My Goalkeeping System

"Alright, boys, there\'s no doubt that this is going to be our toughest match in the league this season factoring in the fact that we\'ll have to face them twice," Norman said as he paced up and down in front of the players.

\'The last time we faced them in the league wasn\'t fun at all.\' Dave said subconsciously.

<Yeah, and you played quite a role in making it not fun>

\'Hey, it\'s not like you were there, but I guess you\'re not entirely wrong.\'

"I know we defeated them in the Charity Cup friendly but it would be delusional to assume that we would be able to beat them as comfortably as we did last time. Don\'t get me wrong, I believe we have what it takes to beat them but underestimating them is not an option." Norman expressed. "They\'ve started off with an eight-game unbeaten run just like last season and unless they encounter some big problem, they\'re going to run away with the league title once again."

"If they succeed in winning this one, it will be the fourth in a row," Minino muttered before biting his lower lip.

"This is my second year in this club as a coach and I have faced Supreme United with you guys five times so far including the cup matches and I think I\'m starting to understand their rapid style of play, I implemented it in the charity match as an experimentation and it worked quite well, so I am going to be implementing an improved version of those set of tactics for tomorrow\'s match, but you all have to listen carefully."

\'I hope this works.\' Dave said subconsciously.

After telling the players everything they needed to know about the tactics, Norman had to attend the press conference with two players, and the players who went with him were Dave and Minino.

The table was already set with everything and the cameramen and reporters were all there to capture everything.

"Hello," Norman said as soon as he took a seat at the far edge.

Dave sat at the other end and Minino sat in between the two.

"Yeah, um….good day Mr. Norman, Dave, and Minino, and thank you all for joining us here today." One of the reporters said.

"The pleasure is ours," Norman said.

"Okay, Mr. Norman, you guys will be facing off against first-placed Supreme United tomorrow, is there anything that you think that may make your squad not perform to their fullest potential in that match?" The reporter asked.

"Umm….I don\'t think so, Minino here was feeling a little bit of discomfort after the match against Ronino FC but he\'s okay now, so he will be okay for the match." Norman expressed. "We have no injury cases and although Aima will be missing the match because of suspension, I have players that will fill his role in that match properly."

"Okay."

"Supreme United are currently on a winning streak in the league, do you think your team has what it takes to end their winning streak or better still, end their unbeaten run?" A female asked from behind before any of the other two reporters could ask their questions.

"They are a strong team for sure and that\'s why they\'re still at the top of the table, but we\'ve also been doing well this season, we\'ve already beaten them this season and I\'m confident that we can do it again, beating them is going to be hard of course, but there\'s no way we are going to let them defeat us," Norman answered.

"Um….Minino, Supreme United\'s midfield is accepted in the Bilbeth Premier League as the best midfield in the league, what do you think about that? Do you think your midfield has what it takes to keep up with their midfield in the upcoming match?" Another reporter asked.

"Um….I\'m pretty clear we subdued their midfield the last time we faced them and it\'s not like they were missing any of the major players in their midfield so no one can call it a fluke, I think that answers your question." The midfielder replied.

"Yeah, I guess." The reporter replied.

<What a reply>

It was now time for the last reporter to ask his question, and the person he wanted to question was Dave.

"Regarding the match coming up tomorrow, there has been an ongoing debate about who is the better goalkeeper between you and Perez Zoe, what\'s your thought on that, Dave?"

<This is one of those questions to get you to say something that will make them a lot of money in the internet>

\'Yeah, I know all their tricks, my wife\'s a journalist after all.\'

"Well, I think everyone should agree that Perez is the better goalkeeper since he\'s been able to do a lot with Supreme, although playing for a top team comes with its advantages."

<Oh, dear, you just gave them something to rephrase and add to>

"He is a great goalkeeper no doubt about that and even this season he is still doing great this season, I on the other hand only started to make a breakthrough this season. I don\'t think there\'s really any debate at the moment, but I\'m sure there will be one in the future when I have gone further enough in my career." The goalkeeper expressed.

"Okay."

The reporters asked a bunch of other questions, reasonable, unreasonable, and even questions that had nothing to do with the upcoming match, but it was their job anyway.

The press conference lasted for exactly twenty minutes, and after that, Dave went straight home.

It didn\'t take him long to get home, and after parking his car in its usual parking spot, he made his way to the door.

Emma wasn\'t home yet as the time being displayed on the wall clock was just 3:50 PM, and he was somewhat glad that she wasn\'t there at the moment as he made his way to the couch and crashed down on it.

<Hey here\'s a question from a hot reporter, who do you think will be the goal scorers tomorrow and do you think you will be able to pull off an assist at the very least?>

"Um…. that\'s a bit, wait, what\'s with that voice, and did you just call yourself hot?" He said abruptly with a shocked expression on his face.

<Oh, so that\'s the part that sparked your interest>

\'Oh, please stop with the voice, it\'s uncomfortable.\'

<What, you don\'t like it?>

\'No, I don\'t.\'

<That\'s surprising, I thought you were going to like it since….>

\'The fact that it\'s coming from you is why it\'s uncomfortable.\'

<Okay, fine, I\'ll stop but you still haven\'t answered my question>

Dave didn\'t say anything for a while until he let out a deep sigh.

\'I don\'t know, am I going to get rewarded if I get it right? Because this sounds like one of those online prediction games.\'

<Umm….I think it is within my abilities to give you some stat points, so, you\'ll get one stat point if you get any of the scorers right>

\'Okay, I think that\'s enough.\'

<So, what are your predictions?>

\'Um….I don\'t know but I think Mateo will score.\'

<Okay, and?>

\'I think he will score two goals, does a second goal prediction also guarantee a stat points?\'

<Yeah>

\'Okay, for Supreme United, I think Roland may end up getting a goal although I won\'t be happy with that result.\'

<Is that all?>

\'Yeah.\'

<Okay, that\'s three stat points worth of predictions, and to show my generosity, I will throw in an extra stat point if all of them turn out to be correct>

\'Okay, we\'ll just have to wait till tomorrow to find that out.\'

<Yeah, and tomorrow may finally be the day you get to use your level two attribute>

______ ______

Time passed and tomorrow finally came, the day to find out the outcome of a match that was surprisingly highly anticipated in the league despite the fact that Supreme United had been trashing Unique FC for a while now.

It was an away game for Unique FC which meant that they were going to be traveling to the Wonder stadium but there was going to be no flight involvement because both clubs were from the same state and the cities were pretty close to each other so the team bus was enough for the trip.

The match was set to kick off by 3:00 PM so by noon all the players were already in the stadium and were ready to move out.

It didn\'t take long for the players to all get their stuff on the bus before getting on themselves, and after making sure that everyone was there, the driver started the engine and zoomed off.

"Oh boy, this is going to be tough," Frank muttered before letting out a sigh.

"Hey, come down buddie, they may be better than us on paper but we\'re not going to let them beat us, just do your stuff and let us do our part," Minino said before placing his hand on Frankie\'s shoulder.