Yes a bit lame with the thief. When I saw the theif I didn't have very high expectation but it was suprisingly entertaining. This episode was not in the manga. But there at least one thing they did better in the anime than in the manga. I was exited about eyeshield comming to america so went to read the manga after watching eps 26
Spoiler for some future manga stuff Different plot from anime:
In the manga from chapter 72 to 80 they don't even watch a single damn match when they are in the land of football.
They only have that beach football thing. Then some training. Well they are not out of the US yet so maybe it will come in future chapter but still
at least in the anime they attend a match and from the preview may see more action in the next episode hopefully
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