God Of football

Chapter 19: Garnering Interest

Time passed smoothly and 2 weeks went by. Valencia U19 had been spectacular winning 4 out of the remaining 5 matches. The First of the 4 matches was against Villarreal under-19s which ended in a 3-0 win for valencia with Izan making an assist.

In the next match against Elche u19, Coach Moreno decided to bench Izan stating that he needed to rest after playing 2 matches back to back. Also playing the ”youʼre yet to grow up ” card, Coach Moreno strengthened his decision.

Valencia U19 didnt dissapoint and won 1-0 with a late goal by Hugo de marc.

The third match was against Real murcia. The match was played away from home denying Komi, Hori and Olivia the chance to watch it as Komi had an Important arrangement that day and couldnʼt take Hori and Liv.

Izan played marvellously as usual scoring 2 goals and making an assist which brought his tally to 6 goals and 4 assists in 4 matches.

Izan was getting near to the mission given by the system. He had to score one more goal and make one more assist to complete the challenge.

Izan was ecstatic for the 4th match against Castellon under-19s. His mood however changed when Coach Moreno told him to rest for the last match against FC Cartegena under-19s.

Izan was saddened by how the situation had turned out as he wasnʼt sure if he could get a goal and an assist on that day.

He was planning to try and get a goal and an assist today and try his earnest in the next match if one of the two objectives didnʼt work out but now he had to score and also make and assist on that day to complete his challenge.

No matter how sad Izan was, he was happy when Valencia U19 beat Castellon under-19s by 2 goals to 0 with goals from wissam and Andranik.

Valencia u19 had topped group 7 ahead of the last game as they led Atletico madrileño by 5 points indicating that even if they lost the last game, they would still be on top of the group.

Izan in the recent matches had drawn a bit of attention as he always drew the attention of the local media in every city they played in.

It started in Madrid against Madrileño where he appeared in a section of the news paper. It was the same when they played in Villareal and Elche.

A few teams like Villarrea CF and Atletico de Madrid, the parent club of Madrileño had shown a bit interest in Acquiring the services of Izan but Valencia had turned them down stating he wasnʼt of age yet and they had no intention of selling now.

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Izan who had just finished his Final exam was sitting on his bed in a dilemma. He was contemplating whether he should distribute his stat points or wait a bit. He had accumulated a bit of them during the two weeks that had passed.

Right now, he was staring at the personal information tab.

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PLAYER INFO

■■■■■■■■■

NAME:[IZAN MIURA HERNANDEZ]

AGE:[14( 4 months TO 15)]

HEIGHT:[1.81m(6ʼ0)]

PROFESSION:[FOOTBALLER]

STATUS:[YOUTH PLAYER]

TEAM: Valencia Under-19s

SYSTEM EVALUATION: [Youth prospect]

PLAYER RATING:[66/100]

POSITION:[Wing forward/Attacking midfielder]

POTENTIAL:[87]

LEGEND POINTS:[10500/67,000 to lv5]

STAT POINTS:[50]

STATS

■■■■

Speed:70

Body control:65

Spatial awareness: 65

Technique: 65

Shooting:66

Passing: 64

Body strength: 64

Weak foot strength: 4 stars

Skill move :4 stars

SKILLS POSSESSED

■■■■■■■■■■■■

Stepovers:85% Completion

La croqueta:50% completion

Cruyff turn:70%Completion

Roulette: 50% Completion

Traits

■■■■

: equipped

: equipped

: equipped

Izan was really tempted however he had already made up his mind to do it after the next match. Izan closed the tab before texting Olivia. The two had gotten closer in the past 2 weeks and had been texting each other like this for a while.

Izan stood up to go and complete his daily task as he had slept in after the harsh training they went through yesterday.

Izan while doing the systemʼs tasks saw a group of players on the pitch nearby. Izan was near Completion and decided to speed up and finish it.

After he finished, he came to the pitch and sat on one of the benches. He sat there watching the group of players on the pitch. He had seen that they were about to play a match and decided to come and watch it before heading home.

”Guys, Alex said he wonʼt be able to come” one of the players who had just been on the phone said. ”How can we play then Julio, weʼre one man short” another player said to the one who had just been on the phone.

”What about him” one of the guys on the pitch said pointing to Izan. The players turned to look at Izan who was looking at the other team. Izan feeling the gazes turned his head to see them staring at him. He smiled and waved.

”His Face doesnʼt look like someone who plays. He looks more like those Asian idols ” one commented. ”Well its better than playing handicapped” said Julio who was walking towards Izan.

”Hey, weʼre playing a match but weʼre one man short, can you join us” Julio said as he got to Izan.Izan who saw that had nothing better to do agreed.

”Sure. Izan by the way” he said while Positioning his hand for a shake.

”Julio” he said whiles taking Izanʼs hand.

”Oh yeah, I didnʼt bring my boots though” Izan said while pointing to his jogging shoes.

”No worries, most of the guys brought more than one boot” Julio said. ”Do you have a position that you would like to play” Julio said. Izan thought about for a while and saw that he hadnʼt tried out the winger position after his transition.

”Can I play on the wings” Izan said. Julio sighed in relief as he didnʼt have to change anyoneʼs position. ”Oh yeah sure. The guy youʼre filling in for plays on that side”.

”Hey guys, this is Izan ” Julio said as they neared the group. Izan waved as he received nods and smiles from the players.

”Okay well now that weʼre okay, letʼs get this match underway and Jamie,give your extra pair of boots to Izan” Julio said whiles staring at a green eyed boy with freckles.

”Okay”. Izan geared up after receiving the boots and bib from Jamie. Izan got into position before the whistle was blown.

Izanʼs team was chasing after the ball the moment the other team passed. Izan decided to walk around and supervise the game trying to gauge the ability of his team and the opponent team.

After a while, Izan saw that the opponents were the better team as they were playing like knew what they were doing. His team on the other hand weʼre just running around trying to retrieve the ball like headless chickens.

Izan seeing the need for a change of tactics approached Julio after the ball had went out. ”Hey Julio,how about waiting for them to play into our half before we decide to challenge for the ball since we will get tired if this continues any longer”.

Julio looking around saw that what Izan had said was true. He called back the players and told them the plan.

After the throw, Izanʼs teammates retreated back to their own half seemingly waiting for a chance.

The chance came a while later when Izan pressured an opponent player into making a hurried pass which was intercepted.

Izan sensing that the game was too dull, decided to spice things up. He got the ball on the centerline after receiving a pass from a teammate. Izan sped up after seeing space infront of him.

The opposing player tried to tackle him but Izan just knocked the ball between his legs. A bit of laughs were drawn from the onlookers who had gathered around the pitch after seeing Izan nutmeg the player.

Izan,not stopping kept dribbling with the ball. He kept turning his head trying to spot someone from his team but couldnʼt find anyone.

Deciding to go solo, Izan cut into the middle after a splendid dribbling run to the side of the box.

The two opposing defender tried to double team him but Izan just skipped pass them with some Stepovers and a change of pace.

Izan raised his right foot before placing the ball in the top right corner. The onlookers looked wowed as Izanʼs teammates surrounded to celebrate.

”Hey that kid is very good” a spectator said. ”Yeah with that level of dribbling and how the game seems easy for him, Iʼm sure he plays in an academy” another added.

The spectators kept getting amazed by Izan. Throughout the game,Izan played like it was a final. This drew a lot of ʼwowsʼ from the crowd.

Izan got a freekick in the game which by his estimation was 28 metres from the goal. Izan stepped back before curving the ball over the wall into the back of the goal.

Some of the spectators and passer-by had pulled out their phones before Izan took the freekick in hopes that he might score and to the wishes, he scored a banger.

The spectators thought they had seen it all until Izan shot a curve ball into the back of net from a corner. This caught the spectators off guard but some were well prepared.

One particular spectator who had a good number of followers on YouTube captured all the good moments of the match including the corner and freekick and made into a 3 minute highlight. After this he posted it on his channel before putting his phone back in his pocket.

He decided to confront Izan after the match about the video since he couldnʼt use someoneʼs image right without permission.

The match came to an end with a score of 5-0 with Izan scoring one more goal after the third one and Julio scoring a penalty which was won by Izan after he dribbled into the box.

The YouTuber consulted Izan after the match to talk about the video but Izan said it was Okay. The YouTuber asked a few questions about Izan and found out that he plays for the valencia U19 team.

This prompted him to ask about Izanʼs age and he was shocked when he found out that he was just 14 years old. The youtuber wish Izan well in his career before walking off.

Izan saw that time had gone by a bit and decided to run home. Izan had taken the name of the YouTube channel from the youtuber and had decided to watch it. It skipped his mind however until the next day.

*************

Izan woke up the next day and went out to complete his daily task after texting Olivia,good morning. After completing his mission,he remembered the youtuber from yesterday and decided to check his channel. Izan however smelled the sweat from his body and decided to bath before checking it.

Izan stepped out of the shower whiles drying his hair. He saw his phone and decided to change it this week because its been with him for a while.

Izan took the phone, opened YouTube and checked the channel. He saw that the channel mostly consisted of football challenges and news.

Izan watched a bit before scrolling to the top to find the most recently posted video. He saw the video but his mouth gaped for a bit. This was because the video involving him had garnered about 970,000 views.” The video was just posted about 14 hours ago and it already has this many views” thought Izan as he kept scrolling.

He was tempted to check the comments and finally gave in. He clicked on the comment section and saw that the reviews were mostly asking who he was and where he played. Some were also amazed by his game. He saw one comment which had many likes.

The comment read:

Xavier69:Lo conozco. Juega en el Valencia sub-19. Creo que se llamaIván o algo así.(I know him. He plays for the Valencia u19s side. I think his name is Ivan or something)

Izan read the comment and laughed at how the comment got his name wrong.

Izan read some more before putting his phone down. He felt happy about the interest in him.

Izan went down for breakfast before lazing around the whole day,playing games or watching movies.

He waited until Komi closed from work. She took him to the Valencia grounds.

This was the last training session before the match with FC Cartegena U19s.

Training this time was a bit light than usual as Coach Moreno decided to avoid any injuries after the incident. The players panted and fell to the floor after training was over. Izan however kept going at it,shooting, dribbling and also sprinting.

”Does he *pants* ever get *pants* tired” asked Mark who was trying to stabilise his breathing. ”Ah leave him, heʼs young” said Juan. ”You talk like youʼre 40” Gaia remarked.

Coach Moreno called the kids to the video room and explained tomorrowʼs tactics to them.

Izan however was starting from the right wing position this time because of the injury incident with wissam in training and also how Izan had always told the coach to try him there.

Izan went home,ate and texted a bit with Olivia and a few other friends before he tried to sleep for the game tomorrow.

Just then the system prompted him of the challenges it had set for him. Izan sat on his bed and looked at the challenges.

*******************************************

Quest

[1* Host should score 7 goals and make 5 assists in the remaining matches.]

Reward: +5 stat point

+10000 lp

Status: goals[6/7] | assists[4/5]

[2* Valencia U19 should top group 7]

Reward:+10 stat points

+7000 lp

Status: Completed

[3* Win in the quarter finals of the ʼCopa de campeones de juvenilʼ]

Reward: +15 stat point

Status:not played

[4* Win in the semi finals of the ʼCopa de campeones de juvenilʼ]

Reward: +20 stat point

+15000 lp

Status: not yet

[5*Win in the finals of the ʼCopa de campeones de juvenilʼ]

Reward: +25 stat point

1 free trait and 20000 lp

First team call up.

Status :not yet

Izan saw that the second challenge had been completed. He looked at the first one and sighed before muttering that everything was going to take care of itself. He drifted into the night and slept.