Mateo was about to release the shot when a player quickly rushed in from the side and brought him down with a very dangerous tackle, yes he had touched the ball but that tackle was careless as Mateo was rolling on the floor now.
The referee blew his whistle before quickly rushing toward the player to show him a yellow card.
Ferran was the first person to rush toward Mateo to check on him while their other teammates had gathered around the referee to convince him to show the player a second yellow card and send him off.
"Oh, that's a terrible challenge from Naim Tilli," Jim said.
The game was paused as the medical team made their way to the pitch to see what they could do about Mateo's current situation.
"Whatever Naim did to him, it must have been really painful because he was rolling on the floor before Ferran got to him," Steve said. "I hope he will be able to continue though."
"What just said now is the wish of every Unique FC player in this stadium, the players, the fans, none of them wants to see him leave with an injury," Jim said. "Taking him off could impact the game in a way that wouldn't favor them."
After a little work on his leg, the young winger slowly sat up on the floor before slowly getting up back on his feet.
"Are you sure you can continue?" Ferran asked.
"Yeah, it's just a little sprain, I'll be okay." He said before taking a limping step forward and with the next step, his walking had almost returned to normal.
The fans burst into applause and cheers of joy after seeing that Mateo was back on his feet and wasn't being carried off the pitch.
Naim had a bit of a disappointed look on his face after seeing Mateo back on his feet, his tackle wasn't just aimed toward stopping Mateo from scoring, it was also aimed toward injuring him and putting him out of the match as he believed that that would reduce the problem they were going to be facing in defense but things hadn't gone as he planned.
"Mateo Smith is back on his feet, that's good news for the players and fans," Jim said.
"I'm so glad he's okay," Dave muttered before letting out a sigh of relief.
With Mateo back on his feet now, it was time to resume the game starting with taking the freekick from the foul which had happened at the edge of the box.
As always, Mateo and Ferran were talking among themselves to find out who was going to take the corner kick.
"You take it, my legs are a little bit sore after that tackle so it's best if you take it," Mateo said after Ferran suggested that he should take it.
"Okay," Ferran said before slowly moving toward the ball.
"That's a really close spot for a freekick, I don't think Ferran will have any problem converting this," Jim said.
"Yeah, but he's missed spot-kicks from that close before so you never can tell," Steve said.
Lave City dropped a wall of four players in the spot the referee had marked for them inside the box as Ferran stood over the ball waiting for the referee's whistle.
After making sure that the wall was okay and that there was nothing going on in the box between the players, the referee drew back before blowing his whistle.
Ferran stared at the ball for a while before letting out a sigh and taking two steps backward.
He quickly closed up on the ball after that and sent the ball flying toward the top left-hand corner with a neat flick.
The goalkeeper was glued to the spot as the ball flew over the wall of players and that ball would have hit the back of the net if only it had not hit the crossbar before falling over for a goal kick.
"Oh, no, crossbar again!"
Ferran had a devastated look on his face as he watched the ball fly off until it hit the floor outside the pitch.
"This is the second time Ferran Phil's hitting the crossbar tonight and surprisingly enough, they had both been on the same spot," Steve said.
"You'll get it next time," Mateo said before patting him on his back.
The match had entered the thirty-fifth minute now and still, there had been nothing from both sides.
Unique FC had gotten two good chances which had both been wasted by Mateo.
The first chance came from a back pass from Ferran after he had succeeded in shifting the goalkeeper to the right side of his goalpost and now all Mateo needed to do was slot the ball into the net from the open left side of the post but his shot had gone wide although it had come really close to rolling into the back of the net.
The second chance also came from a pass from Ferran, it was a cross to be specific.
He got the ball under control with his chest before drilling it toward the goalpost with his right foot before it could hit the ground but that had been an easy save for the goalkeeper as the ball had gone directly toward him.
"There was no way he would have been able to stop that shot if he had put it away from him toward the angles or close to them," Jim said.
"Yeah, it looks like Mateo seems to be a little bit disoriented after that tackle, I sure hope he gets his shooting boots straight before it's too late," Steve said.
With the clock entering the forty-fourth minute, Unique FC were leading an attack but Merino had broken the flow of what the team were trying to do by pulling a careless shot from outside the box.
"Oh, that's not troubling anyone," Jim said.
With almost all the Unique FC players on their side of the pitch, the Lave City goalkeeper knew that this was the perfect time to start a counter-attack.
He quickly threw the ball to Kim who quickly made his way past Ferran to meet the ball and now he was running through the middle with nobody in his way.
"Oh, Unique FC are in trouble here," Jim said.
"Yeah, but not exactly," Steve said.
Luckily for the team, Luis Roberto had not left his position to join the attack and now, he was the only person who had a better chance of stopping Kim.
He didn't quickly rush toward the striker as he wanted to cautiously deal with the situation and avoid any costly mistakes.
Kim raced toward the defender and just as he got closer to him at the edge of the box, he shifted away from him a little before releasing the ball toward the goalpost with a powerful shot.
The ball was heading toward the top left-hand corner at full speed as Dave quickly dived toward it.
[ Ball magnet activated ]
With the help of his skill, he was able to catch the ball with both hands before crashing down to the floor.
"Oh, what a save!" Jim exclaimed. "What is Dave Richards turning into, a ball magnet?"
"Ball magnet," Emma muttered from where she was sitting before opening her jotter and writing down something on it.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter?
If I get up to a hundred golden tickets before the end of the month I will release six chapters on the first of December.