Sunday, 13:30 at the Dortmund training ground.
Players of both side were in their positions and waiting for the start of the game. In the stands, the middle aged man who had watched Riley's shooting drill sat calmly focusing on the game.
The whistle blew and the match began. Dortmund fuelled by their drive to stay within touching distance of 1st place were strong from the jump. Michel Ludwing and Rafael Lubach combined perfectly as the two pivots. As much as Dortmund were attacking, Stuttgart were defensive. It would take something special to unlock their low-block defence.
Unfortunately for them, Dortmund did have that something special in the form of Riley Santos. 35th minute of the game, Riley received the ball from the left back, Prince Aning. Turning his marker and leaving him in the dust Riley surged forward.
Scanning the pitch to find a pass. His wide vision allowed him to pickup Samuel Bamba on the right wing. With a perfectly weighted ball he found him. Samuel tormented the left back with his pace and skills. Riley continued his run and Austin almost reading what he was trying to do, put himself in between the two centre backs. Stuttgart's defensive midfielder was on Riley's tail because he sensed extreme danger from this harmless looking kid.
Marlon Ubani came to support Samuel and he didn't disappoint. Samuel passed him the ball and he swang his leg for a first time cross he has been trying out at training. Stuttgart centre backs were really tall so Riley anticipated they might beat Austin in the air and clear the ball. Lo and behold they actually did, they towered above Austin and the left sided centre back cleared the ball. Riley who predicted this had stopped on the edge of the box.
The ball fell his direction and he was prepared to hit it first time sending it back towards goal. However, he heard a shout from Michel Ludwing. That shout was meant to alert Riley of the incoming defensive midfielder. The DM came flying and Riley's first touch was delicate with the outside of his right foot he nutmegged the DM and he moved back a little so as the DM doesn't crash into him.
With the DM out his way, Riley touched the ball once again to set up for a shot. After setting up the ball he corked his right foot and let fly. A beautiful curler evaded the heads of the tall centre backs and the finger tips of the keeper as the net bulged.
"Goooooooal" The commentator lost his mind and so did the home fans, "He has done it, the little boy wonder has opened the score. What a beautiful team goal!" The commentator praised. Coach Mike and his staff were celebrating the goal as well. Riley did a knee slide near the corner to celebrate that goal.
The middle aged man had a smile on his face after Riley scored that goal. He recognised the technique Riley used to score that goal was the one he kept using at training. The whole pitch was buzzing now they had scored against a low-block. That's what exactly Dortmund wanted because now Stuttgart will start looking for a goal and that will open up a lot of space for Riley to exploit.
Stuttgart did exactly that after the restart, Dortmund were hell-bent on punishing them. Trying to score another goal before halftime so they can relax a bit second half. A chance presented itself in the 43rd minute.