God Of football

Chapter 39: Solo leve- uh,goal

”Okay guys,gather around” Coach Baraja said. The players had to take a minute to stabilise their breathing. The past few days had been hell for most of the players.

The training regiment for them had been awfully taxing. This was because it was meant to help get the players who were out of shape back in shape.

”Wow,being young must be nice” Pietro said whiles looking at Izan. All the players around him started glaring at him

”Bruh, you’re only 19” Izan said with eyebrows raised at Pietro. Izan walked over to Coach Baraja and the other players followed suit.

(For those of you who don’t know,they’re speaking in Spanish so I’m going to try and make a distinction for other languages)

”Okay guys, I can see that your fitness levels are getting back up but its not quite there yet. Use this time period to sharpen yourself before the start of the season or else you’ll be seeing more of the bench” Coach Baraja said.

”Okay,the match with the yokohama F Marinos will be in two days so the lineups will be announced tomorrow”.

”This will be a match to try out our youth players as well as test match sharpness so give everything you’ve got” Coach Baraja finished.

After he was done,the players started dispersing. ”Izan,a word” Coach Baraja said to Izan as he was leaving.

Izan turned back and walked towards Coach Baraja. ”Hello Coach. What can I do for you” Izan said politely.

”I see you’ve kept fit and are in good shape and thats commendable. I’ll get to the point.

The little glimpses you showed at the end of last season was spectacular. So I’ve been asked by the guys at the top to give you a chance.”

”Honestly I have no problem as your skill is way above your age and you have the mindset and discipline so I will be playing you at the attacking midfield role.”

”You’ll serve as a link between the midfield and the attack so don’t let me down okay.” Coach Baraja ended.

”Yes coach,I won’t let you down” Izan said. Coach baraja walked off and left Izan to his own devices.

The following 2 days passed quickly as the day of the match was upon. The Nissan stadium which was the home ground of the Yokohama F Marinos was at full capacity.

The chants of the spectators was blazing through the air at the 72,000 plus seater. The players who started coming out of the tunnel prompted the Fans to shout loudly.

Izan who was walking out of the pitch couldn’t help but be surprised at the atmosphere. ”Guess people here do like their football” he muttered.

The players and the match officials quickly got the pleasantries out of the way and soon enough,the match was underway.

Commentator’[in japanese]

’Hello everyone welcome to the Nissan stadium,Yokohama,kanagawa prefecture here in Japan.

This will be a thrilling match between 2 giants of different footballing worlds,

Valencia FC from Spain and Yokohama F Marinos here in our very own Japan.

Now let’s get right into the match ’

[Before the start of the match]

”Hey Shuu,what are you so focused on” one of the reserve players of the Yokohama F Marinos team said. ”Ah,its nothing” shuu replied.

The player shrugged and left shuu alone.”So this is what he meant by we’ll be meeting soon” Shuu thought.

The match began with Valencia FC kicking off. Roman Yaremchuk who had been recently signed on loan from Belgian pro league side Club Brugge kicked off.

He passed the ball to the player behind him which was Izan. The Valencia side were playing in a 4-2-1-3 formation.

The starting lineup consisted of some young and veteran players at the club which was done so that the young players could learn from the older ones.

Izan immediately released the ball to Javi Guerra, a 20 year old midfielder on the team.

Izan after getting to know the players had used the snoop function on them and had found out their strengths and a bit about their weaknesses.(Comment if you remembered that mc had a snoop function in the system)

Javier laid it off to Jose Gaya who had insisted on playing this match even though Coach Baraja wanted to bench him.

Gaya immediately looked up and spotted Thierry Correià,the 24 year old Valencia right back.

The player known for his pace immediately decided to go on a bit of a run. The players of the Japanese based team were trying their best to take possession of the ball but they were struggling to do it.

Thierry,after a bit of a run through the middle passed the ball to Izan,who then passed the ball to Andre Almeida.

Almeida,after controlling the ball quickly crossed the ball to Peter gonzalez, a Real Madrid youngster who had arrived on loan to Valencia.

The youngster with a beautiful set of step-overs quickly lost his marker. The player nudged the ball forward and followed suit trying to use his pace to overcome his marker but was of no use as the defender stuck to him like glue.

Peter quickly stopped showboating when he saw Izan come to his aid. Peter passed the ball to Izan who took a deft touch before mazing his way through a band of players.

Izan as swift as a Gazelle started making a run through the opponent’s defense with the ball at his feet.

The opposing players tried to take the ball from his feet but Izan was moving with the ball as if it was an organ of his body.

Coach Baraja who saw this smiled as he didn’t have to worry about his Midfield this season as he knew it was in good hands

”Even though he’s a kid,he doesn’t show it and plays with a lot of maturity” Coach Baraja thought.

”How can he play like that amongst such professionals ” Shuu who was on the bench muttered.

Izan continued his run,looking around to spot any runs or gaps he could make a pass through. Roman Yaremchuk didn’t dissapoint as he made a timely run.

Izan seeing this didn’t waste any time and immediately floated the ball over the yokahama defense.

The players couldn’t react and Roman carefully trapped the ball with his chest before hitting a volley to score Valencia’s first and the first goal of the match.

The people who could be spotted wearing the Valencia jerseys erupted into cheers. The Yokohama fans however kept quiet. It was just the start of the match and there was more to come but conceding the goal still irked them.

After the restart,the Yokohama team got into the offense as the tried to appease their fans with a goal. A midfielder of theirs smacked the ball long.

The ball went forward and was expertly controlled by their left winger. After controlling the ball the winger tried to move and cross the ball into the box but Thierry Correià slid in and sent the ball out for a throw in.

The shouts of the Yokohama fans kept getting loud as their first chance of the game came.

The Left-back of the team picked up the ball and quickly threw it to the winger who used his pace to get around Thierry.

After beating his opponent,the winger quickly looked up and spotted his striker in the box. With a definitive cross,the player sent the ball into the box and the striker didn’t dissapoint as he rose up to the challenge.

The striker jumped high and met the ball with a timely header which would have scored if not for the hands of the Valencia keeper, Giorgi Marmadashvili.

The keeper sent the ball out for a corner which meant that danger was still not out of the way.

Ryo Miyaichi,one of the wingers of the Yokohama team sent the ball into the box. Just as the ball began its descent, one of the players of the Yokohama team fell down inside the box.

This prompted the referee to blow his whistle.The referee pointed to the spot indicating a penalty.

The Valencia players approached the referee who was also consulting his assistant referees in the video room in hopes that he could overturn his decision.

After a few seconds however, the penalty was given as Mark had tripped the player who fell down.

Mark couldn’t help but sigh. Izan walked up to him and tried comforting him. Mark smiled wryly at Izan before returning his attention to the penalty.

”Even if this is pre-season,I have to up my game as I can’t afford to make such petty mistakes if I want to be a regular this season” was what was going on through Mark’s mind.

Ryo Miyaichi,the corner taker,once again stepped up to take the penalty. He moved slowly before planting the ball at the bottom left corner.

Giorgi Marmadashvili had moved to the same side,unfortunately for him though,the ball entered the net.

The stadium erupted into cheers and shouts as Ryo ran to the corner flag. The Yokohama fans started cheering loudly for their team.

The celebrations went on for a bit before the referee could start the match.

The Valencia players who had lost their goal advantage kicked into high gear as they tried to gain back the goal the lost.

The players tried to find a way to score and Izan who was at the heart of this was sending passes here and there trying to help his teammates score.

Unfortunately,his teammates would either waste the chance or the Yokohama F Marinos team would put up a splendid defensive show.

The team had been rejuvenated after drawing level. The match was now entering the latter stages of the first half.

It was now the 39th minute and the ball was with Valencia. The ball had been with them for a while and Valencia had about 85% of the possession by Izan’s estimation.

Izan who had tried to create gaps and chances for his teammates was now getting a bit irked by the fact that they hadn’t been able to convert them.

”Okay Fuck it,I’m going solo” Izan resolutely thought before deciding to berserk.

Izan after taking the ball from Jose Gaya quickly turned and started running at the opposition defenders.

With his terrifying pace and numerous set of skills,Izan made quick work of the opposition players.

Izan facing two players quickly did a rainbow flick before squeezing through the players. This act drew a bit of ’ooohs’ and ’aahs’ from the crowd.

Izan trapped the ball and continued his run. A defender from the Yokohama team decided to disrupt Izan’s run.

The player moved forward to try and tackle the ball but all he saw was Izan using the roulette skill and flashing past him.

Izan got away past another player with a quick change of pace. All this got the crowd on the edge of their seats as they saw this beautiful scene infront of them.

Izan came across 2 more opponents and was running of of options. Izan after a bit of deliberation in a small time span decided to use the good ol’ fakes and quickly got those 2 players out of the equation.

Izan was now one on one with the keeper who tried to make himself big but Izan simply rolled the ball to left evading the keeper before simply kicking it into the net.

Silence rang across the stadium momentarily before shouts could be heard again. What the heck just happened. ”Hey who’s that?” were all the fans were asking.

The commentator was in a frenzy as he couldn’t find any words to describe the goal he had just saw.

It was simply magical. The Yokahama fans couldn’t help but clap for Izan who was getting mobbed by his teammates.

”What the heck bro” Pietro said. ”Wonderful my friend” Roman said whiles hugging Izan.

”Ah,if only pietro could be a bit like you” Mark who had just gotten to where the players were said,trying to get on pietro’s nerves.

It seemed to be working as Pietro looked like he could strangle mark at any moment.

”Nice one kiddo” Gaya said as he ruffled Izan’s hair. Izan smiled at him before they both returned to their side of the pitch.

[In the stands]

”How can a 15 year old do that” shinji muttered. He had come to watch the match in hopes that he could see how Izan would do.

He was surprised to find Izan in the starting 11 but deemed it trivial as the team was maybe using preseason to train the youth.

He was wowed by Izan’s floated pass that led to a goal. But now what Izan had just done was out of this world.

”Haaaaah,he makes me look like I’m not even trying ” shinji said in a depressing tone.

The match restarted but nothing happened until the whistle went for the 1st half.

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A/N: Another one for you guys and girls and all the color spectrum. Have a nice one and thanks for the support. I wanted to know if the pacing is good or should I speed it up a bit. Lemme know in the comments. Love you all, platonically if that is a word.