Blue Lock Chapter 4

Blue Lock Chapter 4, titled "Right Now," sets the stage for the most crucial phase of the Blue Lock program - the First Selection tournament. The chapter opens with Ego explaining the brutal rules of the round-robin competition where Team Z must face four other teams in their stratum. Only the top two teams will advance to the Second Selection, while the losers face immediate elimination from the program and their dreams of playing for Japan. The stakes become devastatingly clear as the scoring system is revealed: victories earn 3 points, draws 1 point, and losses nothing. Goal difference serves as the tiebreaker, making every goal scored and conceded critically important. Team Z realizes they must transform from a collection of individual players into a cohesive unit to survive, yet the chapter also emphasizes that individual performance matters - the top scorer from each team can still advance even if their team fails. Tension builds as Team Z debates player positions and strategy, ultimately deciding the striker position through rock-paper-scissors, which Isagi wins. This seemingly random selection method highlights how unprepared the team is for the challenges ahead. The chapter introduces the broader context of Japanese football's historical failures and establishes the First Selection as the proving ground where only the strongest will survive. It marks the end of preparation and the beginning of real competition, where every match could be the difference between achieving their dreams or watching them crumble.