The Beginning
The Score. 3-3 It's The 78th Minute. If They Win, They Get to Nationals. The Home Team (Us) is Currently Being On the Defensive Side, The Opposing Team Is Pressing The Home Team. They're Desperate For A Goal. The Protagonist. Marco Rosetti. Is on the bench, patiently waiting for an opportunity by the Coach. Currently On The Bench he begins to doubt himself since Before this, Every Academy he trialed with has said that he is Not Good Enough And Calls Him "Worthless". Because of This He Doubts Himself.
The Coach Is Pissed And Very Mad Punching the Air, and Fuming Because Of Them #10 Lorenz The Left Winger. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING, TRACK BACK. HELP THE DEFENSE. OH MY GOD HES IGNORING ME." The Gaffer begins to look at the bench, his eyes scrolling between players and looks at Marco. "Marco Your In For Lorenz. Warm Up" Coach Said. Marco Begins to Warm Up. Stretching, His Studs Going through the turf whilst Warming Up The Young Player Says To Himself "Am I Good Enough? Will I even make a impact in such a big game?" The doubt is going through his whole body. He Is Sweating Through Nervousness despite not even Going on the pitch yet. After two minutes of warming up.
The Substitution Window Is Open, The Officials Raises They Sub Sign "#10 OUT, #33 IN". Lorenz Mad as hell, begins to throw his water bottle and left the pitch. Marco Jogs Into the Pitch as a Left Winger. He is a Usually a Left Wingback so this is new to young Italian. The 80th Minute. The Opposing Team Losses Possession And Gave the Home Team Possession, #9 Luca Passes to Marco, Every Attacker Runs to the Opposition. Marco controlled Luca's pass and pushed the ball forward. The opposition's right-back stepped across to close him down. Marco shifted his weight to the right, then knocked the ball left and accelerated past him. He was through. Now he needed to find someone in the box. Finally he spots #14 Alexis The Attacking Midfielder. Running into the opposition box, raises his hand, asking for the ball. Marco Crosses up the ball into the Box. The crowd Raises quietly waiting for something to happen. The shiver runs down their spine. Alexis Heads it, aiming for the goal. And. Opposition Keeper #99 Gian. Saved The Ball stretching his hand as far as he can and successfully saved the ball. The Coach Furious, Though He still believes they can win "Don't Worry, We Still Got this. Everyone Track Back. Defend!" Marco Absolutely shocked. His Eyes Shocked as he could've finally proven himself. But, no. The keeper unfortunately Saves the ball. But before he could fully comprehend the situation. His coach shouts at him. "MARCO WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? GET BACK TO DEFENSE, THEIR COUNTER ATTACKING DAMN IT!".
Marco, Absolutely Devastated Begins to run back to their half. The opponents absolutely Pushed To their Limits, begins to get closer and closer to The Home Team's Goal. The Defenders Closing down on the Opposition Player That Possesses the Ball. Quickly Passes it to his Teammate, his Teammate sprinting. Reaches the Box, Begins to line up to take a shot. The ball Aimed at the goal. He shoots the ball. And the Keeper. Tries to Save it but, didn't reach the goal...
The referee blew his whistle. 3-4. It was over. The opposing players rushed toward each other, screaming and celebrating. They had earned their place at Nationals. Marco stood still. His lungs burned. His legs felt heavy. Around him, his teammates collapsed onto the grass, some covering their faces, others staring at the scoreboard. He looked toward the goal where Alexis's header had been saved. If only that had gone in. He remembered the cross. The run down the left. The moment he'd spotted Alexis inside the box. For a few seconds, he'd forgotten everything. The coaches who rejected him. The word worthless. The fear that he'd never be good enough. He'd simply played football. And then it was gone. "Marco." He turned toward the voice. His coach was standing nearby. "You need to track back quicker next time. You can't leave your teammates exposed like that." Marco lowered his head. "Yes, Coach." The coach walked away to speak with the other players. Marco stared at his boots. "Even when I do something right, it's still not enough". He wanted to cry. He wanted to scream. He wanted to ask someone why football had to hurt so much. Instead, he walked toward the dressing room. One step at a time. Because tomorrow, he'd still be the same boy who dreamed of playing for Junetes. And he still didn't know if that boy had any chance of making it.
At the dressing room. Every Player is Devastated and sad, some are looking at the floor, ceiling, or breathing heavily. They're all tired, all of that work just to lose. "Hey. Look at me, all of you. I know we lost but what matters is that we did our best, and uhm... Sigh* we tried to beat them. We did our best and that's what matters. All right see you all next season". After all the players Showered, And Dressed Up. They all went home. Marco, after losing was he dropped on the pavement and cried heavily, he wanted to win, he wanted to prove himself but no. "I just wanted to win, was that to much to ask for...?" As he is crying. After getting up, he gets home. He removed his shoes and his mom asks him "Hey. So, How was the game?" After removing his tracksuit and headphones he responded with "We Lost. 3-4", his mom seeing his expression knows he is sad and tells him "Honey. There's no world where you win everytime, when you lose. That's experience for you to get better and win next time, you get my point?" Marco responded "Yeah, I Guess.". "Well, something came in the mail for you. It's from Commo 1907. "Marco stopped. "...What?" His mother held out the envelope. For a moment, he couldn't move. His fingers hovered over his name, printed neatly across the front. After everything that had happened today, he couldn't understand why a professional football club would be contacting him. He opened the envelope. And began to read.
