Chapter 9

In the Commentators booth, the commentators remarked,

"It is unfortunate that Arsenal's young gunners have no luck today!"

*FWEET*

Not long after the first half ended, both sides entered their locker rooms in different moods as Chelsea walked in merry and confident. At the same time, Arsenal, in contrast, was slumped, dragging themselves in silently.

Akin followed along, deep in thought. Having been quietly observing, he had an idea,

If I get on the pitch, I can still turn this around.

The atmosphere in the locker room during the interval was a stark contrast to the vibrant confidence it had entering Kingsmeadows.

No one dared to make a sound as the coaches came in; the Head coach Brady's face was gathering storm clouds as he took in the young gunners,

"What happened to you all now? Have we already lost?"

The boys all looked up sullenly at the coach, unable to respond; seeing this, he continued,

"What, still saying nothing? I asked you, have we already lost? Because as far as I know, you are supposed to play 80 regular minutes in the U15 development league. Did you hear the final whistle?"

Akin stared at his defeated teammates, feeling the low morale. He knew unless they could improve their mood and rally, they won't have a chance to make a comeback, so he chose to speak up,

"We still have 40 minutes left, coach!"

The other boys looked at their youngest member, shocked, surprised it was him, who was usually quiet, that responded; Brady turned his attention to him, a bit also shook as it was his first time speaking up in the locker room before turning his attention back to the others,

"What's this? I asked you all a question, did you hear the final whistle? Is there only one person that can count the time? If not, how could I see so many losers when I walked into the room?"

The boys looked at each other, feeling a bit more awkward and indignant but didn't dare speak up; Brady knew that his tactic was to rile them up, so he had to change tactic; he knew if he let them go back out like this, they will be passive and end up getting slaughtered in the second half.

Turning his attention to the only boy who had spoken up, he glanced at his assistant before turning to make eye contact with the youngest player on the team.

When their eyes met, Brady was himself impressed, so he asked the boy a question,

"You think it's not over? You think we can chase them back and tie the game?"

Akin, after hearing the question, furrowed his brow; he shook his head firmly,

"No. I think we can win!"

Now everyone was looking at him, both brows raised, while Brian was smiling.

His expression seemed to say, of course, as expected from you.

Brady's face was more measured, displaying an impassive expression, although his eyes shined as he watched the young striker,

"We are already two goals behind, these guys are like this, but you think we can win?"

Akin was confident as he nodded, standing up to his eyes roving, making contact with a few teammates before interlocking with Brady's,

"2 goals, so what? We just have to score 3; who are we? We are the boys from Hale End. We are Arsenal!"

His firm words struck the locker room like thunder.

The coaches nodded while the others nodded, feeling a bit more assured.

Brady laughed softly, but as his eyes met Akin's, the boy's eyes seemed to be saying, If you leave it to me, we can win; he smiled as he studied the boy,

"3 goals are easier said than done; Chelsea's defence is no joke. Can you do it?"

Akin smiled, knowing what he meant was conveyed correctly, but he was not the only one to answer as the team collectively spoke,

"Yes! We Can Win!"

Brady smiled now, nodding before he spoke,

"We made a few errors at the beginning; strikers, you are staying too far forward; come back and help the midfield.

Our wings also need to be more active; try to launch aerial attacks into the box, don't just pass the ball, try to keep note of your teammates position."

He turned his attention to Graham Barret, and the young flaxen-haired Irish boy met his eyes as he spoke,

"Graham, I want you to find more spaces, and look for gaps."

He then spoke to Kuffour, the boy who had been almost non-existent in the game,

"Jo, you can take a rest early."

He finally spoke to Akin,

"Get warmed up, kid; you are going to play from the second half. I want to see you create opportunities; think you can do it?"

The 11-year-old striker responded with a wolfish grin as his eyes sparked up with anticipation,

"Leave it to me, skipper, I won't let you down."

Brady said nothing more as he nodded. Conscious of the time he had left before restarting the game, he spent the remaining time outlining the plan for the second half.

Up in the commentator booth, Micheal Blue and Brian Andrews have been talking about the game,

"What do you think, Brian? Do you think Arsenal's young gunners can make it back to the game?"

"I don't think so, Micheal, the way they were playing today was a bit disappointing, to be honest…."

"Isn't it a bit early to be calling the game? After all a 2 goal lead is hardly a clinch; if they slack a bit, the situation can change, right?"

"Arsenal seems to have made a change; that doesn't seem to be Koffour?"

"Your right Micheal; we just got notice of a substitution, Number 24, Akin Adeleke. It says he is only 11 years old, and this should be his debut game."

"This is interesting, an 11-year-old playing U15? What are the coaches thinking?"

When they came out, Akin focused on stretching and warming up before running on the pitch, his heart beating like a drum kit; he felt eyes on him.

He looked to the opposite side to see scornful eyes from the Chelsea team, seemingly confident in their home victory.

*FWEEET*

Chelsea kicked off, and Sinclair pushed the ball to Cole, who passed back to Grant, who passed to Smith, who then held the ball, and and to Hutchinson, who passed it around to Grant.

Akin watched patiently as he roamed the centre as Chelsea's midfielders passed the ball; he saw Hutchinson and predicted his pass lane.

He dashed in between Grant and the ball.

After cutting off the pass, he pushed forward, running with the ball; Hutchinson ran to challenge him. Still, Akin mystifyingly shifted his upper body, feinting left before stepping over the ball with his left foot and pushing it right with his right foot.

Hutchinson was taken aback by the speed of his illustrious movements and was slow to turn as the young striker passed him off the bench, but he still chased after him.

Huth ran forward to intercept him, but Akin first dragged the ball back with his left foot pulling out of range of Huth's outstretched foot, then carried it back as he spun around the defender, pulling off a beautiful manoeuvre popularised by french Superstar Zinadene Zidane, Marseille Turn.

There were exclamations as he ran into the Box. The only thing between him and a goal was the goalkeeper, Pidgeley, as he met him 1v1.

Akin ran forward and inserted the ball with his inside foot. The ball glided across the grass into the bottom right corner.

After seeing the ball go in, he heard cheers explode in the stadium; he felt a sense of joy as he ran back to his side of the pitch to the away fans. He smiled happily, waving, causing them to cheer harder as his teammates came to congratulate him.

While he did this, the commentator was also going crazy in the booth.

Micheal could not hide his excitement,

"The Blue Boys are off, Sinclair passing to Cole, Cole to Smith, Smith to Hutchinson, Hutchinson back to Grant, WAIT! WHAT'S THIS?

THE BALL HAS BEEN STOLEN! Who is that?"

"That seems to be the young gunners player off the bench, Number 24; he was quick to intercept, impressive response, now he's running forward! he's running towards Hutchinson!"

"Hutchinson's coming forward to meet him, Adeleke seems to be swaying, HE PASSES HUTCHINSON WITH A STEPOVER, that was pretty, Hutchinson was stunned!"

"Very Pretty Micheal, Hutchinson couldn't react, and now he is already in front of Huth."

"Huth is coming forward, foot outstretched to poke the ball, WAIT! NO! WAS THAT A MARSEILLE TURN? HE'S IN THE BOX! ONLY HIM AND THE KEEPER! HE COOLLY INSERTED THE BALL!!!"

"GOAAAAAL!!! WHAT A GOAL! beautiful run and a cool finish.

That was a fantastic play from the 11-year-old striker! from the moment he touched the ball he kept constant momentum and showed us a spark!"

"I HAVE CHILLS BRIAN! GOOSEBUMPS! 11 YEARS OLD AND COULD PULL OFF A RUN LIKE THAT? THE GAME IS 2-1 I CAN NOT WAIT TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT! IT SEEMS THE GAME IS ABOUT TO GET INTERESTING"