It puts a foreign captain on Japanese grass and makes him ask the one question Kakegawa's players can't answer with words. Rudy doesn't fly Frankfurt Youth over for a friendly tour, he comes for an explanation: why would Kubo leave a German setup like that to build something out of nothing at a Japanese high school. Everything in this movie routes through a guy who isn't the one taking the kickoff, and Toshihiko and the rest have to answer with their legs. It's peak 1994 cel work too, hand-drawn crowds, thick outlines, that specific shonen-sports habit of holding a still frame two beats too long before the ball moves. Sports anime rarely admits the real opponent is a memory. This one plays ninety minutes against it and still wants the win.

The Frankfurt youth team, the German side Kubo played for during his time in Germany, travels to Japan for a series of friendly matches. Rudy, Frankfurt's captain, wants to understand why Kubo left Germany to put together a team in Japan. To find out, he challenges Kakegawa High to a match. The film is a sports action story built around that contest.