It was Neto's first game as a Xhota player. For the first match, he was on the bench. Yoo had already announced the lineup for the match. Xhota was playing a 4-1-2-3 formation.
GK: Kim#25
LB: Blake #16
RB: Fujiwara #15
LCB: Gin#2
RCB: Toji#4
DMF: Danzo #6
LAMF: Kakao #14
RAMF: Kira #15
LW: Fujin # 11
RW: Yuki #17
ST: Meng #19
The match kicked off. It was Xhota's ball. Meng passed the ball to Yuki, and he passed it down to Danzo, whom immediately launched a cross to an already running Fujin. Fujin trapped the ball; Kira was calling for a pass behind the opponent's fall backs. Fujin gave a through for Kira, who passed to Meng.
The ball took a hard hit on Meng's right leg, and bounced almost far away from his strong foot- right foot. Before the ball left, he reacted with his left leg, scoring a goal. "A goal already", Neto exclaimed, hitting his head on the canopy over the bench.
Match score: 1-0 or is as they thought. It was said by the referee that Meng was offside so, the goal was disallowed.
It was a goal kick for Okinawa. Okinawa began build up from the back. Their GK passed to their LCB, who passed to their RB. The RB passed to his RCB; he passed to their CM, who crossed it to their LM. Meng rushed for the ball, but it was immediately passed back to their CM. "No more messing around, play time's gone", the shady CM thought. He ran through, dribbling Kakao, and passing to his RM.
Okinawa's RB came for a link up pass with the RM. The RM, sighting Fujin, passed to their RB, who passed it back to their RM, and back to the RB.
Danzo was on him. Okinawa's LB tried passing, but faked the pass and stopped the ball. Danzo stretched his leg for a tackle, but the LB crossed it down for their RW, who was already running in.
Xhota's defense were running back to prevent the proposed goal by the RW. Gin met the RW, blocking his paths to get away, but their CM arrived at the right of the match up, and the RW, gave him a through pass.
On a free trail, he crossed the ball, which deflected on the bar, to the reach of their striker. I'll stop him, Danzo thought. Danzo rushed for the tackle, but the ST saw through his moves, hitting the ball over him and volleying it to his top right corner.
Xhota Port 0-1 Okaru FC
Meng passed to Fujin. Fujin, controlling the ball, passed it to Blake. "Finally a touch", he said. Blake went all out sprinting down the pitch. He met Okinawa's RW, who tried to tackle him. Blake pushed the ball to his right, averting his tackler and kept pacing forward. Same thing went for their AMF, RMF, and RB. Speed was Blake's asset indeed.
On a free trail, he took a shot to his left of the post, but Xhota's GK punched it away, and it was cleared by the RCB with an overhead kick. Counter attack for Okinawa. The ball landed on their shady CM; he immediately released a through pass to their RW. The RW dribbled Danzo, and seeing that Blake wasn't around, he was lucky. He kept pacing towards the post with Danzo following him.
"The pass is clearly going for their CF. No one is marking him. Why are they all following the ball?" Neto noticed.
As predicted, the pass came hard down to their ST, just 9 yards from the post. "No", Neto said as another goal was scored.
Match score: 0-2
That was it for the first half. Yoo briefed the team for the 2nd half while Neto just though that if he had been there, he may have been able to stop the goal.
The 2nd half kicked off. Okinawa's CM was with the ball. He dribbled through Xhota and took a shot, 40 yards from the post, out.
Now, Xhota regained possession.
Kim passed the ball to Blake. Blake began his ritual again. He ran down his wing dribbling those on it, and took a shot to the post. Their GK hit it out for a corner kick.
It was a corner kick for Xhota. Fujin crossed the ball, and Meng headed it inside the post.
Match score—1-2
"Nice we're coming back", Neto relieved.
Okinawa's CM gave a bad stare on Blake and gave a center pass. The ball came to their LM. He passed the ball to his RW, but Blake rushed him stealing the ball and passing it to Danzo. Danzo rainbow-flicked the ball over their RM, and sent a through pass for Blake.
"Man, I never knew Blake was that fast. He should be one of Xhota s' best players ", Neto thought.
Blake outran their RB and intended to shoot the ball, but fake-shot, and passed it to Danzo . Okinawa CM rushed the pass, and cleared a path for a counterattack.
He analyzed the pitch, looking for where to send the ball. Blake appeared and tackled him. Blake cleared the ball back inside, but it was sent back in by their right-winger.
The RW already saw a pass in his head through a space among the on running players. He made a one-touch ground pass through that space averting everyone.
The pass came to their CM, who was clear on goal, but Blake slide-tackled him, taking the ball out. It was a throw-in for Okinawa. The LM threw a long, high pass to their striker, whom already attempted a "bicycle kick ", but lost the ball, to the Kim.
Kim launched the ball in for Blake. Blake went with his customs-running through reaching the penalty box. Xhota's CM arrived for a tackle, but seeing him, Blake stopped the ball, letting him slide nowhere.
He kept on pacing and passed to Meng, who equalized in the 58th minute.
Match score: 2-2
Xhota s' crew were up hailing, and many came celebrating Blake.
The match continued with an aggressive tone by both teams to break the equalizer.
The ball came to Yuki, who paced down, controlling the ball from oncoming tacklers.
Fujin, while pacing, moved slightly opposite of Yuki's wing. "That s' right, follow me like flies", Yuki thought in Japanese.
He planned to draw his opponents in order to create space on the left wing for Blake. He passed the ball, and this time Blake was free. He paced down, and Okinawa's RB came to slide- tackle him, but he chipped the ball over him, intending to accelerate.
"Oh no, you don't", thought their CM with a shady smile. The CM intentionally hit Blake's left leg, causing his knee bone to twist. "If I can't beat you, I neutralize you." A stretcher came for Blake, and their CM was given a yellow cad.
Xhota was aggrieved and traumatized by what just happened. "What are we going to do? We need one more defender", Gin said.
"Kibb you up", Yoo said. "Huh!" Neto puzzled. "#22 you are up", Yoo said. "Is coach really picking me, instead of his substitutes?" Neto thought, pulling his jacket off.
"Dude why did you do that?" Okinawa's LB asked. "You should be happy, I've eliminated our threat. Now it's our win. Hold on", their CM chuckled, "Are they seriously going for their new sign-in on his first game? This would be a piece of cake." All said in Japanese. Neto occupied Blake's position, LB.
The free kick was taken by Fujin. Fujin crossed the ball, but it was headed out, by their RCB. The ball came for their RW. Their ST began sprinting down- Neto noticed this. Okinawa's RW dribbled Danzo and crossed the ball to their striker. Yoo was about to burst for their loss.
As the ball came for Okinawa's striker, he saw a figure, that leaped a few inches from his position and bicycle-kicked the ball, clearing it out from the sidelines.
"A nice save by new sign-in, Kibb", - in Japanese.
"What the h....", the striker was interrupted. "That was a clever movement, but just know I'll be watching you", Neto promised, brushing off debris from his face.
Yoo smiled, "His true calling."