THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
Sighs

In the stands, Kristin Stein watched the process on the pitch attentively as Zachary was cornered by the ruthless looking Troms midfielder. With his vast experience in watching football matches, he can easily guess that opponents are trying to silence Zachary by closing all his passing options.

"That's it," he heard Kjell Roar shout loudly, his booming voice coming from the loudspeakers of the nearby stadium. "Troms clearly thought about staying in the game today. Their marking in the third of their defense was astounding. Zachary Bemba, Rosenborg's number-33, has been isolated by the highly disciplined Troms defense. He has no passing option. Oho! What's he gonna do? did?" Kjell Roar added, his tone changed dramatically towards the end.

"If I were him, I would relax and pass back to my defenders or my goalkeeper" Harald Brattbakk interjected. "Rather than taking a risk." he paused in the middle of the sentence as if he had been interrupted by something.

"Oh! What we have here" cried Kjell Roar after a while.

Kristin's focus is on the pitch all the time. He watched Zachary flick the ball to one side before darting past Ruben Jenssen, Troms' defensive midfielder, with incredible speed born from his long stride. In a split second, he gained a distance of several yards and found himself pressing the Troms defensive line.

He continued to run towards the Tromso box until Josh Pritchard, another defensive midfielder, was forced to leave his position to close it down. But that is what Zachary has anticipated as Josh has left a loophole that could be exploited in the Troms defence.

So, not long after Josh had left his position, Zachary flicked the ball towards Nicki Nielsen, who had long escaped his mark. Nicki did not disappoint because at that time he was only marked by one defender, not two. He controlled the ball well, went further than other opponents—and soon, he walked towards Tromso's box like the wind.

Kristin felt her heartbeat speed up when Nicki Nielsen, number 9 Rosenborg, ran past another Tromso player. Like the other fans around him, he stood up from his seat, not wanting to miss Rosenborg's first chance to score. However, a moment later, Miika Koppinen, Troms' centre-back, stormed Nicki, slid in, and tackled the ball from her feet. He sent the forward tumbling to the ground a few yards from the box.

"Geez!" Kjell Roar, the commentator, yelled with all his might, his voice smothering all****** and the curse of the Rosenborg fans in the stadium.

"Captain Troms has just committed a foul in a rather dangerous position on the edge of the penalty box. The referee gave him a yellow card and gave a free kick to Rosenborg. Harald! Do you think we can see another masterpiece? from young Zachary at the start of this game?"

"As you can see from the screen, even coach Troms is obviously unhappy and frustrated with the fouls in such a position" commented Harald, the pundit for the game. “The set-piece was just a few yards further from goal than Zachary scored against Aalesunds FK at the weekend. He should be able to produce something spectacular here if he is given the chance. That was the reason Coach Agnar Christensen's facial expression had turned into a terrifying frown. I'm sure he'll have a lot to say to his captain at halftime."

Kjell Roar laughed at that. "But we must praise the decisiveness of captain Troms. If he lets Nicki Nielsen out of control, he will still get into the box. And it will still cause trouble for the children of the North."

"Okay, then," said Kjell Roar. "Let's take you back to the action. The referee has finished setting up the wall. And as we expected, Zachary Bemba stood on a dead ball. Will he produce an outstanding finish like he did at the weekend? Let's wait and see."

**** ****

Zachary took a few steps back after assessing the players' positions in the box. Back then, his team-mates unanimously allowed him to be a dead-ball taker due to his performances at the weekend. Therefore, he wanted to live up to their expectations and help his team turn the ball off.

*FREEEE*

The referee blew the whistle, gesturing for Zachary to pick up the dead ball. Zachary took a deep breath and slowly gathered momentum. He immediately started running towards the ball while holding outside sounds that affected his delivery. Using the Bend-it like-Beckham Juju he excelled at, he took the final leap step and then hit the ball with the inside of his left boot.

Meanwhile, his eyes remained focused on the ball as it made contact, releasing a curling free-kick towards the goal.

**** ****

Kristin's eyes followed the ball curling around Tromso's five-player wall, darting towards the goal like a stinging missile coming out of his launcher. He felt his heartbeat speed up and raised his hand as the ball made an impossible curve before falling as it spun towards the inside of the post. Kristin can see that Zachary has taken a free-kick well because it clearly hit the back of the net.

However, before he could celebrate, Tromso's guard jumped up high like he had wings and touched the ball that spun slightly with his fingertips. The ball deviates from its intended path and hits the crossbar before bouncing back onto the field of play.

"Jeez," cried Kjell Roar loudly. “What a great save from Marcus Salman, Troms number-1. That's some amazing stuff here. Fantastic effort from Zachary! He did everything right and gave the ball a clear die that led to the top right corner. But it was phenomenal save. In the 17th minute, Zachary's chance to make Rosenborg failed."

Kristin could only sigh at the missed opportunity.