Greatest Of All Legends

Chapter 114: First Start VII

The second half kicked-off with Santa Clara in possession of the ball and as one would expect of a losing team, they passed boldly and surged into the Porto team’s half of the field, trying to find something.

They were grasping at straws, but if they did not do even that much, then there was no point in them being acknowledged as professional footballers.

They were already losing anyway and the risk of going behind even more no longer mattered as much as the trying to gain something for the game.

It was an all or nothing situation and despite being the weaker team, they wouldn’t be giving up that easily.

But Porto wasn’t going to make it easy for them as they also stepped up their game, their morale bolstered by being in the lead.

Soon enough, shots were sent flying at both ends of the field, both teams trying to leave their mark on the current scoreboard but despite the efforts of both teams, more than twenty minutes ran down quickly without neither of them being able to make an impact.

But that was bound to change soon enough with both teams poking at each other.

In the 70th minute of the game, Porto had just made a substitution and Otavio had come on in place of Romario Baro.

Jason threw the ball to Wilson Manafa, who controlled the ball’s flight and quickly sent a pass back to Pepe.

The Santa Clara players quickly started to press and charged at Pepe, causing him to look for a teammate as he knew that he didn’t have the agility to get through the Santa Clara’s players alone.

Luckily, Alex Telles had come a bit closer and was currently unmarked, seeing that, Pepe didn’t waste any time in sending the ball over to him.

Receiving the ball in the Porto’s half of the center circle, Alex Telles moved past the midfield and passed the ball to the Sergio Oliveira who was standing on his right side before skipping past the Santa Clara player who had moved to mark him and receiving the ball back from Sergio Oliveira behind the player.

Upon receiving the ball once again, Telles continued his run towards the Santa Clara’s 18-yard box but he soon had to pass the ball to Otavio as he was soon being hassled by some other Santa Clara players.

The ball rolled to Otavio who flicked it deftly between the legs of his marker with his first touch and escaped his marker’s grasp, quickly chasing after the ball.

At this moment, he was just about 7-yards away from Santa Clara’s penalty area, but he could see more than four players in his path, covering almost every path into the penalty area.

Luis Diaz, Ze Luis, and Moussa Marega were in front of him, but they were being tightly marked so he had no option than to pass the ball back to Alex Telles.

Jason had been standing a fair distance away from the Santa Clara’s 18-yard box, but seeing the defensive set-up, he suddenly had an idea.

Sending a glance at Alex Telles who just received the ball, Jason started moving slowly towards the 18-yard box, doing his best to stay unnoticed by his marker or any other player, when he was about a yard away from the offside line, he suddenly burst into a sprint, hoping that Alex Telles understood his intention.

Running past the last player before glancing back to see the ball flying over the defensive line and into his path, a slight smile appeared on his face.

It seemed Alex Telles had understood the mission and had sent the ball just as he required and the rest was up to him.

Jason’s run behind the Santa Clara defense had stirred a hornet’s nest, and the Santa Clara players who were close by quickly rushed after him, but they were a little too late and the ball had already made it to him.

Jumping high with his leg stretched forward to catch the ball’s flight, Jason managed to tap the ball just slightly upward to take out all the power from Telles’s pass and push the ball slightly forward, just enough for him to immediately trap it as soon as he landed.

Upon completing this move, Jason was home free and only had the Santa Clara goal keeper ahead of him.

Since he was already close enough, Jason arched his body and sent a curling left footed shot around the goal keeper who flew at the ball but was unable to get a touch to it.

Needless to say, the ball found the back of the net and Jason ran to the sidelines in jubilation but before he could reach the sidelines, heard a dreaded sound that every goal scorer would never wish to hear immediately after sending the ball into the back of the net.

*Fweeeeeee*

The referee’s shrill whistle put a dampner on Jason’s excitement and joy as he saw the assistant referee on the sideline holding up the offside flag.

“What the fu*k?” Jason muttered under his breath as he changed the direction of his run and jogged towards the referee instead.

He wasn’t a hundred percent sure because even though he had timed his run as best as he could, he wasn’t sure how fast Alex had sent the pass at him, so he needed to ask the referee to at reconsider or, at least check with the VAR.

But Jason wasn’t the first person to think of that as before he was even halfway to the referee, the referee was already surrounded by half of his teammates, but the referee simply held his right hand up while listening to something from the earpiece in his ear.

But even after listening to the earpiece for almost a full minute, the referee still hadn’t made a decision and had to head down to the sidelines to check the situation himself.

It took another full minute for the referee to finish checking with the aid of the VAR and he finally started running back to the field, his decision made.