The Malmö FF Youth Academy Trials XII

About two hours later, the match between Team D and Team A kicked off. It was already twenty-five minutes into the first half, and the score was locked at 1 to 1. But there were a few noticeable changes in Team D's lineup.

Sebastian was on the sidelines. Coach Andreas had decided to rest him, bringing Oli Svensson back into midfield. Theo and Victor were also still on the bench. Honestly, Sebastian had no complaints. With two goals and an assist from the previous match, he was the player with the most goal contributions so far.

Some part of him wondered if he had already done enough to get selected, but it was best not to get ahead of himself.

As he watched from the bench, his attention was quickly drawn to someone on Team A who was absolutely balling. Felix Karlsson.

Felix, the same guy who had recorded the fastest 40 meter and 100 meter sprint times during the testing drills, well, after me, Sebastian thought while watching the match, was playing on the left wing and was terrorizing Noah Lind.

Just then, Sebastian saw Felix receive the ball and immediately boost down the flank, accelerating past Noah like he wasn't even there. Noah gave chase, desperate to recover, and slid in to block what he thought was a cross, but Felix had only faked it. Instead, he cut toward the edge of the box and bent a curling shot around Lukas's outstretched hands into the bottom right corner of the net.

The score became 2-1, and Felix now had the same number of goals and assists as Sebastian.

He's definitely getting selected, Sebastian thought, genuinely impressed.

The goal rattled Team D as their passing became sloppy, and they gave away possession multiple times. But before Team A could capitalize on this and further extend the gap, the referee blew the whistle for halftime.

As the players came off the pitch, Coach Andreas gathered them in a huddle. Then he made some surprising changes.

Theo came on for Viktor Svensson, as expected. But instead of sliding Viktor Holm into his usual center back spot, Andreas took him off and moved him to right back, replacing Noah Lind, who had struggled badly against Felix.

The biggest surprise, though, was Sebastian.

Instead of bringing him on in midfield, Andreas took off Luca, the right winger, and told Sebastian to play wide.

Some players looked surprised by the switch, and Sebastian raised an eyebrow as he stepped up.

Coach Andreas caught the look and said, "You're wondering why I'm putting you on the right wing, aren't you?"

Sebastian gave a small nod. "It's because of Felix, right?"

"Yes, and no," Andreas replied. "Yes, because you're the only one faster than him, and I want you to use your pace to help contain him on that wing and limit his impact out there. But also, I want to see how well you perform in that position."

Sebastian nodded. "Alright, coach."

**********

The referee blew the whistle to start the second half, and Team A resumed the game with a short pass from the center. They began working the ball around confidently, looking to maintain their lead.

Sebastian dropped a little deeper on the right side, ready to track back when needed. As he did, he heard a voice beside him.

"Yo, Sebastian," Felix said with a smirk, jogging in his direction. "So they sent you to mark me, huh?"

Sebastian glanced at him, curious but quiet.

Felix continued, "If they're sending you of all people to mark me, then I must really be getting noticed."

He grinned, then added, "Still, I think it's pointless."

Sebastian raised an eyebrow. "Why do you say that?"

Felix shrugged confidently. "We both know you can't mark me."

Sebastian let out a soft laugh and replied, "Oh really? Alright. We'll see."

Without saying another word, he turned and jogged forward to help press for the ball.

A few minutes later, Team A began pushing forward again. The ball was worked out to Felix on the left wing, and with some space in front of him, he took off instantly. His acceleration was just as lethal as it had been in the first half.

But before he could get close to the eighteen-yard box, he saw a body come across him, taking the ball off his feet and pushing him away, getting the ball off him, cleanly. He stumbled, caught himself and caught himself before he could fall, then spun around in disbelief.

"What the hell..." he muttered.

Standing there, already passing the ball off to Viktor Svensson, was Sebastian.

Team D reacted instantly. They saw the chance to counter and took it. Viktor carried the ball to the center circle before laying it off to his right, where Oli Svensson was making a run alongside him.

Oli spotted Sebastian darting down the right side and threaded a perfectly timed through ball with his left foot ahead of him.

Sebastian, already in full stride, collected it cleanly as he neared the edge of the box. The left back was tracking him but still giving him a little space in case Sebastian planned on changing directions so he could react on time.

At the edge of the penalty area, Sebastian suddenly shifted left with the ball, moving a bit along the edge of the eighteen-yard box. The left back followed, but that was exactly what Sebastian wanted.

With a sharp nudge using the outside of his right boot, he slipped the ball through the defender's legs and moved to his right, brushing past the left side of the marker.

The defender wasn't giving up. He grabbed at Sebastian's bib, trying to pull him back while turning around to recover. But Sebastian didn't stop.

With the outside of his left boot this time, he pushed the ball through and nutmegged the defender again while pushing off the hand pulling on his bib. The defender couldn't handle the multiple changes in direction and lost his balance, falling face first into the grass.

Sebastian stepped into the box and, without breaking stride, swung his left foot through the ball, hitting it with the inside of his boot, sending it rifling into the near post. The keeper couldn't react on time and could only watch as the ball went past him into the back of the net.

2-2.

The players in team C were left stunned as they had lost their lead just like that. And while there were still more than twenty minutes left in the game, that goal had completely shifted the momentum.