Riccardo restarts the game after Maebashi Ikuei equalizes, passing to Nishimura.
He then passes the ball to Sugimoto, who immediately raises his head and throws a long pass to Riccardo.
Riccardo jumps high above Watanabe and heads it, passing to Ono, who controls the ball arriving in Maebashi Ikuei's half of the field.
Ito approaches Ono, but keeps his distance.
So Ono continues to advance for a while, then looks ahead and, seeing little space, turns and passes to Aoki.
Coach Ishii notices this and seems unhappy with the situation
Nishimura scans the field and realizes that there is no space to advance.
I have to do something...
He decides to return to his half of the field.
"Pass it here!"
Nishimura asks Aoki for the ball, who gives it to him.
Nishimura then turns and pushes towards Ito, clearly intent on passing him.
Ito prepares for a one-on-one.
Nishimura double-steps and quickly moves to the right, but Ito keeps the pace and intervenes with his body. However, with the tip of his boot, Nishimura manages to find Shimizu on the right flank.
Shimizu starts slightly behind, which gives him plenty of room to accelerate. In full run, he faces Kamiyama.
With a lightning-fast roulette, Shimizu passes him and even resists Kamiyama's attempted foul.
The students and observers in the stands are thrilled with the play.
After passing Kamiyama, Shimizu now has plenty of space on the flank and uses every inch of it, until Ito closes in, abandoning his marking on Nishimura.
So Shimizu, with the outside of his left foot, passes to a free Nishimura, who is now approaching the edge of Maebashi Ikuei's penalty area.
But Kamiyama immediately reaches Nishimura.
Nishimura looks up and sees Riccardo rushing into the area. The problem is that Riccardo is marked zonally by Watanabe and Takahashi.
Riccardo makes a signal with his hand anyway: he wants the ball to be played in his run.
Nishimura watches him, hesitating.
It's too risky... Let's start again!
He turns and passes the ball to Ono.
Riccardo stares at Nishimura, almost disappointed by the decision.
The minutes pass and, after the equaliser, neither team manages to create any real chances, despite the high pace of the match.
Finally, the first half ends.
Maebashi Ikuei 1|1 Shūdan-teki
Both teams head to the locker rooms.
In the Shūdan-teki locker room, all the players are sitting, recovering and hydrating.
Coach Ishii enters the room and stands in the center.
"I saw some good things in this first half: off-the-ball movement, accurate passing... but there's one thing I saw that I didn't like at all," Coach Ishii says, turning to Nishimura. "One thing I especially don't want to see from you."
Nishimura looks down, already knowing what the coach is referring to.
"Why didn't you pass the ball to Aliberti at that moment?"
"I thought it was too risky a pass... and that we could have suffered a counterattack," Nishimura replied, with the weight of someone who knew his mistake.
"That's right... I'm not asking you to always make the riskiest move or pass. But in games like this, where we can't get into their penalty area with simple means, you have to force the game!"
Shimizu looked at Mister Ishii with visible disappointment.
He hasn't coached seriously in the last ten years... and now he's acting like a real coach?
Noguchi noticed Shimizu's look.
—
Noguchi's expression turned to frustration.
Damn! What have I done these last three years...? I want to be a pillar of this team too!
—
Noguchi stood up after mulling over those thoughts and took a deep breath.
"Guys, the coach is right! We have to give everything we have in this game! If we don't take risks, we won't win. Their defense is too solid to be broken through with normal passes! Have faith in your teammates and in yourselves!"
Nishimura stood up and approached Noguchi.
"The captain is right! At that moment, and not only that, I made a mistake because I didn't want to trust my teammates. But I won't make the same mistake again!"
Noguchi smiled at Nishimura's words.
The entire team began to warm up.
"We are students of the Shudan-teki! Each of us here has, at the very least, the goal of becoming a professional! Let's honor this goal by showing who we are, even against those who, on paper, are considered the strongest!" Noguchi added, further inflaming the team's spirits.
"Come here!" Noguchi signaled with his hand for everyone to gather around him, forming a circle.
"All together, we are?!" Noguchi shouted.
"Shūdan-teki!" the team shouted.
"We are?!"
"Shūdan-teki!"
Energized, the entire team ran out of the locker room, with Noguchi lingering for a moment to watch them leave.
"Nice speech, Captain!" Kaneko said sarcastically as she left.
Noguchi gave a small smile.
"Next time, you do it."
"Not even kidding..."