LAST GAME

Ahead of the final tie, Iemon outlines Team Z's approach, naming Kunigami, Gagamaru, and Chigiri as the trio to lean on since they rate as the squad's sharpest finishers. Kuon is left out of the shape entirely and told simply to loiter at the touchline. Raichi threatens him with a beating if he strays, but Kuon shrugs it off, insisting he has no interest in helping the side because he can clear selection on his own as its leading scorer. Walking out, Bachira reassures Isagi that all they need to do is give everything they have.

From kickoff, Reo controls the ball, and knowing his dribbling is dangerous, Isagi and Bachira team up to close him. Just as their scouting of Team V predicted, a blocked Reo lays it off to Zantetsu, and when Naruhaya and Raichi crowd Zantetsu as planned, he shifts it toward Nagi. Anticipating that pass, Igaguri steps in to kill the ball before Nagi can take it. Isagi seizes the loose ball and feeds Bachira, who lofts a long ball to Gagamaru, whose header cannons off the post.

Kunigami lifts Gagamaru up with a word of praise, and though the chance went begging, Isagi stays hopeful about their prospects. Impressed by the attempt, Reo proposes a similar move to Nagi and floats over a high ball that looks unpromising, but Nagi kills it with a stunning leaping trap and buries the opener before Raichi and Naruhaya can react. Nagi shrugs the goal off as effortless while onlookers, stunned, brand him a monster.

Kunigami, Chigiri, and Gagamaru are set as Team Z's core, while Zantetsu, Reo, and Nagi headline Team V. Raichi orders Kuon to stay out of the match. Reo's strength is his passing, Zantetsu's is the shot from his left leg, and Nagi's is his trapping. Even with an effective plan against Team V, Nagi still nets the game's first goal.

This twenty-page chapter belongs to the First Selection Arc as the fourth entry of Volume 4 and first ran in issue 2019-11 on February 13, 2019, with the English release following on June 15, 2021. Its events are adapted in Episode 8 of the anime.