Kaiser stood with both hands on his waist. This is the worst start he could have possibly imagined, but nonetheless, he couldn't start panicking now.
He was the captain of the team, if he lost his tenacity and belief, then so would his teammates around him. Quickly he patted himself on the cheeks and ran towards the middle of the pitch as his other teammates were low on morale.
Especially Kelechi and Femi who have made the amateur mistake that led to the goal their team conceded.
"Guys it's okay. All we need to do is calm down and get our heads together." Kaiser said as he stood in the middle of the halfway circle, his teammates gathering around him.
"First off Kelechi, Femi, don't blame yourselves too much. It was a team error, we didn't pay attention to Peter when he was running in behind. Just pay more attention and don't rush in blindly, that applies to all of us." Kaiser said with a tone of authority that didn't seem to match his age.
"Don't add me to you guys' mistake. Why would our defence be caught sleeping like that." A voice said from outside the circle, which happened to belong to Joshua.
"Who is this guy? Are you an idiot?" Hezekiah, their team's left winger said.
"The only reason the counter started in the first place was because you fell for Wisdom's trap." Hezekiah continued.
"What did you just say to me?" Joshua said as he made his way towards Hezekiah, ready to square up.
His movement however was stopped by Kaiser who placed himself between the two boys and held out both his arms, stopping the argument from escalating any further.
"That's enough, you guys. We are already behind, we can't afford to be fighting ourselves on top." His words seemed to do just enough as they both stood down.
"The good thing is we conceded early, that means we have enough time to play them properly and even win." Kaiser said, and this seemed to do the trick as he could see his teammate's expressions light up.
"Now that we've all calmed down, let's set up a game plan. For now, we know that they want to play counterattacking football, which means they'll try to exploit any space that we leave while trying to win the ball back. So we'll sit back in our half and eventually, they'll try to progress the ball by themselves."
Kaiser began laying the foundation for how his team would play, explaining everyone's roles perfectly. If not for the fact that these words were coming out of a teenager's mouth you would think he was already a manager himself.
They had quite a bit of time to do this as the temperatures were high since it was the dry season and they were taking cooling breaks at intervals.
As they got back onto the pitch for the restart, Kaiser could see the scouts keeping an eye on Peter and Fred. It was expected, after all, that they combined well to create that first goal out of almost nothing.
Now Kaiser was standing in the circle with Joshua who was looking at Wisdom with malice.
"You probably know this, but you're booked already. Please don't make any unnecessary tackles." Kaiser said as they waited for the referee's whistle.
"I'm not a fool, I know that much." Joshua said in an annoyed voice.
"Also, if you can't take the shot on yourself. Please pass.."
"Fweeeet" the ref's whistle sounded through the air.
"You won't be the one to tell me that." Joshua said as he passed the ball to Kaiser and made a run into the opposition's half.
"Seriously this guy." He said before passing the ball back to Malik. "Remember to play just how we practiced guys." Kaiser yelled to the rest of his teammates who nodded in unison.
As the ball was now with the A team, they pressed aggressively to win back possession. Peter especially ran at the defenders whenever any of them had the ball, causing them to get nervous at times and almost lose possession.
However, they were doing a good job of beating the press and by now most of the other team players had over-exerted themselves, causing them to only jog and walk to preserve their energy.
Kaiser noticed this and called for the ball which was passed to him by destiny. And in one swift movement, he began a lung-bursting run from the halfway line, running past Fred and Favor who were still catching their breath from the earlier team presses.
Quickly, however, his path had been blocked by Wisdom and Tomison, team B's centre-back duo. He immediately scanned, looking for Joshua in order to set him free. He was being tightly marked by Tolu from Left Wing Back, so it would've been unwise to pass the ball to him.
He quickly scanned his surroundings while carrying out body feints over the ball to stall for time when he heard footsteps coming ever closer behind him along the touchline.
"Kaiser pass it!" A familiar voice said from behind but Kaiser wasn't the only one who heard it, Tomison did as well. This prompted him to close down Kaiser from the left side where Malik was making the run.
However, this left an opening in the defensive line which Wisdom noticed and tried to make up for but it was too late.
Kaiser saw the gap and swiftly played a side-footed pass through the space, with Malik bombing down the outside of the touchline with Tomison doing his best to keep up with him.
However, Malik had him completely beaten for pace. Suddenly the seemingly passive game had turned on its head with Team A launching a counterattack. Malik had almost gotten into the final third when he spotted Jeffery closing him down from his right-hand side.
He tried to feint a cross toward the box but Jeffery was buying none of it and standing firm in his defensive duties.
Malik quickly looked around, trying to survey his options. Passing the ball back would allow Team B to get back into their defensive positions.
Help however came at just the right time as he saw Joshua creating space for himself down the center of the pitch as he pinged a low hard pass which Jeffery tried to block but instead went through his legs, which deflected it a bit.
This caused the pass to be slowed, causing Joshua to slow down before reaching the pass. Now Fred had gotten back in front of the penalty box, meaning Joshua would have to beat his man before taking on the keeper himself.
He began charging ahead, with little time to make a decision before he was closed down from all angles. He began looking around to decide the best course of action when he spotted Kaiser making a run on his right side, completely unmarked as he ran alongside Joshua who was now being closed down by two players.
Kaiser waved his hands frantically, not wanting to shout and grab the attention of the defenders or keeper, he knew Joshua could clearly see him.
"Just play the damn pass, what is wrong with this guy." He fumed inside his head as they were getting closer to the keeper now and running out of pitch.
When Joshua had almost entered the penalty box he feinted left, causing Fred to lunge in the direction of the shot and open up a bit of space.
Kaiser who was in acres of space finally yelled. "JOSHUA PASS ME THE BALL!"
He had a much clearer shot at goal and would definitely score it given the opportunity.
Joshua opened up his body, angling his right foot seemingly about to pass it to Kaiser before firing his shot towards the upper right corner of the goal.
However on the way Tomison who had guessed Joshua would take the shot, stuck out his foot which got a deflection on the shot.
Everyone watched as Solomon dived with both arms outstretched to save the shot… which went out of play in the end, leading to a corner for the A Team.
That was the closest they had gotten to scoring a goal since the start of the match and it was already the 43rd minute.
"Why on earth wouldn't you pass the ball when I was open Joshua?" Kaiser raged at his team mate.
"If you had laid it off to me that was a certain goal." Kaiser fumed as the rest of their team mates gathered to the penalty box to prepare for the corner.
"Don't piss me off, if you want to score bad then create the chance yourself." Joshua said before walking towards the penalty spot to wait for the incoming corner.
Kaiser was gritting his teeth so hard they could shatter. Nonethelsss he went to the edge of the box. He was shorter than most of his teammates, in fact he was one of the shortest on both teams so it wouldn't make sense for him to try to get a header off the cross.
He would simply wait and hope the ball fell to him. Anthony was the one playing the corner in since he was left footed, it would be an in swinging cross.
Hezekiah whipped the cross in and Joshua rose highest, trying to send the ball goalwards but it hit the cross bar. Team B's players were all in the box to defend the corner, watching as the ball bounced out of the box.
Right Into the path of Kaiser who's focus was locked on the ball as it bounced up kindly for him, as he whipped the ball in with his right foot.
The ball whizzed past the bodies in the box, with Kaiser's team mates ducking out of the way while his opponents tried to deflect the shot.
But it was futile as the ball found it's way into the top left corner of the goal.
45th minute. Team A 1– 1 Team B