After consulting with his coaches, for the rest of the week, after the evening training Hiro stayed overtime to perfect his techniques.
Performing several drills under the strict guidance of manager Makoto, Hiro gave his all into strengthening his flaws. 𝑙𝘪𝓇𝑎𝒹.𝘤𝑜𝘮
However the coach’s still limited his training from time to time to give him enough time to recover and rest, so as not to overtrain his developing body.
Hence until the arrival of the next match, his routine was quite simple. Waking up at 5 in the morning and heading to the ground for morning training.
After finishing the morning training, he washed his body, got his breakfast and headed to school.
After returning from school, he once again washed his body, got his lunch and headed to the pitch for evening training.
And after completing the evening training, he stayed overtime in the pitch for his extra training.
Repeating the same course of action, he tried his best to improve his techniques.
**** ****
April 12, Tuesday, 2023
After the end of the evening training, gathered in the U-18 pitch, players of Kawasaki Frontale U-18 team were standing straight in an attentive position while facing their coaches infront.
“As you all know, our opponent for tomorrow’s game is tougher than the ones whom we faced previously.” Looking rather serious, manager Makoto warned everybody.
And despite his warning, players of Kawasaki remained rather calm. As if they were unfazed by his warning, they showed no changes in their facial expression.
Looking at their calm and determined faces, manager Makoto let out a subtle smile.
He then continued, “They’re currently ranked 2nd in our league, which means they’re just below us. And just like us they’ve comfortably won their last two games.”
While speaking such, manager Makoto took few steps infront, towards the players. After reaching closer to the players, he stopped all of a sudden.
He then began to intently stare at the faces of every player. And just as he finished staring at the faces of every player, he spoke, “Right now, they’re below us. And I’m sure that none of you here would want them to surpass us.”
Manager Makoto then all of a sudden raised his pitch and yelled enthusiastically, “Do any of you want to see them above us?”
As if Makoto was some sort of army chief instead of a football coach, he was encouraging his players in a military style.
Hearing manager Makoto’s loud yell, a sudden burst of determination kindled inside the heart of players.
Determined to crush their opponent in tomorrow’s match, all of them enthusiastically yelled at the same time, “No sir!!”
Upon hearing their loud response, manager Makoto lifted the corner of his mouth and revealed a satiated expression on his face. While smiling, he praised his players for their show of determination, “Good!! With this enthusiasm, I want all of you to win tomorrow’s match.”
Saying such, he turned behind to join other coaches. And just as he was about to walk away, he stopped and turned around once again.
The smile on his face faded away as his facial expression turned grim,”I don’t want the incident from previous match to repeat ever again. Do you all hear me?”
“Yes sir” The players answered once again. However with much less enthusiasm as compared to a moment ago.
“Good” Mumbling such, manager Makoto gave a approving nod.
He then dismissed all the players, including Hiro. Since he had to perform in tomorrow’s match, they didn’t want to exhaust him.
**** ****
Inside of a brightly lit office, two guys were having some discussion with each other.
“Shin, Marcinho, Kazuya, Taisei and including vice captain Wakizaka, we have five injured players. And among those five, three of them are starters.” Spoke a man probably in his late fourties while pointing at the whiteboard infront of him.
Dressed in khaki pants and white shirt, he was dressed formally. Subtle wrinkles around his eye areas, his faced looked unusually young as compared to his age.
Smack!!
All of a sudden, the man infront of the whiteboard slammed his palm on the whiteboard and roared furiously, “With this many injuries how am I supposed to sustain?”
Another guy probably in his early fourties, who was seated at one of the chair behind the man dressed in khaki’s, rose from his seat just as he heard the roar of the man infront.
His body trembling, he shuddered while trying to calm the man infront, “Manager Oniki…. why don’t you… calm down first.”
Fearing that he might get hit if he approached the guy infront, he spoke while remaining still at his position.
Afterall it wasn’t his first time seeing the guy infront of him act like that. There were even times when he got hit by the guy infront while he tried to calm him down.
The man dressed in khaki pants was the manager of Kawasaki Frontale’s senior team. Only 48 years of age, he was one of the most talented young coach in the history of J-1 league.
Hearing the response of the man, manager Oniki abruptly turned behind to look at him.
And just as he turned behind, a cold sweat ran on the neck of the man who was sitting at the chair a moment ago.
Retracting a step back, he nearly fell down.
“How could I calm down?” Manager Oniki rebuked.
“How do you expect me to calm down? I win them games and yet they can’t even fulfill my transfer request?”
“Yeah mentioning about transfer request what happened to my request on signing Yuya Osako?” Grumpily asked manager Oniki.
“The club director said that he’s too old. So we should instead look for someone younger. He also mentioned that Osako’s not worth the investment.” Meekly answered the guy.
Hearing the answer of the man infront, rage started boiling like a tar inside manager Oniki’s body.
“He’s only 32 years old. If he maintains his physique he can easily perform well for next 4 to 5 years.” Oniki tried to reason.