Chapter 774: Stealing the Third Goal!

Unfortunately, Augsburg wasted all their chance to gain momentum, and soon enough, it was Schalke’s time to control the game here.

In fact, Schalke’s trio of midfielders were never that bad at a possession game. No, against any other middle- to bottom-tier teams, the combination of Morita, Omar Mascarell, and Weston McKennie would be able to overwhelm all of their opponents.

That still didn’t count Ozan Kabak, Juan Miranda, and some players who were good at maintaining possession, which made this team superior to a team at their level.

The only reason they had never tried to do so was that, for Frohling, a counterattack style suited this team better, preventing the team from making too many mistakes in their own area. This was the crux of the problem, the reason why the team still lost so many goals in the past.

Still, that didn’t mean they were incapable, and now, the midfield line started to exert their strength, even playing rondo on some Augsburg players to force them to run in a small space while they just passed around so quickly.

Augsburg’s players were so frustrated right now, not being able to adapt to the speed of the ball rolling around in front of them. To make things worse, Schalke themselves didn’t intend to rush forward for a goal, just playing around in the midfield, pushing Augsburg’s defensive line for a moment before recycling the possession again by passing the ball back to the defender.

This cycle was repeated over and over again to the point that the opponent was so frustrated, starting to foul the home team players so many times in the last twenty minutes.

Hell, Morita even had it worse here. The boy somehow held the ball for too long, and before he could pass it, he found an unfamiliar foot hitting his foot here as a harsh tackle was delivered to kill his momentum.

BRUGH!

"ARGH!" Morita was thrown several meters away, and he held his ankle in pain. "REF! That’s a fucking red! Come on! What the hell is he trying to do here?!" He complained furiously.

Inwardly, the boy also had a cold sweat rolling down his back. He knew that he was lucky here, managing to escape from any possible injury even with that kind of tackle hitting him. The pain here came from adrenaline, and the moment his heart calmed down, he would be as good as new.

Still, that didn’t mean he had to like it. In fact, Frohling also rushed to the fourth referee, trying to make his case here. "Fuck it! That kind of a foul also happened in my team’s game against Dortmund! What the hell is going on?! Do all the teams in the country want to kill my players or what?!"

Poor man, he didn’t know how to handle Frohling’s aggressiveness here. The referee also had a headache, knowing that at this point, Frohling was infamous for his fierce complaints whenever things didn’t go as he wanted.

Fortunately, the foul itself was quite harsh, so the referee didn’t hesitate to punish the culprit here.

A yellow card and a warning for a possible red card.

Even though the result was not what Frohling wanted, the man still accepted it, knowing that pushing his luck too far could backfire on his team. Since Morita was back on his feet, the man just nodded in acceptance, not questioning the referee’s decision again.

The good thing, though, was that this yellow card was like a final nail in the coffin. The frustration on Augsburg’s side was at its peak right now, and Frohling also noticed it.

The man called Juan Miranda to the sideline, whispering to the Spaniard, "Tell Morita and the others to go for the third goal. Even though we are leading by two points, the third one will secure everything. Also, if the chance comes, tell Morita to look at the right side. Nassim has been very quiet; the opponent starts to forget about him, so it is time for him to strike."

Juan Miranda nodded quickly before spreading the message to the other players there. It could be seen that some had their eyes lit up, especially Caligliuri. The man was still one goal down from scoring a hat-trick here, and he didn’t want to give up when he was just one step away from achieving it.

With that in mind, Morita and Omar Mascarell exchanged glances, and they knew what to do here.

Normally, those two would just keep it slow, playing a steady possession game before launching a quick long pass when the opponent lowered their guard in defense. However, it was different this time.

No, Morita knew that Augsburg’s defense was still in disarray from their frustration, so he decided to take action here.

After receiving the ball from Ozan Kabak, he turned around quickly to face the opponent’s goal, finding that no enemies were closer to him. With that in mind, he started pushing forward, and when one player was trying to stop him, with a little shoulder feint, the boy managed to shake off that poor man, getting past him so easily.

"SHIT! Nice dribble, Morita!"

"LEFT! LEFT!"

"COME ON!"

All the Schalke players were so excited when they finally saw the chance coming. So many players rushed in, wanting to get a good position here. However, Morita was patient. He waited until more players got closer to him, and when all of their attention was on him...

Thud!

A through pass to the right side, and Nassim was there, making a run to penetrate that flank!

"FUCK! WHERE IS THE FULLBACK?! STOP HIM!"

"KILL HIM! GET RID OF THE BALL!"

Once again, Augsburg panicked, not realizing that Nassim Boujellab somehow managed to slip there. However, before anyone could recover, the Moroccan winger whipped a low cross immediately, and there, on the penalty box, Daniel Caligliuri had been ready, sliding on the grass with one foot extended far to reach the ball.

Thud!

The man got the ball first before anyone else, pushing it to the back of Augsburg’s net.