9 Preparations (2)
After he got the money from his parents he was meant to use for the business, which he used to place the bet. Tony became totally restless as he constantly thought of what would happen if he lost the bet.
The system tried to give him assuring words to put him at ease, but only got worse. He lost his appetite and didn't exercise to keep fit for the two days after he placed the bet.
It even got worse when the first match he bet on started. Tony streamed the first game on his phone, as he could not afford to take his eyes off the screen.
His heart was constantly in his throat and back to where it was meant to be, as he was fidgeting till he saw the team he had chosen, win the game successfully.
Some doctors once said Football was not a healthy sport to be a fan of. As it drastically raised the blood pressure up especially when a person was emotionally or financially invested in a match.
Tony who was financially invested in about fifteen matches, was also under a lot of pressure, as he thought of the numerous things that could go wrong.
After the first match he could finally relax a little, as he could put his mind at rest at how the matches would still remain the same from his previous timeline. He relaxed his mind a little and started doing things he was meant to do.
On the third day, he finally began to perform his exercises in other to regain his fitness. He jogged round his neighborhood a few times everyday and performed the various exercises he knew that could build his strength and stamina.
He was also regularly checking his stats on the stats Window, to see if he could affect his stats by training. But there was no change as he lacked proper exercising equipments and had only started training only a few days.
Tony whose mood was already getting better, as it only remained a few more games for his game ticket to be complete. He was so happy that he even started to call himself a half millionaire, much to the amusement of the system.
About 2days before he was to resume the academy, he was invited by his three friends to join them in a game of football. Which he agreed to, as he had nothing better doing aside to also train.
He was even hopeful that he would be lucky and meet a good player whose skill he could copy at the abandoned parking lot they used as an improvised pitch.
After linking up with his friends, they fooled around and joked with each other as they headed to the pitch. He tried to notice if his friends were different from the way he remembered them.
But Tom, Harry and Paul were exactly how he knew them to be at that age from the previous timeline.
Both Paul and Harry had similar builds as they could be said to be a little on the tall side for there present age of 18. While Tom had a diminutive physique, as he mostly used his movements and nimble footings to attempt to dribble others.
Tony and his three friends paired up with another player they found at the pitch, to form a Five a side team against other teams of fives they also met there.
The matches began as all the teams both lost and won, as no team had an overwhelming advantage. The four teams played rotatively as any team that conceded two goals first left the pitch for another team to come on.
Tony who was playing as his teams striker could not play all out, as he avoided the possibility of him getting an injury before the academy even resumed.
Tony who had been unsuccessfully scanning players for skills greater than his own with the help of the system since they started playing.
He was finally made aware of a boy who just come to join them play, whose finishing skill was a C+.
Tony was very happy as he could potentially improve his finishing which was a D+, if he could fulfil the condition to copy. After a while Tony created an opportunity for his friend Harry to score from a one on one opportunity, after he had successfully drawn the attention of the two opposition defenders.
The new comer came on with the next team who were now to play against Tony's team. He was also to play as the striker for his team as the game soon began.
Tony used his mind link with the system to communicate about the condition to copy the newcomers finishing ability. All this happened in less than a second, just as the match begun.
The mind was really a power part of the body, as normal conversations between him and the system outside the pitch could take minutes. But when they were on the pitch they communicated as fast as possible in a split second to avoid it breaking his concentration for too long.
Tony was to fulfil the condition of outscoring the newcomer to copy his skill. They began playing as Tony also tweaked his role to that of an attacking midfielder.
This style of play was that of a striker who roamed the midfield areas in an attempt to join the build up play with his team mates, when the ball was not easily locating him upfront.
Tony's friends all played well as there teamwork was better than the average Five aside team. There good team play led to Tom managing a way to weave his way along the right wing.
Before he decisively passed the ball across to the centre of the box, where Tony was perfectly positioned with the help of the system analyzing where was the best position for him to position himself.
Tony hit the ball swiftly, but still managed to score the goal, as the goalkeeper was not positioned at the right place.
After the goal Tony joined back with his teammates on the pitch, as they attempted to foil the opponents attempt to score.
After some minutes where both teams struggled and failed to score for a while. Tony's friend Paul finally got a somewhat fortuitous opportunity to score a goal from a long shot, that went in through the legs of the keeper after taking a slight deflection from a defender.
Tony was happy, as his team won 2:0, as he outscored the newcomer with a goal. Later his team lost the next match against the next team.
Tony and his friends decided they had played enough, as they waved goodbyes to the other players before leaving for there homes.
After a while they got to where they were to depart ,as they sayed there goodbyes as all four of them went towards there respective homes.
Tony was happy and fulfilled that he got the opportunity to improve his skill, before he immediately went to take a bath and eat his dinner.
When he was done, he went into his room as he told the system to copy the skill from the newcomer. He immediately felt the same cold feeling all over his body as the skill was being copied.
When he was ready to sleep as he was tired from the long period of playing with his friends. He closed his eyes as he could not avoid smiling, thinking about the stats he was to see the next morning.
