Chapter 927: The Final Whistle! Ending the Year in a Win!

The game continued again, but at this point, it was as if everything was over.

The two teams didn’t increase their intensity again, just making sure that the ball kept rolling.

If anything, this became a big chance for them to experiment with some new schemes that they had only done in the training session.

This was exactly what Schalke did, as Morita found this opportunity to be rare to have.

The second half truly became his show, as the boy roamed everywhere as if he belonged in all the positions on the pitch. Hell, at some point, his position was even further from Hoppe on the frontline as he tried to breach the opponent’s defense.

Unfortunately, none of them bore any fruit, as his teammates failed to coordinate with his wild movement.

The closest chance was when he managed to attract so much attention inside the channel area, and in the end, the boy managed to deliver a through pass to Fabian Reese on the other side of the penalty box.

However, the pass itself was far from being perfect, rolling too close to the goalkeeper. In the end, Fabian failed to get to the ball fast enough, resulting in it just falling into the goalkeeper’s clutch.

As for Matthew Hoppe, the hero of the day, every single movement of his was completely in the opponent’s eyes right now. No one dared to let him free, not wanting to repeat their mistake.

Still, Hoppe was clever enough to use it as a weapon. Or... To be more exact, Morita took advantage of the boy, using him as bait to get an open position on the opposition half.

Whenever Hoppe made a move, Morita would catch another spot to be empty, and that was where he would send the ball to.

It was just a pity that the others couldn’t really execute all the chances that were made so far, resulting in the score being stuck at 3-0.

Still, it was far more than enough for Frohling, especially when the man remembered how desperate he was in the locker room earlier to think of how to score even a single goal today.

Hoffenheim, of course, also tried their best to narrow the gap. The attack from Ihlas Bebou and Andrej Kramaric still managed to put Higo on the back foot once or twice so far.

Hell, at one point, Andrej Kramaric somehow managed to dribble past Malick Thiaw and Stambouli at the same time.

It was clumsy, yes, relying too much on luck as the ball bounced back and forth between the defenders before it finally fell on Kramaric’s feet again when he was in a better position.

However, the Croatian striker succeeded in creating his own space to attack, getting straight into the best position to shoot.

Unfortunately, even though it could be counted as a one-on-one situation, Kramaric only had a tight angle to execute the ball, so the situation favored Higo more with his clairvoyance ability.

The Croatian striker tried to be smart by aiming low at the area between Higo’s legs, but when the goalkeeper knew about it firsthand, handling such a shot was way too easy.

He just needed to keep both legs closed while treating the shot as a normal ground ball coming straight at him. As a result, Higo caught it so easily, making Kramaric look stupid with his decision-making.

Other than that chance, Hoffenheim basically had no idea of how to break Schalke’s defense, especially when the away team had basically stopped rushing things up and decided to play it safe.

Once Schalke dropped back into a low-block approach, they could even be considered one of the best in the world that even Bayern Munich would have a difficult time breaking, let alone Hoffenheim.

No matter how hard they tried, they would only meet a brick wall, and if somehow a miracle happened and they managed to get close enough, the iron gate would shut down everything to prevent a goal from coming.

Honestly, playing with this Schalke team was definitely the most frustrating thing for all the Bundesliga teams to experience.

As the game got closer to the end, the tempo also gradually loosened. Hoffenheim had basically given up, not chasing too much other than trying to push their luck to avoid a total embarrassment.

Frohling himself also made so many changes right after that.

He used all five chances that he got to regenerate the squad on the pitch, wanting to make sure that everyone on the bench could have a chance to taste this sweet victory as well.

He also did this to put the main players in safety, not wanting them to risk themselves too much when everything was settled already.

Now, from Morita to Fabian Reese, all the cores of the team were off already, leaving those who still wanted to prove themselves to work harder against the dejected opponent in front of them.

Hoffenheim was also doing the same.

They knew that the game was a lost cause, so rather than sticking too much and tiring out their players, the head coach decided to take some important members like Kramaric or Baumgartner off the pitch.

Now that most of the main members were not on the pitch anymore, Hoppe also found that the support for his side decreased as well, so he didn’t try to force himself too much to get the fourth goal today.

Still, his attitude toward the game, how he always ran to chase the ball even after getting a hat-trick, was so admirable here, enough to motivate the other bench players around him.

Even Omar Mascarell gave a nod of appreciation, patting the boy on the back firmly.

"You have the right mindset here. Just make sure you can maintain it for as long as you can. Getting bored with your routine is one of the most difficult enemies to fight for an athlete."

In the end, though, nothing much changed in this game, and before everyone knew it, they were already at the additional time with the referee having the whistle on the tip of his tongue.

Once the time was finally over...

FWEEE! FWEEE! FWEEE!

The final whistle was finally blown, ending this year with Schalke bagging their second win in a row.

Hoffenheim 0 – 3 Schalke 04.