Chapter 19: West Ham United

Although Kazuki was happy to know Endo's friends who were in the main team he knew that Endo's friends were willing to accept Kazuki as their friend, their main reason was Endo, not because Kazuki was a great player. After all, Kazuki had not entered the first team, even if Kazuki entered the first team his status in the first team was the bottom.

Because of that, Kazuki didn't involve himself in too deep a chat with Endo's friends. Some of the time, he also discussed with Rustan about the Southampton u-23 team.

At 11 pm the birthday event was over. Endo invited Kazuki to have some drinks first but Kazuki didn't want to consume alcohol especially since there was practice tomorrow.

The next day, Kazuki came to the training ground, on that day's practice he didn't see Endo's whereabouts. Elen wasn't too angry about Endo's absence either. For Elen, the most important thing at Southampton U-23 is the youth, not veterans.

Every day, Kazuki's changes could be seen by Elen. Now, even if Kazuki is closely guarded, he can still score goals in the Southampton u-23 training match. Kazuki had also started practicing his heading skills, although it was still not good enough his progress was still visible.

***

Southampton u-23 next game arrived. Southampton will visit the city of London to play against West Ham United.

Besides having the nickname The Hammers, West Ham also has the nickname the Academy of Football, this nickname was originally a press tribute because several players who emerged from the West Ham Academy had helped England win the 1966 World Cup.

Entering the premier league era, 2 famous players emerged from the West Ham academy, the first was Rio Fernand who was a Manchester United defender, the second was Shank Lambert, Chelsea midfielder.

In contrast to Southampton who is often relegated to the championship league, West Ham can survive in the premier league as a middle club, they will occasionally be seen in the top table ranking, but at the end of the season, their ranking is always stable in the middle of the premier league table.

The match which took place between Southampton u-23 against West Ham United u-23 was held at Rush Green Stadium, Romford, London with a capacity of 6000 spectators.

"West Ham u-23 are not a strong team, we don't have to be afraid to fight them even if they are playing at home. I believe in all of you. You can beat them. Come on, everyone beat the Hammers!" Elen encourages his team, this time Southampton will not play conservatively. He believes that Southampton U-23s are overall better than West Ham.

"Defeat The Hammers!!"

The Southampton under-23 players responded to Elen's call with enthusiasm. Kazuki was again the starter, but this time his partner was not Aspint, but Ryan Jr. As a second striker, Ryan is not too bad. He learned from his senior Aspint about his role.

On the right side, of course, there is Rustan Dust who has always been a mainstay. On the left is Zhukovsky, his game is not that great but he can defend the left area well.

Although the formation that Southampton uses is 4-4-2. In attack mode, this formation changes to 4-3-3. On the right side was Rustan, then Kazuki, and on the left side Ryan Jr. Therefore Zhukovsky has a different role from Rustan.

The first half kick-off was started by West Ham United. Even though they were playing at home, they were not quick to attack Southampton. West Ham prefers to start the game casually.

Southampton did not do the high pressing but did low blocks. Unlike the more aggressive high pressing, the low block is more defensive. The goal of high pressing is to grab the ball, while the goal of a low block is to break the connection between the backline and the frontline.

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Of course, even though the midfielders and defenders put up low blocks, Kazuki and Ryan pressed so that West Ham wouldn't be too comfortable controlling the ball.

In the 5th minute, Zhukovsky managed to cut the pass that the West Ham full-back gave to their winger. Zhukovsky quickly passed the ball to Ryan.

West Ham tried to take the ball from Ryan but Ryan cleverly made a Marseille Turn to trick the two West Ham midfielders. He then passed the ball to Kazuki.

The West Ham center-back pressed Kazuki, but he didn't expect Kazuki to make a back pass. Rustan who should have been in a wing position turned out to be moving forward so he could exploit the gap left by the West Ham defender.

Rustan received Kazuki's back pass and ran with the ball. His running speed was too fast for the West Ham defender to catch up. With only the West Ham goalkeeper left, Rustan was confident to shoot.

But just as Rustan was about to celebrate a goal, he saw the West Ham goalkeeper guess the direction of Rustan's shot correctly, so he managed to block the ball.

The result of the reflection of the ball turned out to be in front of Kazuki, the Japanese player kicked the ball into an empty corner of the goalpost. However, the West Ham goalkeeper once again made a brilliant save. He pushed his body then used his feet to block Kazuki's kick.

This time the ball was successfully secured by the West Ham defense. Elen who saw the opportunity wasted just growled in annoyance.

"Why is there such a good goalkeeper at West Ham? Why is there no information about that?" Elen asked his assistant in annoyance.

His assistant replied, "The West Ham goalkeeper this time is a different goalkeeper than usual. It's his first time playing, he's a West Ham academy graduate."

"West Ham Academy is not to be underestimated," said Elen with an annoyed face.

"Shall we change strategy?" asked the assistant.

Elen shook her head "No, for now, let's entrust everything to them."

After 5 minutes, Southampton began to actively attack West Ham, but the opportunity was not as good as the first opportunity. Faced with Southampton who began to play aggressively, West Ham also attacked the Southampton defense several times, but the threat posed by West Ham was able to be overcome by Southampton's defense line.

In the 30th minute, West Ham knockdown Kazuki in front of the penalty box. There are no free-kick specialists near the penalty area for Southampton under-23s. Kazuki himself had an idea regarding the free-kick this time.

A free-kick requires a whistle in the event of an incident which causes the match to be paused. Examples are substitutions, referees giving cards, handling injuries, and referees needing time to control the game. If the free kick is not stopped first then the kicker can kick immediately without waiting for the referee's whistle.

However, Southampton's free-kick this time did not occur which caused the match to be stopped. Therefore when the opponent sets the posse. Kazuki immediately kicked the ball into the West Ham goal.

The West Ham goalkeeper was also unprepared for the shot so he could only see the ball enter the goalpost he was guarding.

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