3 A partir de XI

The training session had started by 8 but Byron was up by 6, when exiting the building he met up with Nagisa who also said he had trouble sleeping. The pitch was bigger than it seemed yesterday, the grass was green throughout and well kept, the stands for spectators was well built and most importantly the atmosphere was nothing like he had ever felt before in his previous matches. Despite arriving 2 hours early there was quite the amount of players all getting warmed up.

Some were familiar faces, not so much that actually he played against them but he actually saw them on the cover of newspapers and magazines. Afeez Afolabi from Rangers. A player whose speed burst was so quick they compared him to the cream of the crop professional track and field athletes, Shin Ha-Jun from All peak, a player with extreme control on every pass he dishes out able to switch between giving the ball enough spin for a header or to give it no spin at all, Danny Friedman from Eureka known as the captain, he starts attacks and commands the defense with extreme precision all without straying from his position. These were players he looked up to even though they were about the same age.

"I get to play with all these guys, now that's a cause for celebration." Byron said as he stretched.

"You are a very weird person Byron-san," Nagisa said as he jogged past him. "We're battling for the starting eleven of the team and you're happy about what could be our competition."

"It's not every day you get to play against people you see on the covers of magazines, might as well be playing with Sam Weller."

"Not quite, Byron-san."

They had paced around the field till it was 8 and all the players that came for the Marion first eleven tryouts were on the pitch, there were about 24 of them. Some of them tense and some of the calm but as for Byron, well he was a mixture of both. He still had some doubts in his ability but all of that seemed to be washed away by the fact that he would be playing with so many talented players.

"Okay, you're a mixture of players who were invited, players who played and got through the first stages tryouts and players who were recommended by huge clubs and personnel. However, none of that means anything here." He looked around and realized his mistake. "My name is Paul Siegfried, I'm the coach for team beta and this is my assistant. Cory Walker."

"I'm Cory Walker, I'll be your fitness coach and tactician. Nice to meet you guys." Cory waved.

"You guys will be playing in separate sets of 12, Cory will announce the lineups. 11 players will be selected as starters, 6 will be selected as subs and 7 will be dropped from contention. If this happens you will have to find another school to play for, or try again next year."

The players murmured and Byron tried to talk to Nagisa as well but the winger was nowhere to be found. Cory separated them into teams of six and suddenly the feeling of doubt Byron had resurged however, not even his doubt could take away the fun from this moment. He held his heart and he could feel its nervous excited beating, even his organs didn't know how to feel.

The Marion coach had told him months ago that he couldn't wait to see how we would evolve, Byron thought about his words every day as he kicked a ball. If his over-calculative mind is the issue then he would have to find another way to score. Another way he would hopefully realize in this match

"Team A is comprised of Max Basil, Timothy Stone, Byron Whitaker, Kyle Fitzgerald, Silvestre Perkins and Xavier Leon Frederick." Cory cleared his throat. "And team B is comprised of Yuri Petrov, Shin Ha-Jun, Nagisa Aoto, Danny Friedman, Everest Wallflower and Afeez Afolabi."

"You gotta be kidding me." Byron almost laughed out loud. "I'm super pumped."

"You really are a weird person Byron-san." Nagisa nodded his head while folding his arms. "How can you be so hyped after hearing the lineups?"

"Sometimes you gotta know how you measure up you know." Byron squatted down. "I wanna see their talent with my own eyes, yours too Nagisa."

"I'll try not to disappoint you,"

Both teams walked towards opposite parts of the goal and team B was the only team that didn't find a need to huddle, team A was gathered together by Kyle who acted as a pseudo-captain for the squad. He played the role of a defensive midfielder as well as a full back and in this match he would be doing the latter.

"Okay, guys this is basically us versus some of the best players here right now. However, none of us would be here if we weren't seen as talented or passed through the first trial. I believe in all of you guys, let's win this!" Kyle said and the entire team threw their hands up.

Timothy played in the goal, Kyle and Silvestre played in defense, Xavier played as the only midfielder and both Byron and Max were in front. Same with the other team although a little bit different. Afeez and Nagisa played as the forwards, Yuri played in goal, Everest and Ha-Jun played as Midfielders and Danny was the only defender.

"The entire match is 20 minutes and using this match we will determine whether you're a good match for Marion or whether you should be dropped." Paul said looking directly at Byron, "Remember your status means nothing here."

The match started with team B having the kickoff since they had won the coin flip. Ha-Jun passed the ball to Everest and he passed it back. Ha-Jun carried the ball into the half of the opposition dribbling and flaunting his skills as he ruthlessly left those he passed behind. "Afeez!" Shin hit a nasty lob that had nearly no spin on it toward the direction of the Nigerian striker.

They were coming and they weren't ready, Max and Byron were beaten by Ha-Jun and they ran back trying to get the ball back but once the ball was lobbed to Afeez it was all over. "Nice pass." Afeez said as he sped toward Kyle and Silvestre with a burst so fast it seemed like he covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye, he wasn't slowing down and it seemed like he had no intention to. Afeez still moving at the same pace flicked the ball over Kyle and immediately it dropped he passed it in between the legs of the second defender and ran past him.

"Goal." Afeez said as he passed the ball into the lower left corner of the goal.

"So that's what his speed looks like in the flesh." Byron used his shirt to cover his mouth and Max looked at him. "That was so cool."