<009. Chaminator vs. Lamborghini (2)>
Douglas Costa.
Born in 1990, he was the Brazilian star of tomorrow who started soccer at the Sao Paulo FC academy. He had scored 5 goals in 15 minutes in a match against the FC Flamengo under 13 team recently, and it was hard to find a player as fast as him in his age range.
When Carlos, the director for the Sao Paulo U13 team told him to score 10 goals, he wasn't joking.
If it was the ace of the U13s, Douglas Costa, he was capable of doing it.
Moreover, the opponent was FC Run Shoot, which was a recently established club.
They weren't just looking down on them - it was just a given.
'I saw the game footage, and apart from the kid named Ho Yung Wu, there doesn't seem to be any kids that have learnt soccer properly.'
It was a friendly match, but Carlos had already finished analyzing FC Run Shoot's game footage. It was because if they lost to a team like that, it would be a disgrace and their careers might as well be over.
'Truthfully speaking, it's not an opposition that we need to use tactics to win against.'
FC Run Shoot consisted of mostly 7~9-year-olds.
On Sao Paulo FC U13's side, the average age was 12 years old.
In terms of experience or physical strength, they were no match.
"Hey!"
Carlos called to the two players.
The centre of offence, Douglas Costa and the centre of defence, Casimiro.
He spoke to them both separately.
"Dougie. Don't stress it, just think of it as a warm-up. The important match is in a week's time. Well, score 10 goals or so if you can. You gotta stay true to your reputation."
"Piece of cake.'
Douglas made his unique mischievous expression.
"And Casimiro."
"Yes."
"You see that kid with the number 7 jersey? I want you to mark him the whole game."
"Ho Yung Wu?"
"Yeah. It'll be an opportunity to learn something."
"An opportunity! Are you saying that I'll lose to that tiny kid?"
Casimiro.
He was a star player as good as Douglas. His self-esteem had been attacked as he was compared to Ho Yung, who was a year younger than him.
"Don't get worked up. You'll see when you play. If you don't concede a goal this match, I'll take you straight away to Korea's Disneyland."
"Wow!"
After giving the personal instructions, Carlos gathered the starting players.
"It's an 8v8 match. You would know this because you've done this so many times that you'd be bored out of your mind, but this pitch is smaller than the one we used. So, we have to make chances in the midfield with Wengerball. Understood?"
"Yep!"
"And goalie. Watch out for half line shots."
"Yep!"
It would've been hard for a normal elementary schooler to understand, but it looked like the Sao Paulo U13's all understood.
'Hell yeah. Disneyland, here I come!'
Casimiro, who was to mark Ho Yung for the match, looked at the opposition and smirked.
FC Run Shoot's players seemed to not care about the match that was about to happen.
"An alien comes down from the spaceship, what does! It! Say!"
"Dibidibidip!"
"Hehehe! Sung Jun is out."
While the kids were laughing and playing around, there was only one child who was acting completely different the rest.
Ho Yung Wu.
'I think he's about 15cm smaller than me.'
They would go to Disneyland if he either stopped Ho Yung's goals or if Douglas scored 10 goals.
'This is going to be too easy!'
"Dougie! Let's destroy them!"
"Of course."
At the thought of going to an amusement park, Casemiro and Douglas entered the pitch with high hopes.
Beep!
It was Sao Paulo FC's kick-off.
[The match that will go down history has just begun, with Sao Paulo on the left, and FC Run Shoot on the left.]
[There certainly is something different about this match. Instead of running as soon as the match began, they are passing the ball systematically. Perhaps this is what a global prestigious club looks like?]
This match had a different atmosphere from the matches they had had with Chaboom FC, Hallelujah FC and Sung Nam Citizen Soccer Academy.
Since it was an 8v8 and the pitch was a lot bigger than normal, Sao Paulo passed the ball around in the midfield, sharing possession of the ball. It wasn't the type of chaotic soccer where a player would run towards the ball as soon as they saw it.
Even if the physical strength of the players was almost equal, the intellectual level was where the difference was most present.
It was a real battle between elementary schoolers and middle schoolers.
[Western teams have the advantage over South Korea when it comes to physical strength most of the time. It goes for both adults and children. The match will be hard, but I think that it would be a positive learning experience for the players.]
[That's right. Brazilian players aren't as big as the European ones, but their bodies are very flexible and have elasticity. Compared to that, look at FC Run Shoot. I don't know if it's because it is currently winter, but their muscles are absolutely frozen.]
[What do you mean by that?]
[Their player level is very thin. That is, if we exclude Ho Yung Wu.]
[Hahaha. But, don't you think they might have some home pitch advantage? Ah, as soon as you spoke! Number 9, Douglas Costa is dribbling the ball and is attempting an attack!]
Douglas Costa let the first touch on the ball go long as he received the through ball from the midfield. Immediately after using his unique speed to tear FC Run Shoot's defences apart, he instantly moved in front of the goal box.
'What is this? They're really bad!'
Smiling at the low standard of play, Douglas Costa fired the final intercept shot.
Thump.
"...?!"
Beep!
The ball that had been travelling low on the ground towards the opposition's goal had flown over the goal.
A foot that had come in from the right of Douglas had blocked his shot.
"Who was that?!"
When Douglas turned his head, Ho Yung was standing there, grinning.
"Tsk. You got lucky."
Fueled by the desire to win, Douglas blamed the miss on luck.
Up until then.
But, as five minutes passed, the player who was established as the number one top star, Douglas, became increasingly frustrated.
If his predictions were right, they would've scored two goals by now, there was no goal to be seen. They had only made one attempt at goal, and even that was blocked by Ho Yung.
'That kid. He can actually play soccer…"
At first, he had called it luck, but as it repeated once and twice, it was hard to book it as luck anymore.
'Damn it!'
He was angry.
The possession rate was at least 9 to 1. Sao Paulo was overwhelmingly dominating the match, but since they could not score any goals, the frustration kept building up.
And it exploded.
"Hey!"
"What?"
"They said you were a striker. Why are you here?"
"I don't know what you're saying."
There was no way for the two of them to communicate since Douglas spoke Portuguese, and Ho Yung spoke Korean.
Ho Yung imitated digging his ears and spoke.
"You. No goal. Today."
"What?!"
"Hehe."
As soon as Ho Yung broke it down into easy to understand English, Douglas became infuriated.
This was the first time he had been ridiculed like this in his career.
Getting made fun of and being denied by someone who wasn't even a defender was something that simply could not stand in Douglas's books.
'Alright. I'm giving it all I've got, even though the coach told me not to overdo it.'
He was going to use all of his strength.
As long as the team held their initiative together, the goal will become free at one point, so all they needed to do was be careful about their attack.
'Since Casemiro's on defence, we don't need to worry about it.'
The problem was himself.
'I will score a goal, no matter what.'
Setting his hopes on fire, Douglas tightened his shoelaces.
The result of his determination was shown in 13 minutes.
Thock.
As soon as FC Run Shoot flocked together to attack, Casemiro placed the ball to his opponent's side of the pitch as soon as he cut the ball. Using his long legs, Douglas chased the ball at full pace.
'That's it. It's absolutely empty!'
The defending side of the pitch of FC Run Shoot was completely empty of players.
The perfect no-mark chance!
The goalkeeper, who was already scared, could probably be easily beaten.
If he just got the ball, a goal was certain.
'I've got…!'
But.
'...Oh?'
Thwack.
Ho Yung, who had positioned himself somewhere earlier in the attack, suddenly snatched the ball away from out of nowhere and began to dribble the ball upfield.
'God damn it. Why is their striker always in the defending half?'
Douglas lamented.
'Well, I might as well get it back now.'
If he was to become the second fastest, then he would truly be saddened.
He thought that he could easily catch up to Ho Yung who was busy dribbling the ball.
Or, it could be a miscalculation.
'What…?'
Douglas, who had tried to catch up to Ho Yung thinking he would definitely win, lost the battle of speed. Not taking any notice, Ho Yung dribbled like a madman and crossed the halfway line in an instant.
Douglas had suffered an utter defeat.
"Ha…."
Unable to hide his disappointment, Douglas could only stare at Ho Yung's back as he got further and further away.
He was like a bulldozer.
"What kind of kid is that?"
Finally letting his anger out, Douglas kicked the grass.
But the match continued.
[Ooh…. that was dangerous. That player's working up quite the attitude!]
[Hahaha. However, player Ho Yung Wu is showing us a side to him that we've never seen! He was known for his half line shots, but today, he's centred on breaking through…]
[Ah! As soon as you said it! Ho Yung Wu! He is advancing without hesitation towards the goal box!]
Dribbling aggressively, Ho Yung got past the opposition's defences in an instant.
It was like he had boosters on his feet.
'This is a total scam!'
He understood after using the Chaminator's kick and run for himself.
'What kind of skill is this?'
As soon as he started running, goosebumps appeared on his body and he couldn't stop shaking.
Exactly how amazing were the skills of the players that were better than Du Rim Cha?
'The other kids just can't keep up!'
The last line of defence had only one defender left.
It was a face he knew.
[Casemiro]
Skills possessed
Soccer prodigy (B+)
Lightning fast ball cutting (B)
Compliant ball defending ©
((A skill can be taken if the criteria is fulfilled.)
(Criteria 1: Succeed in a solo breakthrough run.)
(Criteria 2: Score a goal.)
He was the midfielder/defender that would later go on to sign with Real Madrid, he was the future star that would carry Brazil's legacy.
Ho Yung ran towards him.
This was killing two birds with one stone.