Greatest of All Legends

Chapter 9: Second Goal Quickfire

“Oh, my days!” a stunned Rafael Hernandez almost screamed in shock as he saw the ball flying from the diving header of the kid named Daniel Forsberg into the back of the net.

‘What is that kid… that level of composure…?’ he thought his eyes almost popping out at the sight he hadn’t expected to see.

Rafael had been watching the match with keen eyes right from the moment that the first whistle was blown and had watched how the team that he had higher hopes for was being played with and the player that he thought to be the most talented hadn’t even gotten a touch on the ball almost five minutes into the match.

But that sudden counter threw all the bias he had coming into the match out the window.

It was quick and simple but efficient.

There was none of that fancy showboating that filled the previous match where all the players were doing all sorts of tricks and wasting goal-scoring opportunities.

It was a simple pass, pass, shoot and score moment, and right in the center of that counter and pulling the strings was the kid he had his eyes on.

The kid had managed to find someone on each of his two one-touch passes and one of those passes was a rabona pass that ended up as an assist.

That was something that even professionals who had been playing for a few years on the big stage would have a hard time doing, not to mention his quick thinking and the composure to actually pull it off in that situation.

“Cut out that clip and send it to the head scout immediately,” Rafael quickly said in Portuguese to his assistant who was holding up a camera and recording the match.

“Quickly! Before the match continues,” he urged even further as he wanted to show his observation to the head scout and receive permission to pull out all stops and make sure to sign Jason and he knew that the head scout would agree with his idea as soon as he saw that video.

“Yes sir,” his assistant quickly replied, not bothering to ask any questions as he knew what his boss was thinking.

***On the pitch***

Daniel and Jason shared a high five each other while the other teammates were coming from behind towards them.

“Broooo, that pass man,” Trevor said with a smile as he hugged Jason from behind.

“Yeah man, mad pass,” Nico said arriving as well and doing a high five with Jason as well.

“Haha, come on guys, let’s go back,” Jason chuckled, but his eyes were smiling happily.

“Alright, alright, just send me a couple of passes like that bro, I also need to impress the scouts,” Jordan said with a hopeful smile as they began to return to their half.

“You got it pal, just make sure you’re open,” Jason said with a thumbs up.

“Hey, me too,” Nico chimed in.

“Let’s gooo, you guys are holding up play,” Trevor quickly put an end to the conversation and began to drag Nico back into their half.

Both teams arranged themselves back in their halves and the whistle was blown again signifying the continuation of the match.

*FWEEEEEE*

The center forward of team B quickly sent the ball back into his half before making a run forward into team C’s half, hoping for a quick attack and his team also had the same desire.

The center midfielder who received the ball sent the ball towards the right winger who quickly charged past Rico before he could be closed down, but Rico didn’t give up and quickly gave chase, hoping to take the ball back.

The team B’s right winger could hear Rico on his heels, but he didn’t pay any attention to that as he had to deal with Trevor who was in his way.

Instead of trying to dribble past Trevor, he sent the ball infield to the center forward while not stopping his run and making it past Trevor and receiving the ball back from the center forward who had sent the ball behind Trevor, seamlessly executing a one-two.

After getting past Trevor, the right winger began cutting infield and entered the penalty area before facing off against Carlos who stood in his way.

He did a couple of stepovers and tried to get past Carlos, but Carlos wasn’t buying into his tricks and stayed unmoving, shielding his path to the goal.

Running out of options because he could hear Trevor closing in, he did a few more stepovers to create space and sent a grounded cross at the arriving left winger, but before the ball could reach the kicking foot of the left winger, George, the right back of team C slide-kicked the ball out of play for a corner.

The players quickly arranged themselves into the box for a corner while Jason quickly ran to Jordan and whispered in his ear,

“If they don’t kick the ball out of play, then this would end up being a good counter chance,”

“If that happens, just make sure you’re free and running towards their goal, we should be able to get the ball to you.”

Jordan nodded his head at Jason’s suggestion and went to stand outside the penalty area hoping for a goal-scoring chance while Jason headed into the box along with the other team members.

*Fweeeeee*

The referee blew the whistle, and the ball was sent into the box.

The center forward of team B jumped for the ball and tried to send the ball into the goalpost, but Carlos managed to reach the ball instead and sent the ball back towards the open field towards Jordan who happened to be in that direction.

Jordan quickly trapped the ball with his chest before bringing it to his feet deftly before turning towards the goal of team B and charging forward, his teammates and opponents on his heels.

There were still three players that he had to get through before he could be through to the goal post though, so he didn’t run straight at them and headed down the open space on the right of the field, but the players quickly gave chase and changed their directions to try and cut him off and soon enough, the path down the right side of the pitch was blocked.

Wasting no time, Jordan quickly glanced and saw that support had arrived from his team and quickly sent the ball infield toward Jason and kept running.

Jason approached the ball rolling in his direction at a quick pace with the aim of sending the ball back at Jordan, but due to Jordan’s over-eagerness, he had run past everybody and was now offside, so Jason looked for another person to pass to and quickly saw Kurt who was coming from behind him and Nico who was running towards the left wing but still a bit far away and made a quick decision.

With a meaningful glance at Kurt, he still approached the rolling ball and made as if to kick ball, but stepped over it instead, leaving the ball rolling in Kurt’s direction, who quickly sent the ball flying past the midfield and at the left wing at Nico who was still onside.

Nico controlled and sent the ball forward with his first touch, not wasting any time bearing down on the goal from the left side of the pitch.

At this moment, it was a three-on-one against team B’s goalkeeper. Nico coming with the ball from the left wing as well as Jason and Jordan coming from the middle and right respectively.

With every push of the ball, Nico approached the goal and as soon as he entered the box he sent a grounded pass across the box with Jason rapidly approaching the incoming cross.

The keeper quickly came out of his goal and ran at the ball trying to make himself look big and cause Jason to fire the ball off target, but Jason merely feinted to shoot and stepped over the ball again.

The ball went further across and ended up at Jordan’s feet and he wasted no time in slotting the ball into the open post.

GOALLLLLL!!!