Even after finishing, reading the article, Hiro continued to stare at the newspaper for some while, looking completely dazed. As if he was having hard time believing the thing he just read, he was at loss of words to express his feelings.
Finally after few seconds, he turned his gaze towards Rin who was staring at him with his expectant eyes as if he was eagerly waiting to hear Hiro’s response.
However contrary to Rin’s expectation, Hiro’s words left him utterly disappointed.
“Since when did you start reading newspaper?” Questioned Hiro after taking some time to answer.
Hearing Hiro’s words, the smile on Rin’s face faded away.
Frowning his brows, Rin then answered while contorting his face, “I read it everyday because my dad makes me read it to him every morning. But shouldn’t you be asking something like my name is on the newspaper? Or something like I’m famous, instead of asking me when I started to read newspaper?”
“And what’s with that dull expression on your face? You could atleast act like you’re excited.” Continued Rin grumpily.
“Well it was bound to happen sooner or later. So you could say that I was somewhat prepared.” Casually replied Hiro as if it wasn’t a big deal for him. 𝒊𝓫𝙧𝙚𝒂𝙙.𝒄𝓸𝒎
“Then why did you act like you were excited earlier when you started reading the article?” Rin questioned.
“Because the news came out of nowhere and caught me off-guard.” Hiro answered earnestly.
Afterall the article did caught him off-guard. And in the world of football it’s common for players with exceptional talents to get famous.
“But anyway thank you for showing me the news. I appreciate your efforts.” Continued Hiro with a smile on his face while looking him in the eyes, “And I mean it.”
“At least you’re thankful.” Letting out a subtle smile, Rin grinned.
**** ****
At around 5 in the evening, Hiro and his teammates were gathered inside a spacious hall to analyse their opponents gameplay.
The spacious hall was the video analysing room of Kawasaki Frontale’s youth team. With a big white cloth hanging on one side of the wall which acted as the screen, beneath the screen was a raised platform made up of wood and infront of the screen was several chairs placed in an orderly manner.
And while every players were seated in their seats, manager Makoto accompanied by few other coaches were standing infront of the white screen.
“Turn on the projector.” Commanded manager Makoto.
And as soon as he ordered to run the projector, one of the coaching staff turned off the lights and the hall became darker.
After few seconds, a projection appeared on the big white screen placed infront of the players. And with the appearance of the projection in the screen, the hall lit up dimly because of the light coming from the projection.
“Now everybody pay attention.” Saying such, manager Makoto reminded everybody to pay attention to the video.
In the screen infront, video of the match between FC Tokyo and Yokohama F Marinos which took place on April 4th started playing.
Some leaning their back against the chair, some leaning their body infront with their hands placed on their chin, while some sitting straight, every player present in the video analysing room looked extremely focused.
At 33rd minute, manager Makoto paused the video and spoke, “Now pay attention to the number 7, number 10 and number 4.”
Saying such, he resumed the video. And just as he resumed the video, the keeper of FC Tokyo passed the ball to the player with number 4 on his back who happened to be the left back of FC TOKYO.
That left back then began to dribble the ball forward by himself. Quickly playing one-two passes with his team’s midfielder, he swiftly evaded the reach of opponent teams forwards.
After drawing enough attention, he then passed the ball to the player in the right flank. Even after passing the ball, he didn’t fall back. Instead, he kept pushing forward.
The player in the right flank who received the ball didn’t keep hold of the ball for long and quickly passed the ball to the number 10.
And just as the number 10 got the ball, their number 7 started running forward, positioning himself in a suitable position to score the goal.
But instead of passing the ball to number 7 who was charging forward, he chose to keep hold of the ball. The number 10 then tried to dribble the ball by himself.
After dribbling past two of the opposing players, he then kicked the ball towards the left flank which seemed completely vacant.
Just then the left back from earlier came rushing towards the ball to receive the ball. And even until that moment, their number 7 was still calm and composed. He wasn’t a bit agitated by his teammates decision to not pass the ball to him despite being completely unmarked.
The left back then crossed the ball inside the box, towards the number 7. The number 7 inturn headed the ball inside the goalpost and converted the cross into goal.
Just as the number 7 scored the goal, manager Makoto paused the video. Looking completely serious, he then questioned his players, “Why do you think their teams number 10 decided to not pass the ball to number 7 who was completely unmarked?”
Upon hearing manager Makoto’s question, everybody turned silent. They began to rummage their mind. However no one dared to speak. Some out of fear, some because of lack of knowledge, some having no answers, everybody remained silent.
‘Sigh!! No one’ Looking at the players infront, manager Makoto sighed.
Just then at the middle row, one of the player raised his hands. Seeing the raised hand, manager Makoto smiled and mumbled, “Yes Hiro.”
“Sir, it’s because that number 7 was in an offside position. Although unmarked he was just too close to the only opposing centre back with number 2 of Yokohama F Marinos. And that defender was looking like he was planning on running forward instead of running backwards to create an offside trap.” Answered Hiro confidently.
“You’re reasoning is indeed right Hiro.” With a smile on his face, Makoto complimented Hiro. He then waved his hand to signal Hiro to take his seat.
After that he zoomed the video to explain in detail, “You see this number 2 of Yokohama F Marinos? His name is Takuma Mitsuhashi. He’s a very skilled defender known for his quick thinking.”
While speaking such, Makoto zoomed a bit more on Takuma, “You see here, his body is leaning forward. However look at his legs, it’s pointing in different direction. Most probably he’s not planning to run forward, for that’s too risky to pull off in that situation. He’s probably thinking of running towards the ball to intercept the ball before it could reach Tsubasa Watanabe, the number 7 of FC Tokyo.”
Hearing manager Makoto’s reasoning, everybody nodded their head.
After detailing some important points in the video, he resumed the video and continued to analyse the video.
Pointing at the flaws and strength of players of both the team, manager Makoto briefed every player about the playstyle of the players whom they’ll be facing tomorrow.
After finishing analysing the video of FC Tokyo and Yokohama F Marinos, manager Makoto then began to discuss strategy for tomorrow’s match.
“I believe that just like us, they too have studied about our strategy. So for tomorrow’s match we’ll be changing few things. For starter tomorrow we’ll be playing in 4-4-2 formation. Hiro and Tatsuki, both of them will be playing forward tomorrow. However instead of playing as a pure striker, Hiro will still drop deep to receive the balls. Basically he’ll be playing as a false nine.” Manager Makoto announced.
After that he began to brief the strategy for tomorrow’s match. Taking every possible variable into consideration, he detailed his strategy for tomorrow’s match.
And at around 7:25, the meeting finally came to an end.
“Did all of you get it?” Asking such, manager Makoto concluded the evening meeting.
“Yes sir!!” Replied the players in unison while nodding their head.
**** ****
Exiting the video analysing room, players began to make way toward the canteen for dinner.
While on their way, Shun stopped Hiro, “So how do you feel on becoming Japan’s world class player?” Asking such, Shun grinned.
‘So he too read that article.’ Thought Hiro after listening to Shun’s question.
However Hiro acted as if he didn’t know what Shun was talking about.
“Huh?? What nonsense are you spouting?” Questioned Hiro with a dumbfounded look on his face.
Hiro didn’t want all his teammates to pester him with the same question as Shun’s. Thus, he pretended as if he wasn’t aware of the thing mentioned by Shun. By feigning ignorance, Hiro was trying to avoid getting showered with questions from his teammates.
“Let’s just quickly head to the canteen or else we won’t get any meat.” Continued Hiro, trying to avoid conversing further about that topic.
The duration of his extra training had already came to an end. Since the coach’s were afraid to burden his body with extra training, they had stopped his extra training to let him recover from the fatigue of the matches.