Desperation; the birth of defeat or determination!

{You have executed an unknown Football Skill: ???}

{Congratulations! Unity recognizes your talent as the creator!}

{You have been rewarded with 5,000 Experience Points!}

{Give your football skill a name!}

Endrick saw a virtual projection of when he executed the Scissor Kick, he grinned. "I'll call it the Endrick Scissor Kick".

{Football Skill Name Registered:}

>Football Skill: Endrick Scissor Kick<

.…

{You have executed an unknown Freekick Technique: ???}

{Congratulations! Unity recognizes your talent as the creator!}

{You have been rewarded with 5,000 Experience Points!}

{Give your freekick technique a name!}

This time, Endrick decided not to be pretentious. Considering the amount of skills that the game system already recognized him for, he thought that keeping this one neutral without a name attached to it will increase its mystique even more.

"I'll call it the Knuckle Ball technique".

{Football Freekick Technique Registered:}

>Freekick Technique: Knuckle Ball<

…

{Congratulations! You have attracted the attention of the Coach responsible for organizing Unity football; Coach Alex Scaffold.}

{Coach Alex Scaffold has sought an audience with you after the game.}

{Do you accept?}

{Acceptance Prize: 10,000 Experience Points.}

"…" Endrick's eyes widened.

'The coach responsible for organizing Unity football?'

Endrick's brain cells whirred into action. 'Is this the coach that will be responsible for coaching Team Earth in the promised Universe Cup?'

'Holy Sh*t, did my skills attract his attention already?!'

Endrick was psyched and shocked but he didn't let it get to his head yet. Alongside the other 7 players in category 1, he walked to the dressing room to rest. For now, he still had a football game to play and finish.

'I'll attend to that notification later'.

On getting to the dressing room, Endrick was affected by the mood inside.

The mood inside was gloomy and dark.

All his rivals had different thoughts going through their heads and it was definitely not positive.

This was when the stats of the first half were projected to them.

{Category 1 Status: 1st Half- 30 minutes}

{Player Enigma: 8 Shots; 2 Goals}

{Player Legion: 9 Shots; 1 Goal}

{Player Ultron: 5 Shots; 0 Goal}

{Player Turtle909: 5 Successful Blocks; 2 Shots; 0 Goal}

{Player Apeman: 6 Shots; 1 Goal}

{Player Drip-Lord: 4 Shots; 0 Goal}

{Player Endrickdinho: 5 Shots; 2 Goals}

{Player Robertson22: 9 Saves}

The faces of 4 of the 8 players instantly turned grave.

"Crack!" Ultron tightened his fists as veins popped all over his face. 'I had only 2 shots on target, yet they were all caught by Robertson'.

He looked down at his legs, he felt desperate. 'Are the others really so much better? Am I really not yet at their level?'

Drip-Lord's makeup was already wearing off, he looked downcast like someone who just lost a relative. 'Is my drip fading?' He thought.

'I came to Unity to show my drip to the world through football, yet, in this game, I could not even score a single goal'.

He remembered Legion's ruthless words. 'He said I could not score because I'm foolish and being vain, is that true?' He started doubting himself.

'Is my drip vain? Is it foolishness?'

Drip-Lord slowly drowned into the endless waters of desperation.

Resting his back against his chair in the dressing room, Turtle909 looked up listlessly like a nomad stranded in a deep desert with no way out.

'5 successful blocks, 2 shots, 0 goal…, haha, pathetic'. He laughed at himself in his mind. 'I'm so f*cking pathetic, I couldn't even score one goal'.

'Instead of scoring, I ended up only getting successful blocks'.

'I'm beginning to think that football is not for me'.

'I'm tired, what should I do?'

"…" The 4th player shook in anger in his chair.

Unlike the others, clearly, his fiery personality did not allow him to drown in his sorrow and anger. "What the f*ck!" He roared.

"6 shots on target and only 1 goal? That's unacceptable!"

"That Enigma fellow even shoved me off the ball once, impossible!" His voice was loud as it disturbed all the others.

"This 2nd half, I must come back, I must score at least another goal!"

"I am the best here!" He glared at everyone. "I will crush you all!"

Apeman's words were provocative but it achieved something, it lit a mental fuse in all the other players in this dressing room, they became saturated in his aggressive and fiery outburst.

'He scored 1 goal yet he's this desperate to score another, yet us…'

Ultron's eyes gleamed. 'I will give my all this 2nd half, my fire ball must manifest and show it's superiority!'

Turtle101's thoughts were realigned. 'Well, f*ck it, I no longer give a damn!'

'The Bogeyman wants goals, I don't want, my passion is to be the best defender, intercepting the most balls and getting the most successful blocks'.

'Since they're so intent on scoring, I won't care about scoring either, I'll instead focus on frustrating them'. He grinned. 'I'll block so many balls that none of you f*ckers will be able to make the net shake once!'

Drip-Lord's thoughts were different. 'Hehe…, how far the drip has fallen'.

'I actually thought my drip was fading'.

'I actually thought that drip was vain and foolishness'.

The next moment, this player sprang up from his chair and walked before Legion, he looked into this assassin's eyes as Legion glared back fearlessly at him.

"Your words mean sh*t to me!" He spat out fearlessly.

"In the 2nd half, I shall show you what true drip means".

"I shall show you true football".

"What is football without drip?"

"NOTHING!" He roared in Legion's face who silently looked back at him.

"I shall be the best player of the 2nd phase of the elite team trials!" He declared as he returned back to his seat.

"You'll have to beat me first to get that title!" Apeman challenged.

"I will beat you!" Drip-Lord spat back.

This session lasted only 10 minutes but during this time, the atmosphere between the players of Category 1 already turned into that of wartime.

When they returned to the pitch, the mood was different.

The air between them was tense like electricity cackled in the atmosphere.

The aura among them was aggressive and competitive.

The drive inhibiting them was a dangerous one.

FWEEEE!

The 2nd half started!