Greatest Of All Legends

Chapter 489: A Bad Game III

Chapter 489: A Bad Game III

The referee headed to the sidelines to check the replay of the goal on the monitor while the Uventus players waited on the field expectantly in a tense mood.

They weren’t the only ones either as everyone else in the stadium could feel the tension and knew what the referee’s final decision would mean to the game.

If the goal was allowed, then Uventus would at least manage to take one point home after all their efforts and if the goal was disallowed, the Napoli would be the only winners after a hard fought battle to stay in front.

Every eye in the stadium was on the referee as he looked at the monitor and the referee could feel the eyes on his back despite not facing them directly, but he didn’t let that affect him as he did his job.

Watching the replay, the referee saw what the assistant referee was referring to as offside.

When Ronaldo had hit the ball at the goal, it seemed like Jason’s arm was behind the offside line a little bit, but it was hard to tell whether it was actually offside or not because of how close it looked.

Even with the specialized offside technology and the multiple cameras, it was difficult to make a decision, but the referee finally made up his mind and headed back to the field.

{Oh this is heartbreaking! The goal would be disallowed!} The commentator’s words were like death knells to the Uventus players and their fans.

As the replay was shown on the stadium’s huge screen, outrage broke out among the Uventus fans as they didn’t agree with the referee’s decision considering how close it was.

{The referee’s decision isn’t being accepted by the Uventus fans and they are making their displeasure known, but it won’t change much}

On the field, some of the Uventus players were still trying to reason with the referee, but it was doomed to be for nothing as the referee wouldn’t be changing his decision.

In the end, they had no choice but to try to continue the match and try to get a goal in the extra minutes that will be given by the referee, but to their dismay, the board held up the sign and only two minutes of added time would be given as extra time.

The Uventus tried to not be disheartened by the situation and once again started playing as best as they could, but the Napoli team that had been given a lifeline grabbed onto it as hard as they could and didn’t let even leave open the littlest of spaces for the Uventus players.

In the end, the final whistle was blown and the match ended.

{It is over and it is a loss for the visitors and a disheartening one it is!}

{The equalizer just wouldn’t come and they have lost!}

{They would have complicated feelings about that loss after the controversial decision from the referee to disallow the earlier goal, but for now, they can only tighten their laces and prepare for the next game} The commentator gave closing comments as the players started heading off the field.

{Jason looks especially distraught after that match. It’s his first match after his injury in the match against Inter Milan}

{He’ll need to get his mood up as Uventus will be going up against his home team in the next match for the first match of the round of 16}

While the commentator was talking, Jason lay on the field, looking at the open night sky through the stadium’s opening, tired and annoyed, but he didn’t stay like that for long.

The only thing that should be done after a loss was to work harder so he wouldn’t lose next time.

He was soon pulled up by Dybala and they started heading to the locker room.

*****

“Your heading is an atrocity,” Ronaldo’s words cut through the silence of the early morning as he threw a ball at Jason who was seated on the ground, breathing heavily.

“I can’t say that the last match’s loss was on you, but if you had scored the header earlier, then we could have probably pushed on for more than one goal,”

“Your actions matter, and you can’t waste clear chances in front of goal because you aren’t good with one part of your body,” he continued talking to Jason who was now looking at him with rapt attention.

“Do you know how many header goals and left-footed goals I have scored in my career,”

“I couldn’t have that number if I didn’t learn how to use my head or my left leg,”

“A weak foot is an illusion, you use both legs to walk, run, jump, and stand. None of them are weak, it’s all in the head,”

“Sure you’re good with both legs, but that’s only helpful up to places your leg can reach, and that needs to change,” Ronaldo stated, not even bothering to listen to Jason’s opinion about his actions.

Ronaldo wasn’t going to have someone on his team flunk goals that could help the team in dire situations because he didn’t feel like learning how to head the ball.

With that said, the training session began and the focus was on getting Jason to learn how to head the ball better.

Starting with him getting a feeling for heading the ball while trying to score, Jason soon began learning that there was more to heading than meeting the ball with his head.

Things like anticipating the header, getting to the right height in time, curling angle, positioning to connect, with the ball, as well as the power applied all mattered.

Thus learning to be a good header of the ball was easier said than done and Jason was barely just getting his foot in the door after a training session with Ronaldo who was one of the best headers of the ball in football.

But after the session, Jason felt like he was beginning to get a feel for heading the ball, however, he still had a long way to go before he could confidently take to the air while hoping to score.

He also couldn’t spend the whole day only learning how to head the ball, so it was something that would only begin to show over time, but at the moment, it was a good start for Jason.

There was only one issue… his hair affected his heading skills a lot and Jason could now begin to understand why players who were considered as good headers usually didn’t have a lot of hair on their head.

Considering whether to cut his hair was something he had put away for later though as he didn’t feel like he was that good in the hair to decide whether he needed to get rid of his hair or not.