The match had started a while ago and the sevilla u19s were in charge of the game.
The Valencia u19s, tried their hardest to win back the ball but it proved difficult. They were quickly pressed by the Sevilla u19 side whenever they got the ball causing them to lose the ball several times.
The spectators had expected as much as the Valencia players were being trolled. Andranik sensing that he had to do something waited for the ball to go out.
He walked up to Izan and didn't need to talk too much because Izan also wanted to suggest the same thing.
The Valencia players started pressing high up the pitch whiles making sure they blocked the passing lanes of the Sevilla u19s.
Coach Moreno had expected the sevilla players to be in charge of the game at the start and had told the players to implement this strategy if things were going awry.
Andranik had made the signal they had agreed on to initiate the tactic. The tactic seemed to be working as the pressure on the valencia u19 team was alleviated.
The valencia u19s seemed to sprawl into life as they started playing some good football. They started passing more efficiently as the pressure they were under had significantly decreased.
Andranik sensing that this was the time to strike quickly looked at Izan who got the signal.
Izan wormed his way through the opponents setup and Andranik who saw this sent a very delicate ball to Izan.
Izan took a beautiful touch of the ball but was surrounded by two defenders of the opponent team.
Not wasting any chance,he flicked the ball up a bit before kicking it over the two players behind him.
The two defenders who were not expecting such a move from Izan got caught off guard.
Izan ran around the two players to meet the ball and took control of the ball with the side of his foot.
Izan was now faced with just two players of the opponent team. The keeper and the left back. The latter approached him and tried to stall for time.
Izan who saw this tried to make it count before the other players regrouped.
He looked up and saw that the keeper was off his line a bit and decided to go for it.
Izan dragged his right foot back and powered it through the ball. The ball on its way seems to be moving all over the place. The keeper tried to position himself well but that was not going to help in this instance.
Izan watched as the ball seemed to be going inside the goal. Some of the valencia u19 fans had already raised their hands but were met with dissapointment as the ball rammed the crossbar before it went out of play.
The Sevilla players heaved a sigh of relief as most of them thought that was a goal for sure. The Sevilla u19 coach Borja conte started thinking if he should do anything to the kid that just tried to put his team on the backfoot.
He ultimately decided against it and decided to watch him some more before he could focus any extra attention on him.
The match continued with it fast pace as both sides were trying to break the deadlock.
The game was however stale until the sevilla u19s team got a chance.
17'
The sevilla u19s striker latched onto a lightning fast counter attack pass that had been sent from behind him. The ball had broken the defence of the Valencia u19 side and he saw a chance to make it 1-0 for his team.
He went on until he came face to face with the Valencia U19 keeper Vic abril.
The keeper tried his earnest to make himself look big in hopes to intimidate the player forcing him to make a mistake but that didn't seem to work.
Marco de Paul, the Sevilla striker stayed composed and curved the ball around the keeper into the back of the net.
The stadium erupted into cheers as the Sevilla fans started shouting and making noise.
The Valencia u19 players bowed their heads as if they just lost a cup final.
Izan seeing this started shouting and clapping to get their attention.
"Why are you guys acting like we lost. Its only the 17th minute. Come on,get your act together and let's win this match".
The players raised their heads as the words of Izan sank in their heads. How could they give up if even the kid on the team was acting like this.
The rejuvenated Valencia side got the ball back and kicked off the match again. The Valencia U19 team initiated a flurry of attacks from the onset.
They didn't give the Sevilla u19 team any breathing space as they tried to pull one back.
The players came close to scoring on two different occasions but were denied by a spectacular save by the keeper and the post of these 2 separate occasions.
Izan was starting to get some unwanted attention from the opponent team as they saw that he was mostly the one initiating their opponets attacks.
They started being rough with him and fouling him a number of times. Izan sensing this saw an opportunity within his misery.
He waited and got the ball before he started dodging and evading his way through the Sevilla setup. Izan started playing flashy football in hopes that he would get a foul.
A nice change of pace and a quick one-two with Javier bueso set Izan up. Izan kept running at the sevilla defence and prayed that he would get tackled.
Izan's prayers seemed to be heard as one of the defenders opted for a tackle a few metres away from the 18 yard box.
Izan needed the refree to buy the foul and added a bit of theatrics after the player made contact.
The refree seeing this blew his whistle for a foul. Izan smiled as he saw the referee award the foul and also gave the offender a yellow card.
This meant that player had to be on his best behaviour after this because another mistimed tackle or two and he could be sent off.
All the Valencia players smiled at the situation. Andranik picked up the ball before tossing it to Izan.
Izan looked and saw that the ball was about 28 metres out. Izan placed the ball in a suitable spot and looked up.
His teamates had gotten into position incase of a rebound if the ball from the freekick didn't score which happened very rarely with Izan taking them.
Izan taking about five steps back and looked at the ball before activating [focus lv. 1].
Izan saw that the noise had reduced and he could notice some very fine details he couldn't see before. He looked at the ball and spotted the valve of the ball
He took 1 step..
2
3
4
And on the fifth step,he planted his right leg beside the ball before smacking the left underside of the ball with the side of his left boots.
Izan watched as the ball rose over the wall of the players. The ball he hit had felt good and he was sure it was a goal.
Izan had already started to run towards the area occupied the most by the Valencia fans. The ball rustled the net as it was entrusted with a mad curve that would give any keeper a hard time.
The ball went into the corner of the net and the valencia players rushed towards Izan who was already at the corner flag.
He ran before making a heart sign with his hand. He showed it to the area where Komi, Hori and Olivia were sitting. The three got up and cheered when they saw Izan gesture towards them.
The Valencia fans erupted into cheers as the goal was a masterpiece.
Izan kissed and blew it towards where the three were.
The referee restarted the match after that and the pressure was all on the Sevilla side. The players had not expected such resilience from the opponent as overall,they were the better team.
This caused them to make mistakes. Their captain Jorge mendes tried his best and stabilised the team.
The match was going either way until Izan got the ball. Unfortunately for him his recent antics and goal had brought him unwanted attention.
"Make use of every situation whether good or bad". Izan didn't know why that rang in his mind but he understood the message behind it.
Although he was being marked, the three players on him had made the opponents have a smaller number of players when the Valencia u19 team is on the attack.
Izan taking advantage of the number,sent a dodgy pass that looked as is it was being controlled.
Wissam on the right wing went ahead of the ball and as if listening to him,the ball came right to him. Not wasting anytime,he sped up just after receiving the ball.
The sudden burst of speed made it difficult for him to control the ball. This slip up caused a few number of Sevilla u19 players to track back.
Izan took advantage of the lack of awareness of the players marking him and slipped away.
Izan timed his run very well and got a pass from wissam who spotted him.
Izan dragged the ball back after seeing the incoming player and faked a shot.
The player who saw Izan about to shoot commited and tried to block it.
Izan with a ball roll flicked it to the left.
Izan looked up and saw that the keeper was a bit on the right side.
Using the outside of his right foot,he made a trivela shot that smacked the top left corner of the net.
The stadium erupted into cheers, as Izan ran towards the touchline. He slid on the ground before getting up to hug Coach Moreno who was also ecstatic.
Both the Valencia players on the bench and on the pitch joined in the celebrations.
Coach Borja couldn't help but sigh at the scene infront of him. He also wanted a player that could change the tide of a game just like Izan did.
He smiled wryly and called some of his players and gave each of them instructions to do.
The goal was scored in the 35th minute. The referee blew the whistle to restart the game after all the players got into position.
The game continued and it seems like the dead spirits of the Sevilla u19 had risen. Izan looked at them and thought whatever the coach said to them after he scored was working.
The players this time were more compact and fluid. They didn't leave any space that the opponent could make use of.
Izan smiled at the resiliency of the players. He liked that they were not going down without a fight.
The Sevilla u19 team's effort paid off as they got a chance to level the score.
45+2'
The Sevilla u19 team got a corner at the end of the first half. Their set piece taker went to the corner flag and took the ball and set it on a spot he was comfortable with.
He sent a mediocre pass into the box which made everyone think of the chance as wasted. One captain however,with a bit of a run up jumped up towering over everyone and met the ball.
The ball spun and entered the net. The Sevilla u19 team went crazy. The cheers of the Sevilla fans grew louder as their team had levelled the score.
Jorge mendes who had scored the goal ran to the sevilla fans and did a heart sign with his hands.
The players returned to the pitch because the referee had added 4 minutes to normal time.
The 2 minutes however passed uneventfully. Izan walked to the tunnel as he was a bit sad that they couldn't keep the score till the second half.
The score on the board after the 1st half showed everything about the match
Valencia u19 [2]-[2] Sevilla u19.
The cheers of the fans died down as they waited for the second half to start.