Football System: Classic Number 10
Episode 22: Versus Sugar Crossed FC

The match that we are all looking forward to, is about to begin. Before kick-off, the referee calls both team captains to toss a coin, determining who will start kick off.

In our team, the captain is a player with the number 5, a central defender who has enough experience in the local league. His name is Ardi, he has been in Cananga Mining long enough, even from the junior team.

From the enemy team, the captain is the player with the number 10. He's one of the people I should be aware of, because he has a pretty high vision of playing with the number 41. According to my observation, if there is a player with a vision value of playing above 40, chances are he is a genius on the pitch and that is very dangerous.

Many have examples. Kevin de Bruyne, Sandro Tonali, Toni Kross, Luka Modric, or even Christian Eriksen. They are all very genius people on the pitch and with their genius, they can all control the game to make their team win.

The coin toss is done and our team starts the kick off first.

We started the first half with a little bit of caution, trying to guess what strategy the opposing team was going to execute. We rely on short passes that we often train, waiting for them all to come forward to pressure us and later we will immediately give a direct pass forward.

We continued to pass while looking for space points that we could use into an opportunity, as well as me who was also busy controlling the flow of the ball while scanning the area.

I was too busy scanning the area, so I didn't see any more that two people were pressing at me. I was a little surprised and released the ball far forward, it happened because I was a little surprised and could not control the pass I gave.

The ball was almost out, but I saw at the end there, Axel was trying to get the ball. He ran very fast and managed to keep the ball inside the field. He did a stab from the left side, passed two defenders very nicely and started shooting towards the goal.

Unfortunately the kick can still be pushed by the enemy goalkeeper quite easily, because the direction of the ball is indeed pointing right to the goalkeeper. The ball was successfully secured and the score has not changed.

"Nice try Axel!" I screamed from a distance, to make Axel's mental decline.

Axel retreated back, as he passed me he gave me a comment on the bait I gave him earlier. "Your bait is fucked! Next time give it a better one!"

I didn't make a sound, I did realize my pass was bad, I lost focus for a while and instead gave a hasty pass.

We started our game again with more confidence because what we think about this team is a little bit excessive. Several times we managed to make a golden opportunity and several times also the strategy that we run runs successfully.

Indeed, we still have not scored, but if the strategy continues like this then it is just a matter of time and the expected goal will arrive by itself.

We kept pushing the opposing team, it went very smoothly at first but somehow I felt something was wrong because it was too easy like this. There was a very bumpy feeling in my chest, I don't know what it was but it was very uncomfortable.

I gave the ball to my teammates, and I began to observe the movements of the enemy team. I see they often make eye contact even though they are not in possession of the ball. From there I cut down everything I saw, and it turned out that they were getting used to our playing patterns.

And by the time I realized it, it was too late. "Don't bait ahead!" I said trying to stop players who want to give a direct pass to the front, but unfortunately the ball has been given.

That's when Sugar Crossed FC players cut the ball straight away, after which they immediately made a short pass very quickly to our defense, it was a quick counter-attack accelerated again.

The ball was directed straight to Hilmawan Yoga, he smiled as he received the ball. Yoga dribbling the ball easily gets to the front of our goal. Then he fired a shot at our goal. The ball darted quickly, Derry also jumped towards the ball but the range was not up and only hit a few fingers. Making the ball still fly wild before it is finally discarded by our team captain and making it a corner for Sugar Crossed FC team.

Corner football is done, short of the enemy team doing it. The ball was again accepted by Hilmawan Yoga. He carries the ball up to the penalty box, but the defender has covered all his shooting space, there is only one option for Hilmawan Yoga that is to pass the ball to other players. But what happened was beyond my expectations.

With such a narrow angle, he shot hard. He managed to get through the obstacles that had been done by our defenders and managed to make a shot. Derry jumped to push the ball, the ball hit the crossbar and before touching the ground the ball was directly on the broom by our captain, Ardi.

"Don't let your guard down, guys! They're getting used to our pattern of play" Ardi shouted loudly warning us all. It was true what he said, the enemy team had indeed started to get used to our pattern.

But this is too fast, only 17 minutes of running time and they can already get used to our pattern of play? That's really horrible!

We started again from the beginning of our strategy. Perform ball possession until the enemy's defense line begins to advance forward, waiting for the enemy to become impatient and accidentally open space for us. Monotonous is a game like this, only doing bait after bait in a relatively short direction, but this also has to be done with a high level of concentration. If only a little, the ball we controlled can be captured by the enemy team and will be immediately attacked with a quick counterattack.

I along with Zaki Iskandar tried to control the middle field while looking for gaps and spaces that we can use to be an opportunity, as soon as the gap was seen in Zaki's eyes he immediately brought the ball forward first, while doing one-two with me. I connected the pass directly to Axel Raihan who was preparing to run forward, I believe in the speed possessed by him just gave a very good breakthrough pass.

The ball was chased by Axel Raihan, he dueled a sprint with two enemy team defenders and with great clarity, Axel managed to defeat them both. He is free now, dueling with the goalkeeper 1 vs 1. Axel is not too stiff, he calmly outwits the goalkeeper who is preparing to hit it and makes the enemy goalkeeper fooled by small movements made by Axel. Then coldly, Axel kicked the ball slowly and made it as the first goal in this game.

The goal! Our blank one was ahead in the 23rd minute.

Axel Raihan celebrated with others after scoring goals, he also invited me to toss and I accepted his invitation.

"Your match is so ugly, so ugly I have to try hard to make it as a goal" he said with his face that was still strong. I laughed to respond.

With that goal our confidence started to grow again, having withered a while ago. However, even though it was like that somehow the very uncomfortable feeling I felt since then was still not lost at all, even now it was more and more felt.

I looked around me again, I saw the faces of Sugar Crossed FC players did not change at all with the goal. They are still ordinary and think as if the goal was not something that endangers them all, which is why I was a little confused by what really happened in that team.

I came back late to realise that something had changed in the opposing team. By the time I realized it, the catastrophe had already happened so quickly. Sugar Crossed FC managed to equalize the score in the 39th minute after Yoga Hilmawan managed to put the ball into the goal escorted by Derry.

That goal scenario happened at the moment we started to build an attack. Unexpected by anyone, the enemy player wearing the number 10 immediately cut the ball just like that, after the counterattack like a flash of light was immediately launched by Sugar Crossed FC before we began to realize it.

The 10-numbered player immediately gave a very measured breakthrough pass to their attacker, namely Yoga Hilmawan. Yoga Hilmawan shot from outside the penalty box, I think he was not confident after several times his shot was cleared by Derry before. But it turned out that my estimate was far off, the kick was so loud and tight that Derry could not react to the kick. The score changed to 1-1.

"What the fuck? Is that a kick from a schoolboy?" Neither did our captain believe what he saw.

I see Derry also looks very upset because he couldn't react to the loud kick earlier. I was about to go towards Derry and encourage her, but the Yoga that came across me deliberately bumped into my shoulder until I sat on the ground.

"Oh sorry" he said while covering his mouth. I thought he wanted to apologize, but he didn't! "I will defeat you all, you are nothing more than a piece of trash on the street. It doesn't fit to be here" Yoga said quietly and only I could hear him.

I was a little provoked by his words, but I could only stare at his back which was starting to move away from me with a feeling of annoyance and anger that became one. The point is I don't want to lose to him today and will prove to him that I deserve to be here.