Chapter 949: Stealing the First Goal!

Honestly, Hoppe couldn’t say that he was in the best position to head the ball.

No, it seemed that he ran too deep to the middle, and somehow, the boy miscalculated where the ball would land. It flew slightly higher than he thought it would be, and he had to adjust his body in the air immediately.

’SHIT! I have to get this done!’ He gritted his teeth, trying to reach the ball.

BAM!

In the end, his head managed to get it as he jumped slightly backward. Still, it was far from the perfect header that he imagined earlier.

The ball had no power, and if anything, it floated so high to the far post before falling so dramatically in a parabolic motion.

However, it wasn’t a bad execution if the final result was exactly what he wanted.

The goalkeeper tried his best to dive toward the far post, trying to reach the ball there. Unfortunately, the placement was far too close to the goalpost, and he was unable to get his hand on it.

As a result...

Clank!

The ball bounced off the crossbar before it slammed on the ground, and the next thing everyone knew, it was already behind the goal line, a valid goal for the home team.

"OH, FUCK!" Hoppe exclaimed, trying to get back on his feet after his balance was shaken due to the header earlier. "OH, FUCK! IT WENT IN! IT WENT FUCKING IN! HAHAHA!"

The boy’s laughter echoed throughout the whole stadium as he rushed toward the stand, jumping on the commercial board before spreading his arms widely as if asking for the cheers there.

It took a while for the supporters to process everything here. They were too shocked for a moment, not expecting the team to have such an early lead like this.

Well, how could they not, when the team itself had never gotten such a quick goal before? In the second half with the Blitzkrieg scheme, maybe, but in the first half? From the high-pressure scenario?

Honestly, it was like a wet dream coming true for them.

However, it didn’t take long before they were back on earth, realizing what was going on and joining the celebration here.

"YES, HOPPE! THAT’S HOW YOU DO IT!"

"FUCK! THAT IS SO AWESOME!"

"COME ON! THIS IS SCHALKE!"

The people there were the most fanatic out of all the Schalke supporter groups, and honestly, if the weather allowed, some of them would throw their tops off already at this point. They roared together with Hoppe, giving the American striker all the love that he deserved.

Then, soon enough, all the Schalke players followed, hugging the boy and even slapping him quite hard on the back.

"Good job, Hoppe! That jump is awesome!" Benito Raman gave a thumbs-up.

"That cross, though! Don’t you see how crazy the curve is?!" Nabil Bentaleb asked, his face flushed red from excitement. "Morita, I really want to know what your head is made of! Bastard, I swear you are on par with KDB right now!"

Morita just grinned widely, not showing any excessive reaction to such praise. He had already received so many like this in the season, so nothing could flatter him anymore.

Still, the attention was completely on him, because half of the contribution for that goal was on Morita’s side. That vision and precision on that cross was indeed incredible, reminding everyone on Kevin De Bruyne, the maestro midfielder from Manchester City.

Meanwhile, on K?ln’s side, the players were so helpless right now, staring at each other in confusion. No one knew how in the hell they conceded a goal just three minutes after the game began.

This was definitely the worst-case scenario, where they were forced to get out of their comfort zone since the very beginning of the game.

Still, once the game restarted again, they didn’t fall into panic.

No, the trailing K?ln didn’t rush to press forward in attack. Instead, they passed the ball around near midfield, edging forward bit by bit.

They showed no impatience at all, just a pure tempo play that was done patiently as they looked for better opportunities.

The aim was also clear. Once any vulnerabilities appeared in Schalke’s flank side, they would immediately accelerate the pace of their attack and send the ball there.

After all, even though Schalke’s defense was the best in the league, somehow, their two fullbacks were so easy to get blown away in a speed race.

It took a while, but in the end, they finally got their first chance in the 15th minute, twelve minutes after they conceded a goal.

It all started with Fabian trying to press their wingback, Kingsley Ehizibue, to move back to their own territory. However, the Dutchman managed to let the ball escape, sending it to the far flank where Marius Wolf ran diagonally from the penalty box to receive it.

He managed to save the ball before it rolled over the sideline, looking up to observe his teammates’ position on the box before delivering a long, diagonal cross exactly like how Morita did it earlier.

"Give me the space! Clear away, Benjy!" Higo shouted; his eyes were locked on the ball in the air.

The defenders did exactly what he told them, not even wasting a second here. They used their body to prevent the other K?ln players inside the box from bothering Higo’s action.

Unfortunately, one managed to escape and jump so close to Higo, so the goalkeeper had to punch the ball away instead of catching it safely.

BAM!

The rebound ball flew away to the space in front of the penalty box, and yet, somehow, no one from Schalke’s side was close enough to receive the ball.

’Fuck! Where the hell are Omar and Nabil?!’

At least, that was what everyone thought at that moment.

In the end, one of K?ln’s players got the rebound quicker than anyone else, and without even controlling it, he swung his right foot as hard as possible.

BAM!

Instead of going straight to the goal, though, it met a body inside the box before flying far outside of the pitch.

"YES! I get it!" Malick Thiaw roared as he was the one who put his body on the line.

However, his happiness vanished instantly when, in the next second, the referee suddenly blew the whistle.

FWEEE!