THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
End Game

Zachary hasn't touched the ball in a long time. So, she found herself very curious, carried away by the waves of excitement to perform.

He didn't let the ball bounce off—but instead lowered it gently, like there was a magnet in his boots that could pull rubber. Ball control has always been one of his best skills since childhood. He has been juggling cans and balls woven from banana fibers since he was five, honing his ability to manipulate balls.

However, the Riga players did not allow him at any time to negotiate. One of the centre-backs, who was guarding him, hit his back within a second of controlling the ball. He applied physical pressure with his body, denying him the opportunity to turn around with the ball.

Zachary protects the ball with his body, using his power rated at A-by the system to guard the opponent's defense. Meanwhile, he looked up and noticed that another Riga player who had attacked his box was approaching him very quickly.

Zachary was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He is surrounded by opponents on all sides of — like an island in the middle of an endless sea. Riga's players have it where they want it. They would immediately put it in the box, win possession, and continue their relentless assault on the NF academy box. That is unless he finds a way out of his predicament.

Zachary reaches into himself—and instinctive consciousness takes over, forcing his body to function on muscle memory and reflexive movements. Adrenaline flooded the system. The movements of the surrounding players seemed to slow down to a crawl. His consciousness increased—and from the corner of his eyes, he saw Magnus running towards him, shouting his name.

Zachary grinned and put his right foot between the ball and defender Riga— who increased the physical pressure to make him lose possession, in seconds. Zachary's body doesn't follow any logical thinking but a series of pre-programmed movements that are stored somewhere deep in his brain.

He pulled back his left foot and made a feedback down the field— towards the approaching Magnus. Right then, he felt the physical pressure from the defender subsided, meaning the trick worked.

But instead of passing, Zachary let his foot stop on the ball— and pulled it back to the back of his standing right foot. He then rotated on the hip, towards his marker, spun 180 degrees— and moved his weight to his left leg.

"Cruyff Round!" Some fans in the stands shouted out loud, more or less in unison.

Zachary completes the entire series of movements quickly and seamlessly, like a fish navigating in water. His mark followed the trick and lost a few yards in the time it took him to recover from his mistake.

Zachary found himself with a courtyard of space and accelerated towards the left wing. The other centre-back quickly closed it off, trying to block his way into Riga's team box.

Zachary continued to work with instinct, letting his body flow with the ball instead of thinking about his movements.

He pushes the ball away from himself with the outside of his right boot. He intends to trick the defender into believing that he will be heading towards the inside of the pitch. After the centre-back bought the doll, Zachary immediately wrapped his legs around the ball and then darted in the opposite direction.

Defender Riga sat as if honoring his dribble.

"An Elastico" shouted some fans. They stood with their necks stretched out to see better Zachary avoiding centre-back Riga.

Zachary's unexpected dribble elastico takes him past his last sign—and all that remains is the open space between him and the box. What followed was a race when Zachary ignored the players chasing and darting towards the Riga goal.

He turned the match into a parody of the 100-meter race. The Riga players chased after him with their fists, trying their best to chase after him. But the agility of A+ Zachary is no joke at the youth level. He left them all in the dust and immediately approached the goalkeeper who came out to greet him.

Zachary expertly flicked the ball around a helpless goalkeeper who remained crawling on the ground after a futile attempt to block his progress. Zachary found himself in the space before the net went blank and unleashed a simple strike towards the goal.

A shadow rushed by him: and it was the defensive midfielder Riga. Zachary was surprised at his speed as he was only a second behind him. He judged that the speed of the player should be close to his own speed.

The defensive midfielder tried his best to slide in and save the ball—but instead, he pushed the ball further into the back of the net.

4:2.

Live stadium silent—as if ghosts have passed the ranks of the home supporters. But as Zachary rushed to celebrate with his teammates, the crowd in the stands stood up and gave him a standing ovation. It doesn't seem to matter to them that he has scored against their team. They simply praised the skill of the phenomenal player who had done some astounding dribbling before putting the ball into the back of the net.

Intense waves of happiness flooded Zachary's entire being like focused rays of light, penetrating into his soul as he celebrated with his teammates. He lay down on the artificial grass and let the excitement seep into his bones, regardless of the burden the other players were piling on him.

For the first time in a long time, his mind and body completely relaxed. At that moment, he felt the excitement of scoring in a very tight match. He had never felt such pleasure in a life before. He managed—he was a winner, on his way to becoming a professional soccer player. His only hope is to have more happy moments in his career.

*FREEEE!*

Referee whistles interrupt NF academy celebrations. They had to finish the match first before continuing the festivities. But, Zachary was already confident they would win the game.

**** ****

Jimmy Edwards is an English scout who doesn't like to waste time. His boss has forced him to travel with Tottenham's youth team for a trip to Riga. Although he did, he was not happy to spend his February months in Latvia. He was envious of some of his colleagues who had traveled to the South America—continent which was flooded with talent and—of course, the weather was sunny.

He regretted the bad luck that led him to be assigned to the Baltic Region— where he was unlikely to find talent for the agency. He's already taken part in several tournaments in Northern and Eastern Europe and failed to find any valuable players. He expects the Riga Cup to follow the same trend.

So, he had downloaded three UB-40 albums to his digital Sony Walkman before the opening game. Listening to music from a legendary British band will get him through what he hopes is a boring opening game. Maybe—maybe! To make sure he wasn't distracted by the noise, he had bought a set of Sony bass headphones before heading to the indoor stadium for his travel allowance.

However, 30 minutes into the game, he had already thrown away the headphones—and was busy asking for the name of the player wearing the number 8 shirt of the NF academy team. He no longer looked like a scout who was forced into the Baltic Region by his agency.

Throughout the game, he has watched highly clinical players face defenders and score goals. She was fascinated by her talent—something that had not happened to her for a decade. The player was quick to stand up and very clinical. It's just his footwork that takes a little bit of hard work to turn him into another Ryan Giggs or better.

However, his vision and ball control made his conventional footwork seem unnecessary. He can cheat, run around defenders, and pass like a Maestro. What if he receives training aimed at improving his dribbling skills to match his level of game vision? Jimmy couldn't help but wonder. He decided to get players at all costs.

He turned towards his colleague — an apprentice who had traveled with him. The apprentice was a pretty brunette with hair falling over her shoulders. However, Jimmy finds himself stealing more glances to field— than his beautiful friend. The game caught all his attention. He didn't want to miss even a second of the match.

"Can you arrange to make contact with him?" She asked. "We have to see him before other agencies notice him."

"Finally you take your work seriously" says Emily Anderson. He did not turn around but continued to record the match with his Nikon Camera. He only managed to respond when the match ended with a score of 4:2 for the NF academy.

"I'm going to try to make contact" she said, straightening her dark brown hair. "But I can't promise anything. Talented players often have their own agency even while still in the academy. Plus, have you forgotten that you're here as a Tottenham talent scout, not an agency representative?"

Jimmy frowned, mopping with his gloved hands onto his disheveled brown hair. "Internship," he said. “Do not try to explain this to me. I have been in the football industry for the last fifteen years. Every player, agency, or team usually has a price. Your role is to know that price. Just do your job and call him. If he doesn't have an agent, it's better for us."

Emily Anderson smiled gently to her colleague before replying, "I'll do it right."

**** ****