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Chapter 4 - Jeremiah Hayes

"Oi! Be quick!" Victor banged on the door of the bathroom. He didn't think that Jerry was serious when he said he wanted to take a dump, but the pungent smell coming from the bathroom told him he was wrong. "The second half's about to start."

Victor waited a few seconds for a response but was met with silence. He was about to start hitting the door again when it suddenly opened.

"Whatever you ate before the game, never eat it again," Victor said while gagging. The smell released from the bathroom was way worse than what he was smelling from the outside. He was beginning to wonder how Jerry survived that long inside the toilet.

"Sorry, gaffer," Jerry apologized. He quickly fixed himself and ran out onto the tunnel. The majority of the two teams had already walked out and assumed their positions on the field.

[Alright, I think that's everyone. After what was a boring first half for the most part, the second half is about to start. Tell me, who do you think is going to walk away with the win in this match?]

[I think it's going to be Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution. They like to be with the ball. James Charles Academy are comfortable with the ball and mainly look for counters, but Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution are very disciplined; they won't leave many opportunities for James Charles Academy. If nothing changes, I think James Charles Academy are going to endure a sound beating at the hands of Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution.]

After the commentator finished talking, a lot of the family members of the James Charles Academy players, as well as people supporting them, erupted into loud boos. It was safe to say that they weren't particularly impressed with the commentator's analysis of the game.

[I think a lot of the people supporting James Charles Academy have taken offense to that statement. But it's the truth—on paper, that is. I think of recent, we've learned that a football match cannot be judged by what we expect to happen.]

Surrounding the football pitch was a stand that housed a fair number of people. It had a capacity of about a thousand seats, which were nearly filled to the brim. A pretty impressive number considering that this was just a match between two football academies.

Sitting inside the VIP section of the crowd was a middle-aged man. He had brown hair, which was neatly combed to the back, showing his blue eyes in full glory. His eyes were locked on the players on the pitch—or rather just one player.

Jeremiah Hayes exhaled as he stared at his son. He was the spitting image of him, was as tall as him, was as fast as him, and looked as strong as him, and yet... he wasn't as good as him.

When he was fifteen, he had already made his debut for Manchester Red, scoring his first goal for the club on the same night.

'Oh well. People have different timing. I wouldn't want to rush him. As long as he scores his first senior goal at sixteen, then I guess it wouldn't be too bad.'

While he fell into deep thought, he unconsciously stared at his right knee. After a few seconds, he returned his glance back to Jerry, who was jogging leisurely in the opposition half.

'As always, he's lazy to get the ball," Jeremiah mused. "When's he going to understand that he has to be hungry to get the ball? He has to be vicious, or he's just wasting his energy. It's not like the center back is just going to... lucky twat.'

48'

As Jeremiah was analyzing Jerry's game from the stands, Jerry intercepted a pass. In fact, intercepted was hardly the right word for it. It was more like he was passed to.

When he got the ball, he was at the edge of the box and had a center back running at him. He calmly pushed the ball forward, setting himself up for the shot. He moved his right leg like he was going to make the shot, and just as he was going to, his left leg hit a through pass to the left, where Zachary Come (Jeremiah Hayes Football Institution left winger) was making a run at full speed.

Zach used his left leg to cut the ball back onto his right before adjusting his body so that he would be able to take a shot comfortably. His right leg connected sweetly with the ball, and the ball entered the back of the net. There just wasn't any hope for Edward Rowe (James Charles Academy) to get to the ball.

As soon as the ball went into the back of the net, Jerry turned toward the VIP section of the stands and saw his dad looking back at him. After a few moments, which felt like forever to Jerry, his dad shook his head.

"As expected," Jerry had a bitter smile as he shook his head. He ran to the rest of his teammates and began to celebrate the goal with them.

Jeremiah stared at Jerry as he ran to the rest of his teammates to celebrate the goal.

"As usual, he's too selfless in the box. As a striker, you don't pass the ball into the box."

Jeremiah took another glance at his right knee and shook his head again. Once again, he returned his focus to the match that was being played in front of him.

"That striker looks like he'll be really good as a ten," a figure beside Jeremiah spoke. "I think he's being heavily misprofiled as a striker. He has the makings of a fantastic attacking midfielder. He isn't selfish; he can take a shot. He's someone worth developing. Maybe we should talk to the club to sign him."

"You really think so, James?" Jeremiah turned to the figure beside him and smiled as he asked the question.

James nodded in response.

"In that case, I'll talk to the manager then."

"Alright," James said, then turned his attention back to the game.

'That's right, I haven't told him yet. I wonder what his reaction will be if I told him that I was... Manchester Red's new under-eighteens head coach.'

A/N: What do you think so far?

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