AZ Alkmaar Arrive

For the next few days, training was nothing short of a baptism by fire; a relentless crash course in Dutch football's cold, unforgiving language.

Every session hammered home the same truth. This wasn't just a game here; it was a science.

Every pass had a purpose. Every run had layers — a fake, a decoy, a trigger for something that wouldn't happen until three passes later.

Back home in Malindi, football had been pure chaos, where instinct was king. You chased the ball like a hungry stray chasing scraps like a hungry lion, and if you were faster, sharper, more creative — you dominated.

Here?

Here, instinct alone was a liability.

Football in the Netherlands moved like a living organism, with every player a vital cell in a larger body. The striker pressed, the midfield stepped up, and the defense squeezed. The whole team pulsed together, cutting off passing lanes before they even opened.

"Press with your brain, not just your legs!" Coach Pronk's voice ripped across the field like thunder."Force them into the traps. Don't just chase shadows like headless chickens!"

Every minute of training felt like a mental assault course. Even simple moments, like a throw-in turned into puzzles with ten different solutions, all depending on where the nearest defender stood, which foot the receiver preferred, and how much time they had before pressure came crashing down.

And set-pieces? Back home, corners were a scramble — everyone charged the ball like it was a prize in a village raffle. Here, corners were ambushes planned in advance. Every runner disguised his real intention. Every cross was meant to land in a kill zone: not just blindly whipped into the box.

Amani didn't just have to understand these patterns. He had to feel them, the way the Dutch boys around him did. They weren't thinking about these drills — they were breathing them.

But none of the drills, none of the fitness, not even the icy weather… none of it was as hard as keeping up mentally.

In the trials at Mbakari, Amani's football had lived in his gut — wild and intuitive, a heartbeat ahead of his opponents because he could read body language, feel hesitation, and anticipate the way you might sense rain before it falls.

But here? That wasn't enough.

At Utrecht, the game existed three passes into the future, like playing chess while running at full speed. If you saw the pass only when the ball came, you were already too late.

It felt like trying to surf on a wave you couldn't see yet, trusting that if you positioned yourself just right, the future would arrive exactly where you expected.

Amani could feel the gap. His feet were fast — but his mind wasn't fast enough.

Every misplaced touch, every mistimed run, every second spent trying to figure out what came next — it was another reminder that he didn't belong here yet.

And yet.

He knew deep down — he had to close that gap. Not next month. Not next year.Now.

Because in Europe, especially at an academy like this, the game didn't slow down for anyone. You could be thrown out at any time.

****

Amani already knew what Visionary Pass could do. The system had laid it out clearly when he first unlocked the skill before the trials in Mombasa.

"This skill enhances the accuracy of first-time ball controls, one-touch passes, and one-touch finishes of players who receive passes from the holder."

At the time, it had sounded almost too good to be true — like giving his teammates invisible cheat codes through nothing more than a well-timed pass. But training with his fellow villagers back home hadn't really given him the perfect chance to completely test it. His teammates there were too raw, their technical level too inconsistent to fully draw out the skill's potential.

But here? Here at Utrecht's academy, surrounded by players already drilled to move, think, and react at near-professional speeds — this was the ideal stage.

He didn't plan to test it. It just happened.

The first pass was routine — a simple inside-foot touch to the overlapping right back during a passing drill. Amani barely thought about it, just connecting the dots like the coach had drilled into them all morning.

But when the right-back collected the ball, Amani's eyes widened.

The touch was silk, the kind of effortless control that usually only came after hours of perfect chemistry between teammates. No slight bobble, no extra step to stabilize. The ball landed exactly where it needed to be, allowing the right-back to keep his stride, head up, already thinking about his next move.

It felt too clean.

Amani dismissed it as luck, a one-off. But minutes later, it happened again.

This time, Amani fired a sharp pass into the central midfielder — the same boy who had been fumbling under pressure since Friday. Amani braced for the usual sloppy trap or a panicked bounce pass back.

But instead, the midfielder's foot welcomed the ball like an old friend. One touch. No adjustment. No hesitation. The ball was perfectly placed to spin and scan the pitch in one smooth motion.

Amani felt his own heart skip a beat.

This wasn't luck. This was the system. Visionary Pass wasn't just working — it was transforming his teammates in real time.

Every ball he played carried a silent upgrade, like a code embedded in the spin and weight of the pass itself. His teammates didn't even realize it was happening — they just felt sharper when Amani's pass hit their feet, as though the ball came with whispered instructions telling them exactly how to handle it.

It was a conductor's touch, turning every receiver into a musician playing the right note at the right time.

Amani's mind raced.If this works in training…what happens in a match? In a real game with stakes and pressure?

Pass after pass, the proof stacked up. His teammates started moving a split second faster when Amani had the ball, trusting that the pass would come perfectly weighted, perfectly placed — tailored to their strengths.

Even Tijmen, the blond midfielder who had tested Amani mercilessly for days, started to notice.

The first time Amani zipped a pass into his feet, Tijmen handled it cleanly. But the second time — a laser pass under pressure — Tijmen absorbed it with such ease, that his usual sharp edges seemed to soften.

For a split second, Tijmen paused. His head turned. His eyes met Amani's across the pitch — a flicker of curiosity replacing his usual frosty indifference.

It was only a second, but in that moment, Amani felt something shift.

This wasn't just about fitting in anymore.This was about control.

Amani wasn't just playing better football himself — he was lifting the ceiling for everyone who received his passes. It was like every ball carried a message: Trust me, I'll put you in the best possible position to succeed.

Back home, Amani had dreamed of being the star — the player everyone watched because he dazzled with his feet. But this? This was something bigger. This was the power to orchestrate the whole team, to make ordinary players look brilliant and brilliant players look untouchable.

It was the difference between being a great player and being the player who makes everyone around him great.

This changed everything.

For the rest of training, Amani's confidence swelled with every pass. Not arrogance — just certainty, the quiet kind that came from finally understanding his own value.

He wasn't here to just survive. He was here to lead — even if nobody realized it yet.

By the time the final whistle blew on Monday's session, Amani didn't need the coach to say anything. No more shouts for him to stay wide. No more lectures about positioning.

He was no longer a problem to fix. He was a piece that fit the puzzle.

As they walked off the pitch, Amani glanced at Tijmen one last time. The blond midfielder gave him a curt nod — the kind of nod players gave when they recognized something dangerous brewing in someone they hadn't considered a threat before.

Amani didn't smile. He didn't need to.

Because now, he knew. This pitch was no longer foreign soil. It was his stage.

And Visionary Pass was his baton.

***

The AZ Alkmaar bus was already parked when they arrived, its sleek frame cutting a sharp silhouette against the gray morning sky. Amani watched through the car window in the parking lot as the players stepped off — tall, lean boys with effortless confidence that only comes from winning since they could walk.

No wasted words. No nervous glances. Just calm certainty, like they already knew how today would end.

Inside the Utrecht locker room, the air was thick with quiet tension — the kind that lives between ambition and fear, right before a storm breaks. Amani's breath slowed as his gaze swept the room, past the rows of polished boots, the scent of fresh kit mixed with winter air, and the hum of distant voices.

He found his spot.

There it was.

Folded neatly on the bench, like a gift waiting to be unwrapped — the red and white kit of FC Utrecht, his name printed boldly across the back:

HAMADI.

NUMBER 37.

For a moment, Amani just stood there, hands still, heart pounding louder than the voices around him. He traced his fingers across the letters once. Then twice. Each stroke grounded him, reminding him that this was no dream.

This didn't feel real.

His name — the same name scrawled on classroom attendance sheets back in Malindi, the same name whispered in prayers by his mother — was now stitched into the fabric of European football.

But reality hit harder when he turned to the lineup pinned to the wall.

Amani's name wasn't there.

Not as a starter. Not under "Key Players." Just a name beneath the bold heading:

SUBSTITUTES — Second Half Entry Expected.

It stung — like a slap that didn't hurt your face, but bruised something deeper.

He wasn't surprised. He was still the unknown element, the outsider who hadn't earned his place under the Dutch sun. Not yet.

But that was fine.

This wasn't a gift. This wasn't Malindi, where reputation bought you space on the field.

This was Europe — where you didn't ask for a seat at the table. You crashed the party and carved your name into the wood.

Amani didn't dwell on it. He sat down, started lacing up his boots, and made a silent promise to himself:

The next time they write this list, my name won't be under substitutes. It'll be under starters. And one day, it'll be under captains.

As the opening whistle echoed across the frosty pitch and the game roared to life without him, Amani sat — watching, studying, preparing.

His time was coming.

Not as a tourist. Not as a guest. But as a storm they will never see coming.

And when that whistle blew for the second half, Hamadi 37 wouldn't just step onto the pitch.

He would announce himself to Dutch football — one pass, one tackle, one shot at a time.