Greatest of All Legends

Chapter 463: Starting Line-up Debut II

“In the center midfield, Bentacur will be the left center midfielder while Nicolo Fagiolie will be the right center midfielder,”

“Ramsey will stand in front of them, taking the Center attacking midfielder position,” Pirlo continued listing the players in the starting lineup, this time using more experienced hands than youth players.

There had to be a careful balance otherwise he’d be risking the game’s results a little more than necessary.

“Upfront, Morata will be the sole striker,” Pirlo gestured toward Morata, and then continued,

“Dybala will be taking point on the right wing, and Jason will be playing on the left,” Pirlo nodded towards Jason and Dybala.

The players around the two of them quickly gave a few low toned congratulations to the two players as they were special cases.

Dybala was returning from a long-term injury and was finally getting some time on the pitch after a long time, while Jason was receiving his first start from the manager here at Uventus.

Pirlo did not pay any attention to the silent conversations going on and went straight into the game plan.

First drawing eleven circles representing his players on the board, then he turned back to the players,

“Our tactic for this match is the same as always, quick counter, but due to our shape for this match, some adjustments have been made,”

“We will be aiming to control the possession in the game, keeping the ball moving,”

“If they come at you, you move the ball to another person or you dribble past your opponent, the choice is yours but just make sure you don’t lose the ball in any dangerous areas,”

“If you’re not confident in escaping your opponent’s tackle by yourself, release the ball, there is nothing to be ashamed of and there is nothing you have to prove to me other than that you can be a team player and follow orders,”

“If you play shit, then you’re coming off,” Pirlo intoned boldly, everyone clear that he was talking to the youth players who had managed to find themselves in the starting lineup.

“When we’re not in possession, I want you guys to press hard and use zonal marking to push the opponents wide before going in for the tackle, we must do our best to keep them away from getting a clear shot on goal,” Pirlo instructed, drawing circles on the board in specific places.

“Once we have the ball back,” He continued and then drew a couple of arrows on the forwards.

“I want you guys moving the ball forward immediately and looking to unleash long balls forward. Jason, Morata, Dybala, and even Ramsey must look for chances to run in behind, but you guys must make sure to time your runs perfectly,”

“The same goes for whoever is looking to unlock the defense with the ball, keep your eyes open and ready to send the ball forward,”

“Dybala, you have an extra role as a dummy runner, your pace is not enough to outpace most defenders so, I want you making dummy runs towards the center, giving Morata a chance to run wide to recieve a pass if needed,” Pirlo was focusing on doling out instructions corresponding to the tactics he hoped for his players to implement.

After a few more minutes, Pirlo was done explaining the formation to all the players, as even those not in the starting lineup needed to know it as some of them would be coming off from bench to play in the match and thus they needed to be as familiar with the game plan as possible.

Once the tactical meeting was over, the players were released and told to rest in preparation for the match coming up in the evening.

Luckily, the match would be taking place in their home stadium, so they wouldn’t be traveling anywhere and could thus focus on preparing their bodies and mind for the match.

Jason headed to the cafeteria along with Cuadrado, Mckennie, Dybala, and Ronaldo and the players went to have lunch courtesy of Ronaldo who always took his nutritionist chef everywhere with him.

Jason was congratulated a few more times for making it into the starting lineup and the group went to eat while laughing.

**8:32 p.m**

Jason walked to the tunnel at the Allianz Arena along with the rest of the players in the starting lineup and they quickly lined up while waiting for their cue to head out to the pitch.

Soon a set of 11 young children wearing mini versions of the Uventus jersey came to stand beside the players and that really drove home the fact that Jason was in the starting lineup.

It felt surreal before and he was a bit nervous, but it was happening and he was excited, though his face didn’t seem to share the same sentiment and it remained mostly impassive as he looked down at the child who would be walking out with him.

It was a young child that looked to be around eight years old at most.

“Hi,” the little girl said to Jason and waves at him.

“Hi to you to kid,” Jason said with a smile and raised a hand for a high five while he lowered himself to her level.

The girl high-fived Jason and Jason suddenly shook and said,

“Brrrrrr, that’s a lot of luck you’ve got around you, mind sharing some with me?” He asked with a smile.

“If I give you some luck, will you score a goal?” The little girl didn’t seem to find anything strange about Jason’s words and she responded as if it was a normal conversation.

‘I don’t think that’s how it works,’ Jason thought, internally laughing, but on the outside, he said,

“Sure, I’ll score a goal, anything for you, my lady,” Jason replied and did a mock bow.

“And when you score, do the Fun dance!” The girl quickly added with enthusiasm.

“Fun dance? What’s that?” Jason asked flabbergasted at where this situation was going.

“It’s the dance SpongeBob did to teach Plankton about fun,” the girl replied excitedly, leaving Jason even more confused.

SpongeBob?

Plankton?

Who were those people?

But not wanting to sound like a boomer, he smoothly replied,

“Oh SpongeBob… I guess I haven’t watched that episode, why don’t you show me the dance,” he lied smoothly, taking a gamble on whether the show was a one off or a episode type of thing.

He vaguely remembered hearing about SpongeBob somewhere, but he couldn’t remember where, after all, he was a grown ass man who hardly had enough time to get on his phone and watch girls shaking their a** all over the place.

Where was he going to find time for cartoons that weren’t for the millennials like him?

Luckily it seemed his gamble played our well and the girl quickly showed him a weird dance that literally only consisted of waving one’s arm all over the place.

“I can do that,” Jason quickly said before the dance got any more ridiculous.

He could already almost witness the social suicide he was about to commit if he dared to score a goal in the game, but there was nothing he couls do about it now.

Who told him to act all friendly with the little girl.

Even worse was that their conversation had attracted a camera that was probably recording everything he did and said so far.

‘Hopefully, it’s not a live camera,’ Jason hoped internally.

There would be a way around escaping that Fun dance thing as long as this video never surfaced online, Jason comforted himself and stood back up as it was finally time for them to head out of the tunnel.

Walking briskly out of the tunnel with the referees in ths lead, the players were bathed with the excited shouts of the Uventus fans long before they appeared out of the tunnel, but the visual presentation to the cheers was new to Jason.

Despite being similar in modernity, the Allianz Arena boasted of much greater size than the Estadio do Dragao and definitely had a bigger visual effect on Jason.

However, it wasn’t anything too much for him to cope with and he kept his surprise and nervousness out of his face as he walked onto the pitch while holding the hand of the little girl.

The commentator was doing his job and talking giving an opening speech while Jason and the others arranged themselves on a single line facing the fans and began the pre-match formalities.

The anthems were quickly sang and the players moved to quickly shake one another before moving to one side, letting the captains go meet the referee for the coin toss.

Jason waved goodbye to the little girl as they headed back into the tunnel.

While waiting for the captains to be done, Jason rubbed his gloved hands and began doing a few warm up routines while waiting, both because of the cold and because he wanted to warm up a bit more.

He could not afford to mess up today.

At this point, Jason was finally in the frame of mind to listen to the referee who was at that moment, giving comments on the players formation for the game.

{On Uventus’ left wing stands the new man. It’s his first start for the club and many people are expectant of what he has in store}

{If he scores here today, we will get to see SpongeBob’s fun dance! I’m sure a lot of us hope that he does} the commentator said harmlessly but inside Jason’s head, he went,

‘Sh*t,’

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