Chapter 458 A Chance
After that goal from Frank, Unique FC came storming toward them with a barrage of attacks with just a few minutes left for the first half to come to an end, but they managed to hold out until the referee finally blew his whistle twice to bring the first half to an end.
"Oh, what a first half this has been, I really thought we were going to go in for the break still goalless but Dynamo FC struck their opponent\'s twice in these last few minutes to lead by two goals." Jim articulated.
"First time Unique FC are going two goals down in all competitions this season, Norman will have to pull his boys together in the locker room." Steve expressed.
Unique FC players were all in the locker room now with Norman standing in front of them with a sullen look on his face.
This was the first time in a while that he was being like this after the first half of a match but I guess it was inevitable.
He stared at the players for a while before he let out a sigh and then the words just started flowing out with the kind of energy they were able to witness from him last season when they were losing matches.
He called out the players who made a couple of mistakes and not only that, he also gave them pointers to prevent things like that from happening again.
They were on the verge of losing their second match of the season in the league and across all competitions and it was the same Dynamo FC that they lost against at home.
They still had forty-five minutes to try and make a comeback but at this moment, all the odds were stacked against them and Norman was aware of that.
He didn\'t have any major changes to make in the tactics he had already set up for this match, the main thing he thought they needed to touch was innovate the way they moved the ball around and try to be more clinical with their finishing because they sure had missed a lot of big chances in this match.
After touching all the areas where he thought the players needed to improve on the pitch at least for this match and providing the possible solutions for all their evident problems on the pitch he proceeded to leave the room to go grab a drink because his throat was sort of sore after all that shouting.
Dave was just standing beside the entrance with a feigned look of oblivion on his face but he was just waiting for Norman to leave the room for him to slip out and follow him.
"The answer is no, Dave, we can at least pull off a draw from this match without you." Norman articulated as he made his way down the hallway.
He was already aware that the goalkeeper was right behind him.
After hearing him say that, Dave let out a deep sigh but he still proceeded to close up on him.
"Come on, coach."
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The second half of the match was about to kick off now as the players from both teams made their way to the pitch while the voices of the fans went up in excitement.
Unique FC were losing the match so far but that wasn\'t discouraging the fans from doing what they did best because they strongly believed in their team\'s ability to make a comeback.
"I can\'t wait to see what this second half has in store, I\'m expecting a lot of interesting moments or maybe my expectations are just too high," Jim commented.
"No, Jim, we\'re on the same boat."
Fredinho was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee\'s whistle, and as soon as he heard it, he quickly pushed the ball to Minino who quickly sent it flying over to Roland on the left.
"There\'s the whistle and we are back into it."
Unique FC weren\'t trying to rush anything here just like they were trying to do in the first half.
According to Norman, they just had to slow things down a bit and tried to observe what their opponents did when they got the ball. They still had forty-five minutes to at least equalize the scoreline and they were going to do it for the fans.
With this second half, it seemed like Mateo had found a new form and was starting to pick himself up from his mediocre performance in the first half.
He was starting to make use of that free role position by dropping deep most of the time and allowing Merino to take the action up front but so far they had not been able to pull one back with two shots off target.
One thing was obvious though, they were starting to get that dominance over Dynamo FC. However, none of that mattered without a goal.
Roland linked up to Ferran who was at the center of the pitch from his position, and after getting his foot on the ball, he sent it rolling to Merino who quickly took off down the left with it.
The midfielders in the area quickly made their way to him to try and stop him, he pushed the ball to Mateo who quickly evaded the player beside him to give his teammate the space needed to run through.
"Mateo\'s still with the ball."
The only person in his way now was the right back in the area, but just as Merino was making his way down the left, he linked the ball up nicely to him with a backheel pass.
"Nice pass to Merino, he has options in the box here."
Merino didn\'t hesitate to send the ball flying in as soon as he got his foot on it and that was a pretty neat cross as he linked it up nicely toward Fredinho who was in the middle of two opposing players right inside the box and the striker had no problem getting his head on it.
"Fre…dinho!"
He sent the ball flying toward the middle and that looked really close, but the goalkeeper was able to get the tip of his glove on it just in time to send it flying over the bar.
"Oh, what a save from Victor!" Jim exclaimed.
Fredinho bit his lower lip in anger before folding his right hand into a fist.
"That was such a nice setup from those two and a nice header but Victor said no. However, now they have a corner kick to deal with."
Ferran was standing over the ball now in the spot with the rest of the players running around inside and around the box.
All he was waiting for was the referee\'s whistle, and as soon as he heard it, he quickly sent the ball flying in.
"Whips it in."
One of the defenders in the area jumped up to contend for the ball against Fredinho and ended up nodding the ball off a little to the left.
Mateo got his foot on the ball just before it could leave the box but just before he could do anything with it, one of the midfielders came rushing from nowhere and sent him tumbling outside the pitch until he hit the barricade.
"Oh, dear, that\'s some push."
The referee saw everything and he didn\'t hesitate to blow his whistle before he made his way to the player and showed him a yellow card.
Dynamo FC players had to quickly gather around the referee now but it didn\'t look like he was going to change his mind.
"As expected, it\'s a penalty for Unique FC, they have the chance to pull one back."