Chapter 584: 3rd National Appearance IV
It was a solid tactic that would help the Nigerian team keep their lead, but the tactic annoyed Jason to no end.
He had long noticed that the manager was a bit too defensive-minded and he usually only allowed the players to take liberties on the attack only at the beginning of the match before they had scored.
Once they took the lead, he always wanted them behind the ball, defending the lead.
He had overemphasized it in training, and Jason remembered it happening in the last international matches that he had been at.
It was normal for a coach to be scared of conceding, but Rohr took his fear of conceding to a whole new level.
This tactic might work well now, but it could potentially come to hurt them when they move on to a bigger stage where just staying behind a ball wasn’t going to be enough to stop some teams.
This tactic might work against most other African teams because the Nigerian team was currently the one with the highest number of high quality players, but in an international match against countries like France, Portugal, Germany, Spain, Argentina, or even slightly weaker teams, this tactic would make them little more than sitting ducks.
Those countries had enough high-quality players that eleven players staying behind the ball would not be enough to stop them from putting two or three past them.
Unfortunately, there was nothing Jason could do about the manager’s tactical decisions except maybe talk to the team captain, but he didn’t want to do that as that could lead to complications building up between the captain and the manager if the captain decided to act on his complaint.
That was a media explosion waiting to happen, and he could already see the headlines talking about him as the cause of the fiasco if such a thing ever happened.
He could only rebel in his own way on the pitch by not always listening to the manager’s instructions.
The match had been stuck in a deadlock ever since the Nigerian team had scored first, with attacking attempts being too few and far between.
It was clear that the Nigerian manager’s tactics were working, but Jason was tired of the defensive game, so the next time the ball reached him, he began to move the ball forward instead of passing the ball back.
The Benin players, like starved wolves, immediately began charging at him, but his teammates had also immediately moved upfield to support him.
They didn’t know what prompted him to move, but after repeatedly training together, they already had ways they responded to each other’s movements, and they immediately launched forward.
After running in between two Benin players in the middle of the field, Jason picked out Musa running down the right flan,k and he sent the ball flying over into his path.
The Supa Eagles captain made full use of his athleticism to catch up to the ball ahead of his marker, and he quickly brought the ball under control as he charged forward down the right.
On the sidelines, Rohr was almost losing his mind at how his players were choosing to take such a risk to attack this close to half-time.
With them moving forward to attack, they were now very susceptible to a counter-attack if they lost the ball by mistake.
The players on the pitch didn’t know what the manager was thinking about and continued forward.
Then Musa crossed the ball into the penalty box after he got to the side of the penalty box.
Osimen jumped to try and reach the ball, but an opposing defender got to the ball first, getting in the way of the ball and heading it upward over Osimen, but not changing its general direction.
Thus, the ball began flying towards the left side of the penalty box and Rohr’s heart had already flown into his throat since his team was no longer with the ball.
However, before he could even begin barking out orders for his players to fall back and re-group at the back, he saw Iwobi near the ball’s landing spot.
Getting to the ball’s landing spot just a second earlier than an opposing player, Iwobi headed the ball infield at Jason, who was about two meters away from the edge of the box.
Jason caught the ball in the air before it touched the ground, flicking it upwards because he had noticed a Benin Republic defender rushing at him from inside the penalty box who would immediately clear the ball if Jason brought it down.
Making use of the player’s momentum as he rushed towards him, Jason shifted slightly to dodge him and then flicked the ball upward again, just enough so that it would fly over the defender that came rushing in.
As he expected, the defender was moving too fast to stop and completely missed the ball, but Jason was no longer paying him any attention as he had already spun on the spot while keeping his eyes on the ball.
By the time Jasn finished turning, he was already facing the goal while swinging his leg at the ball that was coming down to meet his foot perfectly.
Jason’s feet whacking the ball could be heard clearly, and the ball flew powerfully at the bottom left corner, completely unobstructed and smashed into the back of the net despite the goalkeeper’s attempts to reach it.
{This young man is an absolute sensation!}
{The skill level of that is absolutely remarkable!}
{Perfect touch, perfect turn, perfect volley! Indeed, perfection exists, and we’ve just witnessed it!} the commentator screamed into the mic while Jason ran down the sidelines with his hands outstretched and jumped into a knee slide.
{it’s just his third appearance for his national team and he’s already pulling off goals !}
{Absolutely crazy! The goalkeeper had no way to stop him!}