Free Web NovelChapter 23: No Longer Invisible!
Friendlies were not something that clubs usually made a big deal about. They were simply another tool for training.
A few days after the intense drill session where Diego had trained with the starters, Coach Nick announced that EDM San Blas U14 would be playing a practice match against a nearby school team. Not another club, just a school: A group of boys from Instituto San Gabriel from Los Abrigos, who had a decent football program for a community school, but they were nothing close to a proper academy setup.
Matches, simple or not, were the best kind of training. So, for San Blas, they’d be useful.
The week leading up to the friendly was congested by private life, school life, and work life, for some of the players who had menial jobs.
Training days were Wednesday and Friday, but the coaches arranged a schedule around Tuesday to cover more. On Monday, after school, Diego stayed at home as a babysitter to his younger sisters while his mother took Yazmin to the dentist. Once they returned, he fled home to the community field to keep his legs warm with the ball. Luckily, boys were always there, and that was enough training for the day.
Tuesday was fitness work, and it marked the day when Diego saw the writing on the wall. He was really in an official football programme. What a strange rite of passage. The old Diego would never believe this could happen.
Half the pitch was covered with cones and markers as the coaches drilled the boys on Positioning. The standard 4-3-3 shape appeared this time, but after adjustments, the team stuck to their prop. Wingers tracked back. The fullbacks overlapped, and the midfielders pressed in pre-planned sets.
Since the starters and the main subs were prioritized for gameplay, Diego had mostly watched during these drills.
But something had changed.
Since the rondo incident, the starters no longer treated him like he was one of the invisible reserves.
Whenever Miguel arrived at training, he gave Diego a short smile and a soft nod. Maicon liked teasing him, and Samuel gave him his cup of hot chocolate in the morning.
And Justin did the unthinkable.
He must’ve told Coach Nick something because the coach gave Diego a paper containing a list of plyometric exercises to do at home every evening, and a simple suggestion for diet.
~Diego, No. 66
–Box Jumps 3x8
–Broad Jumps 3x5
–Pogo Jumps 2x30sec
–Oatmeal & Banana
–Eggs
–Lemon Water
So, Diego was slowly drifting into the circle of importance?
He couldn’t tell for certain. But he was sure he was close enough.
On Friday, Diego arrived very late for training. If not for Aunt Chickie and Matilde, he would’ve missed it entirely.
Aunt Chickie left in a hurry for an errand, but promised to be back in time to pick them up. Left on their own, Matilde and Diego navigated to the field, where Matilde sat on the usual bench next to the few friends and families of the other players.
Like a devoted partner, she arranged all the things he littered while prepping up, and wished him a good one as he jogged off toward the resplendent green turf to join the others.
Diego left her watching from the sidelines as he merged with the subtle chaos on the training pitch, greeting whom he could. He had missed the breadth of the warm-up, but he still caught up with the agenda of the day. Maltide saw one of the kit managers caution Diego on his tardiness while handing him a caffeine gum. But the caution was less like a real scolding and more like a bit of play. It made Maltide realize just how charismatic Diego was.
With time, the coaches set up small-sided games. All the boys were divided into four teams, rotating across half-pitches in a blur of several passing and game awareness practices.
Malide realized that Diego was somehow fixed to train with a group of starters, unlike her other classmates, like Damian and Ruben, who had their own insignificant cluster.
’He wasn’t lying!’ She exclaimed.
Diego was actually being integrated more quickly than ever expected.
They tapped him on the back and gave him smiles. What else do those mean if not comradeship?
Across the turf, Diego’s bib bounced as he jogged near the left corner to his team. Maltide recognized the star winger, Miguel, who won the penalty in the last match, standing over the ball. She watched as Miguel leaned in, saying something quick to Diego, likely an instruction.
"Stay wide, big guy."
Without a second of hesitation, Diego nodded, moving wide to the yellow flag just as he was told. Though he was the shortest, he looked like he belonged there.
A square grid bounded by flat orange cones girdled him and seven others, with six players at the edges, and two in the middle. The objective was passing speed, awareness, and scanning the field before receiving the ball. Before a player could receive a pass, he had to call the name of the next teammate he intended to pass to. Call the name too late, hesitate with the ball, or misplace the pass, and the players in the middle would pounce.
It was a brilliant game that sharpened the mind just as much as the feet.
When Diego stole a glance at some groups doing basic cone dribbling, he couldn’t help but prefer this one by far.
Opposite to expectations, this group allowed him to stay on the edges instead of being one of the two players in the center. They probably wanted to see if he actually had the passing range and reactions to keep up with their tempo. freēwēbηovel.c૦m
It was almost the same crew from the Rondo, minus Maicon and Enrique. Now, Diego was getting to know the bigger guys upfield. Adan, the inspiring captain. Ruy, the ST, and Eloy, the CF, who had an insane aura. Eloy even had a younger brother on the team. His name was Derque, a reliable substitute CB for Justin.
Being around them made Diego feel like he was finally breathing the right oxygen.
"Think before the ball arrives!" Coach Carl shouted even while attending to another group.
The ball started with Miguel.
After a predictable starting sequence, it began moving around the square like a pulse, every player scanning over their shoulder before the ball even reached them.
For the first minute, Diego didn’t receive the ball. Then suddenly, Samuel called his name.
The ball rolled toward him faster than he expected. Diego thought of trapping it, but that was a terrible idea. Quickly, his foot kicked the ball back to Samuel, while he yelled the name in the last second.
"Haha. Good one."
Keeping up with their tempo was difficult. Diego understood these weren’t professional players, but they sure had the promise. The ball never slowed, nor did it have a steady pace. It became faster with every pass, escalating with each close call. The difficulty wasn’t even the passing. It was seeing your best play before the ball even arrived!
The best players were always scanning and were never in a hurry to lose the ball. Miguel was the fastest of them all. Even before receiving the ball, he had already chosen his next option. And 7 out of 10 times, he chose Diego.
This increased Diego’s faith in Miguel.
Not only was his host talented. He also liked him.
According to the system, this would make his stats develop even faster!
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A/N: Thanks for reading!
