The clock was showing forty minutes now and yet the score was still even as none of the sides had been able to penetrate their opponent's defenses and strike a deadly blow.
They've been finding the gaps on their opponent's sides but their finishing had not been good enough.
Okafor had been trying his outside-the-box shots whenever he found the space but two of them had flown over the bar while one which had been shot directly at Dave was an easy catch for the goalkeeper.
Unique FC had also gotten their chances, two chances to be precise.
The first chance was a low cross into the box from Roland, Merino had gotten hold of the ball at the other end and could have easily put it away at the bottom right-hand corner of the goal post but he was a bit off balance when he got the ball so his shot had gone wild but it came really close to hitting the crossbar at least.
The second chance came from a clever run from Ferran, the midfielder ran down the middle and did quick stepovers to get rid of two players who were trying to stop him.
On getting to the edge of the box, he found Fredinho quickly making a run into the box and passed the ball to him.
All Fredinho needed to do was get a touch on the ball to send it flying toward the goal post but the players heading toward him at that time seemed to have put a lot of pressure on him as he blasted the ball wide from the top.
"This match is turning out to be tougher than I expected," Jim said.
Lesica United were the ones with the ball with forty-two minutes showing on the clock and they seemed to be getting desperate for a goal now as they were quickly pushing their attack.
Their central midfielder was currently moving forward with the ball with Ferran quickly making his way toward him from behind but before Ferran could get to him, he passed the ball to Okafor who quickly passed it to the left winger who had a little space to cover before he got closer to the retreating defense of the hosts.
Minino quickly made his way to the winger to try and dispossess him and he had almost done it by bringing the winger down under a nice challenge but the player quickly grabbed the ball with his feet while he was on the floor, turned toward Okafor who had gotten a little close to him and pushed the ball to him.
"Good job Jonathan," Okafor said as he trapped the ball under his foot.
He sensed Pirlo coming toward him at a fast pace and quickly moved back with the ball to avoid the defender before quickly passing the ball to the central midfielder who was close to him now.
"Over here, Levi!" The right winger yelled as he ran toward Roland.
The midfielder heard his call and quickly passed the ball to him.
"Lesica United are looking dangerous here."
The winger tried everything possible to shake off Roland but the youngster wasn't giving in.
"Yeah, but it looks like he's having trouble with Roland," Steve said.
The winger tried everything possible and had almost lost the ball in the process but that was all he needed to find a space to get past him.
Roland stretched his leg toward him and had almost kicked the ball out for a throw-in when the winger quickly grabbed the ball with his right foot and quickly shifted away from the left back.
"No," Roland muttered.
"It looks like he's through now," Jim said.
The winger moved forward and found Okafor inside the box with a neat pass.
Okafor had Aima on him and needed to move back with the ball a little to create enough space to curl the ball into the box from the top left-hand corner but before he could do that, he was brought down by Aima who quickly raised his hand to claim that he didn't touch him but the referee had seen what he wanted to see as he blew his whistle as soon as the striker hit the floor.
"Oh, dear, it's a foul against Unique FC in their box," Jim said.
"How the heck is that a foul?!" Adolf seemed furious as he quickly made his way to the referee but he wasn't the only Unique FC player who had something to say to the referee.
"That didn't look like a foul to me," Dave muttered.
<I don't know, it looked like he pushed, no it didn't look like he pushed him, he pushed him but I don't think that push would have been enough to make him fall like that>
"You have no right to speak to me like that or tell me what to do." The referee said before reaching into his pocket and bringing out a yellow card which he quickly raised above Adolf.
"Oh, the third booking of the match, looks like he said something the ref didn't like," Steve said.
"I've made my decision so there's no reason to check VAR." The referee said before walking closer to the penalty area.
"I thought we were going to go in on the break with a goalless draw but it looks like Lesica United have been given their best chance to open the scoring," Jim said.
"Oh, no," Mateo muttered with his whole focus on the television.
"Don't worry guys, I've got this," Dave assured his teammates as he stood on his goal line.
<Embracing a little bit of confidence in a penalty shoot-out, I like that>
The ball was placed on the penalty spot as Okafor stepped up to take it while the referee made sure all the players were out of the box.
"Okafor's going to be the one to take the penalty, he's taken five penalty kicks this season and has only managed to convert three of them. Can he convert this one?" Jim said.
"Come on, Dave, you can do it," Emma muttered from where she was sitting.
"He's a good goalkeeper but penalty kicks are really tough to keep out," Matthew said.
"I know that," Emma said, turning her gaze to him.
'Can I activate the attribute now?'
<You don't need it to stop a penalty kick but don't worry, I'll tell you when to activate it>
'Okay.'
The referee blew his whistle after he was sure everything was in order and now all that was left was for Okafor to take the kick.
He closed his eyes and opened them with a sigh before taking two steps backward.
'He's probably going to put it on the left side.' Dave thought.
Before the goalkeeper knew what was happening, the striker quickly raced toward the ball and slotted it into the back of the net from the top right side of the goalpost.
"He's put it away, they've finally got that opener!" Jim exclaimed.
Lesica United fans burst out in cheers as the players gathered around Okafor.
Unique FC players had devastated looks on their faces.
'If that attribute was active, maybe I would have been fast enough to make that save.'
<How? You weren't even able to make up your mind on where to dive>
"Looks like the first half won't be ending with a goalless draw after all."
*****
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