13 TRAINING MATCH

Within two minutes, Coach Wilbur got his 13 players. 9 of which were part of his second and third team, the remaining 4 weren't part of his team. Normally, in such a case where his students get beaten by others, he would punish them by giving them more drills to complete.

But not today. One of the reasons why he said that he was going to pick players from amongst the first 13 was because he wanted fast players that also possessed stamina.

Fast players that could pose little obstacle towards Noah, just in case he could actually play football, and stamina because they would need it the most if they were going to go against a Noah that knew how to play.

'Somehow I'm still praying that this kid knows how to play ball. If he is at least above average, then it wouldn't hurt to have him join the team.

With his speed, after rigorous training, I should be able to make him comparable to an S-grade footballer.

And yet, I hope that he doesn't know how to play so that he can embarrass himself and I can have a good laugh about it.' Coach Wilbur had conflicting thoughts.

His need for an S-grade player was eating at him and he was hoping that Noah would fill that spot, and also, his ego was against Noah. He shook his head.

Seeing their coach do this, many of the players from the second and third-team thought that they were going to get punished for losing to players that weren't even a part of their team. While they were waiting to hear the verdict Anisa graced them with her presence.

"I have the boots ready!!" She shouted from a distance as she jugged towards them.

"Ah, right on time." Coach Wilbur smiled.

"Now, to make things fair on you, I will share the team accordingly. The 4 players that are not part of my team will be on the same team for this match, including 3 others from my team. The remaining players will be on the same team with the person in question here, Noah, right?" Coach Wilbur asked.

Noah nodded his head, feeling a little bit nervous. While he watched the players run, he knew that he was faster than all of them present, nonetheless, he couldn't deny the fact that the 13 that won had above-average speed.

'Well, there's one other thing that I have confidence in, my accuracy. Isn't the goal of football to put the ball in your opponent's net? That shouldn't be a problem.' He thought.

"Here, try them on." Anisa reached his side while he was in his thoughts and handed him the boots. Noah held the shoe in his hands and right away he could tell that what he was holding was some high-quality stuff.

The boots in his hands were brown and black, mixed ingeniously. By the opposite sides of the boots, the initials 'MB' was written on them. The cleats and under of the boot were transparent.

He made a low whistle and ran his hand around the brown and black leather of the boot. "This is some good stuff." He commented. 'I wonder how much this would sell for.' When it came to things like this, Noah at times couldn't help but wonder.

"Thank you," Anisa stated proudly.

Noah wore the right leg of the boot first and his leg slid in easily. The insides of the shoe wrapped around his leg nicely, and that made him feel nice to some extent. He then proceeded to put the left leg on.

After tying the laces, Noah, who was seated, stood up and felt a little bit taller than usual because of the boots that he was wearing. 'Hmmm, not bad.' Noah thought with a little smile on his lips.

"It looks good on you," Anisa commented but received no response from Noah. He ignored her…

"The 4 of you, tell me the positions that you're good at, not the ones that you think you can play, and tell me which foot you are best at using." Coach Wilbur asked.

"Defensive midfield coach left-footed." One of the four answered.

"And what's your name?"

"Cher-"

"Forget it, I will call you, number 1. The same applies to the rest of you. So number 2, what position do you play." He looked at the player standing next to number 1.

"Left-back left-footed."

"Right back, right-footed."

"Attacking midfield, left-footed."

The 4 players announced their positions.

While Coach Wilbur was busy making plans for the teams, Anisa took it upon herself to educate Noah about football since he said that he has never played before.

"How much do you know about football?" She questioned while Noah was stretching.

"I know that I'm meant to hit the ball with my legs and also put the ball in my opponent's net," Noah answered nonchalantly.

"Is that all?"

"Yeah."

"There's more," Anisa sighed. "Listen to what I have to say, at least with this little bit of knowledge, the embarrassment that you are going to face will be less." She added.

"First off, I'm going to start with the positions in football. We have the Goalkeeper; this player or goalie is typically the only player that is allowed to touch the ball with their hands, while on the field and during the game, provided that they do not leave the goal box.

If they happen to leave, then they are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands, or else it's a foul.

Then we have the Defenders. This should be self-explanatory, but I will still say something about it.

The Defenders do everything they can to make sure that the ball doesn't get past them. Defenders, typically, are positioned close to their goal box.

Now amongst the Defenders, there are specific roles. For example, the center-back, the sweeper, full-back, and wing-backs. The wing-backs are defenders that are more involved in offensive plays. They're placed on the left and right ends of the team's defense."

While Anisa was speaking, she used a pebble to draw a rough outline of a football field on the ground. She made sure to indicate where the positions she mentioned were situated on the field.

"After the goalkeeper and the defenders, we have the Midfielders next. Midfielders spend a lot of time playing different roles in a game. This position is a very vital position because they typically need to be good at both defense and offense.

They have to assist the defense in making sure that the opposing team doesn't get anywhere near their goal post. They also have to get the ball passed to the forwards for them to score a goal. There are also different roles played in the midfield.

You can have Center Midfielders who are responsible for supporting offense and also the defense.

Defensive Midfielders are midfielders placed in front of the defenders for extra protection. They typically lay back when their team goes on the attack.

Attacking Midfielders; this is primarily an offensive role that is placed between the central midfield and the forwards. Their main duty is to create chances for strikers by finding passes that can cut through the defense of the opposition."

At this point, Noah was a bit lost. He couldn't take everything that Anisa was saying at once, but what he did have in his mind was that he was similar to a midfielder.

More accurately, he felt that the midfield position would fit him the most if he was going to play football. He spaced out and missed out on some of the things that Anisa was explaining to him.

"Then we have the Forward position or in other words, strikers. The players of this position have one main objective, and that is scoring a goal for their team…"

Noah didn't listen to the rest of what she had to say.

'I have to admit, she really is a sports enthusiast.' He thought.

"Did you get any of what I said?" Anisa asked.

"No, I spaced out." He replied.

"Goddammit!" Anisa facepalmed herself. She sighed.

"You know what, just know this important rule. The referee is omnipotent on the field. The referee blows his whistle on three occasions.

The first is to start the game, the second might occur several times and that is when a foul has been committed or anything of the sort. Then the third is to pause the game, i.e. half-time or to end the game.

You cannot overrule the referee's decisions, it will only get you thrown out of the game."

"Got it." Noah finished stretching and walked towards where Coach Wilbur and the rest were.

"Kid, what position do you play?" Coach Wilbur asked Noah. "Oh, I just remembered that you have never played ball before-"

"Midfield. I would like to play that position." Noah Interrupted.

"Not a complete greenhorn then." Coach Wilbur was fairly impressed to hear that from Noah.

"I took my time to make formations for each team, just so that I could balance things a bit. Even if this is a 7 on 7 match, I still have to make little preparations."

Noah didn't mind that, he just wanted to start the game. "Set the field for a 7 on 7 match." Coach Wilbur ordered.

Players around started rearranging the field. They brought two smaller and shorter goal posts, forward and placed them at the opposite sides of the fields, only that the goalposts weren't far away from each other.

In a short time, they finished preparations for the 7 on 7 match. Noah, and the rest of the players that were selected to play went on the field and stood at their positions.

Noah's team had one goalkeeper, 3 defenders, 2 midfielders, and 1 striker. His team had a green bib on.

And on the opponent's side, they had one goalkeeper, 2 defenders, 3 midfielders, and 1 striker. This team had a light pink bib on.

"Alright guys, this is a friendly, training match. The match will last for 40 minutes in total, 20 minutes for the first half, and 20 for the second half. Play nice boys." Coach Wilbur instructed from the sides.

"Rock paper scissors, the winner starts the game." The referee came with a ball in one hand and a whistle in another.

A player wearing a green bib went forward and a player wearing a pink bib did the same. After doing as the referee instructed, the player in the green bib won the game.

"Green starts!!" The referee announced. He placed the ball in the middle of the pitch. "Ready?" he asked the goalkeeper of the team in a green bib.

"Ready!!" The goalkeeper answered.

The referee did the same for the other team. "Ready!!" The goalkeeper responded.

-Pheeewww!!

The piercing sound of the whistle reached the ears of the players. Noah's team won the right to start the game, so they were presented with the ball to pass first.

The striker on Noah's team passed the ball to the midfielder that he was familiar with, on instincts. Upon reaching the midfielder, he passed the ball to Noah, curious of what Noah could do.

'Finally.' Noah thought.

Immediately the ball was within his range of reach, Noah planted his right leg into the soil and threw his left leg wickedly at the ball.

-Boom!

He hit the ball square on, shooting it at the goal post of his opponent. The force behind his shot was unprecedented. The ball traveled quickly and reached his opponent's goal post.

-Ding!!!

Contrary to what Noah intended, the ball hit the bar of the post…