The second half had gone by quickly and quite uneventfully, as Joshua was no longer on the pitch, Kaiser's team found their new striker not venturing forward as much.
His tame behaviour meant that his team didn't really have as many attacking outlets as before and Kaiser couldn't do it all on his own, not yet.
Peter and his team weren't pressing as much as before, however, they were marking Kaiser viciously, and he barely had any time on the ball. Even when they did win possession, they hardly did anything with the ball. They were in the 78th minute and fatigue was starting to settle in the boys.
Hezekiah received a pass from Kaiser and tried to dribble around his opponent but was tackled and the ball went out of play, leading to a throw-in for his team.
Coach Idris took the opportunity to make some substitutions, seeing as his team was flagging. He brought on a winger and a fresh center back.
"Boys come over here!" Coach Eze said to Kaiser and his teammates as they jogged over to receive instructions from their manager.
Kaiser glanced at Joshua who was trying to steal glances at his father and his friends. Kaiser took a peek as well and could immediately tell that the man was unhappy his son wasn't playing.
'Not much to brag about when your kid is on the bench after all.' He thought within himself.
"Everyone I need your attention." Coach Eze said, prompting Kaiser to redirect his focus.
"I know you can all see the time we have left, the game is coming to a close. We have to exploit these last minutes by pressing as aggressively as possible." He started.
"Zeal, Victor, I know you must be tired, but I need you to make overlaps at intervals to stretch the opposition's defense. They want to choke us out in the middle of the pitch." He said to his two full-backs who nodded promptly.
"Malik and destiny, that means you both have to track back and defend so we don't get caught out." He said to his midfielders who also nodded in agreement.
"We'll also be making a change. Joshua, you'll be coming in to play the final minutes. You're tall so we could use your aerial presence in the box for crosses." Coach Eze said to Joshua whose face lit up for a moment before becoming stern with concentration.
"Yes coach, I won't let you down." He replied.
"Osho, you've been doing well so far, but I need you to make more passes Into space and run at your man, be a nuisance, and create set-piece chances if you can." He said to Kaiser who felt the attention of the team on him.
Everyone knew that he was the heartbeat of the team, he was instrumental in them creating chances and now he was being marked more tightly, their chance creation had reduced greatly.
"Does everybody understand?" Coach Eze asked after delivering his instructions.
"Yes, coach." They replied in unison.
"Now go there and show these scouts why they should choose you!"
As they walked onto the pitch with the rest of the boys, Kaiser walked over to Joshua.
"Joshua." He said calmly.
"What is it?" Joshua replied hastily, more with a tone of embarrassment rather than annoyance.
"I know you want to impress your dad, and I can help you with that. All you have to do is listen to what I say." Kaiser said as they got into position.
"I'm listening." He said.
"Are you familiar with the 'Corner taken Quickly moment?'"
***
The game was reaching its end. Kaiser and his team had been keeping the majority of the possession and Peter and his team were getting restless.
They were maintaining their shape however and playing in a low-block defensive formation.
Peter was getting restless with the tactics his team was employing. It was the 88th minute and they hadn't gotten a sniff of the ball.
Kaiser moved to the halfway line and collected the ball from Kelechi, and all of a sudden made a bursting run towards Peter and his teammates in their half.
Without thinking, Peter charged at the oncoming Kaiser, while wisdom, sensing something was wrong, called out to him to slow down, but it fell on deaf ears.
Right as Peter was about to make the tackle to win the ball, Kaiser performed a half roulette and passed the ball back towards Kelechi who had moved to midfield, all the way from the defence.
He pinged a first-time pass over the back line of Team B. And to Peter's horror, Hezekiah had already made a run in behind and picked up the ball as he burst down the left wing.
He was quickly caught up by Jeffery however who anticipated such a counter and didn't move too far up the pitch.
His eyes were laser-focused on the ball at Hezekiah's feet who tried to feint and cross the ball Into the box, into the path of his oncoming teammates.
Jeffery however stood firm, the ball struck him as it went out for a corner kick.
Without any sort of set-piece practice, this ought to have been a hopeful ball in, or they would play it short and try to create a chance.
Kaiser ran over to the corner flag, alongside Solomon who was right-footed. Kaiser had mostly used his left foot since the beginning of the tryouts, giving his team and the enemy team the assumption that he wouldn't take the corner.
Kaiser stood behind the corner flag, facing Solomon. He glanced at the large digital clock on the table and he could see that they were in the 90th minute.
All the boys were tussling in the box, waiting for the cross from Solomon to come in as Kaiser looked to be walking away from the corner flag.
Then suddenly he turned and ran towards the ball, sending in a powerful in-swinging corner towards the back post.
The whole box was in disarray, both the Team A and Team B players were lost and nobody expected the corner which seemed to be sailing above everyone.
That is until a blur flew past the confused bunch before burying a header into the back of the net.
Silence filled the air as everyone was in shock at what just happened. That was until Joshua got up to his feet and let out a lung-bursting scream.
"YESSSSSSSSSSS!"
Before both members of his team and their families joined in the celebrations.
93rd minute. Team A 2-1 Team B.