Chapter 1020: The Team’s Target for the Rest of the Season!

This state lasted for the next ten minutes, as the defensive team somehow managed to stay disciplined in handling all the attacks from the offensive team.

It didn’t matter how tricky and unexpected Morita’s pass was, or how good Tanaka’s run was; somehow, everything was always on Higo’s radar, and as long as they could follow the boy’s instructions thoroughly, the danger would never arrive at the penalty box.

Ever.

’Yeah, this is what we missed in the last couple of games, huh?’ Frohling muttered in realization.

’Not just a sense of safety, but someone who could read the game twice as fast as anyone else and give a command accordingly. This is probably the most valuable ability that Higo offers for the team...’

Of course, that wasn’t the only thing that Higo offered for the team. No, if anything, his shot-stopping ability combined with his game-reading skill that would always allow him to react faster than anyone else could be said as his biggest weapon.

Twice in this matchup, he used that combo to deal with the opponent’s threat.

The first one came from Hoppe, who managed to receive a through pass after Tanaka and Benito Raman made a combination play to drag the defensive line on the flank.

Facing Hoppe’s threat, Higo just put his body in line, and when the striker wanted to be tricky by chipping the ball to the height of Higo’s head, the goalkeeper just moved accordingly, catching it as easily as ever.

Then, the second one came from an unexpected event, where Hofmann’s clearance fell on Morita’s feet.

The boy showed why he was the best Japanese in his generation by sending a nasty curl, one that was aiming straight at the top corner of the goal.

If it was any other goalkeeper, the ball would’ve slammed the back of the net beautifully. Unfortunately, with Higo on the back, that was uncertain, especially when the goalkeeper managed to get a touch of the ball in the last second, deflecting it from the goal.

"Oh, fuck it, Ryusuke! Why are you so fucking annoying?!" Morita groaned when he saw the ball get blocked.

"Hah! You will need a thousand shots like that to get one goal against me, Morita-san!" Higo laughed as he got back on his feet.

Of course, that didn’t mean the team’s defense was invincible. No, even after they regained some of their old form, they were still far from perfect.

In the end, the defensive team even conceded a goal as Malick Thiaw lost a rebound ball against Benito Raman, failing to protect Higo, who had just saved a threat from Hoppe.

In the end, though, the defensive team won the simulation, holding the offensive team to only one goal in ten minutes.

Still, no one was bothered by it. No, once Waldoch blew the final whistle, everyone chatted and laughed with each other, throwing teases and banter relaxedly.

Compared to the gloomy atmosphere before the training session began, this was definitely better, as everyone finally got away from the depressing mood after losing against M?nchengladbach two days ago.

Frohling also gave a nod of appreciation toward Higo, knowing that the goalkeeper was the one who did the heavy lifting today.

"Yeah, the team needs to regain their confidence in defense, especially, and Higo managed to show everyone else with his action that they are still a top team defensively.’

Of course, the most awkward guy here would be Fahrmann, as the backup goalkeeper just witnessed how the fragile defense that he led in the last two games somehow became the best one in the country once again.

Before this, the man was so sure that the gap between him and Higo wouldn’t be that big. However, this was a wake-up call that sometimes, experience alone couldn’t win against talent in this sport.

Overall, though, Frohling counted this simulation as a success, and now that the team’s mood was back to normal, he could finally address the team’s current situation.

"Okay, now that you are here, let’s talk about our position!" The man spoke once everyone was in the meeting room.

"We are still in the 11th position with 33 points, and we only have 10 games away before the league is over. If our target is to get away from the relegation zone, I don’t think we have to worry about that anymore."

Indeed, they were already so far from the bottom three, and the chance of them falling so far to the point they had to survive in that situation was so small.

It would take at least the team losing more than half of the games remaining in the season for them to get into the relegation zone, and that would only happen if those three teams there managed to win most of their games.

So, yeah, their initial target this season had already been achieved, so it was time to aim for a higher spot.

"Now, we are still 10 points behind the 4th position, which is Bayer Leverkusen!" The coach slammed the board so loudly that it made some of them yelp.

"It is a big gap, but not an impossible one that we could achieve. In the next ten games, so many things can happen, so we have to keep our eyes tightly on that spot!"

This time, everyone was a little bit surprised when they heard that.

After all, before this, the Champions League had never crossed their mind, so when the coach announced out of nowhere that they wanted to get that spot, especially when they were still seven spots behind, this sounded way too ridiculous to be true.

"I know that this is laughable for most of you, so don’t think too much about that." Frohling acknowledged their reaction. "What I want you guys to do is to fight with all you have, try to win as many games as possible, and leave the rest to fate, okay?!"

Even though some of them were still unsure about this, they could only nod here, shouting simultaneously, "YES, SIR!"

"Good! Now, let’s talk about our next game!"

With that, everyone leaned forward, waiting eagerly for the coach to start the real meeting here.