My Goalkeeping System

The match was now in the forty-fourth minute, and Real Sociedad seemed to have gotten what could be described as their last chance to double their lead in the first half of the match.

A free kick just on the edge of the box, and as expected, Merino could be seen standing over it.

However, he wasn't the only one standing over it, Nunez was right beside him, making it difficult to tell who was actually going to take the free kick.

'What do you think, Cat?' Dave inquired.

<Merino is their best free kick taker by far so I don't see why they would want anyone else to take it>

'True but what if they want to use that to their advantage? Given his record, Nunez isn't exactly bad with free kicks; he's quite decent if I have to say.'

<Yeah, it could be either of them so don't be slow and keep your eyes sharp>

'I know.'

<I guess he isn't confident in beating you so he's trying this>

'Well, this is the third time they're getting a free kick that's that close; I saved the last two, so it's expected.'

"Another good chance for Real Sociedad to try and get a second goal, will they be able to get that ball past Dave this time?"

Acting as reinforcement was the four-man wall Unique FC set up inside the ball with one more person below to counter any attempt of Merino's attempt at pulling a sly trick.

It didn't take long before the referee blew his whistle and as soon as Merino heard that sound, he quickly closed up on the ball.

"Looks like Merino is going to be taking it once again."

That was what it looked like until he got to the ball.

The midfielder feigned striking the ball with his right foot before quickly shifting to the side, giving Nunez the space to nicely lift the ball with his left foot.

"Oh, it's Nunez instead!"

Being unable to anticipate what just happened, Dave was glued to a spot and could only watch as the ball flew past him toward the top right side of the goalpost.

That was the only time the home team were able to leave Dave stunned with a shot.
Continue your journey on empire

Unfortunately, it was not meant to be as the ball ended up hitting the crossbar before flying over for a goal kick.

"Shit." Merino bit his lower lip as he kicked the ground in anger.

"Oh, that would have been a wonderful free-kick goal to put them two goals up," Jim commented. "Dave didn't even move an inch."

"Yeah, I don't think he was expecting that; I think he already had the firm belief that Merino was going to be the one taking the shot the moment he dashed toward the ball." Steve articulated. "Otherwise, Dave is one of the sharpest goalkeepers in the competition when it comes to reaction time and speed."

<Hey>

'What?'

<I thought I told you to stay sharp, you looked quite blunt to me there, maybe a bit rusty>

'I know, I just felt….'

<Confused>

'Yeah.'

<Well, I have to give it to them, that was nicely executed. I just hope that now that you've seen it, you won't fall for it again>

Dave didn't respond to that as he slowly dropped the ball to the ground to send it out and get the game back into action.

"With just three minutes of added time, it looks like Real Sociedad will be going in for the halftime break with the lead."

Without giving much thought to it, Dave sent the ball rolling to Roland who quickly pushed it to Mateo almost as soon as he got his foot on it.

"Mateo."

The youngster was quickly surrounded by two Real Sociedad players, they were quite wary of him now after all the problems he had caused for them so far.

Mateo was barely able to escape from their grasp to send the ball rolling back to Adolf.

Larick quickly charged toward the centre back before the ball could even get to him, forcing him to send the ball rolling to Dave as soon as it got to him.

"Back to the goalkeeper."

Quickly pushing toward the right with the ball, the goalkeeper sent the ball flying down the right flank before both Larick and Merino could get to him.

His target was Merino who was charging forward down the flank with Emerson just a couple of distance in front of him.

Aware that getting past Emerson with the ball would be difficult for him, the winger decided to try something.

Instead of bringing the ball down just as it got to him, he headed it forward, getting past Emerson before he proceeded to dash past him.

Getting past Emerson, he brought the ball down with his chest and kept on running with the ball.

"Wonderful play from Merino to get past Emerson, Unique FC are now on the counter."

Sticking to his flank, Merino soon ran into the left back, and after a few legovers, he sent the ball rolling back to Ferran, who was just closing in down the middle.

"Ferran, he could try his luck from there."

The midfielder pushed a little forward with the ball, and being aware that it was a dead end there, he sent it rolling to Mateo on the left.

"Mateo."

The youngster had the opposing right back right in front of him, and although he was very much able to get past him, after careful observation, he decided to try something else.

Pulling his right foot back, he struck the ball, attempting something he had never done in a match before, a trivela pass.

With a nice curl, the ball was able to find its way into the box for Fred to dash past the defence to get to it.

Meeting the ball with his head, the striker aimed for the goalpost.

"Fred heads it!"

There was really nothing Arnold could do there.

However, he didn't need to do anything as Fred's header ended up flying high, slightly grazing the crossbar in the process.

"No, no, no it's gone nowhere," Jim commented. "That could have been one for the highlights especially with that pass from Mateo."

Shaking his head with both of his hands on his waist, Mateo slowly turned around with a deep sigh.