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"I hate Scousers."
During that training session, everyone formed a common hatred for Liverpool Red and Jonathan Klüp. Even the Liverpool Red fans among them couldn't help but develop a small hatred for their beloved coach.
They had been running for thirty minutes straight. Although they were allowed brief rest periods, it was still too much for the lungs of teenage boys. The worst part was that Xavier seemed oblivious to their suffering. Or even if he was aware of it, he simply didn't care.
After a few more minutes of running, Xavier finally called everyone to the center of the field. Everyone collapsed as soon as they got there. Xavier thought about making them stand but ultimately decided against it. He wanted to play wicked, not inhumane.
"Alright, boys, today I just wanted you to get an idea of what I'm going to demand from you," Xavier said. "Tomorrow, we're going to start. And you would do well to read the file I sent you. If you don't read it and you come here and play shit, Marcus and Jermaine are on standby."
"That's all for now—oh, how could I forget?" Xavier slapped his forehead. "Tonight, I'll send you the draw for the second preliminary round of the Proprietor's Cup."
Everyone sucked in a breath. A few players felt their hearts start pounding. This was the first tournament they would play in. Furthermore, it was a one-loss-and-you're-out affair. There wasn't even a group stage format!
Alexis was one of the calmer ones when he heard that statement. He had played in numerous tournaments in Real Stars academy, so he could be considered fairly experienced in that field. In fact, it wouldn't be an overstatement to say that he was the most experienced in the team.
"I'll send you the details of the draw later in the match," Xavier said. "You lot should have your fingers crossed and pray that we get drawn against a shitty team. If we don't, then oh well."
After a few more nonsensical words, Xavier released everybody. Alexis had to call Sandra and beg her to come and get him. He didn't think he had it in him to walk home. Since Trey lived nearby, he naturally tagged along. He wasn't going to let a free ride go just like that.
When Alexis got home, the first thing he did was take a cold bath. He ended up carrying his phone to the shower since he wasn't sure that he would be strong enough to step out of the bathtub immediately after he was done bathing himself.
He read the tactics that Xavier sent for a few minutes and only stopped because he was interrupted by a notification that popped up on his phone's screen. He tapped on the notification and was redirected to the school team group chat.
//Coach Xavier: it's been made official, cunts; we're facing Williamson Memorial in the second preliminary round//
//~O'Riley: we're fucking screwed//
//Trey: Relax, bro, we're all good. Those fuckers have been washed for the past five years//
//~Black: Cap, I saw their training footage from a week ago. Those bastards are cooking//
//Coach Xavier: Anyone actually know how good those cunts are? I don't like inconsistent reports//
//~callmedave: Aren't you supposed to know, sir?//
//Coach Xavier: I haven't scouted the cunts yet//
//~ucheshaggedyoursister: I got footage from their first match, their goalkeeper's pretty solid. The rest of them are shit though//
//~Dennisjonathan: send please?//
//~ucheshaggedyoursister: (Video file)//
//~Liam: So we just smash shots at their goal until their goalkeeper lets one in... Easy!//
//~yourmomspanties: It's not that easy. Brother faced twenty shots in the first preliminary round; none of them went in//
//~ucheshaggedyoursister: Yeah. The match went to penalties eventually, and he saved all the penalties//
//Coach Xavier: fuck me boys. The sponsors are going to sack me if we lose. I don't like the job, but that's a hundred thousand quid every month//
//~sexyandy: What?!//
//Coach Xavier: I'm over-exaggerating so everyone won't know the stingy cunt your father is//
The discussion eventually spiraled away from the second-round draw. After reading the discussions for a while, Alexis eventually got out of the bathtub. He took one look at his now flaccid skin and shrugged.
After he got out of the bathtub, he continued reading Xavier's tactics. He read through them about three times before he set his phone down and went to sleep.
According to what his teammates said in the group chat, Williamson Memorial was just an average team depending on a very good goalkeeper. And even if the goalkeeper was very good, he still had a weakness. Every goalkeeper had a weakness.
|Ding! Host has been given a new mission|
|Mission: Score during the preliminary match against Williamson Memorial|
|Reward: (classified)|
Alexis furrowed his brows when he saw the reward for completing the mission. He was worried for a few seconds, but then he started to get excited.
He had read his fair share of web novels and knew that whenever something like this happened, the reward was too good to be true.
After calming himself down, he finally managed to fall asleep.
The following morning, he woke up early and went to school very early. He planned to do some private training. He had gotten permission from Xavier to train before the school team. All he had to say was that he was trying to get used to Archie and David's game in the midfield.
To his surprise, he found nearly the entire squad, along with Xavier, already waiting inside the locker room.
"Alright, he's the last important cunt," Xavier said as soon as Alexis entered the locker room. "We're going to start today."
"What's happening?" Alexis found Trey and sat down beside him.
"You don't know?" Trey raised a brow.
"If I knew, I wouldn't be asking you, would I?"
"Right, I forgot you were a socially retarded person," Trey said with a smile. "We decided to meet early today so that we could start practicing the new tactics."
"It's five in the morning," Alexis said dryly.
"Yeah. Xavier wants us to get some work done on it before we discuss tactics today," Trey said.
"Fucking hell," Alexis muttered under his breath.
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