Chapter 40: Week 7: Caen vs Brest!

The training sessions were great.

But still, even when the training was over, young footballers thought this.

"This man is the devil!"

"I see a white light!"

"I don't feel good anymore."

"It hurts so much…"

Almost all of them had the same thoughts.

But still, none of them were unhappy.

Because now they knew that as they trained, they both developed themselves and enjoyed the game they played.

***

And they went to the city of Caen for the away match.

There were 10 minutes before the match started.

Locker room...

"We worked for this game all week. I trust you all. "said Oscar Leite.

"And Helder, you know what to do." he continued.

Then he left the room with his assistants.

Now the whole team had memorized it.

Helder took a deep breath.

And shouted.

"Who are we?"

"Losers!"

"Who are we?"

"Losers!"

"Who are we?"

"Losers!"

Yes, it happened 3 times.

He took a deep breath again, shouting with all his might.

"What are we going to do today?"

"We will win!"

***

***

The staff was as follows.

Goalkeeper: Helder Xerxes (C)

Defender: Luis, Angel, Pep

Midfielder: Alex, Cristian, Stephen, Leon

Striker: Thomas, David, James

Again they would play with a 3-4-3 formation.

The opposing team was going to play with the 4-2-3-1 formation.

But Manager Oscar Leite and the team worked hard on this.

Again, their first aim was to press ahead and break rust connections.

And the snatch was getting the balls together with David.

He scored 3 goals last week, showing a great finishing example…

After Helder, it was said that David was the most important player for this team.

***

And the match started with the whistle of the referee.

With the start of the match, as the manager thought, the team was doing a great press ahead.

"James, Thomas, you press and don't leave your man!" Helder was shouting.

Both were strikers.

Behind them were the midfielders Cristian and Stephen.

Both of them were running.

They were working to narrow the empty.

But what is that?

The opponent team was unfortunately prepared for this.

They made triangles and moved like that from the right.

But there was something the opponent team did not know.

They had passed the press, but the Brest team immediately turned to the defense of 5.

5-3-2?

Striker James had come back to midfielder.

Right, and left-wing players were also waiting.

Defending the 5s was difficult not only for Caen but for all teams.

The opposing team's playmaker, Romain Hamouma, shouted.

"We have to be more aggressive. We must attack the right and left wings! "

But somehow they could not get past Brest's defense ...

They took a few skinny shots from afar, but almost all of them were out.

So far Helder has made 1 save.

The minutes were ticking.

It had been 15 minutes.

The opposing team was passing on its own court.

"Now!" shouted Oscar Leite.

Suddenly, Brest had changed his formation again.

3-6-1?

What was going on?

They were pressing wildly.

They had covered all the rust areas.

Leca, the defender of the opposing team, was stuck.

He thought of throwing the pass to the goalkeeper ...

"Don't pass me back, Leca!" shouted the opposing team's goalkeeper, Alexis Thébaux.

Because right next to the opponent's goalkeeper was Brest's striker David!

"Play long on the right-wing! there is empty. " shouted again goalkeeper Alexis Thébaux.

After the goalkeeper shouted like that, he hit it randomly without even looking there.

What is this?

But it was not empty there.

Pep, to the left of the center defense, had already understood this.

He was already moving there.

There was a team playing 2-7-1 on the field right now.

"Unbelievable! How the men are pressing! "

"Are they back to the 2-defender now? What an interesting team… "Caen fans thought.

But Pep bounced off the incoming airball and hit the ball with his head.

But the opposing team's right-wing was with Frau as he hit the ball.

Frau had unwittingly elbowed Pep.

For a moment, Pep remained on the ground but stood up.

"Don't stop, referee! Play advantage. " yell.

The referee opened both hands.

"Advantage." yell.

The ball was in the midfield.

And Stephen got the ball on his feet.

David asked to pass the racetrack.

Suddenly Stephen made the long pass.

"Oh, I can't keep up !! Alexis, open up to this ball. " yelled the opponent defender Leca.

But David had already gotten the ball at his feet.

And he was facing the goalkeeper.

He was just going to hit the ball ...

The referee blew the whistle.

The linesman raised his flag.

Offside!

David was puzzled.

"I ran after the guy, how do you make the wrong decision?" he objected to the 2nd referee.

Unfortunately, this was David's biggest problem.

He had a character who objected too much to the referees.

That's why he received a yellow card in his previous match against Marseille.

And again, the referee put his pocket in his hand.

He showed the yellow card, David.

"David!" cried Helder with his might.

"You must be calm. Don't you ever trust us? What if our attack was offside? I'm sure Stephen will make a great pass again. "

David had calmed down a little.

Some of his teammates also came and took him away from the referee.

Otherwise, he would get a red card.

Minutes were advancing ...

It had been 30 minutes.

There was a Bres team that was pressing heavily so far, but they were slowing down a bit now.

They were meeting the opponent team on their own ground.

They were back to 5-3-2 formation again.

The opponent team could not find a field either.

But suddenly, unexpectedly, the ball hit Leon's hand, the left-wing player.

And from about 25-30 meters, the opposing team would use a free-kick.

Helder asked all the tall players to stand at the wall.

What is this?

Striker David lay just behind the wall.

His aim was to prevent a shot from the ground.

Helder had asked him about this.

In his previous life, he had seen something like this on TV when he was hospitalized in 2020.

And he had asked David before the match to reach behind the wall if he had such a free-kick position.

There was a 5-man Brest wall.

There were 2 players of Caen at the beginning of the ball.

One was on the right and one was on the left.

The referee blew the whistle and Hamouma, the opponent's playmaker, came to the ball and took the shot!

Unfortunately, the ball wall had passed.

The ball was perfectly curved.

Helder took 3 steps to the left and jumped.

"It's like the position in my dream." he thought.

He was able to touch the ball with the tips of his fingers at the last moment.

"You're great, Captain." shouted David.

Helder stood up.

"Come on guys. Believe in yourself. Don't give up. " Helder was shouting.

It had been a corner kick.

The opposing team took a corner kick.

And Helder opened up, jumped, and controlled the ball with both hands.

The last 15 minutes passed just without a beat.

The first half was over with the whistle of the referee.

***

The boss came into the locker room.

"We are fine so far. Everything is going as planned… And if you ever object to the referee, David, I'll take you out of the game. Oscar Leite said.

"You're right boss, I will not do it again." David said.

"Beautiful. Do not drop your mood. I know we will beat them. "

"Yes, boss!"

"We will press ahead in the same way. But I want a full press for the first 30 minutes. We will play counterattacks in the last 15 minutes. We have already done our work according to these. "

"Yes boss!" the team said.

***

The 2nd half started with the whistle of the referee.

There was a Brest team that pressed wildly just like in the first half.

5 minutes passed…

They were still pressing.

10 minutes passed…

They were pressing without stopping.

15 minutes passed…

And they were pressing again.

"Are these monsters?" the Caen team and their fans were thinking.

The Brest team was both pressing and tireless.

The Caen team was doing their best to beat that press, but they couldn't even do a single attack!

Caen changed his game strategy.

They left the ball to Brest and started looking for a counterattack.

But Caen didn't know that that was what Brest really wanted!

The ball was in the Helder.

He passed his hand to the defender Luis.

No player from the opposing team was pressing Luis.

The Caen team was entirely at the pitch.

Luis also quickly passed the pass to Alex on the left-wing.

Alex was advancing with the ball.

It was against 2 players of the opposing team.

"Alex, I'm here." shouted the midfielder Stephen.

Stephen had come off the mark made to him.

"You have the ball now, my friend." Alex said.

He passed him.

And unexpectedly, Stephen shouted as soon as he got the ball on his feet.

"David, run!"

He made another great pass.

David looked at the 2nd referee with his head.

The flag was not lifted.

David took the ball.

He passed the opponent in front of him.

But the Caen team had also turned to the 5-4-1 tactic.

That's why they were still crowded in defense.

But the Brest team was prepared for that too.

They suddenly formed a quadrilateral.

They narrowed the field and quickly matted.

"Barcelona?"

"Tiki-Taka?"

The fans were confused.

The Brest team was making great passes.

They entered the penalty area.

Caen could not stop them…

The ball was at James.

He ran to the last line.

The opponent greeted him, but in vain.

He passed the penalty spot in the right place.

Stephen was empty!

He was going to shoot ...

The defenders in front of him threw themselves towards the ball.

Stephen smiled.

He didn't shoot!

He passed the empty David to his left.

David hit the incoming ball without waiting…

Although the goalkeeper jumped, unfortunately, he was futile.

Goooooool…

Goooooooooollllll…

Goooooooooooooooooollll…

David scored his 4th goal in Game 2.

It was a great finish…

Caen 0 - Brest 1

Now the counter-attack chance was for Brest.

The Brest team retreated to defense just like Caen.

The minutes passed quickly.

They could not form the positions they wanted.

Time couldn't wait for the Caen team!

It was in the last minutes now.

Everyone's eyes were on the referee ...

The referee blew the final whistle of the match and ended the match.

The Brest team and its players were delighted like crazy.

They had done 2 out of 2 since Oscar Leite came.

And they are now ranked 17th.

They managed to get just above the relegation line!

The happier they were, the more angry Caen fans were.

"How do you beat these young kids?"

"You are all rascals!"

But this Brest team and its players did not care.

Except for one person.

After the match was over, Helder shake hands with all Caen players.

He wished him luck for the other matches.

And Helder was really changing…

Helder Xerxes End-of-Match Statistics

Savings: 3

Goals Conceded: 0

Match rating: 7.3

The Brest team was now looking to the future with hope!