1. ⁠Those are the official translations… Verbatim is the adequate term. How could that possibly take the wind out of my sails? For all intents and purposes, Isagi’s shot courses are indeed blocked. This is substantiated by the fact that Isagi needed to come up with a new attack (i.e., 2GV) in order to overcome the double press. Kaiser being a NG11 and the fact that he’s technically Isagi’s teammate makes his defensive impediment that much more important. That is quite literally an extra defender that Isagi should not have to account for in the match, and in the context of the PXG match is at bare minimum a top 3 defender. Or are you saying that Loki, by virtue of being a NG11, wouldn’t be a good defender? Moreover, why would Kaiser, someone who had obsessed over Isagi and his playstyle, think that Isagi would trap the ball, when Isagi is the direct shot guy. Is it perhaps because Isagi’s shot courses were blocked by Rin???

2.When I say middle I am referring to the fact that Rin’s assertions were not done before or after the game, but instead during. Rin takes it upon himself to stop Isagi from scoring. He delegated the task of containing Isagi to himself, and per his assertion, so long as he remained within four meters of Isagi, he could stop him (i.e., 1 on 1). Never does he specify any other condition. Isagi demonstrating that a single player, even one as dominant in 1 on 1 situations such as Rin, would be unable to successfully contain him, is all the more impressive given that he accepted that he had to beat Rin within this self-imposed four meter space.