The Greatest of all Time

Thursday, February 23, 2012.

ADO Den Haag was slated to face Tottenham Youth in the third-place playoff that afternoon. But surprisingly, coach Johansen had scheduled a light training session for the NF Academy squad at the Olympic Sports Center instead.

Zachary and his teammates warmed up by running laps around the indoor artificial turf in the Olympic Center. He was feeling a bit edgy from the expectations that came with the buildup to the final. He was surprised to find out that he could still get nervous on the day just before a youth cup final despite having experienced a lot in his past life.

Zachary had been relieved when the coach had called the squad for the last-minute training session that afternoon. The session would help calm his nerves. That was better than lounging back in his hotel room, waiting for the match.

Exercise had always brought him relaxation. With just a little sweat, he could attain the state of serenity he needed to play at his best. It was his therapy.

He ran along the course with robotic precision—and organic fluidity, stride after stride, nailed to perfection, leaving the rest of his teammates in the dust. The sweat settled upon his skin as newly melted snow crystals, making Zachary feel as if the stress was rising out of his skin with each molecule of water.

After eight laps, he felt stress-free and ready for the training session. He added a few more laps to his tally at the coach's request before joining the rest for the stretching routine.

The squad went through neck circles, shoulder rolls, arm circles, hip rotations, and other simple exercises to stretch their muscles before beginning the training session.

As soon as they completed the warm-up, Coach Johansen blew his whistle, signaling them to return to the center-circle. He was looking pleased.

Zachary had noticed that unbridled confidence had made itself a home in his features since NF Academy's win in the semifinals.

"Tomorrow is the day of the final," said Coach Johansen, letting his gaze roam around the players.

"We'll be facing VfB Stuttgart. They're not easy opponents. They are a better team—at least on paper. In order to win against them, we will have to utilize every opportunity we get in the game to score."

"We have to be clinical in our attacks and make use of our set-pieces. We have to make sure any corner-kicks and free kicks we win threaten their goal. We have got to keep this up for the entire duration of the game. That's how we'll keep the pressure on them and score."

He paused, smiling at the players before continuing. "For freekicks, we're covered. We've got Zachary, who has a good record with them. He'll make good use of the majority of the set-pieces we get. However, we're still lacking in the area of taking corners kicks." He sighed, shaking his head.

"Corner kicks can be a source of great frustration at all levels of soccer," Coach Johansen continued in a somber tone. "As I mentioned in our previous training sessions, they can help you win or push you to lose games. It depends on how you handle them. In the semifinal against ADO Den Haag, we conceded a goal from a corner because we defended against it poorly. We're here to make sure we don't repeat the same mistake tomorrow."

"Today, we'll go through the corner kick drills we practiced before coming to Riga again. We will concentrate mainly on good delivery, well-timed runs to confuse the defense, being first to the ball, and hitting the target. We'll also work on the signals for communication while taking a particular type of corner."

"For instance, before playing a corner short, whoever's taking it can raise a single arm or finger to signal the rest to get ready."

"By the end of this session, I want everyone to be well-versed with their roles during corner kicks. For example, we'll select four of our best aerial players to always attack the ball directly during corner kicks. Like we did back in Trondheim, they will split their runs, attacking different areas to increase our chances at goal. We'll also choose the people responsible for pressuring the keeper, the ones to target the rebounds, etc. We'll try to go through as many variations of corner kicks as possible to maximize our chances tomorrow."

"That's enough theory," Coach Johansen intoned. "Let's start the corner drills right away."

The players practiced attacking and defending corner kicks for the rest of the afternoon. For the attacking bit, they ended up perfecting only five corner taking routines. Nonetheless, Zachary felt satisfied with the results of the training session. Their chances of winning had improved thanks to their work on set-pieces.

After the training session concluded, they rode the bus back to the hotel. They cleaned up quickly, had dinner, and headed straight to one of the conference rooms for Coach Johansen's pre-match briefing.

"Tomorrow," he began after all the players had taken their seats. "We'll play an entirely different system. We shall play with a 4-2-3-1 formation instead of the 5-4-1 system we've employed so far."

"But before I expound on that, I'll name tomorrow's squad. Then, we can delve into the tactics and discuss the game plan." Coach Johansen said, moving towards the whiteboard.

"The starting line-up will be as follows:

Goal Keeper; Shirt No. 1 Kendrick Otterson,

Center-backs; No.4 - Lars Togstad, No.5 - Daniel Kvande,

Left-back; No.3 - Robin Jatta, Right-back; No.2 - Öyvind Alseth,

Midfield; No.6 - Magnus Blakstad, No.13 - Simen Giæver, No. 8 - Zachary Bemba,

Right-wing; No.7 - Paul Kasongo, Left-wing; No.15 - Paul Otterson

Forward; No.10 - Örjan Börmark." He spoke as he inscribed the starting line-up on the whiteboard.

"You should all have a clear comprehension of your positions in the 4-2-3-1 formation since we practiced with it quite a lot back in Trondheim," the coach continued. "But, I'll go ahead and explain it again in case there is anyone who has forgotten or slept through all the training sessions before the Riga Cup."

The players laughed at that.

Coach Johansen waited for them to quiet down before continuing. "We shall split into four bands on the pitch tomorrow. Our defensive unit will consist of the two standard center-backs and two wing-backs. Two defensive midfielders will sit in front of them, screening them as the next unit. They'll play as the double pivot on the pitch to ensure there isn't any exploitable space left in front of our defense." He turned back to the whiteboard, circling the position of the two midfielders.

"I don't need to tell you how deadly the attacking midfielders of VfB Stuttgart can be when left with plenty of space in front of the defense. You watched their game against Tottenham." His tone had turned somber.

"So, Simen and Magnus," he paused slightly, first fixing his gaze towards the corner of the room where the two were seated. "As our defensive midfielders, you'll have to dig in and do your best to keep both Kimmich and their other midfielders away from our box."

"Are we clear?"

"Yes, coach," the two replied in unison.

Coach Johansen nodded, pointing back at the whiteboard. "Ahead of our two defensive midfielders, we will have Zachary playing as the central attacking midfielder and our two wingers Kasongo and Paul Otterson on the flanks. The three of you will complete our midfield together with Simen and Magnus. I expect you to clamp down on any spaces in the middle of the pitch in order to impede their quick passing ability."

"Are we clear?"

"Yes, coach," Zachary replied, nodding along with the rest.

He was glad that the coach had considered his suggestion and brought in a second defensive midfielder from the bench. If the wingers were counted, NF Academy would be able to play with a total of five midfielders. Such a set-up would make it easier to keep the VfB Stuttgart's agile midfielders in check.

Coach Johansen continued his talk for the next hour, expounding on the whole placement of the squad. He assigned roles to every single player in the starting line-up, highlighting what he expected from them on the field the next day. The coach even encouraged Zachary to try to win as many free-kicks as possible in front of the box, even if it involved some theatrics. When he finished explaining the game plan, he answered questions from the players and set them loose for the night.

"I heard that Tottenham demolished ADO Den Haag 4:1 in the third-place playoff," Paul announced to Zachary and a few others walking with him. They were ascending the stairs leading to the second floor of their hotel.

"They managed to get four goals past ADO Den Haag!" Zachary exclaimed. He couldn't hide the surprise in his voice. The Dutch side had given them a hard time during the semifinal. Yet, Tottenham, a team that lost 3:1 to VfB Stuttgart, had defeated them with a score of 4:1. Zachary could begin to imagine how strong a side VfB Stuttgart was.

**** ****

Concurrently in one of the conference rooms of the Riga AC Hotel...

The VfB Stuttgart coach and players had just finished discussing some of the tactics for the finals. Unlike in other teams, the coach of the German side encouraged independent thinking among his players. He often let them contribute suggestions during pre-match briefings to shape their tactical prowess on the pitch.

Usually, they were quick to come up with a game plan. However, on that day, they were still debating how they would handle one of the players on the NF Academy side during the final.

"I say we mark him using the same tactics we've been using against other creative attacking midfielders back in Germany," Joshua Kimmich suggested. He was seated in the front row of the room. "Just a textbook man-on-man marking will do."

There were murmurs, most in agreement while a few others in dissent, all around the room.

"Wait, and let me explain," Kimmich continued in German. "If we allocate two of our players to mark him, we'll be leaving a gap in our formation. That gap will impact our playing style negatively. We'll find ourselves in situations where we're unable to pass the ball quickly around in the midfield. If that happens, we won't be able to create many chances to score goals upfront. And, that's unacceptable."

"Moreover, the tactic of marking him with more than one player has been ineffective in the past." Kimmich smiled slightly at the rest of his teammates. "Zenit, ADO Den Haag, and Riga—all tried to double-team him in their games against NF Academy. But he always managed to outwit his minders and score valuable goals. Since most of their attention was on him, they couldn't free up players to commit forward and support their attacks. That's why they failed to score many goals. And, that's how NF Academy managed to win against all those teams."

"But we don't have to do the same. We can and should 'simply' concentrate on playing our style of football. We should focus on scoring goals instead of marking a single player."

He continued, his voice rising. "If he scores three goals, we score five. If he scores four, we score seven. That should be our style, and we shouldn't change it since we undoubtedly have the best-attacking force in this tournament."

Coach Ilija Aracic decided to interrupt the discussion at that point. He had already achieved his goal of making the players think independently before an important match. "Kimmich has a point," he intoned, smiling at his players.

"We'll stay true to our style of play and focus on attacking and scoring goals in tomorrow's final. We shall leave Zachary to Philipp. He'll be responsible for keeping him in check throughout the entire game. In case he gets past Phillip, the defense will have to react quickly and stop him before he reaches our box. The rest of you will play as usual and try to score as many goals as you can. That's the best way to play against a weaker team."

**** ****