THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
Trial Match Ended

The match resumed after Coach Mande blew the whistle.

Zachary and his team-mates in red marked the green team forward as soon as the game resumed. The green-clad midfielders like Wagaluka and Mpoku had no choice but to pass the ball back to their defenders.

Zachary's red team pressed their opponents in their half.

At some point, raindrops began to fall from the sky. Most of the scouts returned to the pavilion to seek protection from the drizzle. However, some remained near the field, intently watching the game.

Coach Damata, on the sidelines, spoke to Mr. Benard Christophe, head scout of FC Nantes Youth Academy. He was responsible for deciding on the results of the ADTA trials in Lubumbashi. The other French officials in the delegation had only come to earn a living and have a look in Africa. Only a handful of people like Mr. Benard actually paid attention to potential young candidates in the trial.

"Mangala's boy is good" Christophe began. "As you mentioned before, his dribbling and finishing skills are perfect" he added, his eyes never leaving the field. He didn't seem to mind the rain in the least.

Stephen Mangala just dribbled past Awax Bondeko, the right-back of the red team. He ran into the box and fired a low shot saved by Baraka, the goalkeeper. The prodigy seems to be the only one still alive on the green team.

Coach Damata furrowed his brows before replying. "What about Zachary's son. He's a tall guy in the number 8 position of the red team." He pointed towards Bemba's position on the field.

Christophe frowned, looking towards Zachary. "I saw that he was a skilled distributor of the ball," he observed. "But we already have a lot of boys like that in the academy. His impressive physique was an advantage over those of his age. What do you think will happen in the future when others mature into stronger players?" She asked.

"I chose to go with the Mangala boys. Kayembe, the winger of the green team, is also an option." He chants.

"Our scouts have been watching Zachary since he was twelve, and I assure you he is a talented young man" Damata denied. "The intelligence of the game is on another level. That, coupled with his strong body, makes him a great product to shape into a centre-back or professional midfielder."

Damata, as a local coach, wants to see some young Congolese talent join the French youth academy. That way, DR Congo will perform better in the upcoming international competition.

"My trainer dear," said Christophe, squinting at the African in a small drizzle. Damata knew that his efforts to pass on young talents to the Nantes Academy met with obstacles.

"Do you doubt my vision? Do you think we'd be here in this remote area if it wasn't for the sponsorship of the ADTA?" Christophe smiled.

"We promised to pick about four players from the test. Be satisfied with that. We've gathered enough information about Zachary's boy to make a decision." The left side of her red lips was pulled upwards, creating a sort of cynical grin on her aged face.

Damata was silent for a moment, watching the course of the match before asking, "Sir Benard, are you not watching the match?" Damata asked, pointing towards the field.

Zachary just released another breakthrough pass to Emanuel Luboya. The tall striker braced himself and fired a mid-range shot that just crossed the crossbar. The green team took a goal kick.

"We know that your son sustained a left leg injury in an accident" Mr. Benard said, shaking his head gently.

"What?" Coach Damata frowned. He had heard about Zachary's accident from one of Mazembe's TP scouts. But, it doesn't seem like something serious. The French scout's focus on unimportant details bothered him.

"We will not take anyone who is injury prone, no matter how talented they are. The boy whose ankle ligament was torn ended his path to becoming a professional footballer." Mr. Benard stated.

"Can't you give him a chance by letting him have a medical?" Damata pleads. "The players were hurt, but they recovered and returned to the field."

"Enough," Christophe frowned. "We have done enough background research to decide his fate. We even went to the CMC community hospital, where the boy was previously treated after his accident, to verify the details. From X-rays, we all concluded that his left leg was a dead man." The scout added before focusing his attention back on the match.

"You're all African trainers the same," Coach Damata heard him muttering in a voice sufficient for him to understand. "You never try to check the background information about the players. All you do is sign the finished product when they play a good game or show some skill in one of your experiments. You never research chronic injuries, background, family history, or how these factors might affect a player's career. All you do is waste valuable resources on players who will never succeed. That is the weakness of the African football talent development system." The scout sighed, shaking his head.

“We have players who have recovered from such injuries even at international level,” Damata denied.

"That's a one-time case in a million" Christophe said. "They are usually rich players with access to the best doctors in the world. Their club gives them access to proper medical care as soon as they are injured. What do you do for a potential young talent after he has an injury? You left him to treat his wound unaided in the hospital." Christophe pouted, his voice changing dramatically towards the end.

He spread his arms and asked, "Coach Damata, what do you expect will happen?"

A grin spread across his face, wide and open, showing his teeth that were too white. At that moment, his motives were revealed; he was a scorner, a person who enjoyed torturing others. That's Damata's conclusion.

He left the scout to his own device and started thinking about how to help the boy.

**** ****

Zachary was unaware of the discussions going on between the coach and the scouts. The only thing on his mind was winning the game.

It's still a dead end. Two minutes left to end the game, with the score still 2:2.

Both Mpoku and Wagaluka worked together with Zachary to stop him from passing any pass to the striker and the red winger.

He has given some lethal passes to the attackers, Luboya and Beni. However, they failed to turn it into a goal.

[I can't lose now.] He decided.

The others are all about individual performance and don't really care about the outcome of the game. They just wanted to attract the attention of the scouts, nothing more. But, Zachary has more downsides as the system will be offline for a year if he loses the game. He couldn't afford that price.

He began to observe the field for every gap he could exploit. The ball is still passed by his team's defenders with red oto, continuing to move forward towards the halfway line. He turned towards the half-opponent and immediately saw something he had ignored.

He grinned before gesturing for Kasongo and the strikers to rush to the other half.

Like a rugby player, he pretended to move forward but reversed course and lost two of his bodyguards (Wagaluka and Mpoku) who had been shadowing him for more than five minutes. They were reluctant to follow because he ran back to his half. They get even more confused when they see the strikers and wingers running towards their goal, in the opposite direction.

"Here, this way!" Zachary shouted to Luyinda who had just received the ball.

Luyinda kept her promise and directly kicked the ball at her. But, Wagaluka immediately chased after him, tackled him and tried to snatch the ball.

Zachary made a quick turn, pulled the ball with his right foot, and spun past the midfielder. He then sped up and ran to the opposing section, dribbling past Mpoku and Edo Kayembe along the way. Zachary found himself in space with no one to mark him before stepping through the middle circle and breaking through the other half. He noticed that the red-clad attacker, who was marked by the green team defenders, was waiting for his pass outside the green team's 18-yard box.

"Tag him, tackle him," Zachary thought he heard Mangala yelling from behind him as he continued to run with the ball. However, he ignored everything behind him and focused on the goalkeeper. Zachary has noticed that Jackson Lunanga tends to stray from his line whenever the ball is at a distance from him. He intends to exploit that mistake.

From forty-five yards, Zachary attacked with his right foot, releasing the ball on a curved path towards the goal.

[Please enter.] He prayed.

Everyone in the stadium watched the ball slide past the other players towards the goal. They sighed at the impatience of the young players who might appear towards the end of the game.

But not everyone has the same thoughts. Lunanga, the green team's goalkeeper, started running back into his net when Zachary hit the ball. But he couldn't be on time. The ball floated above his naked head, going into the back of the net: 3:2.

The red team had taken the lead for the first time that day.

The whole stadium was silent.

The spectators turned white like chalk as their faces froze in shocked expressions. Although they were staring straight at Zachary, they did not seem to notice him at all.

"Dirt!" Wagaluka swore from behind him. "What kind of dog poop luck does Bemba have today?" He muttered.

The screams immediately returned to the stadium when people finally reacted, ooh and ahing to that spectacular goal.

But on the sidelines, Christophe sighed. "Dearly enough. He'll grow into a good player." He shook his head and returned his attention to the match.

The goal seems to have sparked a spark in the green team ranks. Mangala, Wagaluka and Kayembe all attacked like there was no tomorrow for the next minute. However, Zachary's red team held on until the final whistle, with Baraka making two spectacular saves.

3:2 is the final score.

"Zachary, man," Kasongo ran towards him after Coach Mande blew the whistle. "That's a good show. No doubt you will be chosen by the scouts." He stated, smiling.

Baraka and some of his other team-mates also came and celebrated with him for a while. Even Luyinda clashed with him for the first time in their history, stretching two lives.

[It's football. A game that is supposed to build unity among teammates rather than hatred.] He smiled as he absorbed the praise from his teammates. He feels successful.

"Other times, I won't lose," a familiar voice sounded from behind him.

Zachary turns around and finds the prodigy, Mangala, standing behind him. A grin appeared on his face like the check mark of a lazy teacher, a fading "red ink" extending into the dimple of his cheek.

"Are you sure?" Zachary smiles.

"Yes." Yeah."

"I'll wait."

**** ****

Coach Damata rushed away from the sidelines towards the dressing room right after the final whistle sounded. He felt sadness struck him when Zachary scored the third goal.

All his efforts to convince Mr. Christophe Benard to give Zachary a chance proved futile. A talented player will be overlooked by conservative scouts due to unverified latent injuries.

He had to look for another chance for the boy before something went wrong like what was common in Congo. He could see Zachary become a pillar of the Leopard in international competitions in the next few years.

"Excuse me, Coach Damata. Can we talk for a minute or two?" Damata heard a familiar hoarse but soft voice from beside him. He turned around only to find an old Caucasian man with a sun hat and a blonde girl standing behind him.

"Hahaha," Coach Damata laughed after seeing the Norwegian.

"Mrs. Martin Stein, nice to meet you again," he said, extending his hand to shake hands. "I'll come looking for you. I need your help this time."

"Oh, same here," Mr. Stein smiled, shaking Damata's outstretched hand. "Can we talk in your office?" She said.

**** ****