Everything happened so fast, as one moment the ball was on the back with Ritsumeikan players were about to snatch it, and in the next moment, it was already flying in front of Yuwell Carlson, with the Swedish striker likely to get the ball first. Right now, the away team was running frantically, trying to do damage control.

"Kono, slow him down! Slow him down!"

"Hizashi, watch carefully! Don’t let him beat your offside trap!"

Seeing the scene unfold before his eyes, Higo blinked in disbelief before turning his head at Kumiko in astonishment. "Is this what you mean by things related to me?!" He pointed at himself in wonder.

"Yup!" Kumiko nodded, leaning forward as she also watched the game carefully. "This is the modern tactic that has been popular in recent years. To relieve the team from the opponent’s pressure, the goalkeeper will act as the eleventh outside player, helping with the ball distribution to start another round of attack. That’s why he didn’t clear the ball randomly. Instead, he went for a switch attack, and you can see how successful it is."

"A switch attack?" Higo parroted her words questioningly.

Before Kumiko could answer, though, everyone suddenly rose from their seat, as Yuwell Carlson managed to beat the two defenders in front of him so quickly. Even though there was still one player left, for a player like Yuwell, this was basically a one-on-one situation.

"Damn! Yuwell is so fast!" Jun exclaimed, his face blanching when he witnessed this. "And you mean to tell me we have to stop him?!"

Makino’s face also turned grim at the thought of him having to face that Swedish striker. He had also faced Park Han-Gyeol from Shimizu Higashi a few months ago, and yet, somehow, the threat that Yuwell posed seemed to be a little bit higher here.

Unfortunately for Sapporo Otani, though, even though the attack should be a sure-goal threat for them, they failed to convert it into a lead. Yuwell wanted to play a smart game, giving a diagonal pass to his teammate on the left. However, the pass was too close to the six-yard box, and in the end, it was caught so easily by the Ritsumeikan goalkeeper.

All the yellow-jersey players let out a relieved sigh, knowing that they had just escaped from the death door.

"Oh, fuck! Why is he passing?!"

"No, it is not the pass! Look, the quality is good! It is just that his teammate is so slow!"

"Damn! We are wasting too many chances! We have to do better!"

The supporters also groaned in disappointment, knowing that a golden chance had just turned into trash. Yuwell himself could be seen apologizing to his teammate, since the striker felt like it was his mistake that the pass was not perfect.

There was regret and annoyance, but Yuwell didn’t react too strongly, just walking back to his position and getting ready for the next play.

Higo himself also let his butt fall on the chair once again, still feeling the rapid heartbeat from this chance. "I hope they will also do the same in the final game later. Throwing away an easy chance like that, I mean." He smiled wryly.

"Oh, that would only happen in your dream, unfortunately. There is no way they would slack off like this in the final." Kumiko joked back at him, following his action as she sat back on her chair. "Anyway, where were we before?"

"The switch attack. You wanted to explain that to me." Higo reminded the girl. Even though the atmosphere was still high after the last chance, he was still in the mood to listen to her story.

"Oh, yeah!" The girl nodded as she remembered that part. "That is the situation where a team plays in one flank for so long to gain the opponent’s attention on that side, and once the timing is right, they will switch to the opposite flank with a long ball to catch the opponent off guard. This is a perfect way to play against an opponent who has little to no discipline in their defensive shape. I mean, you see it works like a charm, right?"

Higo nodded slowly, recalling how the situation changed so quickly from Ritsumeikan High attacking them to Sapporo Otani suddenly launching a counterattack in a blink.

"In fact, the last attack doesn’t have to be a switch one. The key part here is the goalkeeper." Kumiko continued. "He is the player who has the clearest view among them all, what with him being on the back. He could see all of his teammates and assess their threat level. So, in a second or probably less, he saw Yuwell Carlson alone on that flank, and he sent the ball there directly. But if there was a better option, he could send the ball to the other spot easily." 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Everything seemed so complicated in Kumiko’s explanation, and yet, Sapporo Otani’s goalkeeper executed them all within a second. This made Higo see him in a new perspective, as before this, the boy still didn’t get why that goalkeeper could be the main choice in Sapporo Otani’s team. It seemed he had found the reason now.

Still...

"...Is that what you mean by the goalkeeper being the eleventh outside player?" Higo sighed heavily as he pondered over her words. "Is that also why you insist on my training to be a regular player? Not just to relieve pressure and clear the ball away?" He smiled wryly at the girl.

He could still remember all the torturous training, with him being forced to control the ball, pass, or sometimes even dribble forward. Hell, the boy even questioned the girl’s sanity, wondering why he, as a goalkeeper, needed all of this shit.

Now, it seemed that Higo got the answer he wanted here.

"Now, you get it!" Kumiko chirped happily. "You are good as a shot stopper, Ryukkun. Way too good, I can say. However, that will not change the fact that you are short for a goalkeeper, and sadly, professional teams paid attention to this. So, instead of lamenting your weakness, why not add more value to your bag?"