Capítulo 739: Instant Change I
The second half began after the fifteen-minute break and instantly the viewers and spectators could notice how differently the Nigerian team was playing.
Moving around with more fluidity and more sharpness on the attack, they tried to break down the Cameroon team’s defense, but since the Cameroon team was basically parking the bus, it had become a lot more difficult to score unlike in the second half.
With how tightly the Cameroon players were packed behind the ball, they continuously caused problems for the Nigerian players whenever they tried to attack and their every attempt to break through was repelled with the Cameroon players either clearing the ball up the field or trying to launch a counterattack.
Of course the Nigerian players were playing better than before so they managed to stop most of the counterattacks before it got too dangerous.
The Nigerian players also managed to get a few shots away, but they were mostly potshots and were either shot from awkward angles or were blocked before they could go far.
By the 60th minute, the Nigerian players were already getting frustrated.
They had gone for simplicity and efficiency and tried to break down their opponents, but the Cameroon players were proving to be too annoying and that was frustrating.
It was also frustrating to watch for the Nigerian players who were almost always on the edge of their seats now.
With simplicity not working, the Nigerian players were switching back to trying to dribble the ball past many players and pulling players towards them in the hopes of opening up space somewhere else, however that wasn’t working either.
Luckily for the Nigerian fans’ mental state, they saw Jason and Osimen warming up on the sidelines. As they warmed up along the side of the field, jogging to one end and back, the cheers of the fans echoed in their ears.
It was almost like the fans all unanimously believed that these two guys could instantly change the game as soon as they got on the pitch.
When the ball finally rolled out of play and Jason and Osimen stood beside the referee who held up the board, the cheers rang out loudly again as Onuachu and Simon walked down to the sidelines, not very happy that they were the ones to be subbed off.
Since they were not injured or anything, did it mean that they were the lowest on the pecking order for the manager, or were they the worst performers and were thus being taken off?
Trying to console themselves with the fact that Jason and Osimen were the people they were competing for possessions, they got off the field more depressed than ever.
If they were competing for those two for the same positions, then they might hardly ever play for the national team at this rate.
Jason and Osimen didn’t know what those guys were thinking and were jogging up the field to their positions.
“Stay sharp and try to find space when I get the ball,” Jason muttered to Osimen before they parted and Osimen nodded, heading further up the field while Jason took position on the left wing.
The game restarted with a kickoff from the Cameroon team and the goalkeeper, Omossola sent the ball powerfully up the field with a deft kick.
The players of the two teams jumped to contest for the ball, but it was Ndidi who got the his head to the ball first, heading it towards Jason on the left, who calmly trapped the ball on the ground, not letting it bounce away.
Just like that he got his first touch of the ball, but he didn’t spend any time standing around and swiftly turned in the direction of the Cameroon goal.
Dodging Toko Ekanbi who came at him from behind, Jason began running down the flanks, but he soon noticed that he was quickly being surrounded.
He couldn’t even determine how many, but he saw at least four on his right and in front of him and he was sure there were some players behind him as well.
As he ran, he noticed that there seemed to be spaces between the players, but he knew better than to try running through there. After all it was clearly an obvious trap and if he dared to try to go in between them, they would instantly sandwich him in.
{He’s surrounded. Is this the end for him or will he take them on!?}
Since he couldn’t turn back either, he began slowing down, causing the players in front of him to stop falling back as well, not wanting to give him too much space, however that was what Jason was waiting for.
As they planted their feet into the ground, trying to stop, Jason quickly flicked the ball forward between them, feeding it past them and then running around to try to catch it.
Opting to run off the field so as to avoid them as much as possible, Jason burst forward with amazing pace, going from one to one hundred immediately.
{Feeds it past them and tries to go around}
The players in front of him weren’t able to react in time to stop the ball or him, but the players on his side didn’t give up and instantly gave chase.
Just as Jason managed to reach the ball after going the long way around, a tackle came in hard from his left, threatening to sweep him off his feet powerfully.
{Crunching tackle!}
Managing to reach the ball just in time to flick it forward even more, he jumped and barely dodged the tackle, but still clipped his toe against the tackle.
Stumbling a bit, he managed to catch himself and raced after the ball, just now remembering that he had been a bit injured a few days ago, but that didn’t matter right now.
{He’s away and the Supa Eagles have a chance!}
Since Jason had six out of ten on field players chasing after him and trying to box him in, it wasn’t a stretch to say that the other players were freer than ever, so Jason arrived at high speed on the side of the penalty box and sent a low cross into the penalty box, Ihenacho was able to get behind the ball without issue.
{Kelechi Ihenacho!!!!}