Chapter 13: Attack and defend

York, England.

The Super Strikas plane landed for their final pre-season game against York City in 5 days' time. The mood as the squad slowly walked to their lodgings was damp to say the least, with no one saying a word for the entire trip as they all just walked into their rooms and layer on their beds.

23h00,

Klaus walked through the Attackers rooms, first Zuko's, then Mateo's, Andile's, Luvuyo's and lastly Theo's.

"Meet me at the training center in the basement in 10 minutes. Don't be late." Klaus said walking away as the players quickly dressed in their training kits before meeting up in the basement. The drowsy players all walked in to see Klaus wearing a training kit himself. Taking shots at an empty net.

"You are all 3 minutes late. A second more and I might have started missing." Klaus said, as he continued taking the shots without looking at them.

"Sorry coach, we are..." Andile said, trying to speak before Klaus interrupted him.

"42 goals,362 assists." Klaus said as he stopped shooting and looked at the players.

"What?" Theo said, still drowsy.

"That waz my Super Strikas record. The most assists in club history. 46 trophies won across 10 seasons at the club." Klaus said looking at Andile.

"Why are you telling us this?" Mateo said, looking confused.

"Of my 362 assists, 315 of them were shared by three of the best striker in Super league history, The supastar El Matador - 122, The GOAT SHAKES- 171 and 22 for him. Right Andile?" Klaus said, pointing at Andile.

"Dad." Andile said.

"Correct, 100 pointz to yah kid." Klaus said as he threw a ball to Zuko.

"Now, Rasta junior, how many goals did one club captain fantastic score in his 15 years at Supa Strikas." Klaus said as he picked up four other balls.

"51 goals." Zuko said looking at the ball.

"Each of you have different goals. Zuko and Andile to be players who are worthy to carry their father's names on the back of their jerseys. Mateo, to be Barka's best like his idol, Theo to give back to the team that gave you a start. And Luvuyo, mhmm. What is your goal?" Klaus said throwing the balls at the others who caught without hesitation. "I do not know. I'm just a 16-year-old who accidentally got into the under 23's and don't know why I'm in the team. I just want to play football." Luvuyo said also looking at the ball.

"A 16-year-old teenage sensation who miss even if he wanted to. That is what the papers say about you. The next SHAKES probably. Is that why you can't seem to play a good game these days. The weight of a legends name sits on your shoulders. You should probably surpass him; only then will you get that notch off your shoulder." Klaus said as he began setting up some cones on the field.

"Anyone up for some late-night drills? Your job is to attack, create goals and score, it Doesn't matter if your opposition scores a hundred Goals, that is the defense's problem. If you score a 101, you win. Attackers only aim to score one more goal that the opposition. It doesn't matter who scored just that the ball is in the net." Klaus said as all of the lined up with their balls in front of the cones. And began taking shots at the net...

The next day

The team is performing some light drills as North, Klaus and Spenza look on with interest.

"What did you say to those guys Klaus. They seem, to be co-operating." Spenza said, looking at the Attackers who were all smiling and joking with each other.

"We had a little man to men talk as attackers. They seem to understand their jobs now." Klaus replied, smiling.

"You think they will perform in York?" North said also looking at the attackers.

"Don't know. They fostered a bond last night on their similar goals. But they gotta be able to get along for more than a couple of days to be able to beat York's defense. They might do better than the shitshow they pulled in Rome though." Klaus said, Walking towards the attackers.

"You should probably start training the Defenders North. A loss against York will probably spell doom for the entire season. These players don't have the mental fortitude to suffer another demoralizing loss like that." Spenza said, writing something down.

" I hear you coach. I better get to work then." North said as he walked towards another group of players.

"Kyle van Jaarsveld, Tebogo Mosimang, Klein koomstaad, Ryan Davids, Lucas Myeza, Donald Mukwevho, Reginald Morena, and Jack Green. Please come to me." North said as he read out the names whilst stretching.

"Yes Coach!" The players replied, jogging towards North.

"7 goals conceded in two matches. Not even decent. You all seem to be shit except these two. Jack Green and Ryan Davids. The fact that a 20-year-old has played more minutes than the rest of you is scary to be honest. I'll teach you all your job from the basics so welcome to my class. A beginners guide to defending." North said as he passed the ball to one of the players.

"In my opinion there are two types of Defenders In this world, the brawn and the brains. Teams need to have both if they are to have a decent defense. In my Era I was the brains of Supa Strikas defense. The brain does most of the work. Retrieving the ball, clearing it to other players, collecting it after a duel that type of stuff. So, a Defender who is the brains is known in the footballing world as a Ball-playing Defender/ center back. The brawn however is completely different. He is the destroyer with one simple mission to get the ball as far away from the goalkeeper as possible, these are no-nonsense defenders. The brawn must be a physical specimen, fast, strong with an insane ability to win duels whilst the brains must possess intelligence and ball-playing skills. So which one are you?" North said as the players all listened to him.

"Davids, for example as a fullback, he is a ball-playing Defender, his passing ability and vision allow him to make passes from anywhere down the left flank and make smart interceptions without major mistakes. Jack is similar in that regard. He is a smart ball playing center back with slight physical ability allowing him to fill that brawn role well. Of course, the role overlaps and there are different types of Defenders based on that. But if you can fill these two roles. Very few goals are going to get into the goalkeepers net." North said as the players began training as well, passing and trying to steal the ball from each other.

Spenza on the other hand was busy with the middle fielders, helping them with passing and stealing the ball as well.

The three goalkeepers on the other hand stood and watched as everyone was given orders except them.

"Why does it feel like everyone forgot we exist?" Arthur said, looking lost.

"I think we don't in their eyes. We completely disappeared from their radar." Dame (the second-choice goalkeeper) said also looking lost.

"Then we better catch their ire don't you think boys." Scelo said as he picked up the ball and went to one of the goalposts that were set up.

"OK vice-captain!" The two said following him as they began setting up a mini drill.

"Listen, you two. By the looks of it, Coach has given up on his goalkeeping department. You probably have this season to impress him before he goes off and signs our replacements." Scelo said as they began stretching.

"US, what about you? Aren't you worried?" Dame said.

"I'm 34 kid, 0 resale value and my contract ends this year. I'm considering retiring to be honest. Meaning they al‐ready need to buy a replacement for me. Both of you are talented and have immense potential. But this is the only time you can fight for a place in the starting 11. One of you has to boot me out of my net before the season ends or you are both getting shipped of. Maybe permanently this time." Scelo said as they finished up stretching. "I see. We will do our best VICE captain." Arthur said...