Chapter 14

In the stands, the fans of the home team erupted into deafening cheers, and a fan asked his companions loudly: "Who is the number 30 who passed the ball, and why I haven't seen him before."

The companion next to him was also very puzzled, and replied loudly: "I don't know, maybe it's the team's winter signings."

The reporters on the sidelines were also very confused. They could clearly see that Caspar Blanche's goal was entirely due to the support of No. 30. Who is he, what country is he from, how old is he, and when did he come to Genk?

While everyone was looking at each other, a daily reporter from the Luxembourg province said: "I know him. He played for Verton some time ago. He scored in three consecutive games and scored a hat-trick in the third game. The youngest age record for a hat-trick player."

The reporter then added: "His name is Nagi Mina, he is 16 years old, and he is from Japan."

Other reporters also recalled what happened a month ago, and felt a little impressed, which also caused a little sensation at that time. One of the reporters said: "I still vaguely remember it, but there is no news about him later. I thought it was just a flash in the pan. I didn't expect that he had left Verton and came to Genk."

"Yeah, it seems that he didn't play this month, just to wait for the winter break to register after the transfer window opens." The daily reporter said with emotion: "But it seemed that Anderlecht and Bruges were both interested in Mina. I didn't expect him to choose Genk in the end."

Naturally, Nagi was unaware of the situation in the audience seats and on the sidelines of the court. He was just happy that he had made a difference in the first game representing Genk. It would be great if he could score another goal. He silently made up his mind.

After the game restarted, the two sides played back and forth, but Nagi could clearly feel that Genk's central lane seemed to be getting better, and the midfielders became more confident in handling the ball after leading the score.

At the end of the first half, Caspar Blanche failed to break through with the ball, so he had to pass it back to the midfield. After receiving the ball, Carl Beth saw Nagi on the right, and without hesitation moved his big foot to the midfielder. On the right side, Nagi and the defensive player started at the same time, but Nagi was faster and hit the ball first. He poked the ball forward hard, and then chased after it.

He kicked the ball away away from the defender, and Nagi approached the penalty area in the blink of an eye. The opponent's defender quickly stepped forward to defend, and Nagi kicked the ball forward with a little force. The opponent's defender had to chase the ball again, but Nagi was the first to catch up with the ball, and suddenly stopped suddenly. The opponent's player was caught off guard and ran past him.

When the opponent barely controlled his body and turned to defend, Nagi suddenly started again, and easily passed by the defender who was still standing still. The opponent defender quickly stretched out his hand, trying to hold Nagi, but Nagi was too fast, so he touched his clothes slightly.

Nagi, who entered the penalty area, did not hesitate to volley vigorously with the instep of his right foot. The ball continued to spin in the air, fast and urgent, and hit the upper right corner of the goal.

The Gent goalkeeper was taken aback. He jumped up to save and stretched his body to the extreme. He felt the football in his left hand and was overjoyed. But it refracted into the net on the side frame.

2:0! At the end of the first half, Genk scored another goal.

After scoring the goal, Nagi rushed to the stands excitedly, and enthusiastically responded to the fans of the home team. And the Genk fans in the stands also fell into madness. Most of them didn't know Nagi, but it didn't stop them from praising No. 30 in front of them.

The Gent players who conceded another goal were very frustrated, and their morale had fallen to the bottom. Until the referee blew the whistle for the first half of the game, they had not recovered.

During the intermission, head coach Aimee Antonis praised the team's performance, especially Nagi's performance, and encouraged everyone to make persistent efforts and start the New Year's journey with a big victory.

The Gent players hadn't recovered from the exodus, but the leading Genk played more and more courageously. In the 53rd minute, after Nagi received the ball in the midfield, he shook the defensive player with quick footwork, and then passed For Carl Beth, then a quick drive from the wing, receiving a pass and crossing to find Caspar Blanche, who again missed his header.

In the 67th minute, Nagi received the ball at the front of the penalty area, made some adjustments, and shot vigorously. The ball hit the post and flew out of the baseline. Nagi's position is 25 meters away from the goal. Usually he would go a little deeper before shooting, but now that the team is leading, he also played more relaxedly, so he wanted to try.

Gent's defense was firmly restrained by Nagi, causing their attack to be timid and did not pose a threat. As time goes by, they also become more and more impatient.

In the 73rd minute, after Nagi received the ball, the Gent defender made a fierce tackle from behind, causing him to fall to the ground fiercely. The referee's whistle sounded immediately, and he showed a yellow card to the defender. Teammates gathered around to ask about Nagi's situation. Nagi patted his body and said he was fine. He felt that his physical fitness seemed to have improved. If it was before, he would definitely be injured just now.

When the head coach Antonis saw Nagi fell to the ground, his eyelids jumped up. After Nagi got up like a normal person, he was a little relieved. He was frightened by the team's injury.

So Antonis arranged for a backup guard to warm up and prepare to replace Nagi. When the overall situation was almost settled, could no longer lose troops.

Two minutes later, when the ball was dead, the head coach made a decisive substitution. After leaving the field, Nagi received warm applause from the fans of the home team. They all stood up and cheered for Nagi. Nagi also raised his hands and applauded in response to the enthusiasm. fans.

In the following time, without Nagi's restraint, Gent aggressively pressed the offense, but Genk's defense was also very good, thwarting their chances again and again. Instead, in the 87th minute, Genk seized a counterattack opportunity and scored another goal from midfielder August Amber.

3:0! The game has lost its suspense. Genk has secured the victory and successfully entered the top 8 of the Belgian Cup.

This score was also maintained until the end of the game. When the referee whistled, the players and coaches on the Genk bench rushed into the field to celebrate. The head coach Aimee Antonis and Nagi were the focus of everyone's attention.Nagi said while laughing "I don't know how many times I have been touched on the head, and I feel that I am almost bald."

The fans in the stands were reluctant to leave the field for a long time. They sang the team song to celebrate the team's victory.

"I am very satisfied with today's game. Whether it is offense or defense, we have done our best. This is a good start. I hope everyone can continue to work hard." In the locker room after the game, head coach Aimee Anthony praised everyone.

Then he turned his gaze to Nagi and said: "Mina, you are the key figure in the team's victory, and I believe you will be the best player in the game. You have performed like this for the first time on behalf of Genk. I handed in a perfect score, I hope you can continue to maintain it."

Everyone was not surprised to hear what the head coach said, only Bobby April was unhappy. The better Nagi performed, the less likely he was to play, and he might even be abandoned.

Genk beat Gent with three goals at home and advanced to the quarter-finals of the Belgian Cup. This game was also widely reported by the media, and everyone focused on Nagi, who represented Genk for the first time.

Belgian sports newspapers such as "Sport", "Latest News",which have a relatively wide audience, reported the game on a prominent page.

The cover photo of "Sport" is Nagi celebrating after scoring a goal. The title is: "One Assist and one goal in the first match, Mina leads Genk to the top 8 of the cup".

The cover of "Latest News" is a photo of the Genk team celebrating together. The title is: "Genk's rookie surprises everyone, wins and advances to the top 8 of the cup".

In addition to praise, there are also many different opinions from the media. They think that Nagi's performance in this game is indeed good, but it does not mean that his ability has been recognized. Let's take a closer look at Nagi's follow-up performance.

The "Standard" and other newspapers elaborated on this point of view, and the article pointed out: "Mina is only 16 years old, and Genk cannot fully pin their hopes on him."

Whether it was praise or doubts, it didn't affect Nagi. He didn't even know that there was such a big reaction from the outside world in just one game, but the bonus after winning did make him happy for a long time. Even Carl Beth laughed after watching him for a while, I felt that he knew too little.

After the team's daily training, Nagi chose to practice extra as always.

Although he contributed several threatening crosses in the game, Nagi still felt dissatisfied. Caspar Blanche could not convert the ball into a goal, not only because of his limited ability to seize opportunities, It was also because Nagi's cross was placed in an uncomfortable position, and there was no way for him to fully exert his strength.

The previous fixed-point passing training has achieved some results. In the short pass, Nagi can control the ball to fall to the designated area by controlling the hitting position, strength and body posture.

As for the large-scale long pass, Nagi still lacks a bit of heat, the accuracy is not so high, and further practice is needed.

Moreover, the players are constantly moving during the game, so the control of the landing point needs to be predicted to realize the state of people arriving at the ball to form the greatest threat.

This requires the cultivation of a dynamic sense of distance. Nagi thought hard about the countermeasures and finally came up with a weird practice method.

He placed two footballs under his feet at the same time, and kicked one of the balls with control, making it roll in different directions at different speeds, and then started the other football himself, and finally passed the football under his feet accurately. Allow him to touch the rolling football.

At the beginning, Wang Feng was still unable to make the two balls touch each other, but he continued to adjust according to the information provided by his senses, and the success rate gradually increased.

Time is passing by in Nagi's boring training. Due to the cup, Genk will play twice a week. They will play against Brussels at home on the weekend. Both the cup and the league are at home, and there is no need to travel back and forth. This is the only thing to be thankful for.

Nagibis also sure to usher in his debut in the League One, playing as the starting striker. In this game, the head coach Aimee Antonis carried out a rotation of personnel, mainly on the defensive line. The midfielder Carl Beth and the center Caspar Blanche still started.

The head coach is still in a four-three-three formation. In the last cup match, he noticed that the tacit understanding between Nagi and the two of them was gradually improving, and he planned to cultivate it well.

At the Luminus Arena, Nagi stood in the middle of the field, listening to the cheering cheers of the home team fans like a tsunami, feeling full of energy, and wanted to give back to the enthusiastic fans with better performance.

Brussels is currently ranked 6th in the league, so if they can get all three points, it will be crucial to improve Genk's ranking.

At the beginning of the game, both teams played conservatively, and there were basically no chances to threaten the goal in the first ten minutes. It is worth mentioning that since Nagi was reported by the mainstream sports media, Brussels defenders followed him very actively.

With the experience of the previous game, Nagi also has some experience in facing the staring defense, that is, constantly running, consuming the opponent's physical strength, gradually distracting him, and there will always be opportunities.

The situation of the game gradually became anxious. In the 21st minute, the Brussels striker received a pass from the midfielder. Seeing that there was no chance in the forward zone, he shot a cold arrow 25 meters away from the goal. Fortunately, the goalkeeper focused and saved the ball. bottom line.

In the 34th minute, Nagi retreated to the midfield to catch the ball, trying to get rid of the defender through his speed, but the opposing player was defending very tightly, leaving him no room to break through, so Nagi carefully protected the ball.

At this time, he saw from the corner of his eye the left winger Adrian Gale was about to go in, so he passed the ball long to the front of the left based on the feeling of training. Received the ball and was left unguarded.

He didn't hesitate, and quickly made a pass from the bottom. Unfortunately, the pass was too close to the goal and was easily picked off by the opponent's goalkeeper.

Gale shook his head helplessly at Blanche at the front of the small penalty area, saying that it was his own problem, and also surprised at the quality of Nagi's passing.

Nagi was very happy. It seemed that his training had achieved some results. The position of Adrian Gale he predicted just now was relatively accurate, allowing him to easily run out of the open to catch the ball.

In the 44th minute, Gale reciprocated, and sent a clever cross from the left, passing two defenders, and successfully found Nagi. Unfortunately, other defenders quickly filled their positions. Nagi saw that there was no space to break through. Decisively pass back to midfielder Carl Beth and wait for the opportunity again.

The game ended 0-0 in the first half. Both sides played dull games. Generally speaking, Genk had a slight advantage because Nagi's right flank was very active. led to Brussels having no way to attack with all their strength.

The head coach continued to emphasize defense in the locker room, hoping that at least 45 minutes in the second half would not concede a goal. At the same time, he praised Nagi's offensive role, hoping that he could consume the opponent's defense again and make them make mistakes in their busy schedule.

In the 67th minute, after Beth cut off the opponent's ball in the midfield, he quickly put his foot behind Brussels' defense line. Nagi understood it and started galloping the moment the football was passed, beside him. The defensive player quickly grabbed his clothes.

But his speed was so fast that the defenders only touched the corner of his clothes.

"Mina's quick start, the defenders used pulling foul tactics, failed! Mina continued to dribble and break through!"

"The offense was favorable, the referee didn't call a foul, Brussels' left back arrived in time and defended closely, let's see how Mina handles the ball."

"Nice, Mina passed the defender with a hook and made a cross!"

"Caspar Blanche hit the goal after the point, goooooooooooooooal! In the 67th minute, Genk finally knocked on the visiting team's door."

"We can look at the slow-motion replay. Mina handled the ball very beautifully. Under the pressure of the defensive player, he deliberately made the movement of his right foot forward to confuse the opponent, and then suddenly used his right foot to pass the ball from behind. Hook it back and make the opponent lose the defensive center of gravity, this is a classic Cruyff turn!"

"And Mina, who got rid of the defense, sent an exquisite cross. The ball landed right next to Blanche's feet. He only needed to push lightly to score. It can be said that Mina made this goal!"

"Following a assist and a goal against Gent three days ago, the young player Mina changed the game again tonight."