The week had gone by in an instant, it was Saturday now and the final day for the tryouts. Everything they had done so far had finally come to this. Kaiser and his mother left their home fifteen minutes before 7 am in order to avoid a repeat of the last time.
Just as agreed, they pulled over under a pedestrian bridge where Peter was waiting for them. Upon seeing Kaiser he made his way and carefully got into the back seat.
"Good morning ma." He greeted Kaiser's mother respectfully as was a custom in Nigeria. "Good morning dear." Which she replied cheerfully.
"How are you, Peter? I hope you're ready for the final drill." Kaiser asked enthusiastically, finding it easier to communicate and relate with Peter.
"Yeah, I've been preparing so hopefully everything goes well. I'm sure we'll be playing an actual match today so I'm excited." Peter said with a slight grin on his face.
"Do you think we'll both be on the same team?" Peter posed the question.
Kaiser honestly hoped they wouldn't be. He glanced up and saw the quest still lingering in front of him. If he wanted to finish first then he needed to be a standout player and playing with Peter would reduce his chances.
Although it would be tough he would rather play against him. "I don't know, but I guess time will tell. Let's just see how it goes." He said as they enjoyed the ride.
***
About half an hour later they had finally arrived at the training ground. During the course of the week, Coach Eze had passed a message telling them to come straight to the pitch they used the last time.
Upon arriving they saw a much larger crowd than what they had seen the last time. Most of the boys who made it through came with their family members to support them.
There were also a much larger number of coaches, both Nigerian and foreign. Kaiser looked around and he could clearly see Coach Reuben Amorim. He remembered him from his past life, he was the man responsible for the A.S Roma academy being run in Abuja.
They came to these kinds of events and scouted talents from other academies and if they were good enough, they would be sent to Italy to further improve their skills.
That was Kaiser's goal. If he could skip the process of signing with a local academy first it would make everything much easier for him.
Kaiser was about to say something to Peter when he caught his gaze. Peter was looking at the other boys with their parents present to support them, and Kaiser could see a sense of longing within him.
Of course, for such an event like this, having some kind of support system would go a long way, but he had no one.
"Peter, I just wanted to say no matter what, let's both do our best." Kaiser said with a smile on his face. And Peter looked at him and smiled too.
"Alright boys gather up! Today is the day you have all been preparing for." Coach Eze's voice boomed through the crowd.
Besides him stood Coach Idris who was also watching everything unfold. "Today is about one thing. We will be playing a 90-minute match between group A and group B." He said while handing out blue color jerseys to a set of boys and red color jerseys to another set of boys.
Fortunately for Kaiser, he and Peter were in separate groups with Kaiser playing for the B team and Peter playing for the A team.
"I'll call out the names for team A." Coach Eze yelled out. Sohn Des Kaiser, Kuda Kelechi, Solomon Eze, Joshua Arase, Malik Abdul Kareem, Zeal Izuchukwu, Kosisochukwu George, Victor Harry, Destiny Abraham, George Femi, Anthony Hezekiah. You will all be playing for team A. The remaining of you whose names I didn't call will be on the bench and will have a chance to make your appearance later in the match. I will be your coach." Coach Eze said to the boys.
"As for group B. Bill Aina, Peter Omonobi, Gift Orban, Benjamin Oshoke, Favor Edache, Solomon Eze, Fred Okafor, Wisdom Moses, Tomison Sonowo, Tolu Adeyemi, Jeffery Kelechi. You will be playing for team B with coach Idris as your coach. Gather up and meet your respective coaches." Coach Eze said as the boys moved to their managers.
Coach Eze made his team gather in a circle and brought out a simple board with all their names and numbers well listed out.
"We're going to run over some simple tactics. Nothing too complicated. We will line up in a simple 4-3-3 attack formation. Two wingers and a striker, a left center midfielder a central attacking midfielder, and a right center midfielder with two Full backs, two central defenders and a goalkeeper. Based on your qualities, what positions would you like to play?" Coach Eze asked the boys to speed up the process.
"I'll play goalkeeper, that's my position." George first said and coach Eze gave him a black jersey with the number 1 on the back and some gloves.
Zeal Izuchukwu and Victor Harry who were wing backs were given jerseys with the numbers 2 and 3.
The shape they took on and the player's position ended up like this.
Full backs: Zeal Izuchukwu (2), Victor Harry (3)
Goalkeeper: Kosisochukwu (1)
Central Defenders: Kuda Kelechi (4), George Femi (5)
Left and right midfielders: Malik Abdul Kareem Left mid (8), Destiny Abraham right mid (12).
Central attacking midfielder: Kaiser Oshomanoya (10)
Striker: Joshua arase (9)
left winger: Solomon Eze (11)
Right winger: Anthony hezekiah (7)
Once they had all worn their jerseys and been given instructions, Coach Eze gathered the boys for a team talk.
"The games will be played just as a normal match would. Two halves of 45 minutes each. There is no limit to the number of substitutions made." This made the other boys on the bench happy, knowing they would have a chance to showcase their skills.
"As you can see, there are numerous coaches here." Coach Eze said as he gestured to the crowd or coaches sitting under a canopy on the other side of the pitch.
"Not only foreign, but Nigerian as well. If you perform outstandingly enough you could skip this academy altogether and sign up for an academy abroad. However, that doesn't mean you should then be scared or play selfishly because you want to impress them. Play as a team and win as a team. We will be grading you off your positions and Individual performances. Now go out there and do your best." Coach Eze said as he shook all the boys.
"Osho, come over here." Coach Eze said to Kaiser as the other boys had left.
"I want you to be the team's captain." He said to Kaiser who was surprised. "But sir I'm the youngest on the team, I'm sure there would be others more qualified." He said.
"Ha ha ha." Coach Eze laughed for the first time. "You see, at this age, you're already thinking about things like that. Most kids would just happily take it. You exude a kind of maturity I haven't seen before. Trust me, they will listen to you." Coach Eze said as he put the green armband on Kaiser's arm.
"Don't disappoint me. He said as he patted the boy on the shoulder and pushed him In the direction of the field.
At the sound of the referee's whistle, the two groups of boys made their way to the pitch and began sizing each other up. Kaiser was already scanning the opposition and watching who the danger men on that team would be.
Destiny saw the band on Kaiser's arm and yelled audibly. "Woah, look at our new skipper." He said enthusiastically as the whole team looked towards Kaiser's direction.
Praises, cheers and congratulations rang out of the mouths of everyone except Joshua who was obviously irritated at the situation.
"Thank you for your confidence in me, everyone. Let's do our best and win this game!" Kaiser yelled and his teammates followed suit.
"Yeah, let's do our best!" Malik yelled from his end of the pitch to the surprise of everyone as he had barely spoken a word since the tryouts began.
"Alright teams, are you ready?" The referee yelled from the middle of the pitch where the kickoff was about to take place.
Both sides yelled "yes" in unison as the two captains were called forward. Kaiser walked towards the halfway line where he met the captain of the other team… Peter.
"What a surprise meeting you here." Peter said with a sly smile.
"I could say the same." Kaiser replied with an equally sly smile.
"Heads or tails?" The referee asked.
"Heads." Peter said to the referee.
"Tails for me then." Kaiser responded with the ref flipping the coin and the piece landing in Peter's favor.
"Team B will kick off the game." The referee said as he gestured towards team B's side of the pitch.
As Kaiser walked to the heart of his team's formation he heard a familiar ding sound as the screen appeared before him.
[Quest notification.]
[Win the match with at least one goal contribution.]
[Reward???]
[Failure???]