八字万年历

Chapter 448: Some Ankle Breaking Revenge II

‘Maybe I should have said I want to take the penalty,’ he could not help thinking to himself, but the next second that thought went up in smoke.

He was a new member of a team that already had a system for how they worked and that involved the set piece takers.

On the list of penalty takers for the team, he probably didn’t rank in the top five of the penalty takers so by right, he shouldn’t be taking the penalty, however, the real reason why he hadn’t jumped at the opportunity to take the penalty was different.

It was his first match in a new environment and the team was losing in what was one of the most important matches of the season and the chance to equalize and score his first goal in the Serie A had been placed in his hands, but he couldn’t do it.

The thought, ‘What if I miss?’ appeared in his head and prevented him from stepping up.

It wasn’t that he doubted his abilities, but, he more than anyone else knew that most of the time, his face was just covering up most of his actual feelings.

He might look calm, collected, and non-responsive, but he was new to everything that was happening around him.

In his previous life, he had failed again and again and again so he still had a psychological shadow from back then, which was why he usually avoided thinking about whether something was possible or not.

Thus his actions were either involuntary or spontaneous, but whenever he stopped to think, he became too cautious because the fear of failure would oftentimes threaten to drown him and it had happened again.

He should have grabbed the opportunity to get his first goal for the club, after all he was playing well and had almost single-handedly created that chance, however, the pressure of failing to score had appeared when he had the ball in his hands and he quickly gave it to Ronaldo like it was a hot cake.

He did not need anyone to tell him that he needed to get over the trauma.

He knew his own problems.

One minute he had confidence in his abilities, the next moment he was doubting his abilities.

Things couldn’t stay that way forever, but for now, he didn’t know what to do with that issue, after all, he couldn’t exactly go talk to a psychiatrist about his past life of constant failure as that was a surefire way to end up in a hospital where tranquilizers and restraints were the go-tos instead of bandages and aspirin.

Jason was thrown out of his inner monologue by a small section of the crowd erupting in cheers and he realized that the ball had gone in.

Just as he had expected and silently bragged to Handanovic, Ronaldo had delivered the ball into the back of the net with pitch-perfect accuracy, sending the goalkeeper the other way in the process.

‘Hopefully, one day, I’ll have that kind of confidence,’ the thought flashed in his head but he smiled wryly and jogged over to the sidelines to join in the team’s celebration.

{Good penalty!}

{They’ve gotten their equalizer!}

{The star man has struck once again from the spot and has shown why he’s at the top of the goal ranking list this season}

{Ten minutes left in this game and we are back where we started!}

{Will we see a comeback here!? There’s plenty of time left!} the commentator shouted excitedly as the Uventus players and the fans celebrated the equalizing goal.

The Uventus players that now had their morale boosted soon began heading back to their half of the field with all to play for in the few minutes that was left in the game.

The Inter Milan players had also been incensed that their 2-nil lead had been whittled down to nothing and they immediately charged at the Uventus’ half of the field as soon as they kicked, their intention none other than to take the lead once again.

With both sides becoming more attacking, defenses became a little less lax, but it was a bit more difficult for the Uventus team to attack and they chose to soak up pressure before striking quick and fast on the counter attack.

Jason had a field time sending many passes forward to kick off many counterattack attempts as the defenders around him chose to press but didn’t come too close so that he could burst past them in a showy move of conquest, leaving them sprawling.

This gave him enough space and time to send the ball forward, but despite making quite a few attempts the end of the ninety minutes edged closer and closer.

Jason didn’t want his first game with Uventus to end in a draw so he began pushing forward a bit more and trying to get past the defenders himself instead of passing the ball forward himself.

Doing that made him more likely to get tackled by the Inter Milan defenders who wanted no part in becoming a youtube short, but somehow he managed to escape the tackles of his markers most times before sending the ball forward.

Whoever said that humans functioned better under duress probably meant people like Jason as the fear of getting tackled put him on incredibly high alert and allowed him to be as slippery as an eel, however despite all his attempts, all they managed was a few more shots on target.

Due to Ronaldo being tightly marked, the Uventus players had tried to get the ball to Chiesa who was playing as the second striker, but Chiesa’s shots at goal lacked the sting that Ronaldo’s shots had and his shots were easily dealt with by Handanovic.

The Inter Milan team had also not been idle and had been peppering Sczesny with shots at any chance they got, but Sczesny didn’t betray his teammates trust this time and performed save after save to keep the ball from reaching the back of the net one more time in the match.

On the sidelines, the assistant referee held up the board signifying that there would be an additional 2 minutes.