Football singularity

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[49]

Jamie Oliver's voice finally stabilized, crackling back onto the airwaves with palpable irritation. "You have to be kidding me—there we go, finally! Ah, ladies and gentlemen, apologies for… technical difficulties. But if you're just joining us, Germany has found a lifeline thanks to Rakim's brilliant strike. It's now 2–1 in favour of the USA."

Down on the pitch, the atmosphere simmered with renewed energy. Germany's players, buoyed by the goal, rushed to reorganize for the restart as Rakim placed the ball in the centre circle. Like starving wolves who had a taste of prime ribs, they were now hungry to devour the bull that stood in their way.

With a sharp blow of the whistle, the match roared back to life. Matteo poked the ball back to Giovanni who pivoted sharply as soon as the ball touched his boots, spinning gracefully around Youssoufa Moukoko who charged forward. He spotted Yunus Musah quickly dropping into a pocket of space, smoothly threading a short pass through Wirtz's attempted block. Musah turned deftly, taking advantage of his low centre of gravity to fend off Niklas Tauer's muscular challenge.

With Germany pressing aggressively, Musah kept his composure and swung the ball wide toward Sergiño Dest, who surged forward eagerly from his fullback position. Dest, seeing Rakim closing him down, sharply flicked the ball with the outside of his boot, releasing Timothy Weah down the right wing. Weah surged ahead, eyes scanning for options inside the box, but Noah Katterbach closed the gap quickly, matching his pace stride for stride.

Jamie Oliver's voice sharpened with excitement, capturing the building intensity. "Weah and Katterbach racing down the touchline—it's a footrace!"

Timothy braked abruptly, creating enough separation from Katterbach to cut inside. He fired a quick cross toward Matteo Smith, who had slipped cleverly between Ehlers and Bella-Kotchap. Matteo leapt, his eyes fiercely locked onto the descending ball, but just as he swung his head forward, Kevin Ehlers rose to challenge him. Both players collided mid-air, Ehlers managing to flick the ball clear.

The clearance dropped kindly at Niklas Tauer's feet, who instantly turned and initiated a rapid German counterattack. He drove a precise, diagonal pass wide to Jamie Leweling, already streaking down the right flank. George Bello sprinted back frantically, desperate to cover the space.

Leweling, fuelled by fresh adrenaline, feinted toward the line before cutting inward, cleverly drawing Bello off balance. Spotting Florian Wirtz breaking through the central channel, Jamie fired a low pass across the turf. Wirtz collected the ball with ease, gracefully pivoting around Weston McKennie, who lunged in a fraction too late.

Wirtz accelerated toward the USA penalty area, creating chaos among the defenders. Richards rushed out to close the angle, forcing Wirtz to send a neat through ball toward Rakim, who had drifted inward from the left wing. Rakim feinted a quick shot, dragging Dest away before calmly squaring the ball to Moukoko on the edge of the area.

Moukoko controlled the ball swiftly and immediately unleashed a powerful strike toward the far post. CJ dos Santos reacted instinctively, diving sharply to his left, stretching his gloves just enough to deflect the fierce shot wide.

A collective gasp filled the stadium, then applause echoed from both sets of supporters, recognizing the brilliance of the save. "Stunning stop by CJ dos Santos! He's just preserved the lead for the Americans," Jamie Oliver shouted over the airwaves, his voice vibrant once again.

[54]

Germany set up for the resulting corner, bodies jockeying for position inside the box. Rakim approached the corner flag, lifting a hand to signal to his teammates. He whipped an in-swinging delivery, high and dangerous into the crowded penalty area. Bella-Kotchap rose highest, beating McKenzie to the ball, and powering a header downward.

For a split second, it appeared certain to nestle into the bottom corner, but Yunus Musah, guarding the post, reacted superbly, clearing it off the line with a desperate swing of his boot. The ball ricocheted to Weston McKennie, who immediately launched a searching ball toward Matteo Smith at midfield.

Smith controlled it smoothly, his body shielding the ball from Kevin Ehlers' aggressive press. Pivoting on his heel, Matteo fed the ball back to Giovanni Reyna, who quickly found Pulisic lurking near the halfway line. Pulisic immediately turned, spotting a gap between Simon Asta and Bella-Kotchap. He threaded a perfect through-ball forward, inviting Matteo Smith to chase it down.

Smith, bursting with determination, raced ahead of Bella-Kotchap, bearing down on goal. With Luca Unbehaun quickly narrowing the angle, Matteo unleashed a fierce shot toward the top-left corner. Luca extended fully, fingertips brushing the ball just enough to steer it narrowly around the post, denying Matteo's fierce strike.

Jamie Oliver nearly leapt out of his seat, his voice crackling with enthusiasm. "End-to-end action now! Matteo Smith nearly restores the two-goal advantage for the USA!"

Paul Gartner's voice also rose above the exclaiming fans, "The game sure became lively, both teams are no longer content with just testing each other and have started taking a more direct route."

The game soon settled into a rhyme of back-and-forth attacks with most being broken up by both side's defensive midfielders. Until the 60th when Coch Baum decided to take off Niklas Tauer for Kevin Schade to bolster the midfield as their for nation changed from a 4-2-3-1 to a more direct 4-4-2 diamond formation as Rakim moved up to the second striker but played more like a free-roaming Attacking midfielder.

This change had an immediate effect as the Germans started overloading their opponents in positional battles. The Dimond-shaped midfielders would collapse into one side causing a situation where an American player was surrounded by green German kits. With Rakim dropping deep this situation became more glaring creating a higher turnover rate for the Eagles.

[65]

Their hard work bore fruit in the 65th a lazy pass from Mark McKenzie meant for Yunus Musah left the midfielder scrambling to bring it under his control. Florian Wirtz was quickest to pounce, sliding in sharply to poke the ball loose from Musah's scrambling feet. The midfielder immediately sprang to his feet, instinctively turning his body to shield the ball from Weston McKennie's urgent pressure.

Glancing up, Wirtz threaded a crisp, incisive pass through the congested midfield, finding Rakim lurking menacingly at the top of the box. Rakim felt Chris Richards breathing down his neck but calmly used the defender's aggression against him. With a smooth swivel of his hips, he rolled away from Richards, earning himself a precious half-yard.

The crowd rose to their feet, anticipating another dazzling strike, but Rakim instead feigned the shot, gently sliding a disguised pass to Youssoufa Moukoko, who burst into space to his right. "Moukoko—this is dangerous!" Jamie Oliver roared, his voice surging with expectation.

Moukoko wasted no time, angling a blistering strike towards the near post. CJ dos Santos lunged low, punching the ball away forcefully, but this time the rebound fell straight into the path of the onrushing Kevin Schade. The substitute midfielder, sensing glory, connected instantly, hammering a fierce volley into the crowded penalty area.

The net bulged emphatically—but the cheers were short-lived as the linesman's flag shot skyward. "Offside! The assistant referee's flag denies Germany an equalizer," Paul Gartner shouted, matching the emotional rollercoaster playing out on the pitch.

The Americans in the stands almost felt their life flash before them as they almost lost their hard-fought lead at the drop of a dime. What angered them even more was the fact that Rakim once again played a crucial role to them almost concerning another goal. If not for the fact that the newly brought-on Kevin Shade was too eager it would have been game over.

[71]

The Americans responded immediately, regrouping quickly and launching their own attack. Musah, determined to redeem himself, collected CJ's quick distribution and carried the ball forward with remarkable composure. Dodging Schade's energetic press, he played a smart pass forward to Giovanni Reyna, who gracefully turned away from Angelo Stiller's sliding challenge.

Reyna surged forward, effortlessly gliding past the halfway line before slicing a beautifully weighted ball through to Timothy Weah on the right flank. Weah exploded into space once more, pulling Noah Katterbach wide. He glanced up, spotting Matteo Smith cutting aggressively into the penalty area.

Weah bent a precise cross toward Matteo, who anticipated brilliantly, beating Bella-Kotchap to the near post. Matteo rose swiftly, connecting with a powerful header—

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To be Continued...