Call Me Dave

[And the two teams are making their way onto the pitch. It's the first match of preseason in school football, and it's between two heavyweights as well. A real treat for everyone who has been waiting for the season to start.]

[Woodbridge International are fielding a very strong lineup. It looks like they are aiming to improve the sharpness of their players. A lot of these players featured last year, and maybe their experience could turn out to be the difference-maker.]

[It's quite the opposite for Charles Patterson Institute. Only four players remain from their historic run a year ago. All four are in the starting lineup, but aside from them, everyone else is new to school football. It'll be interesting to see how much the coach has done to improve the team's cohesion.]

After a few more comments from the commentators, during which all the starting players took their positions on the field, the referee blew his whistle, and the match began.

Woodbridge International started the match. Their giant striker kicked the ball to the feet of his closest teammate.

In the first two minutes or so, Woodbridge International's attacking plan became very clear. Taking advantage of the strength of their striker, who was physically bullying Charles Patterson's center backs, he would hold up play until their wingers had favorable positioning, after which he would release the ball to them. The midfield had almost nothing to do offensively; their only job was to somehow get the ball to the striker, so they were quite active defensively.

David and Archie were the duo playing in central midfield. They were operating as a double pivot, with Archie as the deep-lying midfielder. Due to his skill, while Woodbridge International's striker managed to get passes away, Archie would intercept them and feed the ball to David, who would skillfully move it away.

6'

Archie had just intercepted another pass. He was about to play the ball straight to David when he saw James making a run on the right. Without another thought, he played the ball toward James.

James and the Woodbridge International defensive midfielder chased after the ball. James got to it first, but since he was coming at it with so much speed, he ended up overhitting it.

What seemed like a mistake turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Another player, who had been behind the defensive midfielder, went after the ball. They probably planned to gang up on James, but the ball went beyond their reach.

Trey wasn't slacking on the right side. As soon as James hit the ball, Trey ran toward it, taking it as a pass.

When James saw that Trey had gotten the ball, he made an overlapping run. Trey noticed the run and chipped the ball over the right-back who was pressuring him, toward James, who now had an abundance of space on the right-hand side. James looked up, selected a target, and crossed the ball into the box.

Michael made tricky movements to free himself and jumped. His head brushed against the ball, changing its trajectory toward the bottom left corner.

The Woodbridge International goalkeeper dived for the ball at full stretch and heaved a sigh of relief as he watched it go out of bounds. If it had been a few inches closer, it probably would have gone into the goal.

"Shit," Alexis muttered under his breath from the bench. He and everyone watching had thought it was a sure goal.

Michael, who missed the chance, had a small smile on his face. He raised his thumb toward James and jogged back as the Woodbridge International goalkeeper prepared to take the goal kick.

The match continued at a low tempo. Michael's header was the only eventful thing for a long while.

24'

After a long period of conservatism, Woodbridge International went on the attack. Their right-back moved the ball up the right flank and sent a long pass toward the final third. Their striker controlled the ball, then sent a through ball toward their left winger.

The left winger cut back to make space for a shot and smashed it toward the bottom right corner. Luckily, Andy Callohven was up to the task. He managed to catch the shot.

"Fuck," the left winger muttered under his breath.

After that chance, the match once again entered a stalemate. But it wasn't the same as before. Earlier, the two teams didn't seem eager to attack; all that happened were spells of possession. This time, however, the defensive players of both teams were quite busy. If they slacked off for even a moment, they would be punished.

39'

Archie intercepted a ball moving into the box and passed it to David. David danced around many outstretched legs and found himself moving into space in the midfield. He kept dragging the ball forward, searching for the wingers out of the corner of his eye.

Unfortunately for him, the wingers were quite occupied, so he couldn't pass the ball to them. And like that, he moved to the central area of the pitch, just passing the halfway line. He began scanning for Michael and Jonathan Dennis, but they were also tightly marked.

Unknowingly, David had already entered the final third. He began to twist and turn with the ball to escape his markers while looking for a free teammate to release the ball to. He was about to pass back to the defenders when he noticed a small pocket of space. He realized he was quite close to the goal. If he shot from here, it could go in; the angle might be tight, but it could work.

David moved the ball away from another outstretched leg and steadied himself for the shot. As his right leg moved to kick the ball, someone suddenly slammed into him, causing him to fall to the ground. The referee immediately blew his whistle and signaled for a free kick.

"What's the matter, David Archer?" the person who tackled him snickered. "I thought you were stronger than that?" he continued to taunt David.

David, however, couldn't be bothered to respond. He just shook his head and started to get back on his feet.

When he was fully standing, he turned to the person who tackled him, a friendly smile settling on his face, almost as if he hadn't just been recklessly tackled a few moments ago. "Please, call me Dave.