U19

The players gathered around the coach as he spoke, then dispersed to their positions.

Some jumped to stretch their calves, others pounded their feet on the turf as if getting their boots accustomed to the pitch. Niklas and Maurice—the two center backs for the U17 team—were whispering something to each other.

Lukas stood a few feet behind the two center forwards who were standing in the center circle.

He was adjusting his shorts as he stared at the U19 team they were about to face.

It felt like his nerves were tingling.

"What is this feeling?" He thought as he barely managed to suppress a smile that was starting to creep up on his lips.

He felt like he was about to have fun for the first time in his long life.

As he scanned the other side of the pitch, he met the eyes of a black-haired boy, with blue eyes. The boy was fiercely staring down at Lukas like he was about to put a laser beam through him.

"Who's that? Why does he look like I owe him?" Lukas asked surprised as he averted his gaze.

It was Marvin.

He was already starting to get wary of Lukas after his bet with Alex. Especially after he noticed Lukas being picked for the starting lineup as Alex had said.

"Yeah. There's no way he's that good. I'm gonna put him in his place." Marvin thought to himself as he stared down Lukas

FWEEEEE*

The referee — the U19 assistant coach — blew his whistle to start the match.

The U17 team kicked off. Sahin passed to Keziah. Keziah passed it to Philip behind him, and took off running forward.

Philip passed it to Christian, they were just getting used to the ball while the U19 team organized their press.

Christian didn't even trap the ball, he made a one-touch short pass to Lukas who was standing just outside the opponents' half of the center circle, looking over his shoulders to see where everyone is.

Marvin was already nudging Lukas before the ball got to Lukas' feet.

Lukas felt the pressure behind him, and just flicked the ball with the outside of his left foot and turned to his right.

Marvin was wrong footed.

Lukas got the ball back, one look upward and a lobbed pass was launched towards Keziah.

At this time, Keziah was running in between the two center backs, looking over his head to predict the ball's landing spot.

Lukas' lobbed pass landed right on Keziah's path as he controlled the ball with his left foot. He cut to his right foot immediately and unleashed a shot.

Deflected.

Maurice—the U19 center back—threw himself in the ball's path as he successfully deflected the ball although not without getting he wind knocked out his lungs as the ball struck his stomach.

It was a simple move build up—get the ball from behind, and launch it at the two center forwards—but Lukas' passing accuracy had almost unlocked the U19 team's defense in the first 20 seconds of the match.

"Nice pass Lukas." Christian said as he tapped Lukas on the back.

He didn't respond.

He had tried to execute a lobbed pass that evade all the defenders and bounce in front of Keziah, but it didn't quite work out as he had expected.

The game continued after Maurice got back on his feet.

The U19 players were in the U19 level for a reason. Although Lukas' team had launched an unexpected attack through his pass, they were still generally weaker that the U19 players.

They dominated the game.

From possession, to tactical awareness, to strength—they beat the U17 team in every aspect.

Twenty minutes in, and the U17 full backs were already catching their breaths as they sweated immensely—they had been run ragged by the U19 wingers.

But if there was one person who looked out of place in the struggling U17 team, it would be Lukas.

In fact, he looked out of place in the whole field.

The coaching staff for both teams could tell.

"It's like he's the only adult in a kids' match." Coach Meier thought as he watched the match unfold with his arms folded.

He was the sole reason the game was still tied at 0-0.

He was everywhere, both offensively and defensively. He was the reason the U19 started using the flanks to attack.

In the 22nd minute, Marvin got the ball from his center back just a few feet away from the center line.

He turned around, and beat Philip with a quick step over.

Then as if he had forgotten his coach's warning earlier—he started bringing the flashy footworks out the woodwork.

He dribbled past Christian too, but just as he was about to release a pass to Alex, Lukas performed a perfectly timed sliding tackle.

He won the ball cleanly, and immediately started the counter attack.

As he stood up from the tackle, with the ball with him, he heard Christian calling for the pass.

He executed a quick one-two with Christian and advanced to the center circle with the ball.

Bekir—the U19 defensive midfielder was already looking to cut Lukas advancement into the U19 final third.

He tried to read Lukas' next move. But Lukas calm as ever evaded his tackle with a La croqueta.

Lukas turned on the afterburners, as he took off.

The scene that unfolded, was both new, and extremely familiar to Lukas.

He was pushing the ball forward with full speed, but he never once overhit it.

The torturous training from TT had made his ball control skill way above the level required in against an U19 team.

Lukas looked up once, and saw Keziah sprinting down the middle of the U19 center backs.

He didn't think twice, he didn't need to.

Without breaking stride, he made a pinpoint through pass with the outside of his right foot.

The ball looked like it curves past one of the center backs as it landed right in front of Keziah who was now one on one with the goalkeeper.

Keziah hit the ball first time from just inside the arc. It was a shot directed exactly at the goalkeeper. It was more power than precision.

But it had enough power to hit the back of the net even though the goalkeeper got a touch in.

GOAL.

The U17 players all rushed to Keziah. Philip jumped on his back as they celebrated.

Lukas jogged over to the celebration.

"That was a beautiful pass Lukas." Keziah said as they high-fived.

"Bro, I can't make that pass even if I tried a hundred times." Christian said with a laugh as he smacked Lukas' back.

"Yeah you probably will if you had practiced that kind of passing 10000 times in one session." Lukas thought with a smile but didn't respond.

They all jogged back to their position to continue the match. It was a friendly match between teams from the same academy, so the celebrations are normally muted.

The only reason there was a big deal here was because of Lukas' assist and the fact that the U17 was leading the U19s.

FWEE*

The whistle blew to resume the match, and it seemed the goal had woken up some of the U19 players.

There were now more purposeful in posession. Their passes were sharper. They didn't lose the ball from when they resumed, till when the first half whistle blew 6 minutes later.

The whistle couldn't have come in a better time for the U17 team.

The players who needed to hydrate, drank water, and the coaches made some tactical adjustments including some substitutions.

The second half started how the first ended—total control by the U19.

They played like the losing to the U17 would be an insult to their abilities—they were right.

And it wasn't long before the press paid.

Marvin intervepted a pass from Philip to Christian, and immediately launched it to the left wing.

The U19 left winger was faster than the U17 full back and managed to cross the ball into the danger zone in the box.

Alex rose the highest and met the ball cleanly with his head.

GOAL

1-1

The celebration was nonexistent. Just some sigh of relief and some pumping of fist as Alex took the ball from inside the net and ran back to the center circle to resume play.

A draw would be akin to a defeat for the U19 team.

But they were unaware that their struggle was futile.

As they went back into position to restart the match, Lukas walked up to Christian.

"Give me the ball immediately you get it. There's something I wanna try." He whispered to Christian.

Christian was confused, but he had seen the way Lukas controlled the match, so he just nodded.

The referee's whistle blew and the game resumed.

Keziah passed the ball all the way back to the goalkeeper during the kick-off.

The goalkeeper looked and saw Christian unmarked, and sent the ball his way.

Christian trapped the ball and turned, seeing Marvin closing in quickly.

He immediately released the ball to Lukas who was now by the left wing.

The fullback was closing in, but Lukas had already seen him through the corner of his eyes.

He smiled as he got ready to receive the ball. In his mind, the play was already complete — and destined to end in a goal.

A/N: I'm so grateful to you guys, beyond imagination. I can't believe it's possible for people to actually enjoy my imagination even if it's just to kill time. There are millions of books here, and the fact you're taking the time to read a new author's work is very inspiring to me.

I am so grateful to you all.

I really mean that.

I completed the contract procedure today. That's probably why I'm being emotional

I have decided on a number of GTs per extra chapter.

15! (Not "15 factorial", just 15)

Please help me with your hard earned Golden Tickets if you can.

Love y'all

-Writ.