Open Play: Ladies, Goals, The Everything System in-between

Chapter 12: [12] "Amadou"

It was a complete disaster for SC Valois and Luc on Friday night.

In the dark of his hotel room, Luc was sitting alone, watching TV. He sat in stunned silence in front of the television. Olivier Fontaine’s side, Paris Royal FC, the reigning league champions, were facing a projected lower table team. It was a bloodbath.

Fontaine found the net in the 42nd minute after picking up and converting a penalty. One of his wingers put in a big effort in the 88th minute when he got into the box and delivered Fontaine a simple tap-in. Two goals.

The goals didn’t make Luc’s jaws tighten, though. It was the celebration afterwards.

The second goal went in and Fontaine did not celebrate with his teammates. He ran straight to the corner flag, spotted the primary broadcast camera and then looked directly into it. Fontaine lifted his left arm, and slapped his right index finger on his bare wrist in a haughty grumble.

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The stadium erupted. The television commentators went nuts, as they were yelling about the "Response of the King." Word spread like wildfire on the internet. It was a war that Fontaine had embraced and he had just set his standard. He was up 2, and no doubt the penalty wasn’t factored in, this was Olivier’s second game. He bagged a clean brace in the first one. From a technical point of view, Luc was behind with only his isolated opening game week goal, against Fontaine’s three open play goals.

Luc switched off the TV. The room plunged into darkness. But he didn’t experience panic, he experienced the suffocating weight of the deadline. He must make a reply. He desperately needed against FC Belleville the next day, to score a goal.

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Saturday was very cold and bitter. The sky was cold and dreary over Belleville.

The Stade de Belleville was an impregnable fortress. It was crammed with 40,000 people, and the terraces were constructed extremely close to the pitch. The fans were always loud, aggressive and hostile towards visiting teams. The SC Valois team bus arrived in the stadium tunnel and hundreds of Belleville ultras beat the back of the bus and held up giant cardboard clocks to poke fun at the American’s bet.

The away locker room was really tense.

Coach Henri was at the tactical whiteboard. He was perspiring in the cold weather. In his trembling hands he had a fresh sheet of paper. This was the official FC Belleville starting lineup.

Henri’s voice was tight, "We have a problem." There was a complete dead silence in the whole locker room. The captain, Mateo, lifted his head from lacing his shoes. Hugo Blanc gulped.

"What do you mean, Coach?" Mateo asked.

Henri stuck the paper on the whiteboard. "Dubois, the Belleville manager, made a lot of changes to his team. He made changes in the defensive structure."

Luc rose to his feet and made his way to the board. He glanced down at the names.

FC Belleville had a reputation for having two huge Senegalese twin centerbacks. Khalil and Tariq. They were like mountains of muscle. Luc had forced Henri to use their current game plan, and it was all based on the slowness of the twins. He intended to exploit their heavy legs with Hugo’s passing and to run right through them.

However, Tariq didn’t have his name on the starting sheet. He wasn’t even on the bench.

"Who’s Amadou Fall?" There was a different name beside Khalil and Luc pointed to it, "Who’s this?"