In the next thirty minutes, I finished eating, went to do a checkup and I was currently changing to my training wear so that I could come out and start training with the rest of the team.
After I finished changing, I walked out onto the pitch and met with the rest of the players that arrived before me. As usual, we did a bit of yoga and light stretches before we started with the main training exercises.
After the stretching finished, Joseph delved into the tactical aspect of the game. Instead of discussing it inside a locker room with boards and magnets, he actually used several places to illustrate game states. It was a I unique approach that he took because he believed that us as his magnets and the pitch as his board would make us remember what to do in certain situations that we could find ourselves.
Muscle memory for lack of better terms.
I don't know if he was telling the truth, but all he was doing was making me frjstrated. It was summer, and the sun reminded us of that fact so while Joseph was passionately explaining a few things, using a few wild gestures, I was burning under the hot sun.
"I didn't sign up for this shit". I mumbled under my breath as I wiped a layer of sweat off of my brows.
"Alright boys, that's all for now". Joseph clapped his hands, signifying the end of his special tactical session. As soon as he finished talking, almost everyone standing collapsed to the floor, then stood up immediately after feeling the temperature of the field.
I'm ashamed to say that I was one of the people in questions.
After we finished with the tactical session, we did a lot of on the ball work. We did a few passing drills which was followed by a simulated match. We divided into two teams, but instead of playing a full blown match against one another, we were arranged to fit various match scenarios so that we could react to the accordingly.
After we finished with that session, it was safe to say that the simulated match wasn't my favorite training session.
The concept behind it was good, but we kept getting arranged into unrealistic scenarios which took a lot of intelligence and skill to maneuver out of. And every time we pointed out how unrealistic the said scenario was we'd be met by the same answer from Joseph.
"Football is unpredictable. You can't tell me that you won't find yourself in a certain situation. Instead of whining about what I'm doing, why don't you try adapting to whatever situation that you find yourself in".
I could only hang my head down when I heard Joseph's reasoning. What made it worse was that he was absolutely right, I couldn't counter anything that he said. It felt like that "worst person you know made a great point" meme that I'd seen a few times on Hex.
When Joseph finally released us, everyone staggered back into the locker room and collapsed on the benches. We would've collapsed on the pitch but we learnt our lessons after collapsing on the floor during the tactical session.
"Damn, that was one tough session". Harrie said as he sat down on the space next to me.
I glanced at him from the corner of my eyes and felt my lips twitch again after I heard what he said. "You didn't even train with us".
Harrie was still 'recovering' from the knock that he got a few weeks back. Because of that, even though he resumed training with the group, he didn't train with the same intensity as we did.
Case study, during the tactical sessions, while several of us were made to stand and act as human magnets, Harrie was watching all of us while comfortably sitting under a shady spot.
"It was still a tough session nonetheless". Harrie replied while smirking.
"Fuck off!" I said while throwing the top I wore during training on Harrie's face. It was quite dirty and also absorbed all the sweat my body released during the past hour, and I was also sure it was smelling pretty badly so that was a good punishment for what he tried to do to me.
As soon as I threw the top, I stood up and hurriedly rushed towards the showers inside the training facility. As soon as I entered and locked the door, I heard Harrie's scream.
"That fucker!"
'Yeah, he deserved it'. I smiled as I turned the knob of the shower and almost let out a moan of pleasure as I felt the cold water rush over my body.
After I finished washing my body, I felt someone glare at me. I walked out and feigned ignorance, before changing into the clothes I wore when I arrived at the training ground. While I was changing, Joseph entered the locker room and clapped his hands, getting everyone's attention right away.
"Alright boys, as you all know, tomorrow we'll be flying to Austria where we'll have our match against RB Salzburg. As I've said before-" Joseph continued talking for a few more minutes, but I zoned out of it.
It wasn't that I didn't want to hear what he was saying, but I was just too tired. I'm sure majority of everyone inside the locker room felt the same way as me.
When he finished talking, he dismissed everyone and we all made our way to our respective places of residence.
As I was walking back home, I kept thinking about the match that was going to be played tomorrow.
It was my first official game for FC Twente.
It was also my first Champions League match.
"Huu..." I let out a deep breath as the stakes of the match became clear to me once more.
'I have to play a good game'.
A/N: First four chapters out. It's still very early but please let me know what you think of this in the comments.
~Footballnerd