The captain

"I will now announce the starting eleven for the regional finals, everybody sit.

We will be going for a classic 3-4-3 formation as usual."

He said while looking at his notebook.

"Goal keeper, Thomas.

Center back, Lucas.

Wing backs will be Jonathan and Damian.

Defending midfielder is Paul.

Central midfielders are Mohamed and George.

Central attacking midfielder is Andre.

The wingers will be Harry and David and finally Moses at the front.

Harry, you will be wearing the captain armband."

The team wasn't different from usual, the best players of the team would be starting as usual.

Harry nodded when he was given the captain armband, he was used to wearing it. If he wore it in front of the scouts it would be another thing to boast about, few people had the qualities of a captain and he could prove he was one of them by pulling his team towards the win.

After the coach was done he sent everyone back to the locker room to change and go home, Harry went there last as he was talking about the strategy with the coach.

As soon as he put a foot it he was grabbed from the shoulders by big hands.

"Harry what happened ?"

He looked over his shoulders at the giant 16 years old goalkeeper, he was at least 2 heads taller than him, Thomas had reached the 2 meters height at barely 15 years old.

"What do you mean?"

"You were playing weird, at first you looked sick and then you looked even sicker but in a different way."

"Don't worry about it, I was trying new stuff. Isn't that what training games are for ?"

"Yeah that's true but your play style just seems completely different today."

"I've been learning from the best recently."

He smiled, who would believe that he had reincarnated and inherited the talents of Garrincha through a system ?

"Did you get a personal coach ? You're not that rich right?"

"Of course not, I've been watching videos of one of the greatest dribblers in the world and copying him."

"Oh that's all? I do that too but the results aren't as obvious, you're really talented bro."

"Of course I am, quickly get changed and head home, it goes for all of you, you better be in your top form next week. Not only the starting eleven but also the substitutes, we're gonna win the regional finals !"

///

The next day Harry woke up and went for a run to complete his daily quest, today he wasn't in as much of a hurry so he finished it in a little less than 55 minutes, he went home, ate breakfast and time went by like this, everyday he would complete his daily mission and hit the gym in the afternoon.

The football never left his foot, he always kept one with him to get used to his newly acquired talent, by the start of the following week he didn't feel any discomfort anymore, he had completely assimilated Garrincha's talent and it was completely his now !

Thankfully it was summer vacation and he could focus on his football instead of going to class so he made extremely quick progress.

Just like this a week quickly went by and it was the day of the regional finals, today would be a primordial event in his life, if he managed to impress the scouts he would take his first step in professional football.

His memory of this day wasn't very clear but he remembered a few key elements, two of the English league big six would be present, Manchester United and Arsenal, if his mail managed to attract the attention of the Spurs they might be present too.

Although Arsenal and the Spurs are rivals and Harry is a fan of the Spurs he wouldn't hesitate to sign with any big club that came his way, only a dumbass would pass on an opportunity to join Arsenal because they were a fan of the Spurs and that was the case with any club that had a rivalry such as FC Barcelona and Real Madrid or Paris SG and Marseille.

His goal was to be the best player in the world, if he managed to make his favorite club win some trophies on the way he would be happy but his glory came first and he wouldn't hesitate to join a rival club if he was offered the opportunity by them only. Of course if he was offered a contract by both the Spurs and Arsenal he would chose the former without any hesitation.

///

Today they wouldn't be playing on home ground so Harry arrived at the club around 5 AM and they would take the bus to their opponent's city. The trip took around 2 hours and they arrived at 8 AM sharp, the field was a lot bigger than theirs, they had stands for the public and it was already filling up.

The families of the player had started taking their sits and some men in suits were sitting together in the lowest part of the stands. They were obviously the scouts sent by the bigger clubs looking for the future star of football.

Harry and his teammates directly went to the locker room while the coach went to greet the opponent and the referee. The mood of the players was very tense and nobody spoke as they changed in silence, Harry realized that this mood wasn't good as they would start to feel pressured and it was his role as the captain to raise the moral of the troops so he sighed and stood up.

"What's going on here ?"

He said as he scanned every single one of his teammates. Since the room was very silent everyone heard him and looked up, Thomas who was the most extrovert was the first to speak up.

"Why are you acting like you don't know ? You also saw the scouts in the stands Harry, this is going a very important game of our lives of course we are under pressure."

"Of course I know that, I'm also the same, do you think I'm immune to pressure ? Spoiler alert, no I'm not. However if you stay like this you won't be able to play to your best and you might waste a chance to go pro. Cheer up and remember, the other team is also feeling the same way as you all !"

Although Harry's monologue worked on the few more mature of his teammates a lot still looked extremely tense, of course they were just kids and being scouted now would be a dream come true so they couldn't escape from thinking too much.

Seeing this made Harry sigh and he didn't care anymore, he was more focused on his own success, he had done what he could and wouldn't feel guilty anymore if they played like crap.

As long as he played well he would be satisfied, a few seconds later the coach came in the locker room and gave them a last minute reminder of the strategy.

The assistant referee knocked on the door and asked everyone to follow him on the field, the game was about to start.