Training [3]

The next twenty minutes of the training match was very open. After Valen and Sam had taken the initiative, almost everyone had gotten rid of their earlier shyness. They began to attack more and show what they were capable of, resulting in the two goalkeepers being quite busy.

Team 1 started to move the ball quicker. Their midfield trio started combining better and Valen saw more of the ball on the left. The team was growing in confidence. Sam was dropping deeper now, influencing play from all over the pitch. The defenders were pushing higher. Even players who had barely said a word earlier were now calling for the ball.

Team 2 responded. Their midfield became more aggressive and their forwards started pressing harder. They forced two saves out of Alex in the space of five minutes. Neither save was particularly difficult but it was enough to shift momentum. The game was turning into a real contest.

Valen could feel it. The pace. The aggression. The adrenaline. This was the kind of environment he had missed.

33'

Allisson Remy, Team 2's right winger got the ball on the right flank and had quite a bit of time on his hands. He sluggishly drove the ball forward, hoping to draw a bit of attention to himself so that he could free a teammate and make a pass.

Valen who was lazily jogging back to help with the defense saw his hesitation and ran towards him, making no mistake as his legs clipped the ball away and sent it to the path of his team's defensive midfielder. The defensive midfielder played a vertical pass to Sam who used the outside of his boot to hoof the ball to the left towards Valen who was making a run for the ball.

Valen felt the rush in his legs as he took off. The grass under his feet felt soft but firm. Each step felt powerful.

Man, it feels good to play with a bit of pace.

When Valen still felt the after effects of the ACL injuries, he wasn't very fast. This limited his playing style and forced him to play using combinations and one-twos with his teammates. In the end, it wasn't a very sustainable style for someone playing out wide. James noticed this and tried him as an attacking midfielder but somehow he played even worse there.

Now that his legs felt light, he could focus more on the game.

Valen got the ball under control with his first touch on his right foot and started driving it towards the penalty box. Within seconds he was dangerously close to the edge of the box.

Maxwell who had been back-pedaling noticed this and decided to charge at Valen. Even though the latter got past him once, it had to be luck. Everyone knew who Valen was. He was the winger who could not dribble past anyone.

As soon as Valen spotted Maxwell running towards him, he immediately slowed down so he could have better control of the ball. His legs flashed over the ball multiple times as he did a few stepovers in an attempt to get some space to move.

Maxwell watched carefully. He was thinking through his options.

He's trying to confuse me with the stepovers. He uses his left foot right? Show him to the inside, let's see what he can do?

While Valen's legs were rapidly moving over the ball, Maxwell made all these calculations in his head. On a normal day, he would be right but the thing with Valen was that his left foot was never his preferred foot. He was only forced to start training with it when his right leg became useless with the first ACL injury. Now that he could no longer feel the effects, showing him to the right was basically suicide.

Valen didn't waste the opportunity he was given and immediately cut into the box, steadying himself as if he was about to take a shot. When his leg was about to make contact with the ball, he suddenly played a pass adjacent of his body.

Sam broke through the space between Maxwell and the right center back and managed to get a left footed shot with his first touch. Aaron, Team 2's goalkeeper tried to make himself big to block the shot by charging outside but Sam's shot just brushed his legs and latched itself into the back of the net.

1-0. Team 1 took the lead.

Sam did a mini celebration before getting back into position. This was just a training exercise and not a real match so there was no real reason for him to go crazy.

James who was sat a small distance away from the pitch was watching the match with keen interest. After Sam scored the goal, a smile tugged at the corner of his lips. He turned to one of the assistant coaches that was sitting beside him.

"That Sam kid, what's your analysis on him?" He asked.

"He's a proper ten. Magnetic with the ball, but also daring enough to make crazy passes, has an eye for goal and is very creative. He has by far created the most chances in the game. It's safe to say that if not for him, we'd be watching a one sided game."

"What about Valen, the kid on the left?"

"Well, he's been very good so far. Direct, not afraid to take on his man and has a little bit of trickery with him. But his injury record hasn't been so kind. He got an ACL on his left knee a couple years back and before that he already had one on his right at such a young age. It'll be hard for anyone to bounce back from that."

"And yet there he is, the best winger so far." James allowed the smile to settle on his face. "Very interesting."

The match continued after Sam scored the opener. Team 2 restarted the match and were pushing to get a goal. The urgency for the equalizer was clear in the way they played and they started pressing Team 1.

Team 1 tried to calm the tempo by playing more passes in their half. The center backs were exchanging the ball between themselves and trying to bait Team 2's press. Occasionally they found pockets of space and moved forward.

37'

Able, Team 2's left winger, got the ball from the left back at his half of the pitch. He started driving forward with the ball, going on a sensational run, dancing past any player that tried to mark him. In the blink of an eye, he was at the edge of the penalty box.

Unlike Valen, he didn't try stepovers or any fancy tricks to get him inside the box. He used the simplest of textbook dribbling, using a body feint to confuse the Team 1 right back and entered the box.

Once he got in, he set himself up for a shot and let rip a venomous strike that went straight to Alex. It should've been no problem for Alex to catch it. The key-word in that sentence being "should've".

The Team 1 members watched with horror as a shot that should've ended up safely in Alex's palm ended up going through his hands and into the back of the net.

Abel went wild with his celebrations and the rest of his teammates joined him.

Valen shook his head as he stared at Alex who looked like he just committed murder.

"And you were telling me not to mess up." Valen said to him. "Bench players talking like starters. Tch".