My Goalkeeping System

The training session and everything regarding tactics and starting eleven had been taken care of, it was time for the players to start heading to the Reale Arena for their match against Manchester United which was going to kick off by 1:00 PM.

Dave and Mateo were in their room now getting ready to head off, they were putting everything that they were going to be needing in their backpacks and while they were doing that, Dave's phone began to ring on his bed where he had dropped it.

He quickly turned his gaze to the phone to see that the caller was Emma and for that reason, he didn't hesitate to pick up the call.

"Hey, babe, how're you doing?" He asked after putting the phone against his ear.

"I'm okay, what about you?" Her voice resounded through the phone's speaker.

"I'm fine, everything's okay over here." He replied.

"Okay, I just wanted to check on you, everything's okay here too, I just left for work now." She said, "Though the house is a bit lonely with only me here."

"Don't worry, we'll be back soon."

"I know." She said before letting out a sigh. "I love you."

"I love you too, take care, bye." He said before ending the call.

After ending the call, he turned his gaze to Mateo's side of the room to catch the winger looking at him strangely.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" He asked.

"It's nothing." Mateo shook his head before turning his gaze back to his bag.

After an hour and about thirty minutes on the bus, the players along with the few staff who had come along on the tour with them had finally arrived at the Reale Arena, Real Sociedad's official stadium.

"Wondanimo doesn't come close to this stadium in size," Dave said after looking around the area.

"You can say that again," Mateo said.

They quickly made their way inside and after being shown to their locker room, they began to change into their jerseys.

There was no time for pre-match warm-up on the pitch before going back to change so they had to change before heading off into the pitch.

There was no change in the design of the club's jersey so their home jersey was still the orange jersey with black polka dots and Dave's jersey was still the lemon-colored goalkeeper's kit.

He would have loved to play this match with his new boots and gloves from Footy Wears but he didn't make the journey here with them so he had to stick with his old gear until they returned home.

"Alright, boys, I know this is just a friendly but we have to take it seriously and show them what we got, winning against Manchester United will be something nice to brag about don't you guys think?" Norman said. "But it's not just about the bragging rights, it will also be a big boost of confidence and that's what we need this season so let's go out there and show them what we can do!"

The players met up with Manchester United players in the tunnel, the Manchester side were putting on their black away jersey and they seemed to have most of their star players there including their formidable shot-stopper Patti Moreno.

The goalkeeper seemed to be a little taller than Dave and he also had a bigger body, his black hair seemed to have grown a little long but it wasn't that long, and he had blue eyes.

"Patti Moreno." Dave muttered with his gaze on the well-established shot stopper.

"Welcome to our wonderful viewers from all around the world, it's your regular commentator Jim Waterson and I have with me in the studio here my regular co-commentator Mr. Steve Jefferson," Jim said as the players made their way to the pitch.

"It's really nice to be back here again after the two months break, I'm glad the action is back," Steve said.

"Well said, Steve, the action has begun and although it's just a friendly match, I have a feeling that we will be getting a lot of action from it."

There were a good number of fabs in the stands but most of them were Manchester United fans.

The routine for choosing sides was quickly done by both captains and after that, both teams moved to their side of the pitch.

Unique FC players moved to the left side of the pitch as they were going to be the ones to start the game.

The Bilbeth Premier League side were playing with their default formation of four-three-three and Norman was using his main starting eleven.

Dave was the one between the sticks, the right back position was occupied by Norman Kole, the center back positions by Adolf and Aima and the left back position by Jonas Blue, he was no longer part of the starting eleven but Norman just wanted to start him ahead of Roland Ryle today.

In midfield, we had Minino on the right, Harry Norman on the left, and Ferran in the attacking midfield position.

In attack, we had Mateo on the left wing as expected, Fred Miles in the striking position, and Carlos Oman on the right wing, the right winger had just made a full recovery from his injury which meant that Merino would start coming from the bench again.

Manchester United on the other hand were playing the four-four-two formation with two of their most formidable strikers up front, Rivaldo Noninho and Nolan Ray, the two combined to score a total of fifty goals in the English Premier League only last season.

'Alright, Dave, it's about to start, you have to try your best to not concede any goals and if you must concede, it must not be more than one.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously.

<This is your first time facing a team outside the Bilbeth Premier League right?>

'Yeah.'

<I could tell, it's just a friendly match, and your heart is already starting to pace up like this>

'I'm just excited.'

<Yeah, super excited but there's a little mix of nervousness in it too>

Fred was standing over the ball now waiting for the referee's whistle and as soon as he heard it, he quickly rolled the ball to Minino who didn't waste time in sending it to Norman behind him.

"The game has just kicked off and now we get to witness ninety minutes of football from the Uniques once again," Jim said. "The big question is if they will be able to hold the Manchester side down.

Carlos had managed to break through the defense on the right after receiving a neat pass from Ferran and now he was making a quick run down the right.

"Carlos is through here and he's looking to create something from the far right," Jim said.

"This could be their chance," Steve remarked.

The winger had a player chasing him down at full speed unaware that the winger had a sly trick up his sleeves.

He waited for the player to get closer before he quickly put the ball through the player's legs with his back heel and quickly moved back to receive it at the other end.

"Oh, no! Carlos just demolished Alberto!" Jim exclaimed.

"That was wonderful from him."

There were also other players heading toward him after he got rid of Alberto so he had to quickly pass the ball to Minino at the edge of the box.

"He's sent it to Minino."

A player quickly rushed to the midfielder and tried to bring him down with a tackle but Minino knew what to do as he pushed the ball forward along the line at the edge of the box and quickly jumped up to avoid the player's tackle.

As soon as he was clear of the player's legs, he pulled his right leg back and sent the ball flying toward the top left-hand corner of the goalpost with a powerful shot.

"Minino!"

Luckily for Manchester United, they had a super responsive goalkeeper, Patti Moreno dived toward the ball at the right time, and with the tip of his gloves, he pushed it over the bar for a corner kick.

"Oh, what a save!" Jim exclaimed. "That was a wonderful shot from Minino but Manchester United's number one was clearly equal to it as expected."

****

New year mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.

Mass release for goals met last month will still be rewarded on the due dates.