Chapter 20

Before the start of the game, Rotimi gathered them in a huddle and met each of their eyes in turn while giving them some words of encouragement with his steady, confident voice.

He had a magnetic presence and was quite the charismatic individual. He spoke with a conviction that just made you forget your nerves and believe wholeheartedly in yourself.

Standing beside Ibrahim, Jesse couldn't help but admire Rotimi's strength in leadership. He wondered if someday, he'd ever be able to unite, inspire, and lead a team like that.

"...So, stick to the plan and we'll do alright as long as we play to our strengths. We've got this." Rotimi said with infectious energy. "Let's go! Let's show them what we're made of!"

After he ended the team talk, they broke the huddle and took their positions on their side of the makeshift field, while the red team's striker stood over the ball in the center of the field, waiting for the referee to blow his whistle.

Soon, the referee's whistle pierced the air, signaling the start of the match.

The red team kicked off with their striker tapping the ball back to a midfielder who immediately sprayed it wide to a teammate on the right wing with electric pace.

Jesse, positioned in his free role behind Ibrahim, tracked back as the red winger darted down the right flank. Rotimi, true to the plan, dropped into defense, forming a back three with Idowu and Chibueze.

The winger cut inside, but Idowu closed him down with a well-timed sliding tackle and the ball pinged out for a throw-in for the red team.

The throw-in was taken quickly and thrown into the box, but Chibueze intercepted it and booted it forward, launching a counter.

The ball came towards Jesse's path and brought it down with ease, immediately spinning away from a challenge with a backheel before looking up and playing the ball to the arriving midfielder, Rotimi.

Rotimi threaded a perfect through ball past the defenders and into the path of Ibrahim. But the striker took a heavy touch and the ball was immediately smothered by the red team's goalkeeper.

It was a big chance and a wasted opportunity.

But, they had no shortage of opportunities.

Jesse's blue team had started brightly, were controlling possession and creating clear cut chances.

Their captain and midfielder — Rotimi — was the standout player, orchestrating play with precise passing and at the same time, putting in a defensive shift by slotting between and assisting the defenders.

He worked tirelessly on the pitch, giving the game his all like it was his last day on earth.

As the captain of the team, he was doing a great job leading by example.

If the team was a tank, then Rotimi was its trusty engine.

Jesse, however, was the team's most lethal artillery.

He carved through the red team like a knife, hugging the touchline to stretch their defense and making runs to exploit the spaces behind their defensive line.

He was hell to deal with for the opposition's defenders.

In the sixth minute, he received the ball on the left wing once again and feinted to go outside, then cut inside, causing his marker to lose balance and lay down in green pastures.

He broke into the open space with his quick speed, and with lightning-quick stepovers, he drove at the two retreating defenders before playing a clever lay-off through the legs of one of the defenders for their striker — Ibrahim.

The ball rolled into Ibrahim's path, leaving him one-on-one with the goalkeeper. He shot, but the ball sailed inches wide of the goal.

Like that, the pattern repeated over and over again with more and more chances wasted by Ibrahim who either skied the ball over the post, hit the bar, or had his efforts on goal blocked by the opposing defenders.

The red team, however, slowly grew more organized as the game went on, and their physicality and direct approach to the game began to cause problems. They weren't afraid to throw their weight around, going directly for hard tackles and shoulder-to-shoulder battles.

Their defenders started to tighten up, closing down space and cutting of passing lanes too, cutting off Jesse and Ibrahim upfront from the game. Their midfielder also started to press higher and control the game better, which disrupted the rhythm of the blue team's play.

The red team grew into the game, and in the 10th minute, they countered from the wings.

Their winger swung in a cross for the striker who had been isolated all this while and Lawal came out to palm the cross away. However, the ball fell to the red captain, who volleyed it towards the goal.

Lawal, still grounded, managed to stick out a leg which miraculously blocked the attempt on goal.

The ball fell kindly for Idowu who booted the rebound into outer-space orbit.

It was a very shaky performance, and Rotimi had to call the team together in order to make an attempt to calm them down.

But it was to no avail.

The red team could already smell blood, and they were not about to let their advantage slip.

...And in the 12th minute, they won a corner from a deflected shot.

The ball was swung into the box, and a towering header from the red team's striker easily found the back of the net.

The blue team looked at each other in stunned disbelief, while the red team excitedly celebrated their hard-earned and well-deserved lead.

This was the worst possible situation.

They were now on the back foot, still struggling to cope with the red team's high intensity.

They had to somehow tilt the balance of the match back in their favour, and with the way things were going at the moment, it appeared they had a huge mountain to climb...

The entire team was dejected and hung their heads low.

Rotimi, however, remained calm and composed, clapping his hands and encouraging his teammates.

"It's not over yet, we've still got eight minutes to turn this around! So let's give it our very best. We can still pull a comeback!" he said with conviction in the depths of his eyes, then continued, "We're not out of this yet, we were creating chances just fine at the start of the game, and we can create more.

"We need to get our head back in the game — refocus and regroup with that in mind, and be clinical when we get those chances.

"If we can do that, our problems would be solved, and the game will be as good as won."

He turned to Jesse and Ibrahim, eyes shifting between them, then said with a confident smile, "...And I think I have just the right strategy that will sort out our problems."