5 Clutch

A bigger crowd was created all to watch the game between teams C and D. The compelling match already had two goals each between them with the goals being provided by Benjamin of team C and Xiao of team D, with the assists going to Arthur and Liam respectively.

The ball was being carried by Lucas of team D and immediately he was marked by someone from the opposing team he passed to Liam. Trapping the ball perfectly with his boot Liam ran down the right wing.

"Make it three!" Liam said as he crossed the ball into the box, the cross that dove into the box came with the power of a shot and unreal spin.

"How would anyone even catch that?" Mark looked as the ball passed him but would only begin to move when he saw Xiao run toward it. "Crap!" Mark thought as he chased Xiao, the ball was definitely going outside the box and toward Trevor but he knew how dangerous of a striker Xiao was. Especially after the two unreal goals he scored.

"Don't get in my way!" Xiao told Mark who was a little ways behind him, he had known Liam since they were kids. The eccentric midfielders' passes and crosses always controlled the attacker into doing a specific shot at goal, be it a slow-struck ball for a bicycle kick or a ball with so much spin that the littlest tap would send it straight into the bottom corner.

"Perfect." Xiao tapped the ball stopping its movement in the air and still in the penalty box he looked at the keeper, Mark would pressure him if he took the ball down. What kind of strike did Liam want, Xiao rotated his body and kicked the ball.

"A volley? from there!" Mark looked at the keeper and the ball had already been stopped by the net. Xiao used the underside of his shirt to clean his face while he ran toward his side of the field.

"I was reluctant to say anything at first, but your nowhere as good as you're brother." Xiao ran passed Benjamin and high-fived Liam.

"Benji..." Arthur said while hastily grabbing the ball.

"How many minutes are left?" Benjamin asked as he cracked his fingers.

"3 give or take."

"We need 2 goals to win right?" Benjamin put his hand on his neck and bent it.

"Yeah..." Arthur waited for Cory's whistle before passing the ball to Benjamin. "Let's just focus on this one first."

"You mean two?" Benjamin ran with the ball into the opposition.

"Almost forgot." Arthur face-palmed and chuckled. "Benji hates being compared to his brother.

Pace and dribbling were weapons that not many footballers could make full use of, this however did not apply to Benjamin. The striker tore through the defenders as Afeez did in the earlier game, "You aren't getting through me." Winston said as Benjamin reached him.

"Get out of my way." Benjamin ran past him and Winston couldn't react, they had been exhausting themselves since the match began because they needed to cover up the large spaces on the pitch but it would seem none of that affected Benjamin.

"A boost in the last moments of the match," Paul laughed.

"Do you think he could equalize the scores?" Cory asked.

"Equalize? team C's gonna win. The only way to contain a player that moves like it's the start of the match is to conserve energy so you could be on par with him when that time comes. However, team D had no prior information on Benjamin and because of that they wasted all their energy."

After passing and dribbling past the defender's Benjamin found himself one on one with the keeper and the striker ended his attack perfectly by slamming the ball into the top right corner of the goal.

"Has he always been that good?" Gregory asked Arthur.

"You'd be surprised." Arthur high-fived Benjamin who already ran back.

The scores were 3-3 and the crowd was going wild, some even had camera's taking video footage of the match. The atmosphere changed from being that of a tryout game to that of an actual match being watched by eighty-thousand people.

"One more." Benjamin said while looking Xiao directly in the eye, if he couldn't take this opponent down there was no way he would be able to take down his brother.

"Let's gate keep the ball." Liam said as he passed the ball to Xiao.

"I'm gonna win!" Xiao ran into the opposition.

"Come on!" Liam shouted as he chased after Xiao.

"Hit the ball deep. Make it spectacular." Benjamin said to Arthur before running into the opposition's box past Xiao and Liam.

"Putting it all on a little ol' midfielder," Arthur laughed. "Challenge accepted." Arthur ran toward Xiao and put pressure on him.

"It's his lap dog." Liam said as he saw Arthur approaching.

"That's what I was gonna say." Arthur stopped Xiao at the top of the pitch at least, Gregory marked down Liam and team D's Emmanuel and Lucas ran to help out Xiao and Liam. However, Mark and Trevor came up as well to stop them.

"What happens when you have no one to pass to? What do you do?" Arthur said while gentling gnawing at Xiao with his shoulder, with each second that passed they risked the chance of losing. With the scores tied and Benjamin in the opponent's half although being tightly marshaled by Winston, Arthur knew Benjamin would hold up his end of the bargain. The question is... could he?

Arthur looked at Cory and he was reaching for his whistle, time wasn't on their side to say the least and a draw might've well have been defeat. "Benjamin is counting on me." Arthur released all the weight he pressed onto Xiao and immediately the striker staggered he hit the ball from underneath him.

"Crap!!" Xiao looked at the defense. "Winston, stop him!"

"Doesn't matter, it's going wide anyways. Toward Roland as a matter of fact, there's no way anyone could reach it." Winston was talking about the trajectory of the ball before he saw a figure run past him.

Winston was marking Benjamin but immediately he looked at the ball above him, the attacker disappeared. "Crap!." He said as he chased Benjamin.

Benjamin ran toward the ball that was heading to the keeper, with Roland the keeper already coming out to grab the ball before Benjamin reached it. "If I can't defeat you... There's no way I could defeat him, so please. GET OUT OF MY WAY." Benjamin dashed forward with what seemed like extra speed, pushing the boundaries of even what Afeez could do at the start of a match.

The ball was descending near to the keeper, it wouldn't drop down halfway and if he didn't reach it first the keeper would catch it and the match would be deemed a draw. "NO." Benjamin jumped into the air, his feet reaching the chest of Winston.

"NO!" Xiao was running back to his side of the pitch alongside his teammates.

"Score it!" The entire team C said in Unison. "Score it!!!"

"I might hate him and his guts but his skill set is really useful." Benjamin stopped the descending ball with his chest right in front of the keeper and once he took it down he chipped over the keeper who was so far out there was no choice but for it to end up as a goal.

"Let's go!" Arthur slammed Benjamin on the back.

"Can you please not be violent with me, I just lost three times the stamina you did."

"Quit whining." Arthur put his arm over him. "Nice performance ace, I'd say that you're improving."

"We won't know till we play him."

"That's the match." Cory blew his whistle. "I always hate when you're right,"

The crowd that had been watching immediately dispersed after the match was over and Paul chuckled as he called the players around. They all looked at him and Paul pulled out a jotter from his back pocket. "I'll just list off some names real quick, If you hear yours go over to the left."

Byron looked at Paul, they didn't win their match or perform well until the last 5 minutes of the game but was that enough to get a spot over people like Liam and Benjamin? He didn't want to go home, he didn't want all their efforts to be in vain. He didn't want all his efforts to be in vain.

"Afeez Afolabi, Shin Ha-Jun, Danny Friedman and Yuri Petrov." Paul looked into the eyes of all those he called out. "You're going to be playing with the Alpha team from now on, you can get demoted back to team B so don't get too comfortable but you will act as subs in their matches. Now for the main squad."

Byron's heart raced and he forgot how to breathe subconsciously so he used his mouth to inhale and exhale.

"I'll just be mentioning names right now. Numbers, positions, formations and all that will be discussed later. As for the starting eleven of the B team, we have Jeremiah Clinton, Mark Birch, Everest Wallflower, Kyle Fitzgerald, Silvestre Perkins, Nagisa Aoto."

"YES!!!" Nagisa screamed and Paul looked at him. "Sorry, Sir."

"Anyways." Paul coughed and then continued. "Xavier Leon Frederick, Liam Briar, Arthur Posey,"

"Please... this is my only shot." Byron thought to himself.

"And lastly we have, Xiao Haoyu and Benjamin Parker."

"..." Byron felt dumb, what was he hoping for you dimwit? but it wasn't the end just yet.

"And now the main eleven are done, time for the subs. We have. Roland Ian, Trevor Garrison, Gregory West, Lucas Carter, Byron Whitaker." Paul stopped and looked behind him, staring directly at a building.

"Not the best place to be but at least I'm still on the team, just have to convince Coach that I need to be in the starting eleven." Byron thought while walking over to the side the subs walked to.

"And lastly, Max Basil. Everyone else. Timothy, Winston, Emmanuel, sorry but this is the end of the line for you here at Marion." Paul waited till after the rejected players left before he briefed the team.

"Marion is going to participate in the Spring tournament coming up, that's the best tournament we can enter into at this point in time. However, it is still weeks away, months even, so focus on your training, education and all that. We will meet up tomorrow by 7 for training as well as knowing your positions in the team. That is all for now, you are dismissed." Paul walked away and Cory followed suit waving at the students before they walked through a door.

"So that's how it's gonna be Paul." Joseph laughed. "I believe my diamond's gonna shine."

"Here you go talking to yourself again." A girl walked up to him.

"Annabel. What are you doing here?" Joseph asked surprised to see the high school student.

"I want to be a manager for the club." Annabel put her hands on her hips almost like a superhero.

"Why the sudden change of heart, I thought you wanted nothing to do with the B team." Joseph gave her the look.

"Tenzin and Helios are also going to participate in this year's summer tournament." Annabel looked to the sides.

"Tenzin and Helios, that's where they go if I remember correctly."

"Yes! and I need to watch both of them play."

"You and your weird tendencies, sure go for it. That was the plan anyway." Joseph pulled out a cigar from its pack.

"It's bad for your lungs you know."

"I'm only doing it so you'd leave, I know you hate the fumes."

"It worked, see you later." Annabel left.

"The effects kids have on us." He threw the cigar pack into a trash can. "Better go check on the A team."

Tomorrow was an even bigger day for him as a member of the squad. He congratulated Nagisa and walked to his room, he had always wondered who his roommate was since they had never shown up when he did and maybe he didn't want to know after all.

"So it's really you." Byron hit his head on the wall.

"Really me," Max replied holding his bag over his shoulder. "This is heavy."

"You have to be kidding me."