Dave didn''t have a pleasant look on his face as he looked at the wall formed by five of his teammates at the edge of the box.


    A free kick was just about to be taken by Okafor from a very close range.


    <You should be d that it isn''t another penalty kick, free kicks are betterpared to penalty kicks but when you have a really good free kick taker, it can give you the same feeling as facing a penalty kick>


    ''Can you keep quiet and let me concentrate?''


    The free kick was a result of Rnd''s careless tackle on the Nigerian striker at the edge of the box.


    The striker had wriggled free from Aima and was about to take a shot toward the goalpost so the left-back had to do what he had to do.


    The left-back had gotten a yellow card for the challenge but that doesn''t matter given the fact that this was theirst match of the season.


    Just before the free kick could be taken, Norman and Lesica United''s managers decided to bring off some tired legs and bring on some fresh legs to see if they would be able to make any impact on the game.


    Norman made only two changes with sixty-five minutes showing on the clock.


    Norman Kole was brought off and reced by Luis Roberto, and Edward was brought off and reced by Harry Norman.


    Now that the new yers were on the pitch, it was time to resume the game with the free kick which had already been termed deadly by Dave.


    "This doesn''t look good for Unique FC but still, there''s no guarantee that Lesica United will put good use to the chance they have been given right now," Jim said.


    "Yeah, but this is Okafor''s second time taking a free kick this season, thest one he took, he scored it," Steve said.


    "You could call him something of a good free-kick taker but let''s see if he can put this one away and put his team two goals ahead again," Jim said.


    "Hey, stay calm." Adolf turned to Dave to say.


    "I know," Dave said with a nod.


    The remaining Unique FC yers that weren''t being used as walls were inside the box marking Lesica United yers but not all the yers were inside the box.


    Okafor was standing over the ball waiting for the referee''s whistle and as soon as he heard it, he quickly took four steps backward before he quickly raced toward the ball and sent it flying toward the top left-hand corner.


    "Okafor!"


    Dave dived toward the ball at that exact time, he had a clear sight of it and it wasn''t far away from both of his hands either.


    A free kick like that was supposed to be hit out by the goalkeeper but to everyone''s surprise, Dave caught the ball with both of his hands before crashing to the floor.


    "Oh, my goodness! He caught it! How did he catch that?!"


    You could tell by his voice that he was utterly shocked.


    What Dave did there was get to the ball as fast as possible with the help of the boost from his attribute and then use his ball ma which was bound to work wonderfully as long as his hands were close enough to the ball.


    "It has been a long time since I''ve seen someone save a free kick like that," Steve said. "Dave Richards is really turning into something else."


    After making that save, Dave didn''t get up immediately as he seemed to be a little out of breath.


    "Oh, thank you, Dave," Rnd said as he quickly got closer to him and fell on his body.


    <Nice save, Dave, looks like you''re going to pull through after all>


    [ 76/116 Energy ]


    ''Yeah.''


    <Just don''t move too much until they start attacking>


    ? "Seventy minutes on the clock now and Lesica United are still leading, it could have been three goals to one now but all thanks to Unique FC''s ball ma that didn''t happen," Jim said.


    Unique FC were still with the ball passing it around and anticipating their next move but Harry made a silly ball control mistake after Ferran passed the ball to him and that resulted in him losing the ball.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    The right midfielder quickly got hold of the ball and quickly yed it through to Okafor who was kept onside by Aima and quickly zoomed past him to receive the ball.


    "This isn''t good for Unique FC, Okafor''s made his way past to receive the ball, and now the only person standing in his way and getting the ball into the back of the is Dave Richards," Jim said.


    "Yeah, but Adolf and Rnd are hot on his trail from the right wing," Steve said.


    Okafor knew that he wasn''t that fast to get to the goalpost before the two speedsters heading toward him from the right wing so he decided to do something before Dave could fully retreat to his goal line.


    He gave the ball one more long push before closing up on it to lob it toward the goalpost.


    Dave had a horrid look on his face as he watched the ball fly over him.


    "He''s gone for the goal!" Jim eximed.


    "No!!!" Dave screamed as he quickly sprang up and pushed the ball further up with his right hand.


    "Dave!" Jim eximed.


    The ball looked like it was going to fall over the bar and Dave was d as that was what it looked like to him too but the ball had a different idea as it hit the crossbar and flew past him as he fell into the goalpost.


    "No." He muttered.


    Okafor and Adolf both had eyes on the ball now as it was rolling toward the edge of the box.


    Everybody expected Okafor to get to the ball first as he was the closest person to it but Adolf had something up his sleeves.


    The striker raced toward the ball and was about to send it flying toward the goalpost which had a disorganized Dave in it when the ball was quickly taken off his feet with a neat tackle from Adolf, the defender didn''t even make contact with the striker.


    "Dave! Long ball!" Adolf yelled as he quickly passed the ball to him.


    "Yeah, long ball," Dave said, panting as he quickly got up from the floor, raced toward the ball, and sent it flying far into the pitch.


    "That is marvelous work from the Unique FC, I can''t believe Okafor was unable to score from those chances," Jim said.


    "Yeah and now they''re turning defense into attack," Steve said.


    The ball was sent flying toward Harry who did well to neatly win the aerial duel before he sent the ball flying to Merino who was being marked by a single yer down the right wing.


    Merino got hold of the ball before the yer could get hold of him and just before the yer could do anything, he quickly flicked the ball over him and ran past him to receive it at the other end.


    "Nice skill from Merino and now he''s through on goal!"


    What Merino had created wasn''t exactly a one-on-one situation but it could be one if he could close up on the goalkeeper before the defenders close up on him from all sides could get to him.


    Carlo quickly made his way to the winger to try and sweep the ball off his feet, that was where he made a costly mistake by making things easier for the winger who decided to lob the ball over him.


    "No," Carlo muttered with a horrid look on his face.


    A defender tried to stop the ball before it fell into the but he was toote and ended up kicking the air as the ball fell into the back of the.


    "Goal! Goal! Goalllll!!!!" Jim eximed. "They''ve finally gotten that equalizer, what a run and finish from Merino!"


    The fans were going wild now as Merino quickly rushed to the side and fell to the floor to do a slide.


    "Yes," Dave muttered with a smile on his face before falling on his back.


    ****


    Hope you enjoyed the chapter?


    If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I''ll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.