Chapter 1042: Team Training Session!

The next day, the team suddenly got some additional players who had just arrived from abroad.

Yeah, it seemed that some of them were late due to the schedule, and now, Higo could see some of the famous players like Takefusa Kubo and Takehiro Tomiyasu making their appearance in the national team.

This definitely made the whole situation livelier, as a lot of players there wanted to prove that the gap between them and the superstars wasn’t as big as they imagined.

Moriyasu-sensei also noticed this, so he gave the team a proper way to do that, which was by holding a mini-game of 8v8 with the team being random.

However, unlike in Schalke, where the main purpose was to let the players get used to the high-intensity game in a tight space, this time, Moriyasu-sensei tweaked some rules here and there to make the game interesting.

First, he forbade the players from touching the ball more than twice in one possession, and second, a goal only counted when all the players had touched the ball at least once in that possession, and this included the goalkeeper as well.

The purpose was simple. Well... Not so, per se.

One, it forced the players to scan the whole pitch and think about where to pass before receiving the ball, making them get used to always being one step ahead in any condition.

As for the second purpose, this was a pure chemistry builder, as everyone had to at least touch the ball once and move it around no matter what the situation on the pitch would be.

This forced them to shout, yell, and say anything in their mind to communicate with teammates they probably didn’t even know before.

This was probably the fastest way to build chemistry among the players, as the international break only lasted for two weeks before they had to be back on their original team after everything was finally over.

To everyone’s surprise, though, Higo truly shone brighter than ever in this training session. Hell, even the boy himself didn’t expect that this would be easier than he initially thought.

Oh, he had never thought that he would do so badly in this session. After all, the boy had done so many mini-games like this in the past, and honestly, he had never conceded more than two goals even with the pitch getting smaller and smaller.

One thing that he was concerned about, though, was the rule that forced him to touch the ball. Even in Schalke, he disliked the thought of playing with fire like this, and yet, now, he couldn’t even dodge it anymore.

However, somehow, after he regained his calmness, the boy finally found the rhythm. His clairvoyance ability helped a lot, especially when it was combined with the wide perspective, as he could watch everyone from his spot.

Then, one underrated attribute that no one had ever paid attention to also emerged from his side.

That was his long pass, as somehow, the boy would always be able to pinpoint the ball straight to his teammates on the frontline without finding any trouble at all.

’I have done something like this a lot with Hiroshi-kun when I was in Hakodate Nishi, but with Morita-san in Schalke, I often used a throw instead since Morita-san has never gone deep enough into the opponent’s territory before truly receiving the ball.’

At least, that was what Higo said to himself when he reviewed everything through his head.

Still, this discovery definitely surprised even the coaching staff here. They all knew that Higo was an amazing shot-stopper—hell, he had already proved that by blocking all the way for his opponents to get even one goal today—but as a sweeper keeper?

That was definitely new.

However, this was a welcome surprise, as everyone couldn’t help but get excited when they knew that Higo could be stronger again in the future.

"Hah! As expected, that title as one of the best young goalkeepers in the world is well deserved!" Endo laughed boisterously as he patted the boy on the back.

"Good job, Higo! Honestly, I have never seen a young goalkeeper as outrageous as you! Keep it up!" Nagatomo added.

"Well, I don’t really care about your ability with your feet, but your hands, though? Damn! Can you see that Furuhashi-san and Osako-san are getting crazy?!" Morita chuckled as well, adding fuel to the fire.

Those two names he mentioned had their face turning so dark at this point, feeling so annoyed yet helpless at the same time.

Not just him, but those offensive players like Daichi Kamada, Takuma Asano, and even Takefusa Kubo just looked at Higo in a mix of helplessness and awe.

Yeah, in the fifteen minutes they played the mini-game today, Higo managed to turn himself into a brick wall, killing all the momentum from his teammates to get a goal.

Hell, even when Kyogo Furuhashi managed to steal a spot in the joint area between the two center backs, Shogo Taniguchi and Sho Sasaki, Higo was still able to react quicker than anyone ever thought, moving so fast to close the distance and use his body to block the shot.

Of course, that wasn’t the only threat coming at him. However, since the players could only make one touch before taking a shot on their own, everything turned out to be quite easy for him to predict.

Hell, even without his clairvoyance ability, Higo was confident that he could still show the same level of performance as what he had just done earlier, and that showed that he was on a hot streak right now.

Still, it turned out that his performance so far failed to impress the coach.

At least, it failed to make the man consider him as the main goalkeeper in the next game, because the next day, he finally released a list of players who would be the main squad for the friendly game against South Korea a few days later, and Higo’s name was not on that list.

No, instead, it was Shuichi Gonda, a veteran goalkeeper from Portimonense, who was chosen to protect the goal, and as for Higo, he had to be satisfied with starting the game from the bench.