Read the next chapter first, then come back to this.
********
“PRRRRPPP!!!”
“And~ we’re underway here, everybody.” Arnold Freeman started.
“Danny Bremang rolls it to Nolan, who sends it back to Keenan Monlouis at defensive midfield. Julian and Austin immediately springs forward into the opponents half, eager to get into position. Keenan passes it to Zander Chitty on the right, who took a few strides forward. A midfielder of Kernistad instantly closes in on him, but he calmly sends a diagonal forward pass to the center of the field where Monlouis was waiting.”
And just like the commentator said, Keenan took control of the ball in the center circle, before lifting his head to check for options.
“Monlouis opts for the long ball, kicking it high into the air for Danny Bremang in attack.”
Danny Bremang and a defender duels for the aerial ball, the two well-built players not scared to get physical.
“The defender wins the aerial duel, but the ball isn’t cleared far enough, falling into the steady feet of Nolan Grey.”
Nolan took control of the ball with the same ease and calm Julian saw in trials, his purple eyes moved fast, searching for options.
But Kernistad wasn’t going to let them do as they want, with a midfielder closing him down fast.
When he lifted his head, Nolan saw Julian dropping inside, silently signaling him to past the ball with a open palm.
There was a problem, though.
Julian had an opponent shadowing him, breathing down his neck.
There was clearly better options to pass the ball to, like his fellow attacking midfielder a few meters ahead of him, but Nolan decided against his better judgment.
“Tch.”
Nolan clicked his tongue and made his move.
He rolled the ball inside, to his weaker right foot, letting his markers momentum carry him passed and slid the ball to Julian.
“He rolls the ball to Julian Valecrest who dropped inward.” Arnold Freeman relayed to the live viewers.
Julian received the ball with his back turned towards the goal, a defender already behind him.
He let the ball roll passed him for a fraction of a second, twisting his body and dropping his right shoulder along with it.
He quickly cut the ball back inside with his right foot, sending the defender the wrong way, and turned facing the goal.
“With a lovely feint, Julian loses his marker, sending him the wrong way.”
Julian lifted his head, dropped it and tapped the ball a meter ahead of him.
“Looks like he’s lining himself up for the shot from range.”
Keeping his eyes on the ball, Julian lifted his left hand for balance and maximum power behind the shot.
He stiffened his left leg as he planted it and brought the right leg forward with power.
–thud–
He hid the ball with the top of his foot, sending it forward with speed and power.
His left leg lifted of the ground as his other leg followed through, landing on the same leg he kicked.
“Julian Valecreeeeeeest!!”
The ball sped towards the goal, rising with every moment it traveled, twisting and turning slightly in the air.
He took a step to his right, but the ball changed direction last minute, as if guided by the hand of the goddess.
The goalkeeper stayed rooted to his spot, watching helplessly as the ball struck the back of his net, mind reeling.
“GOOOAAAALLLLL!!!”
The crowd instantly went wild, roaring with cheers and praise.
Even the senior teams in the stands couldn’t help but react, with several of them holding their heads, eyes open, mouths agape.
Even Julian couldn’t hide the surprise.
With wide, unbelieving eyes, he ran to where the stands gathered the most, his teammates quickly chasing after him to join in on the celebrations.
When he got to the side of the field, he placed his feet square on the ground, bent his spine backwards slightly, spread his arms wide, and lifted his head with a calm and nonchalant expression.
He looked like a god accepting the worship and praises of the masses.
“What a way to start the game and announce yourself to the rest of the world!” The commentator said.
“Barely a minute into the game and Julian Valecrest puts Ashton Imperial Academy in the lead with a beautiful goal from outside the box. Coming into the game, he must’ve been aware that there would be a lot who would question his legitimacy, and what a way to shut them up.”
At the side of the field, Julian and his team continued celebrating, and all of them congratulating him and exchanging compliments.
********
“PRRRPP!!”
The referee announced the continuation of the game, with Kernistad kicking the ball off.
“Kernistad’s morale took a huge hit, coming into the game they did not expect to be behind so early on. But if there’s one thing we learned from them last season; is that they don’t give up easily and will surely bring the fight to the opponent.”
As Kernistad moved the ball through their ranks, the Imperial Academy instantly thickened the pressure in a bid to win the ball and keep the momentum.
The ball ends up with Kernistad’s goalkeeper, who sent a long ball forward, into AIA’s half where Keenan and another midfielder rose for the ball.
“Monlouis fails to win the aerial duel and the ball drops to Kernistad’s right midfielder.”
The right midfielder took control of the ball and sped up alongside the right side, Josh Webber closes in on him to win the ball.
“Great piece of defending from Ashton’s left-back–Josh Webber–winning the ball cleanly to stop Kernistad’s attack.”
Like a light switch went off, Josh’s mentality immediately went to attacking, passing the ball to the middle of their half where Nolan was waiting.
“Webber passes to Grey.”
With his back turned to his marker, Nolan took a simple touch of the outside of his right boot, sending the ball behind his marker.
He turned the other way, circling his marker and taking the ball back in his feet.
“Lovely bit of skill for Nolan there, and Ashton is already on the attack again.”
Julian, Danny and Austin immediately sprang forward, running to the opponents goal.
Because they were so eager to score a goal, the defense of Kernistad pushed up high, standing just off of the halfway line.
Nolan lifted his head for options.
Danny Bremang was speeding through the center, and Julian and Austin ran on the left and right side.
All three of them had defenders on them, but these defenders had their backs turned to Nolan as they tried to keep up with their defensive targets.
Nolan kicked the ball with the inside of his boot.
It skimmed the ground at a steady pace as it curled to the left side, sliding in before Julian who was steadily widening the gap between himself and his marker. Read the latest chapters at novelping dot com.
“Spectacular through pass from Nolan to Julian on the left.”
Julian took a deliberate heavy touch with the tip of his left foot, sending the ball a couple of meters ahead of him.
One of the defenders that ran alongside Danny left their position and sped towards the ball in a attempt to get there before Julian.
“Heavy touch there from Valecrest and the Kernistad defender immediately tries to capitalize on the opportunity, rushing for the loose ball. It is now a contest of speed. Who will get there first: Julian or the defender?”
But Julian’s facial expression was calm the whole time, not a speck of nervousness, he clearly knew what he was doing.
While they were on the attack, Julian made sure to keep behind the horizontal yellow line that appeared on the field, a feature due to his skill–Offside Line.
Now that he didn’t have to hold his speed back, he went all out, running after the ball with all his speed.
“Oh, wow.” The commentator’s voice was colored with shocked.
“Julian is fast. He’s really fast.”
Seeing that he was losing the speed contest, the defender made a desperate sliding tackle for the ball.
But Julian stuck his foot in at the last moment, scooping the ball over the defender’s legs before jumping over the tackle.
“Julian gets away from the tackle! Now it’s only three against two. Danny Bremang is in front and Austin Sullivan is on the far right, which option will he go for?!”
Ball at his feet, Julian lifted his head and then signaled towards Danny–who was at the edge of the opponents box–to go left.
Danny immediately did as told, abandoning his path and going left, drawing his marker with him.
When Julian entered the box from the left side, his intentions immediately became clear.
He cut the ball with the outside of his right foot, letting it roll to horizontally to his right.
Thanks to Danny and Austin drawing the defense, he had a clear shot at goal.
“Julian Valecrest with the shot!!!”
–thud–
He struck the ball with the inside of his right foot, sending it forward with speed towards to far bottom corner.
The ball bend slightly in a beautiful arc as it sped towards the corner.
The goalkeeper dived, but the ball was out of reach.
The ball struck the back of the net.
“GOOOAAAALLLLL!!!”
The commentator shouted at the top of his lungs.
“JULIAN VALECREST, EVERYBODY!! Remember the name!!”
Julian ran to the side of the pitch and did his celebration, nodding as the rapidly filing stadium shouted his name.
How do you guys like this?
Should I keep writing the games like this, or do you want Julian’s pov?
Tell me in the comments.