By Thursday morning, Sunday’s match had begun following Rafael into school.
The days since Metz’s penultimate league victory had passed through recovery work, lessons and two lighter academy sessions. His legs no longer carried the weight of the match, but the final fixture remained difficult to ignore. It appeared whenever someone mentioned the weekend, whenever he checked the academy calendar and whenever one of his teammates sent another picture of the league table into their group chat.
At lunch, Rafael sat with several classmates near the windows at the far end of the dining hall. An examination was approaching, but only one of them had brought revision notes to the table. The folder remained closed beneath his tray while everyone argued about whether they should study on Saturday or abandon the idea entirely.
"We could go into town," one of them suggested. "Eat first, pretend we’re revising afterwards."
"You never revise afterwards," the boy with the folder said.
"That’s why I said pretend."
Someone looked across the table at Rafael. "Morales will disappear before we decide."
"I’m sitting here."
"You always say you’re coming, then training suddenly exists."
"Training doesn’t suddenly exist. You keep arranging things when you know I have it."
"That sounds like an excuse."
Rafael opened his yoghurt. "It sounds like a calendar."
The others laughed.
"Come on Saturday," the classmate beside him said. "We won’t stay out late."
"I have a match on Sunday."
"You always have a match on Sunday."
"This one matters."
"They all matter when you don’t want to come."
Rafael shook his head. "I can’t stay out the night before a match. If you’re still doing something after Sunday, I’ll come."
"If your schedule allows?" someone asked.
"If my schedule allows."
"That means no."
"It means I’ll ask."
Conversation returned to the examination and their uncertain plans for Saturday. Rafael continued eating while they argued over where to go.
The subject might have remained there if the classmate beside him had not taken out his phone.
"What happens if you lose on Sunday?"
Rafael looked toward him. "Why?"
"I saw the table this morning. You’re second now."
He found the standings and turned the screen toward the others. Metz occupied second place, one point ahead of the team they would face in the final fixture.
"So a draw is enough?" someone asked.
"It keeps us second," Rafael said.
"And if you lose?"
"They move above us."
The classmate scrolled down the table. "Then you’re out?"
"Only the top two qualify."
The table fell quiet for several seconds.
"We should go," one of them eventually said.
"To the match?"
"Yes."
The boy with the revision folder frowned. "You said we were studying."
"We can do both."
"You haven’t studied once while sitting beside your notes."
"I might work better near a football pitch."
Another classmate looked at Rafael. "What time does it start?"
Rafael gave them the kick-off time and explained where spectators usually stood. Within a minute, three of them had decided to attend. The fourth refused to promise anything until he knew whether his parents would allow him to abandon the revision session he had already agreed to attend.
Rafael answered their questions calmly. When the conversation moved back to Saturday, he noticed that his fingers remained wrapped around his unopened drink.
He released the bottle and continued eating.
The final bell sounded shortly after three. Rafael left school with his academy bag over one shoulder and travelled directly to the Plaine Saint-Symphorien.
The changing room was louder than it had been during the two recovery sessions earlier in the week. Several players discussed Sunday’s fixture while pulling on their training clothes, although nobody said anything the others did not already know.
A draw was enough.
Defeat ended their season.
Their opponents had to win.
Yanis sat beside Rafael and tightened the laces of his boots.
"Everyone at my school has suddenly discovered youth football," he said.
"Mine too."
"How many are coming?"
"Three. Maybe four."
"Do they know anything about football?"
"One of them thinks standing near the pitch will help him revise."
Yanis glanced across. "He might learn something."
"Not what’s on the examination."
A member of staff called for the players to finish changing. Rafael secured his shin guards, pulled his socks over them and followed Yanis outside.
Training began with controlled movement work before progressing into a short possession exercise. The intensity was higher than it had been during the previous two sessions, but the coaches stopped players from turning every challenge into a contest.
After the final possession block, the head coach called the squad toward a tactics board beside the pitch.
A copy of the league table had been attached to one corner.
"We know the situation," the coach said. "A win or a draw keeps us second. They need three points, so expect them to press and send players forward."
He moved several magnetic pieces across the board, showing how the opposing full-backs could advance whenever Metz attempted to build from defence.
"That does not mean we defend from the first minute. We keep our structure, press properly and attack the spaces they leave. If we are still qualifying near the end, then we manage the match."
The coach returned the pieces to their original positions.
"We’re playing two situations. Starting side in burgundy. Everyone else in yellow."
Rafael pulled a burgundy bib over his shirt.
Pale blue light appeared in front of him.
[TRAINING MISSION]
[Pressure Rehearsal]
[Objective: Register one goal contribution during the match simulation.]
[Reward: Composure +0.2]
[ACCEPT]
Rafael accepted immediately.
The panel disappeared as the assistant coach directed the second team into position. They had been instructed to imitate Sunday’s opponents by pressing aggressively and advancing additional players whenever Metz recovered possession.
The first simulation would begin with Rafael’s side leading 1–0 and fifteen minutes remaining.
Rafael moved near the centre circle while the opposing centre-backs positioned themselves behind him.
The coach raised the whistle.
"Burgundy protect the lead without abandoning the ball. Yellow need an equaliser."
The whistle sounded.
Yellow began with possession and pushed both full-backs beyond halfway. Their midfield moved the ball from one side to the other before creating enough space for a cross from the right.
A Metz centre-back headed it clear, but the second team recovered outside the penalty area and immediately returned possession toward the wing.
Metz remained compact. Yanis dropped beside the midfielders, while Rafael stayed high enough to prevent both opposing centre-backs from joining the attack.
Another cross entered the box. The goalkeeper stepped forward and caught it before calling for the team to move up the pitch.
He rolled the ball toward the right-back.
Yellow pressed immediately.
The right-back passed inside, but an opponent followed the receiving midfielder. The ball returned to the defender, who cleared toward halfway before he could be trapped near his own penalty area.
Rafael moved beneath it.
One centre-back challenged from behind while the other positioned himself several metres away to collect any loose touch. Rafael widened his stance and allowed the ball to strike his chest.
The defender pressed into his back as the ball dropped.
Yanis had begun running beyond him, but the second centre-back had already moved across to cover the passing lane. Rafael protected possession, waited for support and returned the ball to an approaching midfielder.
Metz kept it long enough for their defensive line to move away from the penalty area.
"Good," the coach called. "Don’t give it straight back."
Yellow recovered possession again and sent another delivery across the box. The cross travelled beyond their striker and reached the Metz left-back near the opposite corner.
He cleared down the touchline.
Rafael moved across and reached the ball before the nearest centre-back could step in front of him. There was space behind the defender, but nobody was close enough to support a counterattack.
Rather than knocking the ball forward and chasing it alone, Rafael turned toward the touchline and placed his body between the defender and possession.
A midfielder approached from inside to trap him.
Rafael waited until the second player extended a leg and pushed the ball beyond the challenge. The midfielder’s outstretched foot clipped his trailing ankle.
The whistle sounded.
Metz took the free kick slowly and kept possession in defence. By the time Yellow forced another clearance, less than five minutes remained.
The next ball reached Rafael near halfway. Yanis immediately began running beyond him, but three yellow shirts were already recovering toward their own goal.
Rafael brought the ball down, carried it toward the touchline and waited for the support behind him.
Yanis stopped his run.
"You could have released me."
"They had three defenders."
"I only needed to beat two."
"And then?"
Yanis looked toward the distant penalty area. "I would have decided when I got there."
"That’s why I kept it."
The final minutes followed the same pattern. Yellow attacked with numbers whenever they recovered possession, while Metz resisted the temptation to clear every ball without direction.
Rafael barely entered the opposing half. He held two more passes near the touchline, returned another into midfield and forced one centre-back to remain behind whenever Yellow committed players forward.
The coach ended the simulation with the starting side still leading 1–0.
Several players bent forward to catch their breath while the assistant coach called for water.
The mission panel did not appear.
Rafael had helped preserve the lead, but he had not completed the objective.
The coach gave them two minutes before calling both sides together.
"That is how we manage a lead," he said. "Find the first pass and move out together. The forward does not need to beat three players every time we clear the ball."
He changed the situation.
The starting side would now trail 1–0 with twenty minutes remaining. Yellow would defend deeper, protect the middle and counterattack whenever Metz committed too many players forward.
Rafael returned to the centre circle. The two yellow centre-backs stayed close enough that either could challenge him without leaving the other isolated.
The whistle sounded.