The football players walked into the field, each and every single one of them hoping to outshine each other.
Football had changed now, it had evolved as every other sports did. Even Defenders were required to score now. If you were a very good defender, but poor in attack, a poor defender who was good in attack would be chosen to start the game, unless when pure defensive game was needed, which was always quite rare.
As new generations came and new people took over the control of the sports industry. They introduced new rules and regulations, so it could suit their time and era.
Elian puffed out his chest as the national anthem was sang melodiously by the players. If one didn't know better, one would suspect that the criteria of a good singing voice was also needed to be able to become a footballer.
The players knelt on one knee as was the tradition in football, showing their stance with the Black Lives Matter programme. However, racism was almost nonexistent amongst individuals now, they only still kept this ritual because it had already become sn integral part of football.
The captains of the two teams shook each other and the referees, before they commenced the coin tossing contest.
Julian chose the tail and when the coin was tossed, it landed on the head, they weren't starting the kick off.
A moment later.
*Pii!*
Emilio (Manchester United U-19 Striker) passed the ball backwards to the midfielder, Hayes. Hayes controlled the ball and sent it straight down towards Knox, who was already running in.
City's Center Midfielder, Jack quickly followed the ball, chasing after Knox. Jack jumped and managed to get his head on the ball, heading it away for a throw-in.
Knox quickly picked up the ball and threw it back in, finding Hayes.
Hayes passed the ball to his fellow Center Midfielder, Grant. Grant's first touch was to send it back to the Left Back who had come out a little.
The Left Back quickly released a through ball to Gavin, the Left Forward.
The spectators erupted in cheers, clapping and chanting their favorite club. This was Manchester United's Home, so what did you expect?
The passes and been beautifully simple and direct, no flashy moves to slow their pace. This was the reformed version of their game, their new coach was doing quite well indeed.
Elian chased down Gavin, City's Left Back went into the box, marking his opponents inside there, leaving Gavin alone with Elian.
Gavin paused a little, it was a one on one time against Elian, the player who had suddenly picked up scary form in the last match. However, since it was not yet consistent, his form can be considered to be a fluke. Even at that, Elian was not a defender and used the shadow marking method, he was an easy prey for someone like Gavin who detested shadow marking. He was their perfect medicine.
Gavin faked a run forward, and Elian quickly stepped back, creating space between them so he could put his body to good use.
Unfortunately…
Gavin suddenly stepped back, making the space even wider. Elian took a sharp breath, he had left Gavin wide enough to cut in and take a shot. Elian's reflex kicked in and he burst forward, sticking his foot towards the ball.
But Gavin had no intention of cutting to take a shot, he wanted to pass through that same place where Elian was standing, and Elian's standing there wasn't going to change nothing about that.
Gavin accelerated forward, knocking the ball a little so that it bounced over Elian's leg. He slipped past Elian immediately, dribbling him effectively.
Elian turned around, but all he could see was Gavin's back, even at that, he wasn't giving up.
Suddenly, Samuel, the DM for City came sliding in, catching Gavin by surprise.
Gavin was first surprised, then he smiled to himself, he was a winger, they prided in their reaction time.
Gavin suddenly twisted his body, he came in front of the ball and shielded it with his body instead, allowing Samuel to hit him instead.
Samuel panicked and he tried to push his legs backwards, but it was pointless, he had too much speed and power to go with.
Samuel ended up crashing his knees into Gavin's back and this time, Gavin who was prepared to fake the man's exaggerate any little pain he was supposed to feel lost all his preparation.
This wasn't what he had expected, the pain was real.
Gavin screamed and fell to the floor, clutching his back in pain.
*Pii!*
The referee blew his whistle, rushing to the spot where this happened immediately, he put his hand into his pocket and pulled out a red card.
On seeing that, the hearts of Manchester City's played and that of all their fans fell, both the ones in the stadium and those who were watching from streaming platforms all over the world.
The crowd erupted into a shout, cussing at the referee and trying to throw things like bottles at the referee.
Samuel's face was somber. When, just when was he going to get stronger? The last match he had barely been useful and now, he had gone and put his team in a very risky position by getting a red card a few ten minutes into the match.
Elian dropped to his knees, this was bad, very bad. If their DM was on a red card, then that meant that they lacked real defensive power, and he would have to focus on defense, how was to prove himself to to the national team and make them call him?
Elian got up slowly, a glow in his eyes. He was going to do this, no matter what. As a matter of fact, this development was even better, it allowed him to carry the team alone, drawing more recognition and attention to himself.
"I'm sorry guys…" Elian muttered. "But…I have to steal the spotlight."
*Pii!*
The free kick was taken by Hayes, aiming for Emilio. Emilio was such a strong thing, sheer muscles. He jumped very high, overpowering everyone who was around him in the air, he managed to get a thundering header to the ball.
Dean Tyler was forced to make a quick dive, managing to get a strong right hand to the ball, punching it out back into the corner.
Elian suddenly realized that for the past fifteen minutes that this match had been on, they hadn't touched the ball. United's pass accuracy was surely at a hundred percent in this game.
Hayes took the corner kick, but this time, he tried to take a short corner and that worked against him instead. Asher ran madly, slidin to intercept the pass.
The crowd cheered even louder, the counter was on.
Asher sped forward with the ball, beating and losing every defender in his way.
Asher kicked the ball forward and ran even more, a large space between he and the other defenders. When he had come to the edge of the flanks, he stopped.
Asher paused, taking a quick look to surverybthe area.
He hesitated a bit, pushing the ball forward slowly. All of a sudden, he released a cross, it was low and precise.
Noah dropped low with the ball, carrying out an acrobatic play. His over-head kick connected beautifully and it chose placement over power. The power seemed to slowly move towards the top right corner of the post, keeping everyone rooted to a spot as they stared at the spinning ball.
*Pang!*
The ball hit the woodwork, and flew back out, taking the opposite route from where it came.
Oliver was there, he ran in with a fudging header, and it connected. But he lacked the real finishing technique, the ball hit the crossbar and went off for s goal kick.
Manchester United players sighed a deep sigh of relief, that had been quite the counter. Manchester City's U-19 team had always possessed a stunning counter, but it seemed to get even better in their last match.
The Goal Keeper steadied the ball in front of him, ready to take the goal kick.
The match continued for longer without any of the teams scoring, but they were hitting the crossbar at intervals.
Thirty minutes into the match, they were already breathing hard, because of the high tempo of the match that set the fans up in excitement.
But this wasn't easy for them, and it was especially so for City who were on a red card already, it wasn't easy for them at all.
Oliver passed the ball to Elian who controlled it to a stop, he hadn't used the system in this match, but he was performing well enough, at least according to his standards, he wasn't dulling their play in any way.
Elian looked around him, the first half had only about twenty minutes left to go, he could do this.
Visionary…Activate!
The first halve had twenty more minutes, and the duration for visionary was seven minutes. So in this seven minutes, Elian was going to turn into the ultimate playmaker.