Chapter 3 - Sfiso

[AS A REWARD, USER HAS ACQUIRED A LEGENDARY CARD]

"What the hell?" Isaac nearly had a heartattack.

In the air before him was a screen, and what seemed to be notifications popped up. He wasn't high, was he? Was there anybody around him smoking Marijuana?

Isaac looked around but there was nobody.

"Are you alright, boy?" The coach asked Isaac.

"Oh... Yeah!" He nearly stuttered, as he spoke.

"I guess he's just eager to play. I like his determination." The coach thought to himself before seeking information about the boy.

"So this is real..." Isaac made sure nobody was watching him before trying to touch the screen before him. His hand passed through it.

"Maybe it's not real...I'm imagining it..." Isaac gaslighted himself. He tried to ignore it and watch the match, but he could just not focus.

"Dammit! How do I get rid of this?" He wondered to himself. Suddenly a thought struck him. What if this was real?

He took a deep breath in, before mentally beckoning the system to open the card. It was then, he saw a reaction.

The blue notification disappeared and new notifications popped up.

[BRONZE CARD ACQUIRED!]

[OPEN?]

"Yes," Beckoned Isaac internally. Sure enough, a change happened, and after some sparkles, a giant card appeared in the air. On it, was a football player with a France jersey. He had balding hair, and stubble covered his jaw.

CARD LEVEL: BRONZE

PLAYER: THIERRY HENRY

ATTRIBUTE: UNFATHOMABLE SPEED

[DOES PLAYER WISH TO ACTIVATE CARD?]

[YES/NO]

"Huh?" Isaac was pretty confused, but he just went along with it. "Yes."

Suddenly, he felt a warm feeling rush through every cell in his body, and in those few seconds he felt different. The card dissappeared, and a notification popped up.

[CARD ACTIVATION SUCCESSFUL!]

"I don't feel very different," Isaac said so he flexed his arm. He sighed before returning his gaze to the football pitch. The match had just begun, and the ball had been passed to sfiso.

Sfiso recieved the ball with comfort, before passing it into the midfield. Receiving it, was the lean boy, who passed it to his partner in the midfield.

The opposing team began pressing like hungry wolves, hoping to force a mistake out of Isaac's side. The opposition wore yellow bips, and for that reason were addressed as the yellow team. Sfiso's team was the red team.

"Here!" Sfiso had made himself open, by running into an empty space. The midfielder used his hand to shield the ball from the opponent before he sent a pass to Sfiso.

Sfiso ran toward the ball, and behind him was an opposition player. As the ball drew close to his foot, Sfiso leaned to the right, his action simple and rapid.

The defender followed his movements and had already stepped toward the right in hopes of stopping Sfiso.

Sfiso however, changed direction fast, breaking away toward the left. And like a snake, he smoothly slid away from the defender.

He was soon charging toward the opposition goal. A defender came out to meet him, but Sfiso again showed why he was a top player. His right leg moved swiftly over the moving ball, to perform a step over. His left leg followed suit, and what followed was a series of lightning fast step overs.

The defender hesitated, before finally sticking out his leg to try and somehow get the ball. That's when Sfiso acted.

He dug his right foot beneath the ball, and lifted it over the defenders incoming leg, he then shot past the unbalanced defender, and into the open space.

"Pass! I'm open!" The striker called. Isaac knew Sfiso too well, however.

Sfiso drew back his leg, and the last defender charged toward him, in an effort to block the shot.

Sfiso swung his leg forward.

The defender slid in front of him, in the right position to block the shot.

But there was no shot.

He had placed his foot on the ball, before rolling it a few inches to the right, setting it up for his actual shot. His leg smashed into the ball, sending it flying like a bullet, into the back of the net.

"Ooooooh!" All those watching let out an impressed cheer, but Isaac could see Sfiso's team was not happy with the goal. Sfiso had plenty of opportunities to pass, but he chose to go on a solo run and score. Isaac sighed, it was just like him.

The yellow team started play, and they began attacking. A short no. 8 with vanilla colored skin released a beautiful long ball above the entire red team, releasing the yellow team striker.

The striker left the defenders in the dust and collected the ball behind the defence before charging towards their goal.

Isaac clenched his fists when he watched the ball be smashed into the back of the net.

The red team were stunned by the counter, and two defenders were arguing.

After all that was sorted out, play restarted. However, Isaac instantly noticed a change. The ball was not going to Sfiso. The reason why this was a problem was that the only player capable of carrying the transition from defence to attack was Sfiso. He could drop deep to collect the ball before he dribbled and carried the ball forward.

Their striker had clear instructions not to drop deep. He was not good in the air however, so all the long balls were intercepted by the defence.

Their only hope was their right winger, who had been instructed to stay wide. Since he was fast, and skillful, he had been told to get past the yellow team left back and launch crosses into the box.

That too failed, since the short winger was not very good at crossing.

"So the team need Sfiso to pass to their striker, which they're afraid Sfiso won't do. However, even if they don't trust him, there's not much they can do..." Thought Isaac. He felt himself tremble with desire to play.

The opposition scored 2 more, and soon, it was half time. Their team coach was soon tearing into the players, before he turned to Isaac.

" Get ready, you're going in! "