As soon as Alexis heard the notification from the system he smiled and nodded his head. Even if he was having doubts about playing the match, hearing the word 'mission' had changed his mind. There was also the reward that was promised, full recovery his ACL injury.
According to various tests and scans carried out by doctors, Alexis had successfully recovered from the ACL injury, and while Alexis didn't doubt the authenticity of their statement, things felt very different after he started playing football again. His guess was that the total recovery that the system talked about was helping him get back to his pre ACL state.
"Alright, let's go then". Myles smiled and led Alexis to where the rest of his friends was.
Alexis assumed that it was probably going to be a five a side match but he was wrong. There were enough players to have a team full of eleven players.
"What position do you play?" One of Myles's friends asked Alexis.
"I play as a 10, but I can play on either side of the wing if needed". Alexis answered.
He played primarily as an attacking midfielder but could also play off the right, but that was before his injury. While he figured that even though he was using his right leg to play football, it would be more convenient for him to play from the left as a winger, he was still used to playing off the right.
"Oh, perfect then. We were looking for an extra midfielder". The person that spoke earlier said, then gestured for Alexis to come over.
The two teams seperated and formed their own seperate huddles. "Alright, for the sake of the new guy why don't we introduce ourselves". The person that called Alexis over said. "I'm Julian, I play as a center back".
"Myles, right winger".
"Aaron, striker".
"Jeremy, left back".
"Phillip, center mid".
"Justin, defensive mid".
"Hansel, right back".
"Trey, left winger". Trey was a bit... Fair skinned. He was black but he had a bit of a pale complexion and curly black hair.
"Joshua, centre back".
"Clinton, Goalkeeper ".
"Alexis, Attacking midfielder". Alexis said after everyone had finished introducing themselves.
"Okay, so we're going play with a 4-2-3-1, double pivot". Julian said considering the positions of the players that they had available. "As for the game plan... just don't lose".
After Julian's heartfelt words of motivation, everyone set out. The pitch available was of decent size and manageable condition so Alexis didn't feel any discomfort.
Julian and the captain of the other team flipped a coin to decide who would start. Julian won the coin toss and Alexis found himself giving the opening pass.
For the first few minutes, Alexis found himself playing the role of a spectator. From what he saw, it was obvious that he was the odd man out in his team. The rest of them had a high amount of chemistry with other and the play was free flowing.
Occasionally, Alexis got the ball, but then he always returned it. He wanted to spend the first ten minutes or so observing his opponents so he'd know how to take them on.
When Alexis felt that he had observed enough, he began pushing for the ball. He didn't have to do much though, one of his opponents had inadvertently passed to him.
As soon as he got the ball, he did a quick scan, quickly spotting Jeremy making a run on the left hand side. He continued driving the ball forward into the open space in front of him, allowing Jeremy to drive the full back away before playing the ball to Trey who had plenty of space to run into.
Unfortunately, Alexis over hit the ball so Trey's first touch brought the ball away from him quite a bit. He had to speed towards the loose ball and sent a thundering shot over the bar.
"Shit". Alexis muttered under his breath. He was still trying to get used to playing with his right foot. After a few more more moments of thought, he decided to be grateful that his pass was accurate in the first place.
Trey smiled at him and raised a thumbs up. In his mind, he didn't do enough to control the ball.
Myles also cast a surprised glance towards Alexis. He didn't know that he was such an intelligent player. He just randomly found him and only called him over because he has seen him at school a few times.
The next ten minutes or so was was extremely difficult for Alexis's team. Alexis's earlier display of wits made him closely monitored by his opponent. Even if he wasn't monitored, his team didn't have the ball at all. The opposing team were knocking the ball around a lot, not giving any of Alexis's teammates an opportunity to get the ball.
After a few more minutes of chasing the ball, Alexis's team finally got the ball. Justin was the one who made a tackle and he drove the ball a bit before releasing it out wide to Myles.
Myles ran with the ball for quite a distance, occasionally dribbling past a few outstretched legs. He found himself at the edge of the box and played a pass back to Alexis. Alexis stopped the ball and scanned around. He cut inside with his left foot looking entirely to his left after such he used his right leg to flick it over to Aaron who was going on an explosive run to the left.
Aaron dragged the ball to his front with his left leg then hit the slightly bouncing ball on half volley towards the near post with his right. The goalkeeper of the opposing side had already made a dive towards the right side of the post. He could only look in dismay as the ball entered the back of the net.
"Ballll!" Justin screamed as soon as the ball hit the back of the net.
Aaron did a bit of a celebration then pointed at Alexis. "You're a fucking magician". He said. "You trained at an academy, yeah?"
Alexis nodded.
"Figures". Aaron muttered under his breath.
After celebrating for a bit more, Alexis's team got back to their position and the match restarted.
A/N:
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