Chapter 13: Opportunity
After spending 2 months with the B team we all grew closer, during those 2 months we've played some friendly games against other big team's B team and we were known to be unbeatable, we have still yet to lose any game.
Villarreal's U15 main team might not be the strongest but the club have gathered a pretty good reputation since the B team was known to be even stronger than some team's A team.
Though even though we received so many compliments we never got the chance to try out whether that was true or no.
But today is finally the moment. We're getting the chance to play against the main team, the team in which ricardo is the captain.
"Are you getting stressed out?" Suddenly a little girl's voice took me out of my Thoughts
I immediately turned around to see who was talking to me. It was a short dark blue haired girl, she had short hair and green eyes, she looked even younger than I was.
"Do we know each other?" It was my first time seeing her but she for sure was talking to me since there's nobody else sitting around here.
"Of course I would know someone who have enough potential to join our main team" she said with a proud and confident smile.
"Are you a fan..?" I asked cautiously, I didn't even get to start in every game so why would I have a fan?
"Hahahaha you could say so. My name is Esmeralda Villanova. I'm the niece of Evans the coach of the main team. I like helping around in the club so I'm usually always around the A team but I'm also one of your biggest fans." She replied with a big happy smile plastered on her face.
"What?? My fan?" I couldn't help but be even more surprised by her last words. I didn't know I had any fan, my comment about her being a fan was nothing more than a joke.
"Yesss! I've seen your match against the B team of Valencia! You scored 4 goals by yourself and ended the game on a 4-0 score. Bahaha you completely destroyed them and they deserve it!" She seemed to be extremely happy about it.
"Hey Esmeralda stop bothering Jude and let him focus on the game." Suddenly someone walked up to us.
"Come on Ricardo! It's my first time getting the chance to meet him." The guy was none other than Ricardo Torres. The star of the main team as well as the person I nearly lost against.
"You'll get a chance to talk to him after the game. Coach Evans is calling for you."
As he said that she immediately left. I was now alone with Ricardo. An awkward silence started to creep in.
"Sorry for that, she can be quite the troublemaker." He tried breaking the ice.
"Don't worry about it."
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Another awkward silence started taking place around us.
"Bahahahaha!!" Suddenly Alex joined in on us.
"Alex?" I wasn't expecting to see him here.
"Bahaha sorry Jude did I interrupt your date?" I could see him starting to tear up while laughing hysterically at his own joke.
"The coach is calling for you. He want to give us instructions before the start of the game." Alex said before leaving again. Apparently he was tasked to go gather everyone before the match.
"Your friend Alex is pretty interesting. I heard he even received an offer from the Barcelona's A team now that their keeper got injured." Ricardo praised him.
"Yeah but I don't think he's interested for now so you don't have to worry about it." I replied. Alex was for sure amazing, I was sure that he would make it in the A team no matter the result of this game.
"Who said I'm worried? Hahaha I'm just saying this game is gonna be fun. I hope you will show me how much you've improved." He said with his signature carefree smile.
"Trust me you'll soon enough realize that our team is in no way lacking compared to the main team." I sail before turning around and walking towards where the coach should be.
I couldn't wait to finally start this game. I was sure that this would be the hardest game our team would ever have to play. But I was confident in everyone's abilities.
Finally I arrived in front of the coach and so did everyone. We all lined up in front of him and waited for his instructions.
"I hope everyone is aware of the meaning of today's game. This is officially just a friendly game to train, but in reality it will be a scouting game. The A team is obviously lacking and we have many promising talents so I hope to make sure to show off our entire effective."
"In this particular game there will be no replacement restrictions. So I'll be making many changes during the game. If some people play well they'll stay on the field but as soon as I notice that you're starting to lower your rhythm I'll be making changes."
"This is what me and Evans have agreed on. Today everyone will get an opportunity if they deserve it. So I hope nobody will be complaining." The coach added.
"Now I'll start by announcing the starting eleven. First of all we'll have Alex Ramirez in goals. We count on you but don't forget that if you make too many mistakes you'll be subbed out."
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"Next we have Pedro Pasqual. You've earned your place here and we'll be counting on you in defense. You'll also be the captain, so I hope not to have to sub you out."
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"As a winger we'll have Nathan Swift. We'll be counting on you in the offense." The coach always loved to play Nathan on the sides even if Nathan was more suited to play as a midfielder nobody managed to change the coach's mind."
"And finally Andre you'll be our striker."
"Understood" Andre didn't seem to be surprised but I could feel many people sending me worried looks.
We all knew that Andre was part of the coach's family and that he was very favored by him. But to think that he'd still make him start even though he said that this line up will depend on skill and who deserves it is still annoying.
Alex was about to complain but I stopped him. I knew that it was useless to argue with the coach since I did many times previously. He nearly made us lose games many times because of his poor judgement and favoritism.
But because of the fact that we always kept winning no matter what, it instead inflated his ego and made him believe that it's all thanks to him.
Anyway it was already good enough that this time he didn't give the captain position to Andre. Everyone knew that Pedro was way more suited for that but in some games he made Andre the captain.
Soon enough everyone took their positions on the field, I could see both Ricardo and Esmeralda looked at me surprised as to why I was on the bench during the start of the game.
Even Evans was a bit surprised but simply took it as Andre being more deserving of the position.
Sitting on the bench during such a game was one of the most frustrating things ever. Having to watch everyone play and not being able to do anything other than yell words of support. It was so horrible. That was the total opposite of my vision of what sports should be.
I've done that during multiple games during those 2 months. Under the excuse that everyone should get a chance to play he always took me off the field even after I scored many goals just to let Andre play.
I couldn't express how much I despised this side of football. But I knew that soon enough nobody could bench me without consequences. If I didn't get to join the A team in those 2 months I already have plans to join another team.
I've already received many offers to join some club's main U15 team. And all of them triggered a system quest which had a close to similar reward to the one of getting into the Villarreal main team. The only difference was the number of random stat points I'd gain which were different.
So now I will be waiting for my opportunity to come. If it isn't today then I'll make sure to reach my goals anyway, even if it's with a different team.