The team had been training for quite a while and now they were engaged in a practice match.
The team was divided into eleven players on both sides and Dave's side had fewer of the first team players.
The only first-team players on his squad were Roland, Fred, Carlos, and Martinez.
The other team had the rest of the first team players which made them the tougher team but sometimes the tougher teams don't always come out on top, do they?
Minino received the crossed ball from Roland and brought it down with his foot neatly before zooming past Ilala.
He was moving the ball forward swiftly now as Roland slowly moved back to secure the back and prevent him from getting through, but the midfielder wasn't planning on going through the wing because he knew how tough it was to get past Ronald.
He could do it with the momentum of a quick pass but engaging the left back one on one was going to be tough and he knew it.
He drilled the ball low to Ferran who was now in a competition of who was going to get to the ball first with Pirlo who was also heading toward the ball at the same time.
Ferran got to the ball thanks to his decision to slide toward it, with the slide he got to the ball first and pushed it in for Mateo who managed to slip past Martinez but before he could get his foot on the ball, Dave stretched his hands toward the ball and covered it with his body.
"Come on." The winger said before quickly moving back.
Dave was about to send the ball out when Norman blew his whistle.
"I think that's enough for today." He said.
"I think we have a strong second eleven," Dave said before kicking the ball up.
"Not really? You were the one saving our asses and we still lost." Martinez said before pulling out both of the gloves on his hands.
"Yeah, but most of us played out of position, you know," Frankie said.
'Yeah, I wish you could tell him that directly but I'll try telling him.'
Now that the training session was over, the players met up in the locker room so that Norman could give them all the information they needed.
He set up the circular magnetic objects on the board to illustrate the formation of the players before turning to the players.
"Now, we'll be heading over to Frono for our first match of the season, the season officially kicked off today which means that there are going to be ten fixtures today some of them are already going on as we speak, and the other ten which we are going to be part of will be tomorrow." The coach articulated.
'Supreme United are playing against Spree City tonight, which means they're probably going to be at the top of the table at the end of match day one.' Dave said subconsciously.
"For our match which we will be traveling to Frono tomorrow for, we will be using the four-three-three C formation, that's one defensive midfielder and two attacking midfielders." Norman expressed. "I know we beat them last time with Mateo scoring a hat trick but that is not a reason to take them lightly, do you guys understand?"
'Why would we take a team with a duo of Darwin and Seth lightly?'
"The back four will be occupied by Norman, Adolf, Aima, and Roland, you all know where you belong. Martinez is our defensive midfielder and the other two will be Henry and Minino."
'He's not going to start Ferran?'
"Our attack will have Mateo on the left, Fredinho in the striking position, and Carlos on the right."
'Fred is getting benched too?'
"Now, for the tactics, I'm going to start with the attack, you scored a hat trick against them last season, Mateo so we're going to assume that they're going to man-mark you throughout the game, but that's going to leave them open most of the time in the position of the player they're going to use whether it's a midfielder or defender."
"They're most probably going to use a defender," Adolf said.
"Yeah and that is why I want you to play deep and become a ball supplier instead, you have good playmaking skills and I want you to put them to good use in this match, play deep be the supplier, and throw them off course." He expressed.
'If he does and it works for us, then it's fine, besides, he's starting as a left winger so there's no way he won't get directly involved in the attack at some points.'
After filling the players in on the tactics, the players were all dismissed.
Dave arrived home by 2:30 PM and as he approached the entrance, the smell of something spicy filled up his nose.
"That smells nice." He said before opening the door. "Hey, babe."
There was no response to his call so he slowly closed the door before making his way to the kitchen where he saw someone that he wasn't expecting to see not at this time.
"Oh, hey, Dave, welcome."
"Mrs. Smith?" The goalkeeper said with a surprised look on his face. "What are you doing here?"
"Well, my daughter is pregnant, isn't she? And I know how tough things are going to be for her now, so I decided to visit her today and see how she was doing, you seem to be doing a good job."
"Oh, thanks." The goalkeeper said before scratching the back of his head. "Where is Emma by the way?"
"She went upstairs about an hour ago, she hasn't come down since," Martha replied.
"An hour ago, she must be asleep." He muttered before making his way to the staircase.
He was about to make his way up the staircase when he saw her making her way downstairs.
Her eyes looked weak and she was rubbing both of them as she made her way downstairs.
After removing her hands from her eyes, she blinked a few times before she could see Dave properly.
"You're back." She said before stopping in front of him. "Welcome."
"You've been sleeping." He said.
"Yeah." She said before resting her head against his body.
"Um…I saw that your mother is here now."
"Yeah, I'm glad she came."
"Any chance your dad's also here too?"
"Why are you asking? Are you scared?" She asked before raising her gaze to look at his face.
"My dad, I know you're scared of him, don't deny it."
"No, I'm not." He said.
'No, I just want to be prepared for him whenever he comes, that's it.'
A magic castle= one extra chapter.
Two magic castles= two extra chapters.
Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.