Chapter 526: Might Get Interesting
That Free-kick from Dave left the fans and his teammates quite elated.
Going in on the break one goal down sort of left a bad taste in their mouth but in less than fifteen minutes of the second half, they had been able to grab the equalizer and take the lead, masterfully capitalizing on the chances they got, unlike the first half.
With that lead, it was starting to look like they could actually pull out a mildly stressful victory, at least that was how most of the fans felt.
However, that feeling didn't last for long, it took just five minutes after Dave's goal for everything about that feeling to come crashing down.
The reason for that being that at the moment on Unique FC's side of the pitch, just outside the box, the referee could be seen holding up a red card in front of Minino, and just beside the official, Frank could be seen clutching onto his left leg, gritting his teeth.
It wasn't like they didn't see it coming after the way he brought Frank down but seeing that red card still left them shocked, while for the opposing team, it had the opposite effect as they stopped trying to claw at Minino after the referee made his decision.
The midfielder's teammates tried to protest against the decision and while they were doing that, Mateo watched Minino walk out of the pitch with mixed expressions of annoyance and helplessness.
He understood why his teammate did what he did but he wished he had handled it in a much better way that would not have resulted in him getting sent off.
That was also exactly how Dave felt. The goalkeeper could be found standing in front of his goalpost with his left palm covering his face.
'Why is this happening?'
<I told you he was going to do it>
"Oh, this is definitely going to shake Unique FC's momentum, this match might just get more interesting," Jim commented.
"It might also turn to hell for them."
Given what has already been explained, it would be fair to say that Minino got a straight card after messing Frank's leg up with a wicked tackle but what exactly led the midfielder to pull off a nasty tackle like that?
Well, everything started after Merino lost the ball while pushing forward with it.
Dynamo kicked off a counterattack as soon as they got hold of the ball, and successfully getting the ball to Frank on the other side, the midfielder dropped Roland with a dummy quickly followed by a faint, and as soon as he was past him, he raced down straight toward the box.
Martinez raced to the attacking midfielder, stretching out his leg in a desperate attempt to dispossess him but moving the ball a little to the right while jumping over the leg, Frank was able to avoid the challenge.
Seeing the dangerous midfielder approaching with full force, Aima rushed out with a sweeping tackle which Frank used against him, neatly chipping the ball over him.
This was the point where a desperate Minino got involved. Determined to not let Frank get his foot on the ball again and finish what he started, the midfielder launched himself with both feet facing forward.
In situations like this, it was normal for the player to go for the ball but Minino intentionally went for his leg, matching down on his joint just as he got his foot on the ball, forcing him to crash down to the floor screaming in pain.
There was no need for a VAR change, everyone saw that wild and clear, a clear wicked tackle from Minino, one that was enough to end a player's career or render him unable to continue a game at least.
It was fair to say that the midfielder was able to achieve his goal as Frank was currently being carried off the pitch on a stretcher, already deemed unable to continue the game.
The worst part of the whole thing was that Minino didn't have the tiniest bit of remorse on his face as he made his way out of the pitch rather he had a subtle smirk on his face.
The away fans were understandably very furious with him and some of them were calling him a dirty cheater.
"It's called taking one for the team."
With Dynamo FC getting ready to take their free kick just at the edge of the box, the official with the board raised it to make Frank's substitution official.
The board had the number ten in red and the number nineteen in green.
The player with the number nineteen on his kit was a youngster in Dynamo's squad who went by the name, Noe and his kit number was a perfect representation of his age.
"The youngster hasn't had much playing time this season but he has proven to have great potential so far having two goals and three assists in eight matches which he didn't start any." Jim articulated as the youngster made his way to the point of action on the pitch.
"True, but I'm not sure he can make up for the void Frank's absence has just created in this team."
"Well, however you look at it, Unique FC are the ones currently one man down and since he's a forward they'll probably be switching to two forwards and four midfielders so he's obviously going to bring more offensiveness to the table. I'm just wondering how Unique FC is going to handle this problem."
At the moment, Damian could be seen standing over the ball, his gaze fixated on Unique FC's five-man wall inside the box.
<At moments like this, keeping a calm composure is the best for everyone>
'Yeah, I know that.' Dave responded as he adjusted his gloves.
"Grabbing an equalizer from this free-kick might be the final nail in the coffin for Unique FC," Jim commented.
"True, but can Damian pull it off, especially against a goalkeeper like Dave?"
After making sure that everything was ready, the referee blew his whistle, and as soon as the striker heard it, he slowly took three steps backward before taking a deep breath.
He stared at the ball for about three seconds before he quickly closed up on it and released the shot loaded on his right foot.
The wall jumped up in unison to block the ball, however, the striker seemed to have chosen to go from below, somehow going past the player below to drill the ball toward the left.
That was an ecstatic strike going for the bottom left corner. However, just before the ball could even get close to crossing the line, Dave got to it with both of his gloves, grabbing it with a firm grip.
"Oh, he's been denied."
Determined to not let the current opportunity go to waste, Dave quickly got up on his feet and sent the ball flying forward down the left flank toward Mateo who was already racing down there.
"Uh oh, they're trying to kick off a counterattack here."
The goalkeeper succeeded in getting the ball to Mateo who was able to push past the defensive midfielder in his way with minimum difficulty just as he brought the ball down.
The defender in the way stretched out his leg to stop the youngster, leaving his legs open and giving him an easy way through as Mateo pushed the ball past him from in between his legs before connecting with it from the other end to continue his run.
"Oh, just good is this kid?"
"Massive trouble for Dynamo incoming."
Determined to not let the youngster get one in on them again, Connell took off right behind him, running with everything he had to prevent him from getting too far away.
By the time the youngster got to the box, Connell was already onto him with Victor rushing out.
He tried to maneuver the midfielder before chipping the ball in an attempt to get it past Victor and into the goalpost but the goalkeeper was already onto him, raising his arm just in time to derail the ball and send it rolling out for a corner kick.
A series of gasps resounded in the stadium as they watched the ball roll out while Mateo crashed to the floor, breathing heavily.
"Oh, he should have put that way."
"Frank was awesome till he was taken out but for me, Victor has been Dynamo's best man tonight. Mateo might have already gotten a goal against him, but he has been the youngster's kryptonite for most of the game." Steve articulated.
"True, one wrong move from the goalkeeper there and ten-men Unique FC could have had a two-goal lead against them."
Not given the privilege to waste any time, Ferran could be seen standing over the ball, his gaze on the mixed shirts running around inside and outside the box.
"A corner kick for Dynamo to deal with here, if Unique plays their cards right with a bit of luck, they might be able to pull something off here."
It didn't take long before the referee blew his whistle, and as soon as he did, Ferran slowly took two steps backward before he quickly closed up on the ball and sent the ball flying in, stretching it toward the edge of the box.
Connell could only watch as the ball glided past him but Mateo who was just beside him couldn't do the same.
Just before the ball could fly past him, the youngster threw himself up, horizontally, stretching his right foot to get it to the ball, and as soon as he did, he struck it backward.
"Mateo!"
With a neat acrobatic kick, the youngster sent the ball flying toward the top right corner, Victor diving straight for it.
During the split second that the ball was in between the goalkeeper and the one who struck it, the opposing sides made their opposing wishes clear.
"Oh, Victor, please stop it."
"If this goes in, it will change everything."