The Brunt of the 90'

"Last subs comin on!" screamed Luca. "Continue where we left off, boys!"

Luca had been subbed off for Johnny, a Brazilian-American who mainly plays in the CDM position. He switched to center-back and has been enjoying it ever since. His 6'4" height and physicality help him strive in the center-back position. Johnny had long black hair and was the youngest out of the center-back depth.

Lorenzo came on for Mikael. Before entering the field, Mikael quickly gave Lorenzo some words of advice before letting him run loose. The atmosphere remained the same. The lower division team was struggling against a team that was struggling in their league. Play resumed as Lorenzo took the freekick and passed it gently to the left back, Tony, as Waterfront progressed up the pitch.

Communication was key as Münster played a game of 'who can run out of stamina the quickest.' Ian called for the ball, looking both ways before receiving it. He was still nervous on the ball, and the opposing players could see that. His touches up the field were spaced out to the point where any defender could spook him. Turning around, he passed it towards Sergio.

"Give me options!" Sergio shouted. "What are you'll doing?"

"Hey!" screamed Timothy, bursting down the midfield. Münster had left an opening for him to get past, as they were pressing too high and too frequently. Sergio poked the ball towards Timothy, only for it to get intercepted and punted up the field.

Running back toward the ball, Münster had pressed further up. They left no player beyond the half-way line unmarked. This playstyle wasn't to be used on a team that was better than them. The style was made as a last-ditch effort to secure a win. Instead, Münster is using this as a bullying method.

Johnny held the ball under his heel before passing it to Ian, who had come back to find space. Waterfront started their attack again. Ian moved up the field, looking both ways, before getting pressured by two opposing players. Quickly trying to pass the ball to the left, the captain of Münster collided with Ian, bulldozing him to the ground and stealing the ball right off of him.

"Fuck!" Ian said.

"Get up!" screamed Sergio.

The captain for Münster was one-on-one with Johnny, who had backpedaled before extending his leg and kicked up dirt. The winger moved the ball, rolling it under his boot before cutting it back into the middle of the box. Johnny turned around, still pressing him, bodying each other as if they were chimes blowing in the wind.

Johnny moved his right foot in front of the ball, snapping back at it as the Münster captain tripped over the ball. Johnny regained his balance as another Münster player was already on the ball. Moving his body as the opposing player was winding up for a shot. The crowd was screaming for the player to shoot it. So he did.

Smacking the ball caused his whole upper body to extend forward. The power of the shot lifted him off the ground. It smacked the back of Johnny and flew out of the box for a corner.

"Let's get it done!" screamed Johnny. He clapped his hands numerous times, catching his breath after such a hard hit.

"Good deflection, Johnny!" screamed Lorenzo.

Ian came back to defend the corner. He collided with another young player who had been eager to get a goal. Once the ball was kicked, everyone scrambled in the middle. Toyo got his head to the ball, knocking it out of bounds again.

"Again!" screamed Lorenzo. "Again, and again!"

"Watch the sides!" screamed Timothy. "Someone stay on 23!"

"23!" screamed Tony.

23 was a tall midfielder for Münster. He was the main threat, as he was taller than 95% of the players from both teams. He moved toward the crowd, getting ready for the ball. Covering him was Toyo, who kept moving him away from play.

Once the ball was kicked, a brawl broke out. Players clamped onto each other as others flung themselves into the air. Others got the brunt of the attacks and tripped over others. It was chaos in the box as the ball was headed by 23 pinging off the crossbar and into the middle of the box. More players scrambled for it as it deflected off numerous players before finding its way to a Münster player. Ian moved in, trying to slide tackle the ball off of him.

The Münster player smacked the ball as it deflected off the spikes on Ian's foot and smacked the back of the net, just centimeters away from a quick-reacting Lorenzo.

Ian got up. He shook his head and jogged back into position. Once again, he was too slow and too weak to fend off the attacking play.

The game continued, as Münster scored another a few minutes later. Thus ending the friendly with a quiet ride back to the hotel. It started raining as everyone sat quietly, listening to music, reading a book, or sitting back and taking a nap. The game made everyone sore. Münster, even though they were in the relegation zone, played brilliantly.

Back at the hotel, everyone freshened up and went back into their rooms. Ian fell face-first on his bed. Immanuel, who was his roommate, came in annoyed. He grabbed his laptop and immediately started watching highlights from other teams. They were all tired, but some took the extra step to get better.

"You alright?" Immanuel asked.

"I'll be fine," Ian replied. "But I realized how right the academy was about me."

"What do you mean?" asked Immanuel. He paused the video, turning his chair to face Ian.

"I struggled a lot today," Ian said. His face was implanted into the covers.

"Everyone struggled today," replied Immanuel. "I'm not sure we'd have won that one."

"That's the point," Ian stated. "This game was to see who'd struggle after a few minutes of playing and who'd start to struggle quickly."

"How would you know that?" asked Immanuel. "I think you're just overthinking things."

"You think we're really playing Dortmund soon?" asked Ian.

"No way," Immanuel replied. "The season starts soon, and this game literally made everyone feel dead."

"You're right," Ian said. "I can't feel my legs right now."

"So what are you going to do?" asked Immanuel.

"I don't even know," Ian replied. "I don't even understand why I'm feeling like this."

"At least you weren't a ghost; that's good, no?" Immanuel replied.

They stayed in their room the whole day. After ordering food and researching, the boys never stopped trying to learn from their mistakes. As the day went on, others did the same. No one slacked off; no one went out and partied. Everything was left on the field. Except it wasn't enough. Even though they lost to a team miles ahead of them, the whole team wanted nothing more than to learn from their mistakes.

Immanuel had been right. The game against Münster had been their one and only friendly. The team wasn't angry. In fact, they all looked disappointed. Pietro, on the other hand, had been happy. In fact, he had been very happy. He took this loss as a good sign. Pietro knew they played with intensity in the second half. He knew the team could get stronger with chemistry. The fact that they scored on Münster was the boost he needed.

The tour was over.