Monster (P4)- Hesitation
Luo Ji was rattled to his core after that last play, not because Callum scored, no, that was more than expected as he was a striker even Luo Ji mildly acknowledged, what shocked him was that Yuga managed to not only read his play but reacted to try and stop Callum's shot after realising what was about to happen, he out read both Callum and Luo Ji to react perfectly to the play with the only mistake he made being that he wasn't sure in his reading of the game causing him to hesitate momentarily.
Luo Ji might have found the striker he had been looking for ever since he left that hellhole he once called a club, until he was sure though, Luo Ji would watch for now and give Yuga a few tests before deciding to trust him with his more advanced plays. Yuga cursed under his breath before tracking back to see if Asura could hold their lead; As things stood Callum was well within his territory to turn the tide now and with a whole 20 minutes left to do so things weren't looking good for Asura.
Just as that goal was scored another serious change was implemented. Well, two changes. Hunter King and Vergus Lict had finished warming up and were standing beside Yeongha, ready to be subbed on; the fourth official held his board up showing the first substitution to be number 11 coming on for Number 07; Xu Ron was coming off for Vergus Lict. The next one was shocking, Number 16 was coming on for Number 15; Hunter King would replace his brother Gareth King. Likewise, on the Yufeng side of things, 3 substitutions were being made as well; 08 Antonio Morrison was coming off for number 11 Shane Korra, Number 15 Adam Stone was coming on for number 35 Xavier Stone, and the Yufeng number 1 Lucas Truste was coming on for their number 0 Romero Salvatore; Callum Salvatore's older brother.
Along with the substitutions being made both teams had a change in formation to adapt to the late substitutions. Asura used a 4-1-2-1-2 with Pisu hanging further back and the defence spread out more openly to accommodate the change in space. Yufeng changed their line-up to a 4-3-3 with Callum Playing Deep-lying Centre forward; Both Teams' formations were as follows:
Asura FC:
Defence
Hyung Ji (00)- GK
Ai Xu (03)- LB
{C} Li Tantai (04)- LCB
Pisu Yang (08)- CDM
Mo Xu (02)- RCB
Ai Fei (05)- RB
Midfield:
Hunter King (16)- LAM
Luo Ji (12)- CAM
Vergus Lict (11)- RAM
Forwards:
Zhu Longwie (09)- L.STR
Yuga Kanon (10)- R.STR
Yufeng
Forwards:
Xavier Stone (35)- RW
Callum Salvatore (09)- STR
Shane Korra (11)- LW
Midfield:
Sora Brown (06)- RM
{C} Toshiro Shin (10)- CM
Hanzo Lockhart (07)- LM
Defence:
Jaden Hearth (05)- RB
Ricky Wilde (03)- RCB
John Doe (02)- LCB
Marcus Edd (04)- LB
Romero Salvatore (00)- GK
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Longwei stood over the ball alone with his back to the Yufeng goal as he looked at Luo Ji and Yuga stood side by side, with both of their gazes fixed on Callum. While Luo Ji was deliberating whether or not to support Yuga on their next attack, Yuga was getting ready to do whatever it took to beat Callum for good, even if he had to push himself to the limit again.
What Yuga didn't know though, was that he was the only one on the field left with a faint golden aura, Garreth was subbed off and lost the aura as soon as, while Longwei simply lost his as soon as Callum interrupted his shot, Yuga was the only one left on the field even remotely on Callum's level anymore, at least that was how it was meant to be. In the end, Yuga decided to go all out for as long as he could without overdoing it to at least put them up.
The match resumed and Longwei passed the ball to the already advancing Yuga, Yuga played it back to Longwei and ran straight past Longwei advancing up the right flank, Longwei passed the ball back to Luo Ji who laid it off for Gareth's little brother who rotated beside him for the play. Hunter sent head-height rabona cross towards Yuga who was being man-marked by Hanzo as he advanced. Yuga purposely slowed down as Hanzo tried to outmuscle him so the ball would go beyond them and it ended up at the feet of Vergus who ran up the right wing beside them.
When Vergus brought the ball down with his chest and continued his advance he could see Yuga explosively break away from Hanzo creating 7 yards of space all around him as he faced the Yufeng defence head-on. Vergus didn't know why but he got this overwhelming feeling that Yuga didn't want to get the ball back just yet and instead wanted to get closer to goal. Despite his confusion though, Vergus didn't hesitate to drive upfield and directly challenge Jaden at the left-back position.
Vergus kept his eyes locked on Yuga's back as he dribbled the ball upfield before motioning for the cross, drawing Jaden's tackle, before faking the cross and pushing the ball through Jaden's legs and taking off to get the ball on the other side with Hanzo hawking him down as the rest of the Yufeng defence readjusted. Vergus faked driving in before cutting back and dribbling across Hanzo to create space for himself. Hanzo and Jaden closed in on Vergus again as he centralised his run while Ricky and John moved to cut off his shot course and pass-course to Yuga.
Just when Hanzo thought they had finally gotten Vergus he played a sharp through ball back down the right wing where Luo Ji was running down the very open space. Ricky cursed and tried breaking off to mark Luo Ji just for Vergus to rush into the newly opened space, and Hunter running into the growing space where Vergus was. At this very moment, Luo Ji felt a rush of inspiration, he knew exactly what play would get a goal, and what play he would need to make to create the chance needed. However, Luo Ji was unsure if the rest of Asura would be able to keep up if they did, furthermore, he had no guarantee that Yuga would be able to finish the play the way he was envisioning it.
In the moment of hesitation, the faint golden aura that was flickering around Luo Ji died out, and as it did Shin rapidly closed in on Luo Ji cutting off all options in the penalty area. Luo Ji decided to try and challenge Shin but the Yufeng midfielder who was still in the zone swiftly dispossessed Luo Ji and began the counter-attack with a cross towards Xavier who was at the halfway line ready to follow up on this chance with a grin plastered on his face.
Xavier controlled the cross with his chest and played an aerial through ball into space down the middle of the field for Callum, Mo Xu, and Tanatai to race for. The three players took off with Tanatai trying to outmuscle Callum to get to the ball and Mo Xu trying to stay ahead of the other 2 and block Callum's shot, even he had noticed that Callum was more dangerous at a distance.
The through ball began to descend as Tantai and Callum approached the edge of the Asura penalty area, seeing this, Mo Xu closed in on Callum and centred himself in front of the two approaching monsters. Now, one thing that all of Asura acknowledged, was Mo Xu's gift, if Callum was dangerous if given the chance to shoot from a distance, and Yuga's vision allowed him to practically control the entire field of play, Then Mo Xu was the type of player that could instantly adapt to any situation on the field of play so long as he could see it. It was a gift of instant reaction speed, If he could even vaguely sense it, he could react to it. This very talent was the sole reason Longwei backed off from confronting Mo Xu when they had their argument during Yuga's welcome celebration, and it was what Tantai was banking on stopping Callum now
As the ball dropped in Callum's path, he leapt towards the ball and balanced on Tantai as he leaned to the side for a flying scissors kick, what Tantai forgot to account for though, was the fact that Callum's shots were only strong from a distance of over 35 yards, right now the three of them were within the Asura penalty area, if only barely. Before Mo Xu could read Callum's shot path the Yufeng forward had kicked the ball faster than Mo Xu's eyes could read it, as a result, the ball flew past Mo Xu's face and flew towards the Asura goal. Luckily for Asura Hyung Ji got a fist to the fist and sent it over for a corner off of the top right post.
"Dammit !!!" Mo Xu cursed in annoyance as he fell on his chest looking at the empty goal but was confused when he saw Callum's shocked face, Mo Xu wanted to comment on it but didn't know why Callum was blinking in confusion. "Whatever", Mo Xu muttered before turning to Hyung Ji to apologise for not reacting to the shot on time. "What are you on about?? The whole reason I saved that shot was because of the fact you reacted to the shot.
Mo Xu was about to ask if Hyung Ji was high on adrenaline or something, but he also realised something at that moment, when Callum swung his foot for the shot he was right in front of him, Callum's shot wasn't aimed at the top corner so it flying past his head didn't make sense, if anything Callum was aiming for Mo Xu's face, meaning Mo Xu reacted on time and moved his head out of the way in time to not get his face flattened, but that doesn't tell him anything about Hyun Ji saved the shot. What Mo Xu didn't remember though, was that at the last moment, his body subconsciously moved again pointing towards the exact spot where Callum's shot would have sunk in promoting Hyung Ji to dive for it and keep Asura ahead in the match.
Callum's breathing got noticeably heavier and he started seeing double after that miss yet despite all of this his golden aura didn't drop as he resolved to keep Yufeng in the tournament, even if it meant overdoing it again, "Well shit... This is going to be painful", Callum frowned as he stood upright and approached the penalty area ready to continue playing, little did he know, Longwei, Luo Ji, and Yuga all noticed his little dilemma and weren't going to make staying in the match easy for him.