Shun’s selection was as per their expectations. However the selection of Yutaka whom nobody recognised in the field was completely out of their expectation.
At first almost every player present in the field had the same questions when Hiro picked Yutaka, “Who’s that player?”
“In which team does he play?”
But as they witnessed Yutaka’s jersey number, they went completely silent.
Among 70 players, he who was almost unknown to every single one of them had jersey number 7.
“Number 2 keeper and number 7 player, damn I wanna join them as well.”
“Don’t forget that the best U-17 player in all over Japan is with them as well. With him as the captain they’ll be unstoppable if they get even more low numbered players.”
After Hiro finished selecting his teammates, ranked two player named Tominaga Nijichi from Vissel Kobe U-18 selected his teammates who happened to be rank 1 goalkeeper from his club and rank 6 player also from his own club.
Then came the turn of Takeshi Ono, he too first picked a keeper for his team. As if almost every single one of them wanted to grab the highest ranking keeper, they all firstly picked keeper for their team.
And again this number 3 keeper was someone familiar to Hiro. It was non other than Kurosawa Taki, Endo’s younger brother.
Meeting him after so long, Hiro couldn’t help but feel nostalgic. Just by witnessing Taki’s face, Hiro started to recall the goal he had scored against him in elementary school.
‘So you made it to the team as well.’ thought Hiro as he looked at the direction of Taki.
Then again he shrugged as he thought his way of thinking was just too ridiculous, ‘Well it would have been somewhat ridiculous if future national player of Japan wouldn’t have made it this far. And if not for me, you’d also have been the youngest player here.’
And while Hiro was thinking, Takeshi Ono completed his selection.
Then came the turn of Akutsu who was currently playing for Otsu High School in the West League.
His first pick was the rank 4 keeper as well. After that he picked rank 9 player for his team and concluded his selection.
Then at last came the turn of rank 5 player named Kaito Kizuna from the club Sagan Tosu U-18.
The remaining players were then allocated by the coaching staffs. 11 starting players and 3 reserve players, just like that each group contained 14 players. 𝑖𝘦.𝒸𝘰𝘮
Finally after some while, the selection finally came to an end.
**** ****
By the time the team formation completed, the light coming from the sun was a lot dimmer than the moment they first arrived at the pitch.
As if the sun could set at any moment, it was already close to the horizon. Under the golden light of the sun, their silhouette on the ground were elongated.
“Now that the team has been set up. I’m sure everybody would be wondering about the odd number of teams, right?” Kazan questioned the players. .𝒎
Faced with Kazan’s question, all of them nodded their head.
Afterall as mentioned by Kazan, they were indeed confused by the odd number of teams. Since the teams were not static, everyone had some sort of doubts about the matchup.
Even if four teams played together, one team would be forced to sit out. And playing matches after matches didn’t feel practical as well. So it made everyone wonder why there were 5 teams instead of 4 or 6.
Just when everyone was wondering about the odd number of teams, Kazan spoke, “Someone from the staff please tell the team outside to enter.”
Just as Kazan ordered the staff, players shifted their attention towards the entrance. Wondering about the remarks made by Kazan, they all were trying to figure out the meaning behind Kazan’s words.
Just then another batch of players dressed in Japan’s national football team jersey entered the pitch.
And as they strode towards the pitch, they emitted an intimidating aura around them which terrified few of the U-17 players present in the field.
Among those bunch of players dressed in national team’s jersey, Hiro saw few familiar faces. Those faces belonged to Tatsuki, Naoto and Kazuya.
“Isn’t that national U-23 team captain, Kein Sato from Werder Bremen II?”
“And that’s Masato Sasaki, Naoto Miyashiro.”
“Don’t tell me that we’ll be facing against this guys?”
Immediately as everybody recognised the players who entered the pitch, cold sweet ran down the body of few players.
Even the surrounding aura felt a lot heavier as those players of National U-23 team entered the pitch.
“Interesting” mumbled Hiro with a subtle smile as he witnessed the sight of those players.
“Now then I present to you the sixth team who’ll be participating in the training camp. Japan National U-23 team.” Kazan announced excitedly.
Exuding an aura of oppression, players of national U-23 team stood infront of the five teams with a look of confidence in their eyes.
However while almost every player were trying to maintain their composure, Tatsuki was behaving differently.
Looking at the direction of Hiro and Shun, he was waving his hands.
“Now then we’ll randomly draw out lott to determine which team will be facing against which team. If lucky you might get a chance to play against the national U-23 team. However do remember no matter the outcome of the draw, whether you face your own peers or national U-23 team, you’ll be judged equally.”
“Even if you feel unfair, the results won’t change. After all you’ll have to face even more tough opponents once you start playing internationally. And before we begin to draw the lott, I’d also like to tell all of you that your opponents will only get tougher.”
Saying such, Kazan finished his sentence as he retreated few steps to write something on a piece of paper.
He then brought six folded pieces of paper with him. After that he asked the representatives of all six teams to step forward to draw out the lott.
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