Penalty of the Heart

CHAP 19

CHAPTER 19: Playing Dirty

(^From the Author: I will be using the names of the players from Blue Panthers while the player's positions will be used for the White Tigers during the game. I hope you won't get confused. Thank you.^)

Blue Panthers vs White Tigers

Beginning with a coin toss, the forward from White Tigers will be the one to touch the ball first. The game started with the kick-off. Players from both teams began to move. The center forward discreetly dribbled the ball to their opponent's field. Alfonso who's carefully waiting and watching his movements instantly steals the ball, passing it to his brother Alvaro.

"It's still the early six minutes of the game and the White Tigers already lost the ball!", the commentator said. "What a bold move from the Blue Panthers!"

Alvaro hasn't moved from his spot yet and their opponents are rushing towards him. Before they could take a closer distance to him, he drove the ball away from him with a powerful kick creating a long-range pass to Rafael who was unmarked on the left side part of the opponent's field, meters away from the goal. He dribbled the ball closer to the goal and kicked it but the keeper blocked the ball before it could enter the net.

"Unluckily the keeper blocked it!"

The ball rolled still in play and players ran in full force to reach it but before they could get to the ball, Lorenzo who's been pretty relaxed since the start of the game caught the ball.

The goalkeeper faced off with him thinking that he would stop his shots. He watched every goal that Lorenzo made in his previous games. He treated his kicks as nothing special but now that he's facing he's sure he could stop him.

Lorenzo just looked at the goalkeeper bluntly. He's pretty bored playing with a team (^He's referring to White Tigers^) that treats their players like trash. At the three o'clock team meeting, they were informed of how the White Tigers play dirty during games and how they badly treat their co-teammates like servants. Lorenzo was totally disgusted, he values his teammates the most and he knows how important team plays are when it comes to football. And right now, he sees the keeper's underestimating look.

"He's a cocky one...", he thought. "I just thought of something interesting", he smiled to himself.

He rolled the ball all around his feet playing with it, capturing the keeper's attention to the ball. While he was at it, the keeper was distracted by the ball, and in an instant, he kicked the ball at great speed before he could even react making the ball pass between his legs and straight to the goal.

"ALEJANDRO!...", the commentator shouted. "He scored the first point of this game with a ~nutmeg~ making the keeper unable to react! Wow, that totally surprised me! I thought for a second that the ball would go to the right side! He's unpredictable!"

Lorenzo's teammates rushed to him, hugging and jumping over him. The keeper who was unable to do anything was totally infuriated. He didn't expect that Lorenzo would score past him with a nutmeg, it was like an insult to him.

The game resumed with the Blue Panthers on the kick-off. Carlos dribbled the ball to the opponent's field. In a second, a player was already marking him trying to steal the ball. Carlos passed it to Javier, he was supposed to dribble the ball but all of a sudden he was tucked to the ground but cushioned his fall with his hand.

"FFWWEEEEEETTTT!", the referee whistled. The referee went near the player in white uniform (^White Tigers' uniform color^) and ejected a yellow card from his pocket raising it to him.

Everybody who was watching saw how hard the tackle was. Javier might've been seriously injured if it wasn't for his fast reflexes. Javier just received a few scratches on the legs and bruises might appear sooner.

The player just walked away without even apologizing, he just smirked at Javier. Javier who's still on the ground was helped up by his fellow teammates.

The game continued with the White Tigers' players carrying on with their fouls. Half of the players already have received yellow cards. The audience couldn't watch anymore of the dirty plays happening in the field and started booing the White Tigers. The first half ended with the score 1-0, the White Tigers haven't scored and proceeded for the interval.

"D*mn those f**kers!", Rafael is bursting his anger in their room quarters.

"Calm down, Captain. At least nobody got any serious injury. It was way much worse when Lorenzo played during his second season...", Carlos tried to relieve his anger.

Silence consumed the room when they felt a murderous aura coming from their coach.

"Change of plans...", Leonardo said with a serious tone making the players gulp in fear. "Alejandro!"

"Yes, Coach!", he answered like a soldier ready in battle.

"I will not substitute you for the second-half!"

"Got it, Coach!"

"Listen, you kids!", his tone alerted them. "Go out in that f**king field and f**k those losers to death. Got it?!"

"We got it, Coach", they all answered.

"I will not tolerate any team who underestimates us and doesn't have any sportsmanship!"

"The coach is finally showing his true colors", Javier thought. "There it is, the former army commander who retired at the age of thirty-five and studied soccer for interest and got his coach license in his fifties."

The second half started, the Blue Panthers were cautious about any dirty plays. As soon as the ball started moving, players moved like chess pieces, carefully planning how to work things out and wanting to take somebody out. The White Tigers have the ball but they are cornered by the tight defense unable to pass the ball and if they do, their instinct tells them that it would be stolen.

There are only twenty minutes left on the running time. Both sides haven't scored yet and no excitement is feeding the audience.

Lorenzo has been bored as well waiting for too long. Their coach ordered him to be in full force but he has another idea of making things more interesting. Stretching his legs and arms while he watches where the ball is. The man who is marking him strangely eyed him wondering what the hell is he doing.

Fifteen minutes left on the clock, the perfect time he's been waiting for.

Lorenzo suddenly ran, surprising his marker but before he could catch up to Lorenzo Miguel blocked him not letting him go.

"Nice screen Miguel!", Mateo cheered who was standing by doing nothing on the field.

Lorenzo saw the ball was with Jose. He raised his hand catching Jose's attention, and he then passed it to him. Without any rest, Lorenzo perfectly evaded all his attackers with his tricky and speedy feet. One-on-one again with the keeper (^Second Round: Lorenzo vs Goalkeeper^), Lorenzo did something that the keeper didn't expect the most. Lorenzo lightly kicked the ball making it slowly roll towards the keeper. As his attention fell to the ball and walked to step on it, he was again tricked because Lorenzo unbelievably tossed it to his side using his feet and kicked it for a goal before the keeper could even catch it. Once again the keeper fell to his scheme and got embarrassed.

For the last ten minutes, the Blue Panthers keep on stealing the ball and pass it to Lorenzo who earned his third and fourth goal until the time is up.

Score: 4-0

Winner: The Blue Panthers

~Nutmeg~ [in association with football, it is when a player kicks, dribbles or rolls the ball between an opponent's legs.]