Chapter 2: Brexited

Alexis smiled when he heard what the commentator said. All the fear and anxiety that he felt earlier was gone. It was replaced by a new sense of confidence.

After he gave that through ball to Mark Gordon, his teammates started to trust him with the ball more often, and although he didn't exactly make any mistakes, he also didn't do anything out of the ordinary, he was either passing to his back or to his side which was quite average for someone playing in his position.

After a few more minutes, the first half came to a close and the two teams marched to their respective locker rooms.

"You bunch of little pricks". As soon as everyone entered the room, the coach started shouting. "What the fuck did I tell you lot to do? I said go out there and play sexy fucking football!"

"You see those fuckers out there, they're playing low block, going for counters, trying to get a cheap shot cos they've got nothing to lose". The coach said. "We on the other hand, we have everything to lose so we can't lose. It's not because we don't want to it's because we can't afford to".

He said a few more words of encouragement before sending everyone outside. While they were all going outside, he looked at Alexis for a moment before smiling slightly.

[And the second half has begun. Real Stars would be looking to find a way through Alpha Academy's low block]

[They've probably done everything right by the textbook but they're still at a deadlock. It's going to take something special from a special player to get the lead]

[Well they've got a lot of special players haven't they, it's all about if or when they're able to produce a moment of absolute beauty]

While the commentators were talking about how Real Stars had special players, the play on the field couldn't be any more ordinary. It was a continuation of what happened in the first half.

To be fair to Real Stars, Alpha Academy didn't give them much of a chance to do anything productive with the ball. Once it arrived at their feet, there was always someone pressing them from behind.

Tracy Ramsdale (Defensive midfielder) sent a pass to Alexis who was waiting at the edge of the right side of the penalty box. As soon as the ball reached Alexis's legs, be could feel someone running at him from his back. He once again cleverly faked a turn to his right before turning to his left.

He was going to release the ball immediately but when he saw the abundance of space in front of him, he began to have risky thoughts. He cut in with his left foot, pushed it forward a bit to set himself up for the shot and moved his left leg towards the ball

'Take the fucking shot, you're left footed, this is perfect for you'.

'But what if I miss the shot?'

'Fuck that, you miss all the shots you don't take. You don't to pass to that arse of a striker and watch him throw away the chance you created for him'

'But-'

Alexis didn't have the time to continue his internal struggle, his leg already touched the ball and he watched it move to the top left corner of the post.

From a distance, the ball looked as if it was going over the post, but then it dipped, forming a beautiful arc as it dropped towards the top left corner of the post.

Unfortunately though, that was as far as the shot could drop, the top left corner of the post. It bounced off the crossbar and went out of bounds.

[Ooh, what a chance for Real Stars. Alexis Butcher just getting a shot in from the edge of the penalty box. Beautiful shot, unfortunately it didn't go to the back of the net]

[These are the moments that we're talking about. He was closed down as soon as he got the ball, but one brilliant turn and a couple of touches later, we're looking at an absolute beauty of a shot. Pity that it didn't go in]

Alexis clutched his head as when he saw the ball bounce off the cross bar. James came over to him and patted his back. "You'll get them next time".

Alexis smiled and got in position as the opposing goalkeeper took the goal kick.

Over the next twenty minutes, Alexis was locked out of the game. The two times he was actively involved with the play, he ended up creating to attacking chances. Naturally, this caused the opposition to label him as a threat.

Even though they tried to lock him out of the game, they couldn't stop Alexis. When he got the ball away he dribbled past an Alpha Academy player and found himself face to face with with the opposition left back.

He thought of sending it through for the right winger to get a cross in but the right winger didn't make an overlapping run, he was all alone. He moved the ball to the right a bit before cutting inside, using an elastico to get last the defender that was marking him.

Just when he was about to run inside, he heard something.

"Run him over! If you can't mark him, then fucking run him over!" The coach of Alpha Academy shouted from the touchline.

As soon as Alexis heard the shout, he was about to remove himself from the equation entity. He wasn't fast enough though, he felt a sharp pain in his knees and fell to the floor while clutching his leg.

He figured that he was probably going to get tackled but he didn't know that it was going to hurt this much. Tears started pouring out of his eyes as he rolled on the floor while clutching his knees.

He heard his teammates rushing to pick a fight with the person that tackled him, and then he felt the paramedics trying to give him some first aid.... Those were the last things he remembered before his vision went blurry and he fainted.