Going eleven match undefeated, his first defeat of the season came in today’s match against National U-23 team.
And even though those bunch of players from National U-23 team were talented, by no means he considered himself inferior to them.
And probably that’s one of the main reason why he’s so upset about the loss he incurred a moment ago.
While most of the players of his team simply consoled themselves by telling themselves that they lost to National U-23 team because they were just too inferior to their opponent, Hiro thought differently.
And probably because of that reason most of his teammates had already recovered from the shock.
“They did lose the game today. But didn’t you hear the full details?”
Bunch of kids were still gossiping about the match between team 1 and national U-23 team.
“What details?” Curiously asked another kid.
“They only lost by a goal. And their captain even managed to score a hattrick against those invincible looking national U-23 team.”
“What!!!”
“He scored hattrick against them?? Are you sure you’re not joking with us?”
Since every player headed to their respective dormitory after the end of the match, it wasn’t possible for the players in other pitches to know about the result of Hiro’s team firsthand.
They could only wait until tomorrow, if they wanted to know the result from the mouth of the coaches.
For now they only got to know about the result through the rumour surfacing in the camp. Although the source of rumour remained unknown and nobody knew from where the rumour circulated.
“Yeah I’m not sure but I heard that while returning to dormitory some guys heard the coaches and selecters talking about how impressive his performance was against National U-23 team.”
As one of the player spoke such words while overtly exaggerating the rumours he heard, everyone in their group curiously turned towards the location where Hiro was seated.
Stealing a peek of Hiro, they were cautious enough to avoid locking eyes with Hiro or any other player who were seated beside Hiro.
And even though Hiro was frowning at that moment, those players mistook Hiro’s expression. Instead of thinking that he was simply sad about the match, they mistook his worried face thinking that he wasn’t even content with scoring a hattrick against national U-23 team.
“Damn!! If I had scored that many goals against such opponents I would have been flying in the clouds right now.” Enviously stated one of the player.
“Don’t compare yourself to him.” Another player seated beside him scoffed, “He’s the national prodigy whom everybody is expecting to become the next big thing in world football. You both are like heaven and earth apart.”
Hearing his words, the player from before who made such an envious comment turned totally speechless as his face flushed, “…..”
“Hahahaha”
“Yeah Hideyoshi is right. Hahahah…..”
The other players gathered beside them burst into laughter.
Just then Hiro who was looking at the direction of Yutaka shifted his gaze towards those bunch of players who were looking at him.
Those bunch of players immediately retracted their gaze as they tried to avoid meeting eyes with Hiro.
Acting as if they were not looking at him, they pretended to look away from Hiro.
‘Do I look too sad that even those bunch of kids noticed my sadness?’ Thought Hiro while looking towards the direction where those bunch of players who were staring at him a moment ago were seated.
‘No it won’t do. I need to stop thinking about the loss. We still have many more matches left. I can’t distract myself with this match only.’ Thought Hiro as he lossened his stiff expression.
Thinking such, Hiro tried to free his mind from thinking about the loss which they incurred a moment ago.
After that he tried to cheer Shun who was also in the same situation as him, “Shun we need to stop thinking about the loss now. After this loss our ranking might drop. However, remember we also have four more matches left.”
Hearing Hiro’s words, Shun nodded his head as he spoke, “Yeah, you’re right. We still have four more matches. We’ll perform well in those matches and get selected in the U-17 team.”
Saying such, the two of them finally started eating. Pondering for a long time, their food had gotten somewhat cold.
Even the boiling hot miso soup had become lukewarm.
**** ****
At the same time while Hiro and other players were having their dinner, some old guys were gathered in a spacious office room.
At the middle of the room was a rectangular long wodden table. And around the table were about 16 chairs placed at a certain distance apart from each.
Among those 16 chairs, 9 seats were currently occupied in total. And the seat at the first row was out of place as the person who was seated at that seat was currently standing infront of one end of the long table.
At one end of the wodden table was a movable whiteboard. And infront of the whiteboard was the head coach of U-17 team giving his presentation.
“In today’s match, Akutsu was really impressive. His flexible playing style is exactly what we need in a centre defender. Not only can he defend well, he can also disrupt the form of opposing player.” Spoke the head coach while vouching for Akutsu.
Just as he finished his words, Kazan who was also seated at the first row chair opposite to head coach Haruki Ozeki stood from his seat.
“From our side of the pitch, I’ve mainly three players in my mind. Takahashi Hiro, Shun Yabuzoe and Yutaka Inoue. They are the ones who impressed me the most.” 𝘪𝘳.𝒸𝑜𝑚
“No matter the result of the training camp, we need to draft this three players in the team. If we let go of even one among those three we’ll regret it.”
While Kazan was speaking, coach Haruki interrupted Kazan, “How can we do this? We still have 6 more days left to decide. We can’t decide the team based on a single match.”
As coach Haruki finished his sentence, some selecters who were present in the match between Hiro’s team and national U-23 team too expressed their dissatisfaction with Kazan’s decision.
“Although I agree with selecting Hiro as the priority target I don’t get why Shun and Yutaka are also given the priority?”
“Yeah didn’t Shun actually concede 4 goals? The most among all those three matches held today.”
“And Yutaka was so out of place in midway and he also looked quite nervous.”
While they expressed their dissatisfaction, Kazan spoke nothing. Instead he listened ardently without interrupting them.
But as they finished their words, Kazan spoke, “Don’t forget who they were playing against. And also he conceded only 4 goals among 22 which were shot at him. Not to mention those game changing clearance and cool-headedness.”
“And Yutaka, his passing is way too accurate. Also you all seemed to be forgetting the passes which he made despite looking nervous. He may be frail but his talent isn’t frail.”
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