Free Web NovelChapter 33: [33] "What the Ground Feels Like"
SEE SC VALOIS XI AND SUBS IN Auxiliary Chapter
------------------------------------------------ ƒrēewebnovel.com
AS Garonne were supposed to be a footnote considering how they’ve been playing.
Fourteenth in the table with four wins from ten. A squad assembled on a budget that SC Valois of all teams would have considered modest. Their stadium held seats for twelve thousand and smelled like rust and old fart.
TES had warned him. He had the warning in the back of his mind and did not take it seriously.
[System Notification]
[Objective: Score at Garonne. Keep the tally moving.]
[Reward: 100% guaranteed goal on any first time volley ×2]
[Penalty: None.]
"No penalty?" Luc said quietly.
[System Notification]
[Correct. Consider it a gift]
He almost smiled.
---
The match had began on time. The first twenty-two minutes were even.
Genuinely even. Garonne pressed with a flat 4-4-2 and made the pitch small. Their two strikers harassed Hadj and Ekberg relentlessly. Their wide midfielders sat deep enough to prevent Aubert and Owusu from advancing forward.
Luc received the ball twice in the first 22 minutes. Both times a body arrived before he could turn. He was forced to pass the ball back for a reset.
Hugo was finding pockets of space, small ones but they were there. His touch was clean and his reading of the Garonne press was already two steps ahead of the press itself.
Hugo drew both Garonne central midfielders to him with a disguised body feint! then played a nutmeg pass through the gap.
It drew an audible sound from Henri on the touchline, the way he created space for the pass was exquisite play.
Luc collected it, turned, shot, but his shot was blocked by a defender inside the box.
It was out for a corner which SC Valois wasted.
A few minutes later, Hugo ran onto a loose ball at the left side of the pitch.
The Garonne right back charged in from Hugo’s blind side. It didn’t harbour any malicious intent, it was just a late tackle. His studs caught Hugo’s right ankle at an angle that immediately turned it wrong.
Hugo went down.
He didn’t shout. He didn’t roll. He just lay still, which was worse.
Juliette was onto the pitch in seconds.
The stadium went quiet out of concern.
Luc walked over. He stood three yards back and watched Juliette’s hands on Hugo’s ankle. He read her face.
Her face said what her mouth wouldn’t in front of the cameras.
[System Notification]
[Update Hugo Blanc: Ligament issue. He won’t be available in midfield for some matches]
[Objective unchanged: Score today]
[Reward unchanged: 100% guaranteed goal on any first time volley ×2]
[Penalty enforced: Until Hugo returns, Luc Beaumont is required to drop into midfield or second striker role for a minimum of 45 minutes per match. No pure striker luxury]
"Of course you can just enforce a penalty when I haven’t failed an objective yet," Luc thought.
Luc crouched down and said something to Hugo before the stretcher arrived. Hugo looked up at him.
"Don’t be stupid, okay. We all need you well rested," Luc said.
Hugo nodded once. As he was being stretchered off the pitch, Juliette was on the phone with someone that sounded like Valérie... she was watching the match in realtime apparently.
Cillian Doyle came on.
He had good energy, he had bagged a goal just recently. But he was the wrong profile to replace a player like Hugo. Hugo didn’t just occupy space, he manufactured it too. Cillian ran hard and contested second balls and did everything a good substitute should do. But he was not Hugo, nobody on the team was.
Their architect was gone.
Luc dropped into the second striker role. Lacombe then pushed into the deeper creative role. Neither was comfortable.
Garonne had identified the change in Valois structure as their compact shape held tighter. The pockets Hugo had been finding had vanished.
The half ended 0-0.
---
At halftime, the locker room reeked of anxiety.
Henri didn’t write anything on the tactical board Garonne had provided. He spoke quietly, which meant he was more worried than usual.
"Garonne will sit on a draw all day," Henri said. "They don’t want the game, they want the point. We have to go at them."
Luc was sitting against his assigned locker with his forearms on his knees.
He was thinking about how they’ll create space or even chances without Hugo. He was thinking about his plan missing one of its essential pieces.
He had the Tunnel Vision Suppressor. The upgraded right foot. The Predatory Aura with two uses, but doubted if they’d be enough.
---
The second half begun.
Minute 51. Garonne broke the deadlock out of nowhere.
A Valois throw-in was immediately intercepted. With just three clean, quick and purposeful passes, the ball reached the Garonne wide left-midfielder, he crossed it in early before Aubert could cut off the angle. Their taller forward arrived onto it with a firm near-post header.
1-0.
The twelve thousand in the ground made a noise disproportionate to their size.
The next fifteen minutes were bad. Very bad.
SC Valois chased but Garonne retreated and defended with everything they had. Every cross was headed away. Every shot blocked by a body.
Minute 67.
Luc received at the top of the penalty arc. He took only one touch because the Garonne center-back was closing in.
[System Notification]
[Predatory Aura — available.]
"Use it."
[Activated. 1 use remaining.]
The center-back hesitated for half a second.
Luc shaped to shoot with his right foot then faked the shot! The defender’s weight went in the direction of the fake.
Luc played it left-footed. Low, hard and curling slightly to the far post. freewebnovel.cσ๓
The keeper got a full palm to it. Unlucky, the ball went over the bar.
"Shit!" Luc exclaimed as he fell to his knees. His teammates had their hands on their heads, they couldn’t believe the keeper saved that shot.
Minute 71. Garonne made it 2-0 from a set piece routine that SC Valois had trained against but still failed to defend on the day. A simple near-post flick on. Hadj and Ekberg collided, none could get to the ball.
2-0.
Henri rubbed his eyes furiously. His team was playing like a second division team... No worse, like trash!
The third goal was an embarrassment disguised as a goal.
After only 7 minutes from the previous goal, SC Valois conceeded a corner. Blažek caught it and then released it directly to the shorter of the Garonne strikers who had pressed him intensely.
The striker did not miss.
Goal!!
3-0.
Luc stood in the center circle with his hands on his hips.
He had a 100% guaranteed goal on any first time volley in his grasp. He had one of the best ten-game runs of any forward in the league. He only needed a goal for the reward, not the win.
And Garonne, fourteenth in the table, were on the verge of executing a trashing.
---
The fourth goal came in the 85th minute. An overlap from the Garonne fullback that Owusu should have tracked. He didn’t. The cutback had a lot of pace in it and only required a simple finish.
4-0.
Final score. The whistle blew not long after.
Piii Piii Piiii
---
The away end was twenty-three SC Valois supporters. They didn’t boo. They just went silent as they had witnessed a trash team, on paper, dismantle their in form team. They had driven four hours and deserved better.
Luc walked off the pitch.
[System Notification]
[Objective failed]
[Wager Tally updated: Open Play Goals — Beaumont 9 | Fontaine 10.]
[Fontaine scored twice tonight against Montclair. He’s ahead]
He read the flashing panel in front of his eyes on the team bus with his head against the cold window.
The road was dark and the other players were either silent or asleep.
Fontaine ten. Luc nine. He was behind for the first time since matchday 4 against Union Aquitaine.
His phone lit up. A message from Valérie:
It was a sticker of a stuffed animal holding a balloon shaped like the number 2
Luc turned off the phone, he thought about Hugo’s face when the stretcher arrived. The kid had been the invisible engine for the past ten games and no one in the media had written a single word about him.
He thought about Garonne, a fourteenth place team just trashed them for 4.
[System Notification]
[Updated Wager Tally: Open Play Goals — Beaumont 9 | Fontaine 10]
[MD12 after the domestic Cup game: Sporting Bretagne. Away]
[Penalty enforced: Until Hugo returns, Luc Beaumont is required to drop into midfield or second striker role for a minimum of 45 minutes per match. No pure striker luxury]
The ceiling he had been reaching for had just moved a little bit higher.
