Fantasy Football-Chapter 32: Comeback 1.

16’

Immediately Tasty kicked the ball backward, the Dark Elites went into overdrive, the Striders FC players surged at them, trying to collide into them and wrest back control.

However, this time around the Dark Elites seemed to have adjusted to their approach, and the fact that the disembodied referee’s voice rarely called fouls for the early tackles made them bold enough to try something different.

The ball eventually rolled toward Lambert’s feet.

“Move inside,” Lambert shouted to his teammates with his hands raised into the air like he was giving out signals, and Bhola, Tasty, Mojo, and Oyebuchi all pushed into the Striders’ half, holding level with their defenders and not drifting further to avoid an offside trap.

Because of this change in behaviour, some of the Striders FC players weren’t sure whether to press forward as usual or drop a little, though their two strikers were already closing in on Lambert who held the ball.

Seeing this, Lambert shaped as if to drive through their middle, muddling their reads and drawing both strikers in, however before the collision happened he then dropped a step and clipped the ball with his right foot into the space on the left.

With both strikers focused on him, it would take them a moment to recover and stop the pass to Jezzy Vingz, Lambert’s partner in midfield; even though the ball was gone, the strikers still crashed into Lambert and knocked him to the turf, since the eyes of the fans were already elsewhere.

Vingz moved to meet Lambert’s perfectly weighted through pass; he didn’t bother to control or show flair, he just opened up and used the inside of his foot to slide a through ball to Mojo, who was already sprinting down the left wing on Lambert’s orders.

That one pass was so brilliant it sliced through the Striders’ midfield and found Mojo, who’d been waiting; though the No. 8 of the Striders FC stretched a leg at the last moment trying to intercept the ball, but the ball still reached Mojo’s feet with his back to goal.

The instant it arrived, he flicked it ahead and pivoted to face it, he then nudged it on with his laces, driving deeper into Striders’ half; the right-back assigned to him backpedalled, anticipating a pass before committing to moving in.

However with the burst of pace Mojo had used to cut inside, he was already near the edge of the box; which is why the right-back hesitated, not wanting to be the reason they conceded however that hesitation proved fatal as Mojo cut the ball across his body with his right and shaped his posture like he was about to shot a curler with his right foot.

Seeing the motion, the left-back closed fast his legs starched out wide to stop the shot, however Mojo rolled the ball back to his left; as the defender who had stepped out was left helplessly off-balance as Mojo slipped past him, the slick dribble denying any quick recovery or even a tactical foul.

“Ehhhhn!” The crowd erupted at the skill just displayed, but the Striders weren’t enjoying it, as this was the Dark Elites first real threat close to their goal.

A center-back lunged in with a sliding tackle, closing in fast, but before he arrived Mojo dinked the ball upward toward Tasty, who had the other center-back locked in a grapple.

Even with the tussle and the shoves from nearby defenders, Tasty barely budged; as he realised holding his ground wasn’t a problem.

‘Idris, the Bariga YB captain, has raised my expectations of the level I need to reach to beat top defenders, this is nothing,’ Tasty thought as he shoved the center-back with his right hand.

He clearly won the duel as his strength clearly superior and he lashed a left-footed volley into the top-left corner; the net rippled as the ball blurred past the Striders FC keeper before he could even react.

“Ping!” The system’s goal chime rang through the stadium as the Dark Elites equalised almost instantly, plunging the arena into a stunned hush before the cheers erupted.

Many in the crowd had bet against the Dark Elites, but that wasn’t on their minds now; they were replaying the beauty of the move—Vingz’s genius pass bypassing Striders’ midfield to find Mojo, Mojo gliding past his marker, drawing a second defender, then dinking a perfect chip to Tasty, who finished with a thunderous volley.

It was too good not to cheer, Tasty didn’t even celebrate, he just scooped the ball from the back of the net and sprinted to midfield, high-fiving teammates as he went, eager to restart the game.

Striders FC kicked off, but this time they no longer controlled the game; the Dark Elites had learned how to commit dark-arts fouls without cards, and with Striders flagging for stamina, they began coughing up possession.

The Dark Elites’ month of training and levelling were finally showing fruits: they strung passes together and squeezed Striders back, forcing a formation change and a deep block that made finding a winner difficult.

In underworld football, each match lasts only 45 minutes because there are many fixtures so second half wasn’t played to allow a string of matches are played in a night;

So if both teams draw, they don’t lose their stake, they simply split a portion of the bounty while the house eats a small loss.

Which the house then recoups via the stadium’s betting platform, because draws can’t be wagered, the house never has to pay bettors on a stalemate, offsetting the small fee owed to the teams.

However, the Dark Elites weren’t playing for a draw, they were playing to win, their connections were sharper than ever, while Striders FC were happy to cling to a stalemate.

But that defensive wall they have built didn’t last long.

30’ Around the thirty-minute mark, the ball broke to Lambert at the edge of Striders FC’s half, and he scooped it into the air, copying a page from the Striders’ playbook.

— Which is locating their attackers up front.

Bhola was already in position as the ball streaked through the air, with his height he was able to rise above everyone with less issues and nodded it toward Tasty, but since Tasty had scored earlier, he’d drawn a little extra attention to himself.

Before the ball could drop, he had already sprinted to meet it, using his superior speed to outrun the center-back marking him; from their duels it was clear to the defender that him against Tasty was a bad matchup, and he was unable to hold Tasty so he launched a reckless sliding tackle the instant Tasty brought the ball under control.

And Tasty was taken out along with the ball; however, it spilled kindly to Bhola, who had just landed, and he put the toe of his right boot through

it, skimming it along the turf into the bottom-left corner.