Blue Dream Trail (Soccer) - Episode 23

*Zenit

A powerful club from Moscow, Russia, founded in 1925. They have won the Russian league eight times.

It is also a rival team of CSKA Moscow, the team that former Japanese national team player Honda Keisuke played for.

I just hope the war ends soon.

Here is a brief explanation of how CL works.

・League phase (36 teams participate. Each team plays 4 home and 4 away games for a total of 8 games) 1st to 8th place → Advance to the final tournament. 9th to 24th place → Advance to the final tournament and playoffs. 25th to 36th place → Eliminated from the league phase

– Final tournament playoffs (16 teams ranked 9th to 24th participate. The 8 teams that win in a home and away format advance to the final tournament)

– Final tournament (16 teams will participate. From the round of 16 onwards, the semi-finals will be played in a home and away format, and the final will be played in one match)

———————————————————————————

January 2028.

Snow is falling in St. Petersburg.

The temperature is below freezing.

Final match of the Champions League phase.

The venue is Gazprom Arena, Zenit’s home stadium.

Points and goal difference up to the 7th round

8th place Augsburg: 14 points, goal difference 8 (within the range to qualify for the final round)

9th place Juventus: 13 points, goal difference 6 (within playoff range)

Augsburg has had very few injuries and has been on a roll so far.

–If they win, they will advance straight to the round of 16, defying the odds.

For both Augsburg and Ren, this was the biggest highlight of the season.

The moment he stepped onto the pitch, Ren felt something was off.

The pass comes through with a slight delay.

For some reason, it’s hard to read my allies’ movements.

And above all, every passing route is “readable.”

The opponent was anchor Mikhail Kovalev (21).

A young midfielder who is expected to have a bright future on the Russian national team.

The way he stands, the way he moves, and the positioning to block the pass.

There was the same sense of distance and foresight as Ren.

20 minutes into the first half.

When Ren tries to move into space,

Mikhail also moves at the same time.

The pass was read well and cut off, resulting in a counterattack.

(…at the same time?)

It’s as if your thoughts are being mirrored.

The coach muttered to himself on the bench.

“REN is being read…can you tell me, here?”

Even the cheers of the audience sound somehow “out of sync.”

It was as if the entire stadium was absorbing the sound of the lotus.

End of first half: 0-1.

As silence filled the locker room, captain and center back Philip quietly spoke up.

“Ren, try dropping back further in the second half. Try playing as the bottom of a three-man defense.

　Move the game from a position where Mikhail won’t follow you. If he does follow you, use you as a decoy.

Fudrich and Kemmer move out of Mikhail’s range.

If you come along, you can use that space for both of you.”

Second half.

Ren drops back to the bottom of the CB and becomes the starting point for the ball.

Mikhail didn’t follow suit.

Ren doesn’t move. Instead, he starts using passes to get his teammates moving.

A grounder into space.

A long pass to the side, one beat off.

Little by little he adjusted his position, and Ren continued to waver, waiting for that moment to decide whether Mikhail would come out or wait.

70 min.

As part of this sequence, Ren received the ball on the right side of his half.

A one-touch through pass to the back.

Winger Lopez ran in and crossed the ball, which forward Weidemann kicked into the center.

1-1.

And then, 80 minutes.

Now, back to the center.

In the first half, he received the ball with his body half-turned. Here, he deliberately hits the missile with his back and buttocks before Mikhail comes forward. And then he receives the ball.

It flipped over to take advantage of the missile’s power.

At that moment, the opponent slid behind the left side, but didn’t touch the ball and instead made a perfect through pass to his teammate.

The fullback broke through and crossed the ball to score the winning goal.

2-1, reversal.

The game is over.

With this result, they advanced to the final round in 7th place in their group.

Augsburg advances to the round of 16.

After the match.

Mikhail Kovalev walked up to Ren.

“…I thought I had stopped your ‘sound’.”

“But you’ve changed the rhythm.

　See you again, on a bigger stage.”

Ren smiled quietly and answered.

“Next, I’ll go and stop your ‘sound’.”

This night.

Ren made the “stopped sound” ring again with his own hands.

————————————————————————–

–Japan.

Sports news was on.

[Augsburg makes a dramatic comeback and advances to the Champions League round of 16!]

[Naoe Ren, the playmaker who “moved” the game]

On the lunchtime TV program, after Onizuka’s match, footage of the game was shown along with a stream of praise.

“Their ability to make adjustments in the second half was amazing.”

“It’s really rare for a young player to be able to ‘read’ the game to this extent.”

It was also a hot topic on social media.

#Naoe Ren #StillHunter #The one who stops the sound

“His composure in the second half was incredible.”

“What’s with this guy growing in just 90 minutes…?”

“I’m glad we made it directly to the final round!”

“Augsburg’s squad is not as deep as the big clubs, so there are a lot of games to play in the playoffs.”

“I’m looking forward to playing for the Japanese national team!”

–But at the same time, there were also voices like this.

“Are you sure you’re okay after struggling so much against Zenit?”

“If it had been a big European club, they would have ruined the game in the first half.”

“Oh man, Mikhail Kovalev was amazing. He has the talent to go to a big club.”

“But the fact is, we struggled a lot in the first half, and if we don’t win more easily, it will be tough at the world stage.”

Furthermore, a column in a soccer magazine also expressed the following opinion.

“Naoe Ren certainly made a difference in the match.

But it wasn’t what I expected.

True top players can “absorb” their opponents’ tactics and pace.

Naoe will still need to develop the strength to take on the main role.

Enthusiasm and calm.

Expectations and challenges.

With various voices intersecting…

Mid-February…The results of the Round of 16 draw held breath all over Japan.

Augsburg vs Real Madrid

“Naoe vs Onizuka!!!”

“A Japanese showdown…for real?”

“Naoe takes on Onizuka, let’s see how far he can go here.”

Quietly, but surely.

The eyes of all of Japan were beginning to turn to the two young men.

–And Naoe Ren himself,

He paid no attention to the commotion and set off towards the next battle.

(No matter who the enemy is, what I do remains the same.)

Just keep that in your heart.