Chapter 60 - 58: Bait

Chapter 60: Chapter 58: Bait

Sarajevo, Grbavica Stadium.

This was the home stadium of the Sarajevo Railway Workers, a team founded by a group of railway workers that continues to this day.

True to their name, the team’s fans were mostly from the working class, giving them a rather solid fan base.

Of the stadium’s more than 30,000 seats, nearly 10,000 fans had come to watch the match live.

Amidst the fans’ fervent cheers, the match between the Sarajevo Railway Workers and Mostar Zrinjski was locked in a stalemate.

Thirty minutes in, the score was 0-0.

The Sarajevo Railway Workers were playing defensively, focusing on a counter-attacking strategy.

Mostar Zrinjski had more possession, and their attacks were more potent.

However, in this match, Suk was having an extremely difficult time.

"Suk is down again! He’s been the target of continuous fouls since the start of the match. The Sarajevo Railway Workers are giving special ’attention’ to Mostar Zrinjski’s key playmaker up front, and Vulic’s harassment of Suk has been particularly disruptive."

Suk picked himself up off the ground, spitting several times to get the grass out of his mouth.

He turned his head and glared resentfully at Vulic.

’The guy looks like a gorilla.’

Vulic was causing Suk a lot of trouble. For a center-back, the man was incredibly agile and not slow either.

Several of Suk’s forward runs and turns had been thwarted by him.

There were even a few times when Suk was just about to break away, only for Vulic to catch up and knock him straight to the ground.

Vulic’s Speed was not slow. Compared to a tall center forward like Bosschenoqi, this guy had an agile body and quick feet, allowing him to just about keep up with Suk’s pace and disrupt his play.

And for a defender, that was enough.

After all, Suk relied on his Explosive Power and Speed to shake off defenders and break through.

But Suk was also well aware that if he couldn’t shake off an opponent—or rather, couldn’t shake them off instantly—they could use their physicality to overpower and knock him down.

’My physical strength still isn’t enough!’

This was Suk’s biggest weakness!

’So this is what it feels like to be a marked man!’

At this moment, Suk deeply understood this truth.

Before, nobody paid attention to him; he was a stranger to everyone.

Not much research had been done on him, so many of his moves fell into the opponents’ tactical blind spots, which allowed him to perform exceptionally well.

But ever since the match against Sarajevo, Suk had become famous.

Now, Suk and Modric were known as the Mostar Twins. And with this reputation, other teams’ research on and restrictions against Suk had intensified.

’No one used to pay this much attention to me!’

Their primary targets for containment were either Kosopech or Modric.

But now, Suk was at the top of that list, possibly with a big red circle drawn around his name.

"Nice one!"

Seeing Suk get knocked down, Bosschenoqi gloated inwardly.

In previous matches, he had been made to look foolish by Suk’s repeated high-speed forward runs. But now that Vulic was back, the man could keep up with Suk’s initial burst of Speed, applying pressure and neutralizing him. For the moment, Suk’s threat was greatly diminished.

Of course, it wasn’t that simple.

As soon as Suk got up, someone was on him immediately.

It was a young midfielder from the Sarajevo Railway Workers. Suk wasn’t sure about his specific abilities, but his discipline was definitely strong.

Why did he think so?

Because the guy had been stuck to Suk for a full thirty minutes. Every time Suk touched the ball, he was there to interfere and restrict him.

And whenever he did manage to get past this guy, Vulic would immediately close in to restrict him further.

Under such heavy defensive pressure, Suk’s performance naturally suffered.

"Suk’s being man-marked!"

Assistant Coach Fandier said with a frown.

Many young players hit a "rookie wall" after their first season.

The so-called rookie wall is when a player who performed brilliantly in the previous season suddenly performs poorly in the next.

The key reason for this is that the "rookie" has been studied and targeted.

This was exactly what was happening to Suk now!

And his rookie wall had arrived even more quickly.

This was mainly due to Suk’s extremely polarized characteristics—his strengths and weaknesses were both very pronounced.

At this point, the first half was almost over.

Van Stiake also glanced at his watch and said, "We’ll talk about it in the locker room."

FWEEET!!

The sharp whistle blew.

The first half of the match was over.

The two teams were tied 0-0.

Mostar Zrinjski had been more aggressive on offense in the first half, but they had managed few threatening shots.

In contrast, the Sarajevo Railway Workers, with their limited counter-attacks, had caused quite a bit of trouble for Mostar Zrinjski.

Inside the Mostar Zrinjski locker room.

"I’m being man-marked!"

Suk said, his face a mask of frustration.

The others nodded; they had all seen it clearly.

Throughout the first half, Suk had been fouled countless times.

Although the Sarajevo Railway Workers had paid the price of one yellow card, they had ultimately completed their defensive task exceptionally well.

"We need to figure out a way to free up Suk!"

Kosopech said seriously.

The offense wasn’t flowing smoothly in this match, mainly because Suk, one of the key outlets for the attack, was in trouble.

Without Suk organizing things up front, they were finding it very difficult to build any attacks.

"We need someone to make forward runs to help Suk draw the defenders’ attention."

"I can push forward a bit."

"No, Luka. Luka needs to control the overall tempo."

"What about the full-backs pushing up? Like we’ve done before?"

Everyone was voicing their opinions, trying to solve the problem together.

The fundamental problem was how to free up Suk.

"We don’t need to free up Suk!"

At that moment, Van Stiake suddenly said, "If they want to contain Suk, let them. If they focus too much on Suk, it means others will have more opportunities."

He paused, then continued, "In the second half, Suk, your job is to draw Vulic’s attention as much as possible. You don’t need to receive or pass the ball; just draw their center-back, Vulic, and that marking midfielder away."

"The full-backs will push forward. Modric, you’ll push forward at the right times too. Boban, you’ll handle moving the ball from the back to the front. Of course, you and Modric can make more crossing runs!"

Everyone immediately understood the Head Coach’s meaning.

He was going to use Suk as a decoy to pull the defensive line and create opportunities for others to run into space.

That was a thankless job!

Sure enough, when they looked at Suk, his cheeks were puffed out, his face full of reluctance.

But there was no choice. This was the tactic decreed by the Head Coach, and he had to execute it.

Besides, it was a key factor in being able to win the match.

Suk had to take on the role of the decoy and create open spaces for his teammates.

"Second half is all you!"

"Kerpic, if Kosopech isn’t in a position to receive a pass, you can cross it to the far post more often. The pressure isn’t as great on my side."

"The midfielders can also make runs to receive the ball, and I can try taking some long shots!"

Once the tactic was set, everyone was happy—except for Suk.

After all, they would be getting more chances to attack.

Suk could only accept his fate, sacrificing himself for the good of the team.

...

「The second half began, with the teams switching sides.」

After the first half’s stalemate, both teams were thinking about how to mount effective attacks and score in the second half.

Mostar Zrinjski had a clear goal, while for the Sarajevo Railway Workers, their objective remained the same: keep an eye on Suk.

"Stay on him!"

"He’s running to the left!"

"Follow! Follow!"

"I’ve got him!"

"He’s not getting away!"

Suk ran laterally across the opponent’s half again and again.

He was frustrated inside, and the only way to vent was through these repeated lateral runs, pulling the opponent’s defensive line with him.

The Sarajevo Railway Workers didn’t realize this. They just assumed that under their defense, Suk had no chance to receive the ball and was thus forced to run around like a headless chicken.

But they didn’t know that as Suk pulled the defense left and right up front, a sharp glint had appeared in Modric’s eyes.

’Now!’

Modric knocked the ball sideways, shrugging off the pressing player, and charged forward like a meteor.

At this moment, Suk immediately stopped in his tracks.

"Careful, Modric is about to pass!"

The young number 14 midfielder for the Sarajevo Railway Workers immediately stopped, his body pressed tightly against Suk. The moment Modric passed, he would knock Suk down, or at the very least, push and shove him so he couldn’t control the ball.

But he waited a moment, and Modric didn’t pass. He was still striding forward.

At the same time, Suk suddenly pulled out to the left flank.

Out of habit, the young midfielder instinctively followed Suk’s steps.

But by following him, he instantly vacated the central axis.

A huge gap appeared in the middle!

"Danger!"

Vulic exclaimed in alarm and immediately pushed forward. It would be disastrous if Modric was allowed to advance any further.

Meanwhile, Suk and Kosopech both cut directly toward the middle, one after the other, pulling at the opponent’s defensive line.

This created a 3-on-2 situation on the left side.

For Mostar Zrinjski, there were three attacking players: Kosopech, Suk, and Billiar.

For the Sarajevo Railway Workers, there were only center-back Bosschenoqi and a full-back.

"The left! There’s a man open on the left!"

Bosschenoqi shouted, but by now the defense’s attention had been drawn to the right side.

Kerpic surged forward from the back, quickly dribbled near the byline, and sent in a cross.

At that moment, Kosopech immediately moved forward.

Seeing Kosopech move, Bosschenoqi passively followed.

Suk was standing with the opposing full-back.

Seeing Suk completely covered by his man, Billiar immediately made a run, cutting directly into the center.

Seeing this, the opposing full-back had no choice but to abandon Suk and chase after Billiar.

At the same time, Kerpic finally delivered the cross.

The cross was a bit high and extremely fast, flying over both Kosopech and Billiar and heading straight for the far post.

And there, Suk watched the ball fly toward him. He instinctively jumped slightly, locked his neck, leaned his body back slightly, and as the ball met his forehead, he whipped his head toward the goal.

Suk’s header!

Suk looked toward the goal with a surprised delight, but just then, a pair of large hands appeared in his field of vision.

The opposing goalkeeper had slapped the ball away.

But the danger wasn’t over. The deflected ball, by sheer coincidence, rolled right in front of Billiar.

Billiar immediately burst forward, sprinting with all his might to poke the ball before the opposing full-back could get to it.

SWISH!!

The ball hit the back of the net.

At 64 minutes into the match, Mostar Zrinjski scored their first goal.