The Rise of the Iron Wall!

Chapter 129: Scouting from the J-League Team

Meanwhile, on the stand, three suspicious adults with sunglasses and Hawaiian shirts nodded slightly, taking some notes in a little book each one of them brought before the game began. The scene of them sitting together like this was so creepy, and if anyone didn’t know better, people would think that they were a bunch of perverts eyeing the boys on the pitch.

"Hmm... Not bad..." The first man hummed while playing around with his pen. "It seems Hokkaido’s level has been increasing again this year. We cannot be left behind, right?"

The second man, though, unexpectedly, scowled without hesitation. "I don’t care about that Hokkaido team, but what the hell is that performance from Echigo?! They play like they have been starving for a full month, for God’s sake!"

"Yeah, I mean, I am usually not that harsh for a school coming from Niigata, but this? I think, not picking them here will also be a form of mercy to themselves." The third man said with a tone full of solemnity.

Those three were part of Albirex Niigata’s scouting team, having a heavy task of introducing a potential player to the team immediately before they were snatched by the other teams. It was not uncommon to happen in the sports business, and since it was just a high school game, they just treated it as a paid vacation.

"So, who impresses you the most so far, Mori?" The second man asked the first one who spoke earlier. "I mean, if I have to guess, you will think that Hakodate’s goalkeeper is excellent in all aspects, right? I wonder if I could be in charge of him..."

The one who got asked just scoffed, brushing the concern lightly. "Bah! That goalkeeper is too short! How tall is he, around 166? 167? It is a good height for any outfield player, but it will bring a massive disadvantage if he protects the goal."

The third man blinked confusedly. "Huh? I don’t know that you are still holding that old belief. I mean, it doesn’t really matter how tall he is, as long as he can protect the goal well, he is good, right? I mean, has Hakodate’s goalie proved himself this game?"

"Well, everyone can have one good game, you know?" The man named Mori still argued, not really convinced by the show Higo performed in this game. "If anything, I am more impressed with that attacking midfielder, that Hakodate’s number 10."

"Oh, that playmaker? He is good, right?!" The other person chimed in excitedly. "His off-the-ball run is amazing! He is always in a good position for the goalkeeper to see him and receive the first pass for a counterattack!"

"Still, he didn’t really track back that much, right?" The third person frowned. "I mean, the team can tolerate if he is a striker, but he is a midfielder and didn’t run that much. It will expose a lot of problems if we recruit him, right?"

This was a logical conclusion. For Albirex Niigata, a defensive team that was struggling in the league, they didn’t really need a flamboyant player who only knew how to wait for the ball at the front. No, every player on the team had to run and join the defense, or the opponent would expose such a weakness easily.

"Bah! That thing can be taught in the process! But don’t you see that he is always running in a good position? This is a talent, you know?! His spatial awareness is top-notch, and don’t ignore his passing ability! He has a vision and is able to convert it to reality! He is definitely not an ordinary player!"

"I know that, but don’t you think it is a bit hasty to judge him so highly just for one game?"

"So what?!"

Those three people kept arguing for a while, debating over whether Hiroshi was good enough for their team or not. They forgot one thing, though, that the boy in conversation was still 16 years old.

Even if, in the end, they offered him a contract, it was unlikely for that boy to play in the main team instantly. No, if anything, the team would send him either to the youth team or to the university for the college league first, asking the boy to gather some experience before they deemed him ready to join the big league.

At that time, there was no way Hiroshi would still have such a glaring weakness like that.

"Still... To think that Hokkaido has such an excellent talent buried in Hakodate like this..." One of the men there let out a long sigh. "I mean, that number 10 and the goalkeeper are not prominent names, right? I thought only Sapporo Otani gets a good player, but it seems the other schools are also improving further to challenge the king."

"Just to show you that while the others are getting better, we in Niigata are just walking on the same spot, eh? Not knowing how to improve ourselves?" The others laughed in self-mockery.

Getting that harsh reminder, all three of them had their face turned dark immediately. Indeed, compared to the other prefectures, Niigata definitely belonged to the weaker group, what with them only having their best team advancing to the second round of the tournament once in the National Inter-High’s history.

Other than that, any representative from their prefecture would usually only be the cannon fodder, getting beaten so badly in the first round of the tournament.

Honestly, they were so pitiful here. Usually, a prefecture with a J1-League team would be quite good, what with that team helping develop a lot of homegrown talents for their future. However, it seemed Niigata was the only one who got cursed, as no other prefecture suffered from their fate.

"Let’s... Don’t think about it right now." The first man finally shook his head, snapping everyone from their thought. "The next game is about to begin. Let’s just do our job to the best we can. Who knows, maybe the next big player from our team will be one that we introduce. That would be awesome, right?"