My Goalkeeping System

Mateo had gone straight to bed just after having his dinner and it didn't even take him up to a minute to fall deep into his sleep.

Dave on the other hand was still lying on his bed staring at the ceiling and waiting for sleep to take over.

It didn't take long before he had also fallen asleep and just five minutes into his sleep, he found himself in the endless white space with Catherine standing a little distance away from him.

"Hey, Cat." He said after getting close to her.

"You've completed your long-range shot training, it's time to get back to what we were doing." She said,

"I don't think completed is the right word to use but you're right, I have mastered it to some extent so yeah, it's time to return to focus training." He said.

"Okay," Catherine said before the area began to change until he was standing on his goal line with both of the balls at the edge of the box and before he knew it, one of the balls was shot out toward him.

The ball was sent flying through the middle and when it got close, it hit the human doll there and deflected toward the right with a little more elevation.

Dave was fast enough to react, he seemed to have reacted a little bit too early, but he was able to push the ball out with the tip of his left glove just before falling off its range.

"That was close."

The next one was pretty easy as the ball hit the human doll and was sent flying directly toward him.

"Two in a roll, alright." He said with a bright smile on his face.

"Looks like this one is starting to get easy for you, I think we will add a little spice to it starting tomorrow," Catherine said.

"That's cool, I like anything that has spice."

______ ______

After a few minutes of training in the dream world and about seven hours of sleep in the normal world, the goalkeeper opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling for a while before turning his gaze toward Mateo's bed to find the winger still fast asleep.

'Yesterday really tired him out.' He said subconsciously before sitting up on his bed. 'I wonder if he will be fully fit for the match against Young Boys today.'

<Even if he is or claims to be, I don't think your coach will start him>

'Yeah, you're right.'

Just like yesterday, the players had their breakfast and once it was 9:00 AM, they all made their way to the stadium for their training session.

Today's match was going to kick off by 9:00 PM which meant that the players that were tired out by yesterday's match had a good amount of time to recover and be part of the match even though they were going to start from the bench.

The training session lasted an hour and some minutes just like the one yesterday and after that, Norman asked the players to gather around.

He wasn't about to give them the details about the tactics of the match, what he wanted to do was tell them the players that were going to start, and his decisions were based mainly on what he had noticed from the players during the training session.

"Dave will start in the goalpost, he was really less busy during yesterday's match except for the extra efforts he put up on his own but he will be immediately replaced by Alexander as soon as the first half is over," Norman said.

'That's fine by me.' The goalkeeper said subconsciously.

"Luis Roberto will start in the right back position, our two starting center backs will be Pirlo and Aima and on the left will be Jonas."

"I can't believe I've been reduced to a team B player," Jonas muttered under his breath with his gaze on Roland.

"Henry will start in the attacking midfield position, Frankie will start on the right, and Ilala on the left." He stated. "And then for the attack, Gregory will be our striker, I know it's not your natural position but you will be starting on the left wing, Fredinho, the same thing goes for your Minino, you'll be starting on the right wing."

"I don't think that's a problem, coach, I've always wanted to start in that position," Minino said.

"Yeah, coach, we'll do our best," Fredinho said.

"That's good to hear, the rest of you will start on the bench then." He said. "After lunch, we'll all meet in our meeting place to discuss the tactics of the match."

"Okay, coach," Adolf said.

"Hey," Dave said as he walked back to the hotel with Mateo walking beside him.

"What?" The winger asked.

"Do you think you're fit to start the match? If the coach had picked you to start would you be able to and still deliver?" The goalkeeper asked.

"My body still feels a bit sour from yesterday but I think I will be able to start, the matter of being able to deliver depends on how the team is playing, if the team is playing well and I get the ball in good positions, I'll try my best to do the little I can do in my position." The winger expressed. "We won't get congested matches like this during the season so it's pretty nice to see it happen and it's also nice to see Fredinho and Minino playing off positions, I have a feeling that Minino will surprise us, and maybe Fredinho too."

"Yeah, I get the feeling that it's going to be a fun match too." The goalkeeper said.

"Are you going to try those shots of yours?"

"Of course."

"Good, you should do it and see if you can get your second career goal." The winger said. "It's really nice to see a goalkeeper score a goal, and scoring the goal from that far out makes it even more awesome. It's only a matter of time before you become the best goalkeeper in the world and probably become the third goalkeeper in history to win the Ballon d'Or and the second to win the FIFA best player award."

The only response Dave could give to him after hearing all that was a warm smile.

<I know you already know this but this kid is somebody you should never let go of, he has so many high expectations for you, and he's always believed in you>

'Yeah, they have that personality and it's one of their wonderful features.'

_______ _______

Once it was time for lunch, the players had their lunch and reported to the room to discuss the tactics with the coach.

The sun was going down now as they all stood in front of the entrance to the hotel with their backpacks on their back.

"I guess we're going to arrive way early today," Minino said.

"Yeah, that way we get more time to warm up," Roland said.

It didn't take long before the bus pulled up in front of them and it was to move out.

****

We just hit two hundred chapters, it was your support that kept me going.

The five chapters mass release will be coming soon, expect it on any day from now to the 25th.

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.