Harbinger Of Glory

”That will do it,” the commentary came through on the broadcast as the whistle came to a stop.

”A very good matchup on all levels, but today, Italy were the better side from start to finish. England had a few bright moments, but they spent most of the night chasing shadows. The Italians will walk away from this feeling encouraged, especially with the way their young midfield bossed the game.”

The Italian players took a second before breaking into small celebrations.

Nothing wild.

Just applause lifted above their heads as they turned in every direction, acknowledging the row of blue in the stands.

Some exchanged quick hugs, others jogged toward teammates they had battled beside for the past ninety minutes.

A few English players offered handshakes immediately, and the Italians met them halfway.

Leo stayed where he was.

He dropped into a squat near the centre circle, elbows resting on his knees, staring at a blade of grass he kept nudging with his thumb.

He didn’t look like someone who had just dominated a match.

He looked more like someone who had had a bad game, even though that was far from the truth.

Before anything else, a shadow stretched across the turf in front of him.

Leo glanced up, and he saw a white England jersey first, then the familiar face above it.

”Jerome,” he said quietly, raising a brow with a surprised smile playing at his lips.

Jerome Havne grinned and extended his hand.

Leo took it, and Jerome pulled him to his feet with a quick tug.

”What are you doing here?” Jerome asked, still half laughing. ”And I mean here, on this pitch. With them.”

Leo brushed some grass off his shorts and shrugged.

”It turned out like this.”

Jerome blinked at him.

”Are you even Italian?”

”Apparently.” Leo gave a small laugh as he motioned vaguely with his hand.

”Long story. My dad’s Italian and Spanish. And I only found out like a couple of weeks before my call-up.”

Jerome nodded slowly as he tried to piece it together.

”You know, I came over to the United U18S place once to visit. I thought I’d see you there. They said you’d left. No one really knew what was going on, not that they cared in the first place. I figured you were done, you know, with football or like, taking a long break or something. And now you’re here playing like this.”

Leo tilted his head as he listened, then nodded.

”Six months can be a lot of time or the shortest time in football. Depends on what’s happening to you.”

Jerome let out a breath through his nose. ”Fair enough.”

Leo paused for a moment.

”Did you make your senior debut yet?”

Jerome brightened.

”Yeah. About twenty minutes in the EFL Cup. The manager said I did alright.”

”That’s nice.” Leo patted his arm once.

”And yeah, since you’re about to ask, I’m at Wigan now. Championship. I settled in pretty well and also made my debut and have been with the senior team for close to a couple of months now.”

”Damn. You have more senior games under your belt than me,” Jerome said with a smile while giving a small punch to Leo on the shoulder.

”Well, I guess so,” Leo said as they started walking toward the tunnel together.

On the way, Jerome pointed over to the other side of the pitch.

”Those City boys,” he said, rolling his eyes while Leo lifted a hand and waved toward Carlo, who was standing off to the side talking with Cole Palmer.

Carlo waved back before turning to finish whatever he was saying with his fellow teammate from Manchester.

Jerome and Leo continued toward the tunnel, still catching up as the stadium noise gradually softened behind them.

...

Right after the game, it didn’t take long for a few pieces to be out, mainly talking about the U21 game between England and Italy that had been covered by RAI TV.

And what had started it all was an article!

.....

ARTICLE: ”Italy U21S Take Down England with Help from a New Name”

Italy’s Under-21 side walked away from tonight’s friendly with a convincing win over England, but most of the post-match attention wasn’t directed toward the usual names.

Instead, it fell on a teenager who hadn’t been known anywhere in Italy before this camp.

Seventeen-year-old midfielder Leo Calderon delivered one of the sharpest individual performances the Italy youth setup has seen in a while.

He finished the game with two assists and a late goal, guiding Italy past England in a match that felt far more one-sided than the scoreline suggested.

England were bright from the start and spent long spells cutting through Italy’s midfield, with Italy’s defensive discipline shining through.

But it was Calderon who gave the match its real rhythm.

His composure on the ball settled Italy whenever England tried to press.

His vision opened angles even senior players often struggle to spot.

For someone making his first start at this level, he looked a class above this level.

His first assist arrived early, with a ball over the backline for Cambiaghi, with his second coming just after the half-time break. That was a curled past towards the far post, from the left, setting Miretti up for the header to make it two for Italy on the night.

And then Calderon finished the night with a goal of his own.

He collected the ball from his half, worming his way through to the opponent’s half and then firing away once he got to the edge of the box, with the ball taking a slight deflection, but mind you, that took nothing away from the finish.

The article finished afterwards, leaving a profile of Leo below.

Player Profile: Leo Calderon

Name: Leo Calderon

Age: 17

Position: Midfielder

Club: Wigan Athletic

For the first hour after posting, the article sat on the site without much traffic.

A few clicks.

A handful of likes.

Nothing more.

Most users brushing past it assumed it was another youth-level recap.

Then a comment thread kicked off beneath it.

”No one should hype U21 matches too much. Half these kids disappear in two years.”

A reply soon followed.

”You clearly didn’t watch the game. The kid ran it.”

Someone else wrote:

”Two assists and a goal as a midfielder isn’t luck. From his profile, it also looks like he is playing a few years above the level he is currently in. I’m sorry, but the kid might have something special.”

The arguments picked up speed.

A couple of England fans pushed back, claiming their team had rotated heavily.

Then more people clicked the article to see what the fuss was about.

Shares began popping up, especially in Italian circles, with small captions like, ”Who is this kid?” or ”Where is he from?”

The curiosity grew when users started asking for footage of the match they hadn’t gotten to watch.

”Anyone got the full match? Need to see if the article’s exaggerating.”

A few more jumped in, saying the same thing.

Within an hour, a verified FIGC youth account posted the full game video, titled:

”Italy U21 vs England U21 – Full Match”

Right beneath it were extended highlights and a short clip labelled ”Calderon Actions vs England.”

The comment sections lit up quickly.

People who had argued earlier came back under the article, saying they now understood the hype, even though it was just a single game.

The numbers kept rising.

Views, likes, and reposts climbed at a steady pace, all starting from one article that had gone unnoticed at first.

Some people even went as far as pulling up a few highlights of Wigan’s matches after knowing that that was where Leo played.

And these people were mostly scouts and staff from football teams.

.....

Away from all the buzz online, the evening at Coverciano was calm as usual, but inside the meeting room, the atmosphere was warm and a bit giddy.

The boys sat around in training tops, slouched into their chairs with expressions that told that they were more than satisfied with their performance.

Marco stood at the front, hands clasped loosely as he looked around at them.

”Ragazzi, before anything else,” he said, ”thank you. Today wasn’t just a win. It was a proper showing of who you can be when you stay focused and trust each other. England aren’t an easy side, and you didn’t let them breathe.”

A murmur of quiet pride moved through the room as Marco went on.

”We needed to show that something was happening here. That you aren’t just a list of names on a squad sheet. And you did more than that. You stamped yourselves on the match.”

He gave them a small round of applause, with the boys joining in, a few whistles and cheers mixed into the clapping.

”But unfortunately,” Marco continued, drawing the words out with a mock sigh, ”our little adventure together has come to an end.”

The entire room responded with exaggerated groans like schoolchildren told to pack up for the summer.

Marco chuckled. ”Don’t start pretending you didn’t enjoy yourselves.”

He looked around again, and this time his eyes lingered on the younger ones, the ones who weren’t used to being here yet.

”I hope you all took something from these days. Some of you found new roles. Some of you settled into old ones. And some of you...” His smile widened. ”...managed to get articles written about you.”\

A wave of stares turned in the same direction.

Leo blinked, sitting near the middle of the second row.

He caught enough words to understand the attention was on him, though the speed and slang in the room still slipped past him sometimes.

He felt Carlo nudge him lightly from behind, and a few of the boys grinned, trying not to laugh too openly.

Marco raised both hands in a playful attempt to calm the noise.

”Relax. I’m not saying anything. I’m just saying... some people didn’t waste their call-up.”

Laughter rolled through the room again as Leo lowered his eyes for a second, trying to recount what had gone on since stepping off the bus some 11 days ago.

Marco let the noise settle before finishing.

”Seriously, though. I’m proud of all of you. Whether you played ninety minutes or ten, whether you trained more than you played, you showed the right attitude. And that’s what matters in this place.”

Marco looked at them as if taking a mental picture.

”Go back to your clubs. Keep your standards high. And remember that when you come back here, you will be even better than you left here.”

He gave them a small nod, something final and then spoke again.

”That’s all from me. Well done, ragazzi.”

And the room broke into warm applause once more.