My Goalkeeping System

It was a pretty rough start but since it was just the start of the game, they still had ample time to get back into it.

Playing with this formation in a training session and a real match just like the one they were in now were two different things.

No matter how hard anyone tried to recreate the feelings of being in a real match in a training session, it was always going to remain a training session.

The competitiveness might be there but feelings like the frustration from conceding a goal, the unending strive to win, and the joy from having the fans cheer them on only existed in a real match and those things were one of the main factors that affected how a team was going to perform.

The players had already developed muscle memories of how to link up well with the other two formations but the same could not be said for this formation because they just didn\'t seem to be linking up well and happened to be losing the ball a little too much.

Roland even managed to give the ball away in their own half, but luckily for the team, Dave was able to catch the ball which Jaleni attempted to put in from the bottom left-hand side of the goalpost.

<They are really pushing you guys which is expected, I just don\'t understand why he would do something like this after seeing how much you guys struggled against them last week>

\'Me and you, Cat, we\'re in the same boat.\' Dave replied subconsciously as he slowly got up from the floor with the ball.

"Unique FC are looking really lackluster so far in this game, I just hope they\'ll be able to get themselves together sooner rather than later," Jim commented.

Dave had to send the ball flying out toward Mateo, and as soon as he brought the ball down with his chest, he pushed it to Ferran who had to send it back to him just before Jamie could get to him.

"Back to Mateo."

Mateo tried to move forward with the ball but his path was blocked by the midfielder so he had to move it back to Roland who quickly lobbed it over to him as soon as he got past the midfielder.

"Back to Mateo once more."

The midfielder tried to take the ball from him from behind, but Mateo was quick enough to accelerate to the right just in time before pushing the ball to Fredinho.

"They\'re finally pushing forward here."

Fredinho feigned firing toward the goalpost with all the players right in front and he managed to startle a few of them before flicking the ball to Minino on the right.

As soon as Minino got his foot on the ball, he quickly took off down the right with it.

However, he wasn\'t able to get past the left back on time as the defender quickly blocked his path but he didn\'t slow down and just quickly pushed the ball back to Ferran with a backheel pass.

Ferran had to push the ball back to Martinez because of all the players around him, and as soon as Martinez got his foot on the ball, he quickly sent the ball rolling to Mateo down the left.

As soon as Mateo got his foot on the ball, he quickly cut past the left back with a neat nutmeg.

However, he still had the center backs to deal with but he chose to skip that stage and just go straight for the goalpost from the edge of the box.

"Mateo!"

The winger curled the ball toward the top right-hand side of the goalpost and he had the goalkeeper glued to a spot but his effort ended up hitting the crossbar before flying over for a goal kick.

"Oh, and the crossbar gets in the way."

There was a loud gasp from the fans as soon as the ball hit the crossbar, that was so close.

The only thing Mateo could do was sigh before he began to walk back to his side of the pitch.

"That could have been the equalizer and what a goal it would have been."

The match continued till the fortieth minute without anything impactful happening, the home team were still leading one goal to nothing but there had been a couple of good chances mostly from Spree City.

Dave has not known rest so far with every shot they\'ve been sending his way so far.

Right now they had a corner kick to capitalize on after Dave managed to send the shot from Torre\'s free-kick over the bar.

Jamie was standing over the ball on the spot now waiting for the referee\'s whistle with everyone else running around inside and around the box.

It didn\'t take long before the referee blew his whistle and as soon as the midfielder heard, he slowly took three steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and sent it flying in.

However, he made the mistake of placing it in Dave\'s range a little to the goalpost.

The goalkeeper wasn\'t going to let an opportunity to clear the danger pass him by as he quickly dived toward the ball just as it got into his direct point of view and punched it out toward the right.

The ball fell to the feet of Norman who quickly sent it flying out toward Mateo who was at the center of the pitch.

"Oh, they\'re looking to start a counterattack here!"

Mateo had a defender trying to drag him down from behind and take the ball but he was able to control the ball properly and escape his grip but the player was still hot on his trail.

"Mateo\'s pushing forward but he\'s not completely clear."

The winger was able to get to the edge of the box with the player still behind him and everyone else coming in fast from behind.

He knew he wouldn\'t be able to take a proper shot with the player right behind him so he came to a sudden halt to allow the players to zoom past him with his sliding attempt to take the ball.

"And he gets him out of the way, it\'s time to go for that shot!"

Mateo quickly got into the box and was about to fire toward the goalpost when the other center back quickly zoomed in from behind and pushed him down right inside the box.

The referee didn\'t hesitate to blow his whistle before he quickly made his way to the area and showed the defender a yellow card.

"It\'s the first yellow card of the game and Unique FC have been awarded a penalty, the chance to pull one back is finally here."

A couple of Spree City players quickly gathered around the referee in protest but it didn\'t look like he was going to go back on his decision, that was a clear push after all.

\'Finally, don\'t mess this up, Mateo.\'

<Well, the chance is there but I hope he doesn\'t>

Mateo was standing over the ball now as the fans kept chanting his name to give him that boost of morale.

He had his gaze on the ball now with Spree City\'s goalkeeper trying to trash talk him and break his focus but he wasn\'t really paying attention to that.

It didn\'t take long before the sound of the referee\'s whistle pierced through the air, that was his go signal.

"This is the chance but can Mateo put it away?"

The winger took two steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and fired it toward the top right side.

He had the goalkeeper glued to a spot which was really good, however, he ended up blasting the ball over the bar.

"Terrible, terrible, terrible miss."

The reaction from the crowd was a gasp of shock and disappointment.

"That could have been easy, Mateo." The winger bit his lower lip in frustration before kicking the air.