The wind, fierce and overpowering, swept in, his vision remaining firmly locked on the rapidly descending football to the extent that he could not face forward. Still, his peripheral vision could capture the roaring wave of charging hordes, closing in from all sides.
Scorching, sharp, it glided across the skin like a blade, painfully stinging.
However, this scene further confirmed Li Wei's judgment:
Tactical kickoff.
Gostkowski's kickoff control had a shorter-than-expected parabolic trajectory; moreover, it spun rapidly due to the intense spin, causing the football to wobble erratically in its descent due to the acceleration of gravity.
This was a test. Gostkowski seized on Li Wei's lack of experience and the fact that it was his first official professional game, possibly making him too nervous or too excited. He intentionally disrupted Li Wei's rhythm with an irregular, fast-falling parabola.