Coach Borja stood beside the tactical board with his assistant. He was lost in thought as the match he thought would be easily won was proving to give him a hard time.
One player had managed to induce a headache on him and although he knew the opponents played well as a team,he also knew that that same team would be less lethal without this player.
The player was none other than Izan. The Coach started thinking of ways to shut him down as the 3 man marking he had employed on him in the first half proved useless.
Coach Borja after much deliberation decided to switch to a 5-4-1 formation which would help in attacking whiles keeping opponents at bay.
He entrusted the captain, Jorge mendes to mark Izan during the second half.
[In the Valencia dressing room]
"Yo Izan, do you think we'll win" asked Gaia who was on the bench. Izan thought for a while before responding.
"Well,we've played good football in the first half and I think we can win if we manage to bring out that extra effort".
"Also we need to stop conceding " said Izan whiles looking at the defenders.
"Okay,listen up. I've decided to maintain the lineup but I will switch the formation to a 4-2-4 which means Izan will be joining Hugo as a second striker".
Coach Moreno knew that switching to that formation would help them dominate the game and score more goals but it could also bite them if the players didn't coordinate well.
Izan who was eating a banana nodded at the coach's instructions.
"I know we'll win guys. Let's go that extra mile" Andranik said rallying 'yeahs' and shouts from the players.
The shouts of the fans increased as the they saw the players stepping onto the pitch. The Match had been exciting as neither team wanted to lose.
Hugo who was kicking off passed the ball to Izan as the referee blew his whistle. He passed the ball to Izan who took a touch before passing back to Andranik who was now in a double pivot with Javier bueso.
Andranik after he received the ball passed to the left back Lucas ténas who controlled the ball nicely.
The passes went on for a while as they wanted the Sevilla players to let down their guards. The Sevilla players however did not lose their guard.
The passes went on for about 5 minutes without them losing the ball. The possession was 80 to 20 for Valencia u19 by Izan's estimation.
The match was getting a bit boring with all these passes. Izan dropped back to receive a pass from andranik.
Sensing that a player was coming from behind,Izan used his outside of his left boot to flick the ball around the player.
The ball went a bit further than Izan intended. The opponent player who was closest to the ball was the right back and he tried to meet the ball but Izan with his electrifying speed caught up to the ball first.
Mark juardo, the Valencia u19 left winger ran to space after his marker left to chase the ball.
Izan who was one on one with the right back lobbed the ball over him. The player who wasnt ready for that kind of play faltered as Izan went around him to get the ball.
Izan after trapping the ball on his chest sent a pass to juardo who was onside.
Juardo after taking the ball sped up and got the the left flank before slowing down a bit. He raised his head and saw Hugo before releasing a splendid cross to Hugo who didn't dissapoint.
Hugo jumped and towered over the defenders before meeting the ball with his head.
The keeper who dived had no chance as the ball was nearly in before he dived.
Hugo ran before sliding on the ground. He had been kept quiet in the match and he struck when he got the chance.
Coach Moreno pumped his fists in the air as his team had managed to go ahead once more.
The Sevilla u19 Coach, Borja however sighed as his team was on the backfoot again. He convinced himself that there was still time as it had only been 10 minutes since the start of the second half.
Coach Borja's optimistic behaviour seemed to help him as his word of encouragement caused his team to start playing some good football once more.
The Valencia players too were relentless as the continued to defend.
The match became a game of basketball as each team tried to score quickly once the got the ball.
The back and forth was unsettling for some fans whiles others were just enjoying the attacking football they were seeing.
The Sevilla u19 team tried to score from a freekick they got. Their setpiece taker torres made a wonderful shot towards the goal only to be denied by the goal post.
Izan also played spectacularly as he was creating dangerous chances here and there.
He would make a through pass that would end up being wasted or make a shot which would also end up either being saved by the keeper or missing the goal by mere centimetres.
The match continued as usual until sevilla got a goal in the 77th minute
[COMMENTATOR POV]
' This youth match has proven to be very spectacular as both teams have been relentless. Valencia u19 have been rampant with their 3 goals to show for with Sevilla u19 also not backing down with their 2 goals.
Valencia no. 21 Izan has been wonderful and I won't be surprised if he plays for the senior team in the upcoming pre-season tour.
Sevilla have gotten the ball as I was speaking and they seem to be making good progress. Their no. 7 Galado continues to give Lucas Ténas a tough time on the right flank.
Lovely piece of skill as he runs with the ball from Lucas. Galado still on the ball driving forwards and 'ugh' he cuts in with a beautiful Ronaldo chop.
Now infront of the 18 yard box,Galado seems to be looking for a pass but decides to go alone.
Galado,driving forward and he shoots!!!!
Gooooooooooooooaaaaallllllllllaaaazo
Awwwww wonderful curler by galado. That was a wonderful piece of art. '
The commentator's voice was drowned by the screams of the Sevilla fans. Galado after scoring ran over the ad-boards and went to celebrate with the fans.
Coach Borja who wasn't expecting such a goal went bonkers after Galado's curler.
Some of the players on the Sevilla u19 bench even joined in on Galado's celebration with the fans.
Meanwhile on the other side,the Valencia u19 players were distraught.
Izan who was not expecting such a goal had his head down.
Vic abril,the second keeper who replaced Raul jiminez was livid with himself. Although the ball which scored would give a tough time to even two keepers in the same goal, he was angry for not even getting a touch on it.
The referee signaled the Sevilla u19 players to get into position before he started the match.
The Valencia u19 players lost focus as they were thinking about a loss even though it was 3 goals for each team.
Sevilla u19 however carried the momentum from the goal and tried to kill the match as they attacked relentlessly.
The only Valencia players who had not lost focus were Hugo, Izan ,Andranik Abril and Lucas tena who couldn't stop Galado earlier.
The sevilla u19 team got a chance to kill the game off as Jorge mendes,their captain sent a long ball to their no.7, Torres who took a splendid touch.
Torres went with the ball on the flanks before releasing the ball to their striker Marco de Paul who took a nice touch of the ball before running with it.
Torres' pass had split the Valencian u19 defence and Marc de Paul who got onto the ball was now a facing the keeper.
Vic abril once again made himself bigger by rushing towards the striker. Marc still unfazed tried to curl it around the keeper once more but this was exactly what Vic abril was expecting.
With outstretched hands and leg,the curled ball took a deflection off him and hit the post before going to the right flank.
Lucas tena who was already near the ball took control of it and saw a chance to counter.
Wissam who had replaced Marc juardo a while again called for a pass.
Not wasting any chance,Lucas sent a long ball ahead of Wissam who with a sudden burst of speed started chasing the ball.
Lucas didn't stay behind and also went to provide support for Wissam.
Wissam made a quick one-two with Juan,the new entry. Wissam after getting the ball back continued on his run .
After coming to a one on one with the right back of the Sevilla u19,wissam tried to break through but stopped after thinking it through.
Just then,he saw Lucas tena out of the corner of his eye running towards him.
Wissam spoting this dribbled to the right.
The Sevilla u19 right back followed suit leaving his post which was soon filled by Lucas Tèna.
Wissam who saw this passed the ball to lucas Tèna who continued the run.
Lucas raised his head and saw an opponent player approaching. Izan who had seen this buildup remembered a goal he had seen from a match against Barcelona and Real Madrid.
Izan sped up to the arc of the 18 yard box and Lucas tena who saw this sent a grounded pass to Izan.
Izan not waiting for anyone shot the ball first time with a maddening curl.The keeper who tried his best to keep it out was too late as the ball went into the bottom left corner of the goal.
The Valencia u19 players went psycho on the pitch as the joined Izan in the Celebrations.
Izan who had just scored a hatrick ran to the Coach who also met Izan on the way. "Coach,we did it " Izan said as he hugged Coach Moreno.
Coach Moreno just nodded without saying anything.
Komi,Hori and Olivia who were in the stands jumped up and cheered as soon as Izan scored the goal. Komi couldn't help but cry.
"Come on mum,Why are you crying" Hori said as she looked at her mother.
"I don't know hori, I don't even know. I gu- I guess I'm just happy for my son".
Coach Borja who was sure his team would win after the last flurry of attacks couldn't help but sigh again.
(Is it me or is this guy sighing a lot ••)
Izan's goal was scored in the 89th minutes and there was little time for the Sevilla u19 team to score again.
The match ended in win for the Valencia U19 team as the score board displayed the results.
It was Valencia u19 [4]-[3] Sevilla u19
Jose Bordalás,the Manager for the Valencia senior team smiled at what he had just seen. He stood up before making a phone call.
"Yes he's good". He waited a bit before, "Call him up for the pre-season tournament " he said as he left the pitch.
The dressing room of the Valencia u19 team was living as the players celebrated. They had qualified for the semi-finals of the Copa de campeones de juvenil.
Izan who was celebrating heard the familiar 'ding' sound. He opened the messages as the holographic screen displayed infront of his eyes.
Quest
[3* Win in the quarter finals of the 'Copa de campeones de juvenil']
Reward: +15 stat point
Status:Completed
Izan saw that he had completed another quest. He smiled before joining back in the Celebrations.
Coach Moreno came in before the players sat down. "So we qualified for semi's and are one match away from the finals".
The players cheered at his words. "We were lucky as we didn't draw Barcelona u19 or Real Madrid u19. They will be playing against each other. We drew Real betis u19 in the semi finals and it isn't an easy match so let's put in that extra effort and get to the finals"
The players cheered at the news that they weren't going to meet any of the big dogs.
Izan looked at his teammates and laughed as the celebrations continued.