Why He Doesn't Start

Jerry looked at his teammates from the left side of the pitch. He felt weird not being the one to take the opening kick for the team, but he didn't think much of it. It was probably a one-time thing. Then again, if he was playing in his 'natural' position according to the system, he wouldn't be doing it either.

The referee blew his whistle a few moments later, and the match started.

As soon as Daniel made the pass to Oliver Trent (Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution Central Midfielder), almost all the Jermaine Walter Academy players stormed into their side of the pitch, running after the ball with so much fervor in an attempt to win possession. If they played almost any other team in the tournament with that approach, they might've managed to gain possession, especially since the match had just started and the team would yet have settled into their positions. However, Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution was filled with a lot of technically secure footballers, so it wasn't easy for them.

The first ten minutes or so of the match were very boring. It was basically a back and forth in spells of possession between the two teams, with neither side really launching any attack worthy of note. Of course, Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution dominated the possession early on, but they couldn't do anything productive with the ball. It wasn't until the eleventh minute that the first shot of the match was made.

11'

Jerry got the ball on the left thanks to a long pass from Moses Ford (Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution Left Center Back). With a touch, Jerry got the ball under control and started dribbling forward. He wanted to hover around and find a pass, but he remembered that Victor wanted him to be more direct with his dribbling. After he moved a few steps, Jerry found himself face-to-face with Geovani Van Bruge (Jermaine Walter Academy Right Back).

Jerry's first instinct was to take Geovani on. After all, Victor had given him all the freedom to take on defenders as much as he wanted, and there were scouts watching, so it really wouldn't be bad to show them he was also good offensively in one-on-one situations. But after further thought, he decided against it. It was too early to try to dribble. If he managed to get past Geovani the first time, it would create a bit of wariness. If he did it again, it would make him angry, and if he did it yet another time, then who knew what sort of underhanded methods Geovani might use to get him under control.

He moved the ball forward a step back, then as soon as Geovani was about to commit, he played a pass to his side and made a run down the flank.

Miles Heath (Jeremiah Hayes Left Wing Back), who received the pass, understood the assignment and played a through ball to Jerry. Jerry took the ball in his stride and started to move inside the box, as he had quite a bit of space behind Geovani.

It wasn't long before he was faced with another player. This time, it was one of the two Jermaine Walter Academy center-backs. He also decided not to take him on. Instead, he sent a pass inside the box and made a dash towards the byline.

Oliver Trent (Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution Central Midfielder), who had made a run into the box, understood what Jerry wanted after seeing his one-two with Miles. He was about to play the pass back to Jerry when the latter pointed inside the box. Oliver faked a pass to Jerry, pulling the ball back at the last moment and deceiving three defenders at the same time. He looked up and saw who Jerry pointed at. Daniel Durant was free at the back post, and since the keeper was slightly tilted to his right because of the action happening there, Daniel was standing in front of a basically empty net.

Oliver wasted no time and floated the ball toward Daniel. The cross was quite low—it was only high enough to float above a couple of outstretched legs. It made a bounce when it reached Daniel, setting him up for a nice volley.

Once Daniel saw the ball bouncing towards him, he positioned himself quite well for the shot. And once it bounced, he used his side foot to volley it... to volley it over the goalpost!

[What a brilliant attack by Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution. Hayes Junior has the ball. Now it's Oliver with a clever dink to Daniel Durant, who surely has to score. Daniel Durantttt!!! Misses? Daniel Durant misses. Somehow he misses. What have I just seen?]

[How could anyone miss a goal like that? I didn't think it was possible. From where he was standing, it's actually harder to miss than to score, and somehow he's managed to do it]

"What the?" Jerry, who had just watched everything play out from the side, was very confused. He looked at Daniel, who had his hands over his face, and sighed. "What the fuck."

"That's why he doesn't start," Miles Heath said from beside Jerry, causing him to sharply turn his head to the side. "That's why he doesn't start," Miles said again, repeating his words. "He misses chances a lot more than Darwin Núñez (sorry, not sorry, Scousers) in his first season at Liverpool."

"Aah." Jerry cocked his head in understanding. He then turned to look at Victor on the bench. In a system that primarily creates chances for strikers, why start a striker that can't finish those chances off?

Jerry stared at Daniel once again and shook his head before jogging back as the Jermaine Walter Academy goalkeeper prepared to take the goal kick.

Inside the VIP section in the stands, Jeremiah and James burst into laughter when they saw the chance that Daniel missed. They had been arguing most of the night, but upon seeing the absolute sitter that Daniel couldn't put away, they managed to put aside their mini-rivalry and make fun of him together.

"On a serious note though, one more miss like that and we'll have to cross his name off our list," Jeremiah said. Like all the other big clubs scouting, they had a list of all the players in the current match. Crossing off Daniel's name meant that they had given up on him and he wouldn't be offered a chance to sign for the youth team at any stage.

"Definitely. I would've done it even if you didn't tell me," James said with a snicker as he found Daniel's name on his notepad.

Jeremiah smiled at James's method. The man was starting to get slightly more likable.

A/N: sorry this is coming late.