I AM the Football Star

Chapter 128: Chapter 51: The Final Battle!

July 2nd.

The final battle of the Star of Italy.

Three days ago, the Star of Italy Team won their second match victory.

England U19 narrowly lost with a score of four to five.

Sevajos shone with one goal and two assists, dazzling the entire field.

Morici contributed two assists, sharing the highest rating on the field with Sevajos.

Parrot scored two goals, dominating all sides.

Sogel scored once, Bai Zhami scored once, and Canyes made an assist, all showing their capabilities.

Meanwhile, Lu Yang mainly focused on defense, freezing England U19’s right winger in the first half. In the second half, when the opponent’s front line switched positions, Lu Yang froze their left winger, comprehensively helping in defense.

Astute observers could clearly see that Lu Yang’s style in this match was slightly different from before.

Although still a defensive barrier, his defensive approach wasn’t the usual sweeper style seen in the past. His positioning was more precise, with not a single misplaced step throughout the match.

Lu Yang received a gift reward for having zero times being passed during the game.

Upon opening it, he acquired the player-level skill ”Counterattack Vanguard.”

Counterattack Vanguard: Activates when your team successfully completes a defense and your half has at least eighteen players, slightly increasing player speed.

As a result, Lu Yang’s speed and explosiveness both rose to 65, with shooting reaching as high as 67.

Of course, this match was different from the previous one against Millwall. Since they were all young players, neither side was particularly strong defensively, especially England U19, who almost didn’t defend at all.

So both sides played an exciting attacking football, thrilling the audience.

Even though the Star of Italy secured the final victory, the English did not feel overly defeated, as their ace did not participate in this match.

Dario Mancini, the number one star of England U19, and a super striker on the England front line.

He was even selected for the England National Team this year.

Previously playing for a Premier League club, he achieved unprecedented success in his first season, scoring twenty goals, placing him among the top five Premier League scorers!

Mancini, who was originally set to participate in this match, had to withdraw at the last minute due to a sudden transfer a few days ago.

He became the transfer king of La Liga this summer!

La Liga giant Barcelona spent forty million euros to acquire Mancini.

For this reason, Mancini has already traveled to Spain to handle related matters.

If Mancini were present, the likely losers would have been the Star of Italy.

This was the common view outside.

For this reason, the English commendably maintained grace even after losing, celebrating the players within the Star of Italy Team.

This was a good thing for the Star of Italy Team.

Of course, the English had another greatest source of pride, which was Arsenal!

...

On the green field.

”Are they underestimating us?” Bai Zhami is gradually starting to talk now, though his views always seem immature.

On Arsenal’s side, while most players are indeed first-team players, they are pretty much all substitutes.

Moreover, they might not even be in the main rotation.

Among them, seven players had less than sixty minutes of playing time last season.

Three players did not receive any playing time at all last season.

Two are new recruits who transferred in.

Three are youth academy players that have been promoted from the reserve team.

Overall, this match against Arsenal stirred only slight enthusiasm among the public.

The only thing that might spark excitement is that Arsenal’s head coach Winter personally led the team here.

At least, this shows that Arsenal is still Arsenal.

Winter: ”We definitely do not intend any disrespect towards the match, as a matter of fact, we take this match seriously. Of course, our players have battled through a long season and miraculously clinched fourth place in the league, so...”

”Certainly, each of our players on the field possesses the potential to be primary players in a Premier League team. This match is very important because the outstanding players from this game may feature in Arsenal’s starting lineup!”

Thus, Winter rekindled the significance of this match.

But no matter what he said, Arsenal’s underestimation of the Star of Italy is not something words can cover up.

Arsenal’s management clearly thought this was an easy gold-digging trip.

If not for Mr. Winter, famed for developing the potential of young players, the players of the Star of Italy would have gone rampant.

But now, who doesn’t want to dominate in front of Mr. Winter?

No young player can resist Mr. Winter’s call, except for Fabregas.

Beep!

With the main referee’s whistle, the match officially began.

If Millwall represents the typical rough English football style,

and if England U19 stand for the typical young aggressive football,

then this Arsenal team is a Premier League team that blends multiple football styles.

They possess the impact and resistance characteristic of Premier League players.

They emphasize offense.

But at the same time, they are one of the few English teams playing possession-based football.

As a result, as soon as the match started, they maintained a ball possession rate of over sixty-five percent.

Their pressing made it impossible for the Star of Italy Team to hold the ball, and once Arsenal gained possession, the ball was practically out of reach for the Star of Italy Team.

This was a dominant performance.

Sevajos found himself struggling again in this match.

Occupying the attacking midfielder position, he was almost the only point orchestrating the central offensive plays in the 4-2-1-3 formation.