Greatest Of All Legends

Chapter 48  First Training Session with the Porto Senior Team III

The team training started with the first team on the attack, trying to use their wings to break through the opposition.

The fact that the second team knew the aim of the training was intended to make the training harder than usual because otherwise, it wasn't going to be a fair match-up with the way the teams were arranged, but even then, they still weren't a match for the first team as could be seen with how the first team controlled possession of the ball.

Yet despite heavily oppressing the second team with their gameplay, doing what the head manager requested of them was harder than expected.

Since the second team members knew that the wingers of the first team were the focal point of the attack, they focused their defensive efforts on those wingers and made sure to kill whatever attacks they tried to start up and prevented the first team from being able to complete the assignment for the first five minutes.

"Switch!" Sergio Conceicao called for the teams to switch their roles as soon as the allocated five minutes were over and the second team immediately went on the attack, yet the same thing which happened to the first team when they were trying to use the wingers as a focal point and ending point of their attacks repeated itself.

At this point, Sergio Conceicao had a slight frown on his face as it seemed that his players weren't getting the message he was trying to pass across to them, yet he decided to wait until every player had had a chance.

After the next five minutes were over, he called for a squad rotation and let the players who were substitutes of both sides take the place of some of the players on both teams.

It was Jason's turn to have a go at the training objective and he didn't waste any time in joining his team on the field, ready to have his hand at the challenge.

After the new players were substituted on came onto the pitch, the training continued.

Since Jason was on the second team, his team would be defending first and he quickly got down to it and stayed on the player he was marking which happened to be the Portuguese left-back, Alex Telles.

Defending wasn't Jason's strong suit, but he made sure to cover up for this weakness with a higher work rate and made sure to be around to intercept any balls coming Alex's way.

This way another five minutes passed and it was time for the teams to switch objectives once again.

The ball was taken back to the middle of the field and they kicked off again but this time it was the second team that was on the ball.

Since the aim of this training was for the wingers to score a goal or give an assist making them the focal point of the attack, the ball soon found its way to Jason's feet.

Jason had just joined the FC Porto senior team and knew next to nothing about their playstyle or their mannerisms.

He also didn't know what the head manager hoped to teach the players by subjecting them to such a job-specific training drill, but he did know two things right now.

He knew the aim of the drill, and he knew that the only person he could currently trust was himself.

Right now his teammates were more of a burden to him than a help because they had no relation to each other and passing the ball to someone who could end whatever attacking endeavors Jason had in mind before they even started was a bad idea.

At this moment, it was not an exaggeration to say he was at the bottom of the ranking in this team and there were only two ways he could rise in the rankings and get a place in the team's lineup and that was either by luck if enough players were injured in the first team to open up space for him,

… Or by impressing the manager during their training sessions.

Jason wasn't willing to bet his future on waiting for space to open up in the first team so there was only one option right now and the manager he had to impress was currently watching over the training session intensely so it was now or never.

Jason slowly began to move the ball down the right side of the field, but with every step he took, his pace increased greatly, and soon he was running at full speed past the midfield line and approaching the opponents' penalty area at high speed.

The players from the first team immediately noticed the danger and soon three players were blocking all the paths Jason could take to move any further. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Jason inevitably slowed his pace a little, his eyes darting around as he moved closer to the first player in his path, who happened to be Otavio.

Just when the three players in his path thought he would pass the ball back to a teammate, Jason suddenly dipped his foot under the ball and flicked the ball over an unsuspecting Otavio before running around him to catch the ball he had flicked over.

Despite the sudden surprise of Jason flicking the ball over Otavio, Alex Telles who happened to be the closest to the ball charged at the ball that was coming back down to the ground, hoping to clear it before Jason could get the ball back under control,

But that was a mistake as Jason stylishly flicked the still airborne ball in between Alex's legs before running behind him as well.

With his well-executed dribbles, Jason had gotten rid of all the players on his path down the right wing and he took off down the right wing with Alex Telles, Otavio, and Danilo Perreira on his heels.

Jason took note of this but didn't hesitate and kept charging forward while cutting inward into the penalty area but before long he had to slow down again as there was another player in his way.

Jason slowed his pace and did a couple of step-overs to try to throw off the player in his way, but how could an experienced player like Pepe be so easily tricked by a couple of step-overs?

Seeing that Pepe wasn't going to fall for the stepovers, Jason realized that he had no other choice than to get in closer, face him head-on, and then create enough space to get a shot away, so he kept moving closer and then made a sudden move pulling the ball towards his left with the inside of his right foot.

It seemed like he was trying either sweep the ball past Pepe's right or between his legs, but as soon as Pepe brought forth his leg to block his path, Jason's leg's direction changed and he suddenly used the outside of his feet to push the ball back outward, performing a reverse elastico and managing to squeeze himself and the ball past Pepe and barely create enough space to get a shot away.

Since he had managed to create enough space, he quickly pulled his leg back in a bid to get the shot away as quickly as possible, but just as he started swinging his leg back at the ball, he was suddenly swept off his feet in a sudden tackle that sent him flying.