บท 13: Hat-Trick And Ten Pounds
When he got to his house, he met his mom and asked her for money in regards to the fund raiser. It was only after his persistent begging and a bit of emotional blackmail that she was able to limit the money she donated to ten thousand pounds. It was still a lot to Amber and her cause.
They strolled over to the training grounds, talking animatedly like two friends that were just catching up after not seeing each other for years. She asked some of the players to donate. Some of them outright refused, some were extremely stingy while some were generous.
She even got Steve and the manager to empty their wallets a bit. All in all, she made a pretty good harvest from the Teeside team. She wanted to go but the manager invited her to stay behind and watch their training.
"Alright team, I should think that you all know who we're playing against next and where we're going".
The group of teenage boys sat in a circle round the manager as he addressed them. When he finished talking, a solemn silence echoed on the pitch.
Who was the opponent that they were so scared of… the answer was Manchester Red.
"We're playing against Manchester Red, and as if that's not enough it'll be at Carrington, so definitely there will be fans cheering mainly for the opposition". The manager said.
Some players sucked some air, others let out a nervous chuckle. Which team in their right minds wouldn't be scared of a match against Manchester Red under eighteens.
"So today, rightly so in fact, we're going to focus on defense and cautious possession". The manager said. "After that we're going to work on attacking set plays and defending from set plays and after that we're going to work on the individual set play abilities of our attacking players. That way, we'll know our permanent free kick taker, penalty taker and most importantly corner kick taker". The manager said.
Nobody seemed to have any complaints about the stressful training schedule that the manager set. In fact, they would probably have to go through the same thing every day until the match.
Omari was over the moon. The manager's intensive training suited him perfectly. How else was he supposed to increase his OPR by five by the end of the month.
By the time he finished talking, Steve had already finished setting up the cones for training.
"Alright lads, listen up. We're going to divide ourselves into three teams. Team A, Team B and Team C". Steve said to the boys. "The team arrangement will be the same as last time. Ayanfe, you'll enter Team B". Steve said to Ayanfe who nodded in response.
Soon, all the boys had arranged themselves and started playing.
By the time all the matches were done, all the boys were exhausted. Although one match was only thirty minutes long, the head coach had made sure that each team played a minimum of three match which was at least the time used in an actual match.
Amber watched with obvious interest when the three matches were taking place. Sometimes she shouted in frustration when the team she was supporting didn't play according to her expectation.
More to the point, she was supporting Omari's team. And a shout only escaped her lips whenever Omari missed a goal. Which was not a lot of times.
With the pinpoint finishing skill, he was at least assured that his shots were always going to be on target. The only problem would be the nosy defenders who kept getting their bodies in the way.
After the matches finished, Steve decided not to turn a blind eye to their situation and gave them thirty minutes of rest.
After their respite, he called everyone together and arranged them for a corner kicks. Several players lined up ready to cross the ball into the box.
After the corner drill, Omari learnt two things, he was awfully poor at taking corner kicks. Every single one of his crosses were either intercepted by the keeper of headed away by the defenders.
The next set play on the agenda was free kicks. Omari volunteered to go first. He was feeling very confident due to the skills that he had hidden his arsenal.
He placed the ball at his feet and stared at the keeper. Coincidentally it was Ayanfe that was at the post. He remembered the bet that they made earlier today and he smiled.
I'm going to make that wanker shed tears
Curler.
He kicked the ball into the air and watched it make an arch, moving around the defenders that formed the wall, the ball sunk back in, beyond Ayanfe's dive and…
Bounced off the post.
"Fuck it!" Omari shouted. He punched into the air to vent his frustration. Even though it was just a training exercise, he felt uncontrollably angry any time he missed a goal.
He took some more free kicks and didn't miss any one of them. Either they entered the post, or Ayanfe somehow got the tip of his fingers to hit them.
More accurately, Ayanfe made one lucky save which totaled the number of free kicks that Omari scored to three. He seemed happy with the result though, because he had a wide grin plastered on his face.
"Ayanfe you bloody wanker!" Omari called out as soon as the free kick exercise ended. "Give me my money".
Ayanfe seemed confused when he heard Omari's words. "For what exactly".
"Have you forgotten our bet!" Omari said, a sky smile placing itself on his lips.
Ayanfe's face darkened when he heard Omari's sentence, if that was already possible. He already had dark colored skin.
"I'll give you tomorrow".
Amber watched the exchange with amusement in her eyes. She knew that Omari probably didn't need the money. She just witnessed him beg his mum not to give her tens of thousands of pounds for some school fund raiser. He was probably just messing with Ayanfe.
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