Chapter 1002: Schalke’s Counter?!

"OH! This is it!"

Somehow, both Daniel Herzog and Michael Ballack jumped from their seat at the same time when they saw the ball being thrown to the midfield, with Morita standing freely there.

They all knew that this was Schalke’s favorite scheme, and once Morita managed to receive the ball in front of the opponent’s defensive line, something big was going to happen.

All the Dortmund players also realized that they were in danger, so the moment they saw this, the defenders tensed immediately.

"AK! Get ready to press him!" Hummels shouted while dropping back, keeping his eyes on Hoppe next to him.

Akanji nodded, shifting his position forward while still giving a little bit of space between them so that Morita wouldn’t have any space to maneuver through his back once the boy received the ball.

However, Morita was smarter than that.

Instead of controlling it, he glanced at his surroundings, and after realizing that all the Dortmund players were still out of position, he let the ball bounce on the ground once before doing an overhead kick to get the ball to the heart of Dortmund’s defense immediately.

BAM!

"OH! An overhead pass! What a clever approach!"

"Hoppe is running! Can he get it?!"

Matthew Hoppe pounced immediately when he saw the ball flying in front of him, gritting his teeth as he tried to gain an upper hand against Hummels.

To be honest, the pass itself wasn’t that great. At least, compared to Morita’s usual method, this only won in style, but when talking about accuracy, it deviated a few degrees from where he wanted it to be.

However, Hoppe also recognized why Morita did this.

After all, now, besides him and Hummels, no one came in close to get the ball, and when it came to speed, the boy was confident that he could beat the old and washed-up Hummels here.

’Come on, old man! Show me your speed!’

True enough, within a second, the gap between those two widened, and in the next second, Hoppe showed what it meant to be a young player.

He left Hummels to the dust instantly, and when the boy glanced at the goalkeeper position and saw that the one in between the posts hadn’t made a move yet, he couldn’t help but grin.

’Hah! Then, this is a goal for me!’

Or... So at least that was what he thought.

In reality, though, Hummels didn’t lose the race at all. No, he just took a different route, predicting where Hoppe would move once he received the ball and tried to anticipate it.

After all, no matter how fast the boy was, there would be a period where he would slow down even for a moment after receiving the ball, or his control would only put him in the worst situation.

That was what Hummels was aiming for, so the moment everything was calculated inside his mind, he moved in that direction immediately.

So, once Hoppe recoiled his right foot, trying to whack the ball to the back of the net, Hummels had already made a big tackle in front of him, and...

BAM!

"Wait, what?!" Hoppe widened his eyes in shock when he saw that the ball was blocked right in front of his face.

His attention shifted to the man next to him, and the next thing he knew, the boy blurted, "How could you be there?!"

Yeah, the boy was so sure that he had won the race earlier, leaving Hummels in the dust. He still didn’t know how the man would appear out of nowhere, as if he was teleporting in front of him.

"That is what you want from a veteran defender. Not his speed or physicality, but his experience." Michael Ballack stated.

"Hummels knew that he would lose in speed, so he compensated for it with his brain, reading the play like an open book. Hoppe underestimated the heart of the veteran, and now, he pays the cost of it."

Daniel Herzog just nodded along, finding that it was a beautiful display of defense from Dortmund.

"Still, the attack itself is also a wake-up call for Dortmund here." The host added. "This will make them realize that Schalke is not here just to defend. No, once they have a chance to attack, they will show their fang immediately, and this will make some of them hesitate."

And wasn’t that the reality?

After that attack from Hoppe, Delaney and Dahoud didn’t dare to rush too far out of their position, keeping their eyes warily on Morita.

They had seen how the boy decisively created a dangerous attack out of nowhere, so if they still let him roam freely, that would be them being too stupid here.

In return, though, the gap between the frontline and the midfield opened up, making the supply and support from behind always come late and halting the team’s offense.

Edin Terzic, who saw this, also frowned, not liking the development at all.

"Dahoud, why are you so afraid of him?! Just let Thomas handle the midfield! You help the frontline and get closer to everyone! He is just one person; why are you being a coward like that?!"

The dissatisfaction was clear in his tone. After all, this wasn’t the first time Dortmund faced a strong offensive team, and getting threatened once or twice should never frighten his players like this.

The two holding midfielders just looked at each other for a moment before Mahmoud Dahoud shrugged, starting to step further to help the frontline.

This move helped the team for a moment, allowing their offense to flow better than before.

However, the consequence was also severe, as Morita had never been someone who could be handled casually with just one person.

The moment Schalke gained another chance to counterattack, he moved swiftly to the opposite side of where Delaney was guarding, and before anyone realized it...

"RYUSUKE! AGAIN!"

He asked for the ball immediately, and in the next second, it flew straight to his position, so close to the half-line of the pitch.