The training kicked off as usual with the warm-ups and stretches and after that, they went straight into the main parts of the training.


    Right now the yers were about to y a training match in which two yers had to take turns in picking their yers and the yers doing the picking now were Mateo and Minino.


    "So, I have Dave, Adolf, Roberto, Rnd, la, Edward, Harry, Totti, Fredinho, Ina, and me." Mateo listed the names of everybody on his side.


    "And I have Alexander, Aima, Pirlo, Jonas, Norman, Ferran, Merino, Fred, Roger, Frankie, and me." Minino listed the names of everybody on his side.


    "Alright, boys, head to your sides." The assistant coach said before blowing his whistle. He was going to be taking the role of the referee to make the practice match feel a little bit real, unlike the ones they''d done before.


    After arranging themselves in their various positions it was now time to kick the game off, both teams were ying with the four-three-three formation that Norman wanted them to y with.


    Mateo was standing over the ball waiting for the referee''s whistle and as soon as he heard it, he quickly pushed the ball back to Edward with a backheel pass.


    The match was going tost for fifty minutes, that''s twenty-five minutes for each half.


    Edward received the ball and drifted a little to the right to it before passing it to Totti in the right back position.


    Frankie quickly rushed toward Totti to try and dispossess him but the central midfielder ying the role of a wing-back quickly passed the ball to Dave before he could get to him.


    Frankie didn''t slow down as he changed direction and continued chasing the ball.


    Dave was calm as he waited for the yer to get close before he pulled the ball back and got past him with a swift turn.


    "That was brutal," Rnd said, flinging his right hand.


    Dave pushed the ball out of the box before he sent it flying to the other side of the pitch.


    Mateo and Ferran were there to contest for the ball in an aerial duel and although Ferran had won the duel, Harry was there to steal the ball from him before he could do anything with it.


    Ferran tried to retrieve the ball after losing it but Harry quickly sent the ball back to Adolf with a backheel pass and without wasting time, Adolf sent the ball to Rnd who was running down the right wing.


    Rnd received the ball from Adolf and cut into the middle to avoid Norman beforeying the ball off to Mateo who was in the middle now.


    One of the things Norman wanted to achieve with this training was to see how some of his yers would do in positions other than their natural positions and one of those yers was Mateo whom he was testing as a striker.


    Mateo received the ball and moved closer to Pirlo who was ready to dispossess him by any means possible.


    Mateo didn''t pass the ball as many expected him to, instead he moved closer to Pirlo and feigned moving to the left with the ball to disorientate him before he moved past him through the right with the ball.


    <I know it''s already obvious but if he keeps the right attitude and lifestyle, he will soon be recognized as one of the best yers in the world but it won''t happen in this league>


    ''Yeah.'' Dave replied.


    Mateo moved forward with the ball and just before reaching the edge of the box, he passed the ball to Fredinho on the right.


    Fredinho roughly dribbled his way past Jonas but Jonas was still onto him and just before he got pulled down, he quickly drilled the ball low to Mateo who was being marked by Aima.


    The young winger received the ball with Aima right behind him but he had something up his sleeve.


    With Aima trying to clear the ball, he took a swift turn with the ball, and with his left foot, he sent the ball flying toward the top left-hand corner of the goalpost.


    Alexander happened to be at that exact spot when he shot the ball so all he had to do was jump up and tip the ball out for a corner kick.


    "Mateo''s side seems way better at the moment." A youngdy standing beside Norman said.


    "Yeah, but this is just the beginning," Norman said with both of his hands in his pocket.


    The corner was sent in quickly by Edward and was cleared by Aima as quickly as it was taken.


    The ball fell to Ferran''s feet with most of their opponents still on their side and Fred ready to start a counter-attack but he had a little problem in the name of Adolf.


    Ferran trusted him to find his way past the captain as he quickly passed the ball to him and Fred knowing that he didn''t naturally have more pace than Adolf decided to use a dummy to get a head start on the defender.<novelnext>  </novelnext>


    He shifted to the side to allow the ball to roll past the both of them before he quicklytched onto the ball.


    "Shit," Adolf muttered before he quickly started to pursue him.


    "He''s going to catch up to him before he gets to the goalpost." Thedy beside Norman said.


    Dave was slowly returning to his goal line with Fred heading toward him and Adolf hot on his trail.


    Fred knew Adolf was going to catch up to him soon and dispossess him on the ball but with Dave still returning to his goal line, he had a golden opportunity to score.


    He lobbed the ball over the goalkeeper from twenty-five yards out and it looked like it was going to go in if he didn''t do anything about it.


    "No, no, no," Dave muttered as he dived toward the ball and with the tip of his gloves, he hit the ball to send it over the bar but instead of flying over the bar, the ball hit the crossbar and flew past him, luckily for him, Adolf had already run past Fred.


    The defender brought down the ball with his chest and quickly passed it to Dave before Fred could get to him.


    Dave was breathing heavily as he caught the ball right at the edge of his goal line.


    <Imagine if this happened in a real match>


    ''It has, but I ended up hitting the ball into the goalpost.'' Dave replied before getting up with the ball.


    The match continued as Dave quickly passed the ball to Rnd who quickly passed it to Mateo who dropped deep to receive the ball as he had something nned in his mind.


    The winger knew someone was approaching him from behind just like he wanted but he didn''t realize how fast the person was moving as he waited for the person to get closer before he attempted to turn with the ball and this was where things had gone wrong.


    In a desperate attempt to stop the youngster, Roger slid toward him and brought him down with a very tough tackle.


    The referee blew his whistle before quickly making his way.


    "That''s not good." The female beside Norman said.


    It didn''t take long before Mateo got up on his feet with the help of Roger.


    "Thank goodness he''s back on his feet." She said as Norman let out a sigh of relief but it was too early to feel relieved as the winger crashed back to the floor after taking three steps forward.


    "Arghhh." He groaned with his eyes closed and his hand on his right leg.


    The medical team quickly made their way to the winger as they didn''t need to be told that something was wrong.


    "This isn''t good," Dave muttered with a worried look on his face.


    After a few minutes, the medical team discovered what was wrong with the winger and their leader made his way to Norman to inform him.


    "It''s something minor right?" Norman said as soon as he stopped in front of him.


    "No, he has sustained a serious muscle strain." The man said.


    "Muscle strain? That means...."


    "Yes, he can''t y the match tomorrow."


    As soon as those words left his mouth, a horrid look appeared on Norman''s face.


    "Oh, no."


    ***


    Hope you enjoyed the chapter?


    If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I''ll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.