Episode 3

* Title
* Additional Time

**Soccer's "Zero"** (サッカーの0, *Sakkā no Zero*?) is the 3rd episode of Blue Lock anime series.

## Synopsis

The first selection is the round-robin tournament of five teams of V, W, X, Y and Z in Building Five, with only top two teams being eligible to move forward. Isagi's Team Z, the lowest ranking team, plays against Team X. But because of the special rule that allows the top scorer of the team to proceed to the next section, the match turns into chaotic scrambling for the ball, regardless of the teams. It was Shoei Baro, Team X's formidable striker, who changes the flow of the game.

## Summary

Team Z plays rock, paper, scissors, to determine who at what position will play. Isagi wins and states he will be forward.

A hour earlier, Ego explains that the first selection will involved five groups with five teams and only the first two teams will continue. The losers will be kicked out of Blue Lock. However, the top scorers from the three losing teams of a group, will advance to the next selection. In cases if equal scored goals in a team, fair play points will determine the position. An yellow card is -1 point, two yellows are -3, direct red is -4, yellow card and direct red are -5.

Five minutes before the game, Team Z determines how they will play. Isagi and Bachira are forwards, Gagamaru, Raichi, Kunigami and Imamura are midfielders, Kuon, Naruhaya, Igarashi and Chigiri are defenders, and Iemon is goalkeeper.

The first game in Building 5 is between Team X and Team Z, and will be 45 minutes long. The game starts and Bachira passes to Isagi. However, a moment later, Raichi takes the ball from him, stating he doesn't care about the team as the top scorer will pass the selection. Kunigami agrees and takes the ball from Raichi. The rest abandon their positions wanting the ball as well. Team X takes the ball, but their players are also fighting among each other on who to score. The game turns free-for-all and Isagi wonders what to do. Shoei Baro, the 250th in rank, manages to take the ball and get free. Using heel flick, he passes Isagi easily. Kuon and Imamura attempt to stop Baro, but he passes them both with a nutmegs. With ease, Baro then shoots and scores, leaving Iemon unable to react. Baro then states that the ball isn't his friend, but a servant that exists solely so he can shine, as he is the king on the field.

Team Z continues to argue on their positions. Isagi and Bachira agree to pass at least between themselves, but Igarashi steals the ball, stating he ain't passing to anyone, but ends up loosing the ball. Seeing the selfishness and the fighting in Team Z, the players from Team X decide to support Baro, so that they won't need to chase individual goals, but get wins and proceed as a team. As they give the ball to Baro, six players from Team Z attempt to surround him, but he just passes the ball to his teammates, who are now free and they score another goal. Isagi sees that the enemy is now coordinating and playing as a team, while his team is still fighting. He realizes its all because of Baro, who led them and scored. Isagi then recalls Ego's words that they should create football from zero, but in that case, Baro's play is "one", and their strategy to win is built around this "one". Isagi then wonders if this is what it meant by creating football from zero. Team X scores two more goals, which makes Team Z fight even more. As everyone is thinking about themselves, Isagi realizes that they can't think of how to get from "zero" to "one". With this, Isagi knows they can't win. Team X then scores a fifth goal.

Bachira is tired from running around and states that there are three minutes remaining and they can't score five goals, but maybe he and Isagi can score one goal as the enemy has now lowered their defense. As Isagi agrees, Bachira explains he will distract them and hit a long ball for Isagi to shoot. As the game resumes, Isagi passes to Bachira and runs directly towards the enemy goal. Isagi believes that if they manage to score, they can build the team structure and win their next game. Bachira then hits a long pass for Isagi, letting him come out against the goalkeeper. However, Baro comes facing him, stating he is the king and can't let someone stand out more than him. Isagi wonders what to do. At the same time, Kunigami and Raichi come to his side requesting the ball. Isagi wants to play alone in order to survive as a striker, but in that moment, he sees the field perfectly and passes to his right to Kunigami, who then takes a shot and scores. Isagi is surprised himself he passed. Raichi is angry he didn't pass at him as he was more open. Isagi states he intended to shoot, which only annoys Raichi more calling him an idiot. Kuon tries to calm Raichi, telling him they scored, but Raichi doesn't care as he isn't the one who scored and he needs to be the top scorer to continue. Baro then approaches Isagi and tells him that if he gets nervous in front of goal, then he isn't cut for a striker and has no talent. The game ends with Team X's 5-1 victory. Isagi wonders if he is unfit to be a striker.

After the game, Team Z continues to argue on who will play as central forward. Kuon yells them to stop and explains that they lost one time already. If they assume each team will win two and lose two games, they will have 6 points, which means they need to aim higher and have at least 7 points. If they lose again, its over for them. Kunigami states he has an idea. He explains that he wouldn't have scored if it wasn't for Bachira and Isagi. Bachira then comes out of the shower naked and states Kunigami's goal was the best goal today and if they continue to do that, they will win. Chigiri states he doesn't think that everything Ego said is right. He mentioned Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, but they haven't won the World Cup. However, by saying creating football from zero, he was giving them some hint. Isagi states he doesn't have a strategy, but believes he knows what it means to be at football's "zero". He explains that at first everyone was thinking about themselves and how to score, which was "zero". However, Baro broke that "zero" and turned their chaotic game into "one". With that a team can evolve into a "10" or even a "100", but they require someone to produce that "one". Kuon then states that the striker turns "zero" to "one", while the other positions multiply it to "10" or "100". Naruhaya and Isagi then believe Ego added that top scorer rule to help them figure this out, as a team is created by the striker, and that must be Ego's message.

Ego then shows up on the screen and tells them they are on the right path. He then informs them that the second game in Building 5 just ended and Team V beat Team Y with 8-0. Ego then states that while they are on the right path, they still don't know how to turn zero to one. Ego then talks about Japan and how Japanese loves having roles allocated to them so they can just complete their tasks. He gives as example baseball, where Japan is in par with the rest of the world and explains that in baseball each role is clearly defined, which fits the Japanese psyche and that's why they are strong at it. However, football is not a sport you can win by simply doing your task, thus personal and individual skills are needed. To score is to destroy the structure of the enemy team. Ego tells them to think what weapon they can use to accomplish that.

## Additional Time

### A Day in Blue Lock

At 7AM, Isagi wakes up and wakes Bachira. At 9AM, they do their warm up and training, where Kunigami is master of the training room. At 10AM, they have team training. Igarashi complains about leg cramp, but the rest don't believe him as its the fifth one for today and he is just trying to skip the training. Igarashi then changes it, stating his leg is broken. At 12, they have lunch. Raichi yells at Gagamaru for eating with his hands and not using chopsticks. In the evening at 10PM, they have free time. Chigiri is taking care of his hair, while Imamura about his skin. At midnight, they go to sleep. Seeing Igarashi's strange sleeping pose, the rest wonder if he is sleeping. Seeing him, Raichi states they knew his leg isn't broken.

## Characters by Appearance

* Yoichi Isagi
* Meguru Bachira
* Jingo Raichi
* Gin Gagamaru
* Wataru Kuon
* Jinpachi Ego
* Asahi Naruhaya
* Gurimu Igarashi
* Hyoma Chigiri
* Okuhito Iemon
* Rensuke Kunigami
* Yudai Imamura
* Shoei Baro
* Haato Meiji
* Seishiro Nagi
* Zantetsu Tsurugi
* Reo Mikage