Eli played in a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Diago and Diego positioned as the left and right wingers, while Eli played as the central attacking midfielder.
This confused Winston. So he's playing in this position? Is he planning to play aggressively and attack, or does he want to control the ball from the middle?
Winston watched Eli carefully, trying to understand his intentions.
After the coin toss, Eli won it, and his striker restarted the match. Their gameplay began slowly, with the players passing the ball back and forth among themselves. Whenever a player received the ball, he would briefly hold onto it before passing it to a teammate.
Winston tracked the ball, with the midfielder beside him helping with the marking. The two of them applied more pressure on Eli's team, forcing Diago and Diego to drift farther out toward the flanks.
Eli's striker jogged deeper into his own half, allowing Eli to remain central. Their plan was to stretch Winston and the midfielders across the field.
It worked—Winston was forced to push forward and mark Eli.
Eli and his forwards began playing long passes, starting with a ball toward Diago. Diago exchanged quick passes with the striker before darting into the middle of the field. Diego did the same from the opposite flank.
The striker, Diago, and Diego began exchanging quick tiki-taka passes, forming a triangle as they moved the ball around. Their intention was to pull Ethan and the four midfielders out of position.
But they didn't budge. Instead, Ethan and his midfielders maintained their distance, refusing to be drawn out.
After several minutes of exchanging passes, Eli suddenly pushed forward. The three attackers and Eli formed a diamond, which began pulling Ethan and one of the midfielders toward the center.
Winston remained behind the attackers, watching the movement carefully. When he saw the ball being passed toward Eli, Winston immediately sprinted forward and performed a clean slide tackle.
His foot knocked the ball away, sending it rolling toward the midfielder who had been sprinting toward Eli.
Winston quickly rose to his feet and jogged back into position.
Ethan and the other midfielder exchanged sharp passes. When Ethan raised his head, he saw Winston being heavily marked, so he raised his hand and passed the ball deeper into their own half.
For the next few minutes, they exchanged passes back and forth.
Eli's striker gradually moved forward while Diago and Diego closed in on the full-backs from the flanks. Eli and his midfielders also pushed toward Ethan and his midfielders in the center.
Eventually, their pressure forced the ball all the way back to the goalkeeper. The goalkeeper blasted the ball toward Winston, who was waiting in the pocket. With a smooth touch, Winston trapped the ball with his foot and shielded it in front of him.
Just as he prepared to burst forward with the ball at his feet, two full-backs closed in and boxed him in. The two defenders dropped deeper into their own half, preparing for Winston's attack.
Winston flicked the ball over one of the full-backs before immediately launching into a series of dribbling skills, toying with him.
First came a drag-step-over nutmeg.
Winston deliberately gave the full-back a moment to regain his composure before following up with another skill—a De Jong Turn. The sudden movement sent the full-back stumbling backward before he fell onto his backside.
Winston sprinted toward the other full-back, who was already positioned in front of him. Winston lowered his pace, then he performed a body feint. The full-back shifted his weight to one side, and Winston exploded in the opposite direction, slipping the ball through his legs with a nutmeg.
He sprinted past him, leaving the defender eating his dust as he raced into the opponent's half. With the central defenders backing away, Winston slowed just enough to prepare for a long-range shot.
He channeled a small amount of Nethen essence into his legs. Then he blasted the ball. The shot curved through the air, bending toward the far corner. Eli's goalkeeper stretched as far as he could, but his dive came a fraction too late.
The ball nestled into the back of the net.
Thwack!
Winston stood there with a satisfied smile as the ball settled into the back of the net.
A translucent screen suddenly popped up in front of him.
Ding!
[User Daily Challenge]
[sprint speed: 90 km/h]
[shot: 90 km/h - Completed]
[Goals: 01/03]
After high-fiving his teammates, Winston, Ethan, and the rest of their team jogged back into position and waited for Eli to restart the match.
The smirk Diago had worn earlier had vanished. Now, an annoyed expression covered his face.
Diego, on the other hand, was surprised by Winston's improvement. That long-range shot had been incredibly powerful, and from the distance Winston had taken it, it would have been difficult for any goalkeeper to parry the ball away without risking an injury.
Diego had no doubt about the plan Lucas and Diago had come up with. Luckily, the second phase of their plan was going according to schedule, so Diego let out a quiet breath of relief.
When he shifted his gaze toward Diago, he was surprised by what he saw. However, he immediately understood what it meant.
As the match restarted, Diago and Diego resumed their positions far out on the flanks. The ball started at the back and remained there for several minutes before eventually being worked into the middle.
Of course, Ethan's team wasn't going to stand around and watch. Winston's goal had motivated them. They needed to keep their opponents boxed in and leave no spaces for them to exploit the way Winston had earlier.
It was important to remember that Ethan's team knew nothing about Diago and the others' plan. To them, this was simply another one-on-one challenge that could earn them valuable rating points.
Nevertheless, they intended to give everything they had.
The ball was passed to the full-back, who sprinted forward and overlapped Diego. Diego immediately played a through ball toward the overlapping full-back.
The full-back trapped the ball and prepared to cut inside Ethan's full-back. The defender kept his distance, his eyes fixed on the ball. When Diego attempted to dribble past him, Ethan's full-back stretched out his leg and knocked the rolling ball back toward the middle.
Diego was already moving toward it.
With his heel raised, he performed a step-over before dashing toward the deeper flank where the full-back had positioned himself. He then pushed farther into his opponent's half.
Near the edge of the box, Diego attempted to cut deeper inside, but the full-back and central defender read his intention and quickly boxed him in.
With nowhere to go, Diego was forced to blast the ball toward the defenders. It deflected off one of them and went out for a corner.
Diago walked over to take it.
Eli and his teammates, meanwhile, moved away from the crowded penalty area. This was the tactic Diago had suggested during their briefing.
They wouldn't crowd the box. Instead, they would position themselves farther away and build up momentum before sprinting into the penalty area. That extra momentum would give them greater elevation when challenging for the ball in the air.
Ethan and his teammates, unaware of the tactic, scrambled to mark their opponents. Diago swung his foot through the ball, sending a ninety-degree curve toward the penalty area.
The players positioned outside the box suddenly sprinted forward. Their momentum carried them into the penalty area at full speed, allowing them to rise higher than Ethan's defenders expected.
The defenders struggled to react in time.
Winston couldn't participate in the aerial challenge. As the lone striker, he needed to remain ready in case his team needed to launch a quick counterattack. So all Winston could do was watch as one of Eli's teammates rose above the defenders and headed the ball toward the goal.
The goalkeeper reacted too late, the ball sailed into the net.
Thwack!
Sitting at the far end of the stands on the opposite side of the field, Sebastian and Lucas watched the match.
"I'm surprised Diago added his own input to this match," Sebastian said. He sat cross-legged, resting one hand on the seat beside him. He turned his head toward Lucas. "You really don't like that kid, huh?"
"Nah." Lucas grinned as his gaze remained fixed on Oswin. "I'm just watching a frail animal that's about to be hunted."
His eyes lingered on Oswin for a moment before he shifted his gaze back toward the field.
"He underestimated his opponent. I suspect he'll add more input now that things aren't going as planned."
"Truly interesting." Sebastian adjusted himself in his seat, his eyes returning to the match.