The U20 arc was amazing but…

The U20 arc was amazing but I feel it got “lucky” with how everything lined up. The things I felt were the most lucky were how Sae, Shidou, and the rest of the strikers in the blue lock were utilized.

First and foremost, by having Sae be on the Japan U20 team the author was able to make the rest of the team be not as good in comparison to the blue lock characters. If Sae was not on the team, Aiku would’ve had to have been an even more impressive defender and the really lucky part was that the author would’ve had to have made Sendou a striker comparable to Rin and Shidou at the bare minimum. If this were the case, you would’ve had to have wondered what was the point of the blue lock project if Japan already had a superstar striker in Sendou, who follows the “bad” Japan ideology in regards to soccer.

Secondly, the author really lucked out in how he was able to deal with Shidou. At the end of the third selection, Rin and Shidou were extremely relative to one another to the point where Ego himself stated that Shidou would have been able to turn the tides of the game if Rin failed to do so (the original joker card). By having Shidou play with Sae and the rest of the U20 Japan team, the author was able to showcase his abilities without having to sacrifice “any more” players on the blue lock side.

Thirdly, the blue lock strikers while having great moments also benefited from having a lot of things line up perfectly and even then some things had to be sacrificed. Rin and Isagi had great games with Rin having his destroyer mode and Isagi clutching up and winning the game. However, the other strikers had to make some sacrifices with some variability. As Barou so eloquently put it, Nagi scored 1 goal and then died. The funny thing is Barou was forced to be a bench player and also scored 1 goal and then died. Moreover, Karasu, Otoya, and Yukimiya didn’t even score even though they were touted to be among the the best strikers in Blue Lock. Bachira had one moment, Chigiri didn’t really have a moment and many players didn’t even get to play or came off the bench.

I say all of this because the next time the blue lock team is formed almost everything will be completely different. Isagi will no longer have to play second fiddle as I think he will finish #1 in the NEL and as such will probably be the team’s focal point. Isagi and Rin will definitely be on Sae’s level with others like Barou, Shidou, and Bachira right behind them. Due to this, Sae will no longer be this untouchable player but more so a player on Isagi’s and Rin’s level (if he plays). However, some things are bound to stay the same such as sacrificing some striker talent. While Barou and Shidou are great players I still see them getting benched at times during the U20 World Cup which doesn’t really make sense considering their NEL performances. And this is still without including the monster that is Nagi who will definitely awaken by the time the U20 World Cup rolls around if not sooner.

While I have no doubt that the author will make the this upcoming U20 World Cup arc the best one in the series, I do wonder how he will go about it.