From Arsenal to the Ball God

The cognitive skills are two: Decision Level 4, Strong Side Foot Level 4.

The remaining Divine Power Level 4, Rapid Charge Level 4, Coordination Level 4, Endurance Level 3, can all be categorized as physical skills.

”An all-rounder of upper-middle level!”

Ma’el smiled, longing for the day when his panel would be filled with Level 5 skills... He is now starting to upgrade some skills from Level 4 to Level 5, officially embarking on the path of pursuing the ultimate.

He encouraged himself to keep going until the day when he has won all the honors.

...

On December 19th, Arsenal visited Villa Park Stadium to face Aston Villa Team... All 42,788 seats were filled, and Birmingham was cheering for football today.

Aston Villa was once a top team in English football, having won one Champions League, and seven top league titles.

But now they have long fallen from grace, struggling to avoid relegation in the Premier League each season, and often dropping to the lower league.

Facing them, Arsenal’s only goal was to win!

”Ma’el’s continuous breakthrough! He keeps feinting, and once again, a fake move, Hutton is passed, Dunn tackles!

”Missed the ball, the referee blows the whistle, it’s a penalty! Dunn gets a yellow card!”

”...”

”Van Persie stands at the penalty spot to take the shot, the Dutch forward is the team’s first penalty shooter... A smooth push shot, beautiful! Scored steadily, Arsenal leads one-nil!”

”...”

”Yeah!”

Villa Park Stadium was soon engulfed by the cheers of Arsenal’s traveling fans. Van Persie smiled and ran over to Ma’el, tightly hugging the brother who set him up for a goal.

”How are you going to repay me?”

Ma’el chuckled and high-fived Van Persie, jokingly said, ”Give me your aerial shot ability.”

”No, no, no,” Van Persie shook his head, laughing, ”That’s my trademark. I can treat you to a meal under a thousand pounds.”

”I don’t love food that much.”

Ma’el shook his head, wrapped his arm around Van Persie’s shoulder and headed towards the supporters’ stands, then made an act of sucking Van Persie’s energy, ”It’s better to steal the aerial strike ability!”

”Haha...!” Van Persie knew Ma’el was joking, acting out a dramatic, exhausted gesture, playing along with the act.

Both of them exuded a bright aura, bringing a sense of joy to many nearby Villa fans.

This goal was also the only goal of the first half, with Arsenal entering halftime leading one-nil.

In the second half, Arsenal increased their attacking intensity, continuing to press Villa Team back into their half... Villa could only counterattack through high points and pacey attackers up front, occasionally posing some threats.

In the 65th minute, Arsenal capitalized on the transition opportunity, with Ramsey making a rapid advance with the ball, bringing it to the front and passing it to Ma’el.

”Boom boom boom.”

Ma’el charged forward with the ball towards the opposition defenders. Villa played a five-three-two formation today, making set-piece defense challenging.

Seize the opportunity of the ball transition well, strike them hard while their formation hasn’t fully settled!

He first faced the opposition’s number 21, Clark, a balanced player in both attack and defense... or you could say, he couldn’t withstand Ma’el’s intensity.

Two simple changes in direction and speed, and Clark relinquished his defense, left in Ma’el’s wake.

”Danger! It’s a bit disordered in Villa Team’s penalty area, players unable to well-assign marking duties, Ma’el has entered the box again!

”It’s Dunn again defending him, this time Dunn dares not to extend his leg, for fear of conceding another penalty to Ma’el!

”Van Persie and Gervinho are both in the box, Ramsey and Arteta have rushed in, Goalkeeper Guzan watches them tensely, it’s a good time to pass the ball!”

”...”

”Pop... Boom!”

Near the baseline, Ma’el lowered his shoulder to change direction and then lofted the ball along the baseline.

Dunn initially sought body contact but leapt away at the last moment, fearing a foul would concede another penalty, fearing a red card and being sent off.

Moreover, his chances against Ma’el were slim, better to sidestep directly.

Ma’el raced along the sideline to the edge of the six-yard box, glanced at the middle and found several teammates calling for the ball.

He lifted his leg, ready to send a ground pass for his teammates in the middle to contest for a 50-50 ball.

But at the moment of passing, he noticed Goalkeeper Guzan was positioned a bit forward, seemingly anticipating a cross, intending to dive out to intercept the ball in the middle.

”Bang!!”

Ma’el instantly switched from instep push to outside foot strike, his outside foot whipped the football like a lash, creating a curve, exerting power.

Near-zero angle outside foot shot!

He is sneaking an attack on the near corner of the goal!

The football flew parallel to the goalpost, curling towards the net, just veering past the post, heading for the near corner.

Guzan was dumbfounded. When Ma’el’s shot with the outside of his foot happened, his balance was forward, leaving no time to step back to defend the near corner.

”Swish!”

The ball elegantly shot into the unguarded near corner, leaving Guzan frozen in place, like a statue.

Two-nil!

Near-zero angle outside foot!

At this moment, people seemed to return to over a year ago in the South Africa World Cup, seeing Maicon’s zero-degree shot against North Korea, reliving the classic.

”Wow...!”

Exclamations arose, many Arsenal fans threw up their hands, clutched the back of their heads, held their foreheads; this goal truly opened their eyes.

Two-nil!

Victory is within reach!

”The ball is in!! In the 66th minute, Ma’el blasted the ball into the net from an almost zero angle! Surely all the fans will think of an old friend!