The two teams got onto the field with the officials, the two captains move towards the referee and linesmen and then the norms was done, 36 Lions had the kick off pass which was kicked immediately the referee blew his whistle.
{This is the second meeting between 36 Lions and United Squad, their first meeting was in the group stage which is not something United Squad can easily forget, I hope this won't be one sided as their first meeting}
{The Lions are going with their usual 4-3-3 formation while United Squad, United Squad... What is this?
Not only have United Squad changed their formation to 5-4-1 focusing on defense but they also took their best player and the top scorer of this tournament to the defense, this is interesting}
{But what are they planning, only focusing on defense, are they perhaps trying to lure 36 Lions to penalty}
{That is unlikely to happen}
United Squad played with one striker at the front which is Barry.
Kai, Joe and the one boy with Waris managed the Midfield while Emmy joined the four defenders as he played as no. 5
The match begin with 36 Lions pressuring them in the early minutes but they failed to break their will. Emmy is surprisingly doing good at the defense lane, it could even be said that he's doing better than the four defenders and also the reason the Lions failed to make any attempt on target.
None of them was able to go past him, his tackle is perfect and whenever any of the other defenders are being pressured, he will appear just to save him out. He's doing a great job at the back.
Even the commentators were lost of words after seeing him perform with a perfectly timed tackle.
The first half ended with a goalless score, 36 Lions have 70% ball possession with 0.35 xG while United Squad have 30% ball possession with 0.00 xG. They have zero attempt.
In the early minutes of the second half, Barry suffered from EP exhaustion and was removed making Emmy play in his place as another defender was brought in.
Still playing as a striker, Emmy didn't stop helping the defenders at the back as he uses the Shadow Move ability to transport himself back and front, but he couldn't do it for much longer, very soon he will also suffer from EP exhaustion which in his own case is HP and might lead to his death.
So Emmy implement his plan earlier, getting the ball in his leg in the midfield, he activated the Absolute Ball Control skill and headed straight to the defense lane.
Barry has gotten to the defense lane a few times but was unable to go past it, Emmy thought with the Absolute Ball control skill, he would be able to do that as he has total control over the ball so he can simply make it that the defenders won't get it from him.
The nearest midfielder came forward but Emmy simply gave him a simple cut sending him out of his way and continue his advance, the four defenders are upon him, running with full speed, the first defender charged forward and then Emmy felt his body moving slow, he's slowing down which is not what he's doing on his own but a result of an external force.
Still, he didn't stop there, he did a feint strike which made the defender did a mistackle leaving him behind, two defenders came forward at a time ready to get the ball away from him, still trapped in his leg, Emmy moves his leg over the ball a few times and as he was ready to accelerate, he started seeing things, he started seeing thing he couldn't describe.
'What's going on? Is one of them using an illusory ability?'
Emmy thought as he started seeing different imaginary and his thought isn't clear anymore but still, he didn't release the ball from his leg.
All of a sudden, an empty goalpost appeared in front of him with no keeper and no defender.
'Fuck, the defenders, they're messing with my mind and vision.'
Just as he had that thought, he quickly forgot it and forgot what was happening, his only focus is on the free post and he wasted no time shooting the ball and that's when everything became clear, he had passed the ball to the defender at the back who shot it forward.
'Damn, I was so close, how come I couldn't score.'
He was closed to scoring a goal if not for the defender that appeared out of nowhere and kicked the ball out.
Realizing that the ball has gotten into the hands of the Lions strikers, he quickly turned back but it was too late as he heard...
{GOAL! That was incredible, Emmy was about to infiltrate the Lions defense but his failure led to a goal against them, if only he pushed harder}
'Was about to infiltrate the defense? I clearly infiltrated it now and was left alone with the goalpost if not for that idiot who kicked my goal out.'
36 Lions have scored the first goal in the 61 minutes.
The match continue after the kick off pass, Emmy gained the ball again and wasted no time Activating Absolute Ball Control skill and dribble all the midfielders out of the way, dribbled a couple defenders but lost the ball to the last two.
He didn't know how it happens, all he knew was that the goalpost was right in front of him but failed to shoot his shot.
'I can't go on like this forever, my HP is decreasing.'
[45]
Thankfully for him, the Lions strikers didn't get the ball this time as the defender shot it out.
Emmy moves towards Joe and whisper something into his ear, then the boy rushed forward and received the throw, then he started moving the ball forward, with his ability active, he was able to move past the midfielders easily while at the same time, Emmy sprint into the Lions defense lane and immediately activated Presence Of Mind skill but his speed slowed down and he saw something that's not real before the skill fully activated.
'Now I get it, one of them have the ability to reduce someone's speed, another one deals with illusion while the third have the ability to make someone forget what happens immediately, that's why I failed to remember this details and failed to remember the situation that led to them gaining the ball.'
He didn't know what the fourth person's ability is, but the presence of mind skill have protected him from the illusion so he could see clearly as Joe made a banana cross towards him, he quickly activated the Absolute ball Control skill and jumped up kicking the ball midair and then....
[GOOAALL!!! Look what happens there, he finally broke the impenetrable defense of the Lions and scored a wonderful bicycle kick goal with his teammate's help. What a goal]
[Now the scoreline is 1-1, this is really going somewhere]
'Damn, how did I managed to infiltrate their defense, I mean many people failed even with their teamwork but with Joe and I alone, we managed to score. Incredible.'
He remembered that the Presence Of Mind skill was active while Absolute Ball Control came to play at the last seconds so he's gonna try it out again.
But so sad, the same thing failed to happen again, even with the help of Joe, he failed, he couldn't understand what's going on but one thing he knew is that, his skills got deactivated whenever he got to their defense lane.
'Is one of them using a power dampened? Now there's problem, I don't even know what others abilities are.'
With that suspicious lingering in his mind, he had another plan that needs to be tested out immediately because the time is ticking very fast, they're currently at the 86 minutes and the Lions are really doing them bad, they're trying to crush their will by exhausting them but still, they held.
As the keeper punch a fiery shot out, Emmy appeared before the ball and trapped it in his leg, then charge forward, now he didn't activate the Absolute Ball Control skills, he used is pure dribbling technique and moved the ball past the midfielders with relatively ease and as he got close to the nearest defender, Absolute Ball Control and Acceleration came into play as he dribbled and move the ball past the defender with a lightning speed but the two skills didn't even last a minute before they got deactivated, there are still three more defenders in front of him ready to attack.
But Emmy wasn't worried at all, he's only worried about his health because his HP has gone really low, he used Acceleration because he needs a proper speed to make a great shot and as the skill got deactivated, he wasted no time before sending all his strength into the ball which move above the three defenders head and flew straight into the goalpost.
The poor keeper was late to react.
GOOAAALLL!!!!
The commentator screamed and Emmy fell on his knees after hearing those words.
{This is a very sad and historic ending for 36 Lions and United Squad, the tournament top scorer have scored a wonderful goal that took him out of the pitch at the last few minutes, finally taking the score to 2-1}
{The match is only three minutes away from ending but who knows, the Lions can still pull a miracle off}