Chapter 916: After the Game

"YES!" All the Schalke players threw their hands in the air the moment the whistle was blown. "COME ON! FUCKING FINALLY!"

Pure, unadulterated relief flashed across their faces, as if a huge boulder had finally been lifted off their shoulders.

Even though they didn’t show any exaggerated celebration, the joyfulness being shared by everyone here spread so quickly, allowing all the people who were still in the stadium to see that this was not an ordinary win for Schalke.

Frohling, especially, was so ecstatic right now. He high-fived all the people on his team one by one, even the benchwarmer who had never had any chance to play on the pitch in his regime. His smile was beaming, enough to brighten the whole day.

Not that anyone could blame him, of course, since the man had been under a lot of pressure the last week. So many rumors spread in the media, speculating about who would replace him.

Even though two games without a win were not a big deal for a bottom-tier team like Schalke, the man’s negative playing style, coupled with his status as an interim coach last year, was enough to make people doubt him quite easily.

Now, though, he finally managed to lead the team to beat Frankfurt, the team in the fourth position, and it was the biggest proof of how capable the man was in his position. This also reminded everyone that besides the game against Bayern Munich, Frohling had a good record when it came to a fight against top teams.

He snatched the win against Dortmund and Frankfurt, two top-five teams, both in away games. Not only that, but the man also led the team to force a draw against the talented RB Leipzig side. In total, facing three out of the top-five teams, he managed to steal 7 points so far, which was not something that any head coach could pull off.

The man felt like a fucking Robin Hood right now, stealing the points from rich teams and throwing them away to the poor who really needed them.

’Oh, well, no need to think about the other games. For now, let’s celebrate this win first.’ The man thought.

Meanwhile, after high-fiving the other defenders, Higo turned around, approaching Nassim, who stared at the sky with a helpless sigh. The boy grinned widely, patting his friend on the shoulder.

"So? How is it? We are still better, right?" He asked with a shit-eating grin.

Nassim just snorted at that. "Don’t be so cocky, Ryusuke. Don’t forget that we are still above you."

"Bah! That would only be temporary!" Higo brushed it off nonchalantly. After that, though, his gaze softened as he added in a voice barely above a whisper, "Still, it is good to see you back and kicking here. That means your chance will also increase in the future, right?"

After getting sidelined from his injury last summer, Higo knew full well how terrible the feeling was to see his teammates fighting while he couldn’t do anything about it. He was lucky, in this regard, since the coach still trusted him to protect the goal, but Nassim here was far from it.

The boy got injured straight after coming to the new team, not giving him any time to adapt or impress the head coach. It would be okay if he was an established player, but at the end of the day, Nassim was just like Higo, a player who was still trying to climb to the top.

Still, now that he had managed to play well, impressing everyone and making them remember his name, it was clear that Nassim would get more minutes to play in the future, and Higo was so happy for his friend.

"Yeah, it is good to finally gain a foothold. Still, I have to work harder if I want to steal one spot in the main team." Nassim clenched his fist tightly, showing a spark of determination in his eyes.

After chatting with him for quite a while, Higo finally turned around. On the sideline, three people who Higo was familiar with could be seen chatting with each other, and his feet led them unconsciously toward that direction.

Those were Morita, Kamada, and Hasebe, as this somehow turned into a small gathering for Japanese players here.

"...But you are a little bit too much, Hasebe-senpai! That pull really scared the shit out of me, you know?!" The goalkeeper could hear his friend complaining.

"Bah! You don’t have the right to complain! You still executed that free-kick beautifully, you know?!" Makoto Hasebe brushed off his complaint nonchalantly.

"Yeah, can’t lie, that free kick is pretty," Kamada added with a nod of approval.

Soon enough, they finally noticed Higo’s presence, and Makoto Hasebe couldn’t help but come and hug him, patting the boy on the shoulder.

"Good, God, Higo-kun! You really showed us what it meant to be a monster goalkeeper today! Not only your ability to stop the attack, but your instinct to launch a counter is also on point! People who doubted you should be ashamed of themselves!" The man didn’t hold back his praise here.

"Ah... Um... It is nothing..." Higo rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

Even though he was a boisterous person, the boy was still quite shy when someone was praising him. It also didn’t help that the one who did that was a senior member of the national team, and while Hasebe had been retired for quite a while, his voice still had weight there.

"You don’t know what you did to us, Higo-kun..." Kamada groaned, glaring at the boy playfully. "Now, the coach will go berserk, and we attackers will be punished for our failure! The training session will be harder than ever!"

This time, even Makoto Hasebe shuddered in fear, not wanting to have that image in his head. This only made the two boys curious, but they couldn’t get an answer about what kind of punishment those two would receive later.

In the end, Makoto Hasebe finally left the team, being followed by Kamada, who didn’t forget to pat the boys on their shoulders.

"Next year, once the international week begins, I will wait for you both in the basecamp! Don’t be late, okay?!"