A collateral damage (2/2)

Led by Saramadara, Team Y regained some of its lost spirit.

Even if they were to lose, they wouldn't go down without a fight. As long as their spirit wasn't completely shattered, as long as they can still keep moving, running, passing, and shooting, they won't admit defeat. 

Unexpectedly, this time Jude didn't bother to lend his help to the defense, but instead calmly walked past them, ignoring their existence. 

"You will regret looking down on us." Saramadara voiced out in a solemn tone as he perfectly trapped his teammate's pass. 

"Oh really? I'm curious as to why I would regret looking down on a bunch of losers." Yanagi sneered. In a split second he appeared in front of Saramadara, effectively blocking his path.

"Do you really think you can stop me?" Team Y's ace asked angrily while rushing towards Yanagi.

"I might not be as technical as Jude, but I know damn well how to break a few dimwits." 

Saramadara attempted to dribble past Yanagi, he faked him to the left before ultimately going right. The speed of execution was top notch and allowed him to get past him for a split second. 

Unfortunately, Yanagi caught up to him and threw himself on the ground, successfully pushing the ball away from his feet with a clean slide tackle. 

The ball bounced away, carrying on its path until it reached Kentaro — one of Team X's defenders.

He cleanly trapped the ball but was immediately surrounded by two of Team Y's strikers. 

"Sorry, but we absolutely need to win this game." One of Team Y's players said apologetically as he charged at Kentaro, fully intending to do anything in his power to get back the ball. 

Kentaro's panick was written all over his face as he began to consider passing the ball back to the keeper, Michio. 

"Pass it here." Suddenly a familiar voice emerged on his right. 

Without even looking at the source of the voice, he immediately recognized it and let go of the ball without a second thought. 

The pass was a little rushed, but Miyata was able to trap it before sprinting as fast as he could. 

"We're counter attacking, everyone run with all you've got!" Miyata yelled out. 

Everyone on Team X obeyed his orders without complaining.

In the few weeks they spent together, Miyata asserted himself as the tactician of Team X, he proved his skills and earned everyone's trust and respect.

Although he wasn't the most technically gifted player, he was the most trusted in Team X. Perhaps even more so than Jude.

They all had faith in him and his instructions always proved to be useful.

All of Team X moved according to his instructions and followed Miyata's example. Unexpectedly, the man himself had quite the mediocre speed and was forced to pass the ball forward. 

"Keep passing the ball ahead!" Miyata instructed as he sent the ball to Sugiyama — the right midfielder of Team X. 

He clumsily trapped the ball, failing to trap it well as he was in the middle of his run. To make things worse, as soon as he looked up, he found himself faced with one of Team Y's players. 

Remembering Miyata's words, his first instinct was to pass the ball to his left. 

"You made the right choice." Yanagi praised with a smug smile, he was already positioned to receive the ball. 

"I wouldn't be so sure if I were you." Saramadara retorted. He was able to foresee that Sugiyama was going to let go of the ball and immediately darted off to intercept it. 

"Stop getting in my way, I knew you were going to be annoying since the moment I first saw you." Yanagi grunted in frustration as he used his shoulder to push away Team Y's ace. 

Unexpectedly, Saramadara was able to protect the ball with his body and hold his ground against Yanagi. He used his back to defend the ball and rested his bodyweight on Yanagi's shoulder, effectively stopping him from abusing of his strength. 

"Let's stop him together, Yanagi." 

Ichikawa hurriedly left his post to support Yanagi and put more pressure on Saramadara. 

One of Team Y's players had the same idea and joined in on the brawl. Soon enough 8 players were gathered around the ball. Chaos unfolded as the ball kept switching between Team X and Team Y. 

"I'm getting tired of waiting for a pass."

The 9th player to join in on the chaos was none other than Akira. He stormed in, pushing his own teammates out of the way as he forcibly landed his foot on the ball, hitting it with enough force to push the ball away from this human nest.

"Nice one, human bulldozer." 

Miyata praised as he trapped the loose ball. He hurriedly sent it over to Jude who was still patiently waiting for the ball to come to him. 

"How many monsters does this team have?" Saramadara cursed as he helplessly watched Jude jump up to trap the ball with his chest before lifting the ball above the defender guarding him and effortlessly bypassing him. 

Making use of his above average acceleration, Jude easily left the poor player in the dust.

"If it's against people like you, I might not even need to use my special weapon." Jude commented. He soon reached his top speed, advancing alone towards the goal. 

Two defenders suddenly appeared from each side, joining together to block his run. Their teamwork being below mediocre, Jude was able to easily dribble past both of them. 

He paved himself a path through both defenders, before finally noticing that the keeper was trying to come out of his cage and was charging at him. 

"That's pathetic." Jude mocked as he lobbed the ball above the keeper's head.

19th minute. 

2-0.

In less than 20 mins, a second goal was scored. Every last bit of hope Team Y might have had was completely crushed by this clear demonstration of superiority. 

Not only did they fail in their offensive, Team X's ace wasn't even taking them seriously. From start to finish, it was clearly going to be a one-sided beat down.

Even without the presence of Jude, they began to wonder whether it was really possible to win against such a team. 

All the efforts Saramadara made to create a shaky illusion of balance and hope amongst his team, was effortlessly crushed by Jude.