บท 14: Twenty Pounds
"Alright boys, it's time for the penalty drills". The manager said. The head coach was busy working with the defensive players, coaching them on their response to high pressure situations. "You each have thirty shots, ten with each keeper". The manager gestured to the three goalkeepers that stood behind him. "Whoever scores the most goal wins".
Omari looked around him, glancing briefly at the twenty something forwards/midfielders that stood around him and couldn't help feeling sorry for the goalkeepers.
Anthony went up first and converted twenty one out of his thirty penalties. He was doing pretty well until he came up against Ayanfe. He saved six out of his ten penalties.
The next person to walk up was Joshua. He scored nineteen out of his thirty penalties. Once again, Ayanfe made someone look bad, saving eight out of the ten penalties that he faced from Joshua.
The next person to take a penalty was Omari. A smile settled itself on his lips as he was handed the ball. He was going to use the penalty shoot out to experiment with his skills. The system gave him so many skills that he could use to play penalties, freekicks and the likes, he didn't think there was a better time to figure out which one worked best for him.
With the curler, he could place shots at the far posts and they would probably be too far for the keepers dive to reach them. Then again, there were goalkeepers who could stretch long enough to pull off mind-blowing saves, much like the person standing opposite him.
Ayanfe smirked when he saw Omari take a deep breath as he dropped the ball. He was also nervous, that was a good thing.
"You're a shit player, you know". Ayanfe said. "And I'm going to keep your penalty precisely because you're a shit player".
Omari smiled in response to his taunt. "You only have the right to talk to me like that after you've given me my ten pounds".
Ayanfe scowled after that remark and positioned himself at the center of the goalpost. "Just miss the damn penalty already".
Curler.
Omari stepped back, leaving a small distance between him and the ball. The manager blew the whistle and he raced towards the ball and placed it towards the bottom right corner.
The ball made an arc, bending outwards so that it seemed that it was going to go out of bounds, beyond the dive of Ayanfe and curved back inside…
Only to get pushed to the bar and deflect outside. Somehow, Ayanfe had gotten his fingertips to make contact with the ball. His simple movement caused the ball to shift slightly, hitting the frame of the post and deflecting out of bounds.
Ayanfe broke out into a fit of laughter after he made the save. He looked at Omari with a taunting look on his face. "Ten pounds that you won't score up to three goals".
Omari smiled bitterly. He gazed at Ayanfe who went and made another wager, a bit of pity in his eyes. "You're on".
He placed the ball on the penalty spot and stepped back, waiting for the manager to blow his whistle.
The penalty miss did nothing to his confidence, as far as he was concerned, Ayanfe simply got lucky once and made a save. It wasn't like he could repeatedly accomplish that feat.
The manager blew the whistle and he ran towards the ball and kicked it. He placed his shot towards the bottom right corner again and watched as the ball bended outwards before sinking inside again…
Then getting saved by Ayanfe again. Once again, Ayanfe got his fingertips to the ball and pushed it out of bounds. This time, his save was firmer than the first shot. He got his entire palm to push the ball away.
"Don't worry, you don't actually have to give me any money". Ayanfe said. "Ten pounds cancel out ten pounds".
"Don't get too cocky". Omari said. He caught another ball which was thrown at him. He placed it on the penalty spot and moved a few steps backwards.
While he was waiting for the manager to blow the whistle, his brain was spinning. Ayanfe saved two shots that were perfectly placed at the bottom corner. That was practically the bane of goalkeepers when it came to penalties. It was clear that precision alone wouldn't be enough for him to get the upper hand.
If he used pinpoint finishing and shot it with a lot of power then there was still a margin for error. The system only improved the accuracy of his shots by twenty percent. If his shot wasn't good enough and somehow still went off target with the twenty percent increase in precision then what.
Fuck it, there's no way that I'm going to let that idiot get ten pounds off me
Omari took a deep breath. The manager blew his whistle and Omari ran towards the ball, and shot it with all the power that he could muster.
The ball left the ground and crashed against the roof of the net in the goalposts within a fraction of a second.
Ayanfe couldn't react at all. He could only look so his side to see that the ball was already inside the post.
Omari smiled when he saw the result of the shot. He could take penalties like this all the time. At the under eighteen level at least, he was fairly certain that there was not a keeper alive that could keep such a penalty.
"I'm not a genius at maths or anything". Omari said, snapping Ayanfe out of his shock. "But ten plus ten equals twenty. You owe me twenty pounds".
The smile on Omari's face becoming wider as he finished talking.
Ayanfe could only grit his teeth in response to Omari's words. He couldn't refute him, if he kept shooting penalties like that then there was no way that he was going to get win the little wager he proposed.
He'd still have to try though. It was an easy dive for the next penalty, Omari always shot to his right.
"Dream on". Ayanfe said as he positioned himself on the center.
Omari shrugged. "It's your money".
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