Chapter 536 Another Victory and a New Challenge
Five dayster, on Sunday, January 11th, 2015, the Juventus squad traveled to Naples for their away Serie A match against Napoli. The kick-off was at 8:45 PM, and the game between the two sides proceeded as expected.
Despite being at an away ground, Juventus got off to a flying start and showed no signs of rxing even for a minute as they ran the Napoli defense ragged through the first half. The Old Lady yers were exceptional on the attack, and they had a surprising total of thirteen shots on target during the opening half an hour. However, they still failed to break the deadlock until the 38th minute, right after Arturo Vidal came alive with some magic within the midfield.
After winning an aerial duel close to the center circle, Arturo Vidal moved like the wind and flew toward the other side of the pitch at breakneck speed. He then exchanged a couple of quick one-twos with Carlos Tevez through the middle before receiving the ball again and breaking into an unmarked pocket of space before Napoli''s box. Then, as a passing angle opened up, the Chilean remainedposed and threaded a fantastic through pass to Zachary Bemba, who continued his rich run of goal-scoring form by finishing superbly from a tight angle.
The opening goal calmed the nerves of the traveling Juventus supporters, who had previously feared that it would be one of those evenings where the ball would not just go into the back of the, no matter how hard the yers tried. Their worries were soon proven true as Rafael Cabral, the Napoli keeper, made several impressive saves to Deny Carlos Tevez on multiple asions. Then, during the 43rd and 45th minutes, álvaro Morata and Stephan Lichtsteiner missed clear goal-scoring opportunities that could have allowed Juventus to extend their lead before the half-time break.
The second halfmenced after fifteen minutes, and Napoli came out of the tunnel as a much-improved side. The men in blue utilized a mixture of foul y and tight man-marking strategies to contain the on-form Zachary while also doing their best to attack. However, their attacking efforts fell short on several asions, and they didn''t really manage to test Gianluigi Buffon even once during the opening minutes of the second half.
The Napoli yers were, of course, not just going to give up even after failing to score on multiple asions. Theymitted more men forward andunched more and more fierce attacks on Juventus'' defense as the game approached the 65th minute. They looked like a totally different version of their side from the first half and even came close to scoring during the 68th and 71st minutes.
But right as the Napoli men were at the peak of their momentum, they faced the challenge most attack-oriented teams face when ying Juventus. As theymitted more numbers forward, they attracted increasingly dangerous counterattacks from the highly-technical Juventus yers, like Zachary, who almost doubled Juventus'' lead during the 76th minute. Napoli only survived due to the brilliance of Rafael Cabral, the Napoli keeper, who again palmed Zachary''s grounded shot out of y to keep his team in the game.
Juventus'' lead was eventually doubled during the 82nd minute after Raúl Albiol, the Napoli center-back, failed to control a long ball up the pitch on the left side of his goal. Zachary, who happened to be lurking close by, didn''t waste any second pouncing forward like a predator and winning the loose ball. He then elerated to top speed almost instantaneously before squaring a pass to álvaro Morata, who unleashed a curling shot past the keeper and scored Juventus'' second for the night.
The score was then 2:0 in favor of Juventus, and what followed was pretty much an uneventful final few minutes. The Juventus yers resorted to time-wasting strategies to kill off the game by ying monotonous but pointless possession football to deny Napoli any chances to create opportunities. And just like that, the men in striped ck and white jerseys maintained their two-goal lead and attained victory after five minutes of extra time.
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Having won their away Serie A game against Napoli, the Juventus yers became more spirited about the season. They returned to training after just one day of rest and turned their focus to the next fixture, which happened to be a Coppa Italia home game against Hes Verona.
The Coppa Italia was Italy''s gship domestic cup. Over the past few years, it continued to enjoy remarkable growth. Many clubs in all of Italy''s top divisions were eager to join the tournament and strive for the sizeable financial and reputational rewards that came hand in hand with lifting the trophy.
As a football powerhouse in Italy, Juventus had never neglected the domestic cup since its inception. That year was no different, and the Juventus coaches were all eager to partake in thepetition. They pushed the yers to work hard for the following three days in preparation for their first Coppa Italia match against Hes Verona.
Zachary was among the key yers working tirelessly to attain tip-top match fitness before the game. He didn''tin when the coaches pushed him hard but quietly followed their instructions to the veryst detail. He was as focused as ever as he wanted to raise his skills andpete favorably with the best in the world.
In the meantime, the rest of the yers couldn''t contain their desire to win everypetition they participated in. Most of them even gave a training maniac like Zachary a run for his money as they prepared for the Coppa Italia.
Zachary was particrly impressed by the work ethic and determination of Andrea Pirlo, the Maestro who happened to have just returned from injury. Andrea was no longer rxed during training but worked harder than the rest of his teammates, including Zachary.
Be it gym work in the morning, ball work at lunch break, and extra agility drillste in the evening — Andrea went through them all on a daily basis during those three days before the game against Hes Verona. He was really going all out to recover full match fitness and return to the squad.
The days went by quickly as the Juventus yers trained intensively. And just like that, Wednesday, January 14th, which happened to be the eve of the day when they would face off against Hes Verona, arrived.
Coppa Italia," the system AI''s apathetic voice followed. "The conditions required to initiate the 23:28
2014/15 Coppa Italia Mission have been met."
On that day, the Juventus yers trained only up to 3:00 PM. Then, they showered and rested for an hour before heading to the tactics room to attend Coach Max Allegri''s pre-match address for the game against Hes Verona.
Coach Max Allegri, on his part, didn''t waste a lot of time on the tactics, as he had already gone through the entire game n during the past few days of training. He straight away highlighted a few crucial points before naming the squad, which without a surprise, included the just-recovered Andrea Pirlo. Then, the coach assigned individual roles for the game before sending his yers back to their homes for the night.
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"DING"
The system notification sounded in Zachary''s mind right after he stepped into his roomter that night.
"The system has detected that the user is now part of the Juventus squad ying in the 2014/15 Coppa Italia," the system AI''s apathetic voice followed. "The conditions required to initiate the 2014/15 Coppa Italia Mission have been met."
"DING"
"The 2014/15 Coppa Italia Mission initiated sessfully."
"Does the user wish to view the mission details right away?"
"Yes, please bring up the details," Zachary answered. In the meantime, he switched on the light and settled on his bed.
"The user''smand has been received," the system AI said. "Mission details will being up on the interface in a bit. The user can take his time reading them."
The space before Zachary shimmered with a bright luster after the system notification ended. The crystal-like disy that was the system interface manifested out of thin air, and Zachary immediately focused on its contents.
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GOAT MISSIONS
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#NEW MISSION: 2014/15 Coppa Italia Challenge
->The system has detected that the user is part of the Juventus squad that will y the 2014/15 Coppa Italia. The system has designed an associated mission for the event.
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->The user needs to ept the mission first to stand a chance of winning rewards afterpleting the milestones below.
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*Milestone 1: y 80% of the 2014/15 Coppa Italia fixtures.
*Milestone 2: Help your teammates be the 2014/15 Coppa Italia Champions.
*Milestone 3: Provide the most assists in the 2014/15 Coppa Italia tournament.
*Milestone 4: Be the top scorer of the 2014/15 Coppa Italia tournament.
*Milestone 5: Be the MVP of the 2014/15 Coppa Italia tournament.
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*Rewards:
->Milestone 1pletion reward: 100 Juju-points
->Milestone 2pletion reward: 2000 Juju-points
->Milestone 3pletion reward: 10,000 Juju-points
->Milestone 4pletion reward: 20,000 Juju-points
->Milestone 5pletion reward: A random-effect elixir that can increase one of the user''s fitness attributes by an entire grade. The specific attributes that can be improved after consuming the elixir include Bnce and Coordination, Agility, Strength, Stamina, and Endurance.
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NB: There will be additional rewards if the user realizes any other milestones that can unlock hidden missions.
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->The user can choose not to ept the mission.
*ept *Reject
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*Punishment if none of the milestones has been achieved after the stipted time (In case the user epts).
->Minus 70,000 Juju-points
*The user has toplete at least one milestone before the tournament ends to escape the penalty.
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*Remarks: Every little victory counts: Never underestimate the power of small but consistent wins whose effectspound over time.
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Zachary immediately epted the mission after reading the mission details. Then, he spent the next few minutes washing up before jumping into bed for the night. He was eager to get ample sleep so that he would be fresh and well-rested for the following day''s game against Hes Verona.