After that close call from Andrea, the referee blew his whistle twice to bring the first half to an end.
"Well, it looks like the first half has finally come to an end. I was expecting some goals in this half but both sides have done pretty well to keep it goalless so far.
"There were a couple of good chances that were blasted to waste, a good example being Mateo's missed penalty."
"I think this half was pretty interesting, unlike the first half where Unique FC were just putting in goals despite not having that much dominance over the match, this time we're getting a taste of what Lazio can really do." Steve expressed.
"Yeah, I like how they're being creative with their chances instead of blasting the ball pointlessly like they were doing in the first match. We'll just have to wait till the second half to see who holds out longer." Jim articulated.
Unique FC players were all in the locker room, and this time, it took Norman quite a well to get to the locker room because he had a couple of things to take care of first.
"You guys have done pretty well so far." He said as he stepped into the locker room. "However…."
ραndαsΝοvεl.cοm "I was waiting for that," Merino said.
"There have been a few leaks in our defense." He said before placing his hand on the board. "We're just lucky they didn't find a way to take full advantage of it.
"I have a feeling he's not done." Henry leaned closer to Minino to whisper.
"You're not wrong," Minino whispered back to him.
"And then there's the problem of screwing chances up, I didn't use to worry about your horrible finishes because I knew Mateo would always finish most of the chances he got but then he missed a penalty and went on to miss a pretty good chance."
"Looks like today is the day we thought would never come," Roland muttered to Mateo who was sitting right beside him.
"Anything the matter Mat? I realize you don't really look that cheerful today."
"There's nothing wrong with me, coach," Mateo said before shaking his head.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I'm not convinced, you better do well in the second half to convince me. Now, on to the matter at hand, it seems Lazio are playing better than we anticipated, and if we don't pick up in the second we may take our first loss of this tournament."
Obviously, Norman had no intention of letting his team lose so he had to pass on what he had learned to them, and he also had to find a way to minimize some of the mistakes he spotted in the first half.
After walking the players through everything, the coach made his way out of the room to give the players the space they needed to clear their minds and get ready for the second half.
'Now that I can no longer see numbers and words in front of me, it feels weird.'
<You think? Well, I guess that makes sense>
'I wonder, will I permanently lose this system one day?'
<Even if you do, it doesn't matter because you would already be in a pretty good spot if you keep going at this pace at least>
'So, you're saying that I will lose it one day?'
<I never said that>
'Of course, it's another secret.'
The players rested up well in the locker room until they were informed to start making their way to the pitch to kick off the second half.
"Welcome back everyone, the second of the match is about to kick off as we can see the players from both teams making their way to the pitch now," Jim commented. "The first half was pretty stale in terms of goals but both they have given us a pretty entertaining game so far."
The voices of Unique FC fans were starting to go again now that the players were back on the pitch and it just seemed like Lazio fans were no longer trying."
Unique FC started the match from the kick-off spot in the first half which meant that Lazio were going to be the ones to do it in this half.
Carrigher was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle.
The referee was making sure that everything was ready, and after that, he blew his whistle.
"There's the whistle, and we're back into it."
As soon as he heard the whistle, Carrigher pushed the ball to Alfred who immediately sent it rolling back to one of the defensive midfielders.
It looked like the Italian side were just trying to play it cool for now because they didn't seem to be trying to get through and were just moving back once any Unique FC player got close to them.
Unique FC kept pushing them back until they got to the edge of their box.
That was when the defender who got hold of the ball decided to send it flying over to Zahid.
Zahid had Mateo quickly heading toward him, but before the winger could get to him, he brought the ball down with his chest and sent it rolling to Alfred.
"Alfred."
Alfred was able to force his way past Minino before passing the ball to Carrigher because he knew that he couldn't outrun the midfielder.
"They're pushing forward here."
Carrigher pushed forward a little with the ball before passing it to Andrea.
That was to avoid having to deal with Martinez.
Andrea had to push the ball back to Zahid, and as soon as the midfielder got his foot on the ball, he sent it flying over to Carrigher.
That wasn't the best decision because the striker wasn't in a really good position at that time, but he was able to come up with something.
In order to avoid losing the ball, he headed it back to Alfred who got his foot on it and quickly played the ball through for Andrea before Martinez could get to him.
Andrea wasn't able to completely get past Roland, but all he needed to do was stick his leg through and get it to the ball and that was what he did.
He got the heel of his boot on the ball and pushed it toward the farthest left.
That was quite the tricky ball for Dave, but he was able to get the tip of his glove on it and redirect it toward Norman who immediately sent it flying out for a throw-in.
"Well, that was surprisingly a close one, I didn't expect Andrea to get his foot on that."
"Yeah, it looks like he's no longer intimidated by Roland.
The match continued with Lazio bossing the game because Unique FC seemed to have forgotten about their ball retention training, and their passes just weren't clicking that well anymore.
However, on the plus side, the defenders were doing pretty well in keeping the ball out.
The Bilbeth Premier League side didn't touch the ball for four good minutes and were only able to do so after a shot from Carrigher was sent flying over the bar.
The time on the clock just hit the sixtieth minute as Roland moved down the wing with the ball, and just before Andrea could get to him, he sent the ball rolling toward Ferran who pushed it to Minino immediately.
Minino raced down the wing with the ball but he wasn't able to get far with it, as Alfred ambushed him from behind to get his leg on the ball.
Alfred was able to push the ball a little further, but before he could properly pick it up, Minino fought back with a slide that sent the ball rolling to Ferran who immediately sent it flying over to Mateo.
"Well, he's called the tiger on the pitch for a reason," Jim commented.
Mateo had to send the ball back to Ferran, and after getting his foot on the ball, Ferran pushed a little forward with it before he suddenly turned and passed the ball to Martinez who quickly sent it flying over to Merino with his first touch.
"Over to Mateo, looks like they're starting to get back their touch."
Merino slowly moved the ball toward the left back to give him the impression of trying to get into the box, and after imprinting that, he quickly took off down the wing and sent the ball flying into the box.
The ball was headed back by one of the defenders but luckily it fell toward Ferran who quickly nodded it toward Mateo who was entering the box right at that time.
He had the ball well placed for him as he pulled his leg back and fired the volley toward the bottom right-hand side of the goalpost.
Jorge dived toward the ball and managed to get the tip of his gloves on it but it wasn't enough as the ball ended up hitting the post before falling into the goalpost.
"Mateo strikes! And he puts it into the net!" Jim exclaimed.
As soon as Norman saw that ball go in, a smile appeared on his face as he raised his hands.
"They needed that goal and he came through with a wonderful strike, ladies and gentlemen, it's the wonder kid once again."
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