unnecessarily.

Those were the only words he managed to get across to his players before the match resumed.

After the kick-off, the Familicao team seemed to have swallowed steroids and charged ferociously at the Porto team’s players in possession of the ball.

The Porto team was pressed hard and continuously dropped back into their half of the ball all while trying to keep the ball in possession, but the Familicao team didn’t give up on pressing aggressively and didn’t even hesitate to foul the Porto Juniors team players.

{In a stunning turn of events, it’s the Porto juniors team that is under fire from the Familicao team’s press and can’t do anything with the bal-… oh they’ve lost the ball} the commentator was describing the match’s proceedings when he suddenly changed his words seeing the Porto’s right back lose the ball to the left winger of the Familicao team.

Leonardo, the Familicao’s left-winger did not hesitate to send a grounded cross into the box after stealing the ball.

The Porto team’s defense which wasn’t expecting this sudden upset couldn’t react in time to the right winger of the Familicao team running speedily into the penalty area to connect with the ball and slot it past the goalkeeper’s outstretched hand and into the back of the net.

GOAL!!!!

1 : 2

{My word, my word! Less than fifteen minutes since going behind and the Familicao team rose to the challenge with a resounding comeback!} The commentator’s shouts accompanied the Familicao’s right-winger’s power-slide jubilation.

Mauro Ribeiro jubilated without a care in the world despite the match not having reached its mid-point.

His teammates shared his enthusiasm and celebrated without care for the location, time, or even the referee’s attempts to hurry them.

This time, the FC Porto Junior’s team head coach couldn’t keep his anger out of his voice as he barked at his team’s right back who had lost the ball that led to the goal.

His words of annoyance didn’t take into consideration that the right-back had already contributed earlier with an assist.

Antonio didn’t care and he wasn’t having it.

His superior was probably paying attention to this game since it was a sort of test for the new player, but his team was playing like sh*t and was already losing the game barely thirty minutes in.

Not to mention that they conceded two goals in less than ten minutes.

He was having a bad day right now and it was showing in his choice of words as he spewed harsh words on his players.

The only thing keeping profanities from his mouth were the few cameras trained on him.

Jason watched all this from the safe space of the bench as he was not among the players on the pitch who would have to bear the brunt of the coach’s harsh words.

To be fair, he could understand the coach’s anger as the two goals that his side had conceded were goals that could have been avoided if they had kept their focus and not been over their heads because they had scored early on.

These were mistakes that would diminish from the players the more experience they had, but Jason wasn’t interested in that and was wondering when he could get on the pitch and get on the ball.