My Goalkeeping System

"Unique FC fought hard, they fought really hard, it was clear that they wanted it more, but they couldn't capitalize on their chances, something that Dynamo FC did nicely," Jim said.

It was a terrible loss for the hosts given that they could have won it easily but ended up giving it away in the final minute, but it was nothing to get that upset about given that it wasn't a huge loss by goal margin.

"Hey, are you okay?" Emma asked before placing her hand on her husband's back.

"Yeah, why won't I be?" He replied after turning his gaze to her.

"Well, you guys just lost so it's only natural if you're not happy." She said,

"Yeah." He said before putting his head down. "I would have been a bit happier if they were the ones that outclassed us and then ended up winning in the last minute but this is the opposite and it just makes me feel worse.

"But, that's football for you, things don't always go as expected, the better team doesn't always, a poor team could go on to win an entire tournament, that element of luck is needed, that's what makes it a great sport."

He was smiling after saying that and she couldn't help but smile too.

"It's just a one-goal defeat that gets us to drop to third place, we could also drop to sixth place tomorrow but that's just about it, there are still a lot of matches left in the season, I am positive that we will rise again, I'll be back for the next match and I'll do everything in my power to make sure that we don't lose." The goalkeeper expressed.

"Yeah," Emma said with a bright smile on her face.

<This match would have most likely ended in a draw if you were the one in between the sticks but what has happened has happened, try not to get injured again if you don't want to see things like this>

Mateo was one of his few teammates who didn't quickly head down the tunnel as soon as the match was over, and because of that, Frank got the chance to ask him for something.

"Hey."

The winger turned around to see the attacking midfielder standing there.

"Hey." He said.

"You guys fought quite well, especially you, you're quite the prodigy of a footballer." The attacking midfielder said.

"Thank you," Mateo said. "You guys did well too, in taking your chances especially."

"Not really, we were just lucky, this is what you call a lucky win but a win is a win," Frank said. "So, do you mind swapping shirts with me?"

"Um...no, I don't mind." The winger said before shaking his head.

With that said, both of them pulled off their shirts and exchanged them.

They were both the number tens for their teams.

"Alright, Mateo, I look forward to the many meetings we shall have this season," Frank said as he made his way toward the tunnel.

Mateo watched him disappear down the tunnel before he turned his gaze to the shirt he was holding.

"Hmph."

All the players were in the locker room now with Norman standing in front of them, it looked like they were waiting for Mateo, and it didn't take long before the winger walked in with Dave.

"It's nice of you to join us here, Dave," Norman said as soon as he spotted the goalkeeper. "Now, if the both of you can just sit down, I'll say what I have to say."

"Okay," Dave said before sitting down alongside Mateo.

After that, Norman carefully observed all of their faces to read their emotions.

"I can see that some of you are still down while some of you have already gotten over it." He said.

"This is just the third match of the season, there's no reason for any of us to feel down," Adolf said.

"It's not about that, Adolf, we dominated that match, we should have come out victorious," Aima said.

"Yeah, but you should know that things don't always go as we want them in this sport, we've won against teams that outclassed us a couple of times and this is no different from that, it happens, and besides, they have more experienced players in their squad.

"I also feel that we played a huge role in our loss, we got a lot of chances up front after we changed formation and gameplan, but all those chances were wasted, I know Mateo was the one creating most of the chances but I wish he was upfront to receive the few chances that he might get, he's undoubtedly the best finisher we have in the squad at the moment."

"I feel the same way," Dave muttered.

"I feel like you know the reason why I have called all of you here, Adolf," Norman said as the captain quickly raised his gaze to look at him. "I like that most of you have already gotten over the loss, and for those of you that haven't, try to get over it, a loss like this shouldn't demoralize, demoralized players lead to loss of form and that is not something we want to deal with now, so cheer up all of you."

After saying that, he turned to face the board, and there was about a minute of silence in the room before he turned to face the players again.

"This match has shown me something that I have been neglecting for quite a while now or rather something that I've been waiting to change, and I can no longer leave it like that." He said. "There are going to be a couple of changes in the squad and I don't expect anyone to complain if he gets left out of the starting eleven, I gave enough time after all."

With that said, the coach slowly walked out of the room leaving most of the players in a state of confusion but some of them knew what he was talking about.

<Looks like things are about to start getting interesting in the squad>

'I don't like your idea of what would be interesting.'

With Norman gone, the goalkeeper had to head outside to meet Emma who was waiting for him in the car. His teammates were going to take a while before they started heading home, so it was not a good idea to wait for them in his condition.

"So, what did you guys talk about?" She asked before she took his crutch from him and put it in the back seat.

"Nothing much really." He said before hopping into the car. "But it looks like there are going to be a couple of dissatisfied players in the squad."

"How so?" She asked.

"Coach is planning to replace a few players in the starting eleven, he wasn't happy that a lot of chances were wasted tonight." The goalkeeper explained.

"Oh," Emma said before starting the car's engine. "If it's going to help the team improve then it's good, right?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"So, what do you want for dinner?" She asked as she slowly drove into the road.

"You want to make dinner this late?"

"Sorry, let me rephrase that. Are you hungry?" She asked.

"Not really, but I would like some snacks." He replied.

"Okay, then, we'll have a few snacks and then go to bed, it's strange, I had something while waiting for you in here so I'm not that hungry either."

"Oh, I see, was it soda and burger?"

"Yeah, how did you know?" She said before turning to him with a surprised expression on her face.

"That's almost like the only thing you've been eating these days."

"Oh, yeah."

The expression on her face suddenly changed as she turned her gaze back to the road.

****

Mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.