God Of football

Chapter 114: Training Before Matchday

After arriving home, Izan took another bath before taking a nap. With Komi said to arrive late, Izan joined hands with his sister who had arrived earlier and cooked something for themselves.

As both siblings waited for their mother, they sat on the couch and watched some shows. After a while, the front door unlocked, revealing Komi in an office attire.

”Sorry I’m late” Komi apologised before entering. After entering, Komi went upstairs and changed before coming down.

”Wait you cooked?” Komi said in a loud voice as she entered the kitchen. ”Of course we did. Do you think we are that hopeless” Hori said proudly.

”Aaaawwwww, my babies,” Komi said as she wiped an invisible tear from her eye. After eating some of the cooked dinner, Komi informed Izan about the clothing offers which were still on the table.

Izan nodded before calling Miranda to talk about the details.

Komi watched Izan as he went about his business maturely. ”Now I’ve only got this one to worry about, and she isn’t that troublesome”, Komi said as she looked at Hori, who had her heading her sketchpad.

”Ahhhhh” Hori threw away her sketchpad after making a mistake. Komi smiled wryly and muttered, ” I should keep an eye on her”.

...

As the days passed, the clash with Cadiz at the Mestalla approached. Training was now more fun as both the young players on the teams, as well as the reserve and substitute, were giving it their all.

”Well, I’ll try them in the Copa del Rey game,”, Baraja thought as he looked at the players. Sosa Herrera, who had been training with Izan, began showing potential more and more.

Baraja already knew of his ability, and that was why he called him up, but Sosa was showing something more.

Thinking about the latter’s recent training with Izan, Baraja couldn’t help but smile and think about Izan’s influence on the young players.

After the session, Coach Baraja, followed by the players, went to the conference room and talked tactics, watching videos and discussing any visible weakness that the opponent showed.

With the match with Cadiz looming, they had to be quick about things. ”Ok guys, tomorrow’s session will be light as always. We would like to avoid any injuries wouldn’t we?” Baraja said in a teasing tone.

He looked at Izan as he said this, mainly because Izan had returned to the pitch for some more training after their session was done sometime before.

Izan smiled slightly at Coach Baraja’s words as he continued to talk about the arrangements for the match.

...

”Hey Izan”, Izan heard his name from behind. Looking behind, he found Mark approaching. Mark, after getting to where Izan was, looked at Sosa.

Sosa understood the assignment and rode his bike around waiting for the two to finish. ”You know about that thing when you were subbed out?” Mark said, a bit nervous.

”What thing?” Izan, who was genuinely confused after Mark started speaking, asked back. ”Oh, then it’s nothing,” Mark said as he tried to get away.

Izan, who saw him going, finally understood what Mark meant. ”Hey Mark, if you find somebody you like, come let’s talk,” Izan said as Mark was leaving.

Mark turned back in slight surprise and smiled at Izan before slipping away. ”Haaahh, ” Izan who had decided to play matchmaker sighed.

”It won’t be hard to find a girlfriend for him since he’s a very good young player with a bit of money, but it will not be easy to find a very good person who truly cares about him,” Izan thought.

”Worst comes to worst, I’ll just delegate him to Diego López. That guy looks like he was way more experienced”.

Izan sat on his bike and rode towards Sossa who seemed to be texting someone on the phone. ”I’m done,” Izan said as he got near him.

Sosa nodded before putting his phone inside his bag. ”Still about the girlfriend thing?” Sosa said, surprising Izan.

”Don’t be surprised, he came to me first before coming to you”.

”Well, what did you tell him?” Izan asked. Sosa looked at him and shook his head. ”I didn’t tell him anything. I don’t have much experience with girls even though I have a girlfriend.

Isan ended his talk with Sosa after this before riding away. Sosa followed suit as the two players rode in silence.

...

Friday’s training session quickly came as the Valencia team prepared for their match with Cadiz.

The training ground buzzed with anticipation as Valencia prepared for their upcoming match against Cádiz.

The players moved through drills with focus, but Izan stood out, his energy electrifying the session. Every touch, pass, and sprint seemed sharper than usual as if he were a step ahead of everyone else.

His stamina drew a lot of attention, too, as he showed no signs of getting tired. After a while, Ruben Baraja set up a scrimmage of the players.

During a small-sided game, Izan received the ball near the halfway line. His first touch was immaculate, taking the ball away from an onrushing defender.

With a burst of pace, he weaved through two more players, leaving them flat-footed before slotting the ball past the keeper.

The goal was so clinical that even the coaching staff applauded. ”We’ve really got something on our hands,” one of the Coaches said.

”Keep doing that on matchday, Izan,” Ruben Baraja called out with a grin. ”But maybe give our defenders a break during training.”

The team chuckled, though Dimitri Foulquier, the veteran right-back, wasn’t laughing. ”Kid, you’re making me look bad out here,” he said, hands on his hips.

”Don’t worry, Dimi, ” Izan replied, smirking. ”You’re still the king of headers.” ”Anyways, welcome back,”, Izan said to Dmitri.

The defender had been injured since the end of last season and had only fully recovered now. Dimitri nodded as he walked away.

The banter fueled the intensity, and Izan thrived on it. In a pressing drill, he outpaced two teammates to intercept a pass, then immediately threaded a through-ball to Hugo, splitting the defence. Hugo turned and clapped. ”You’ve got eyes in the back of your head, Izan! Unreal!”

”Just keeping you on your toes,” Izan shot back with a grin, his confidence infectious.

As training shifted to set-piece practice, Izan’s technique shone again. From a tight angle, he curled a free kick into the top corner, the ball kissing the underside of the crossbar on its way in. The goalkeeper could only shake his head.

”You know, I don’t think I’d ever want to meet you as an opponent. I’ve been traumatised since our match with Spain,” Marmadashvili said, causing a wave of laughter to erupt.

”Especially when you’re all grown up” Marmadashvili added. The wave of laughter died down while the players looked at Izan.

”His talent really is envious. It makes me not want to grow. I want to play alongside him for a while,” Dimitri said as he stood beside Gaya.

”He’s a good kid, too,” Gaya spoke as he laced his boots. ”Let’s hope he can love football for a long time” Gaya said as he looked at Izan.

”That’s enough for today,” Ruben Baraja announced, his voice tinged with approval. He kept nodding at the players before walking away.

He walked over to Izan, placing a hand on his shoulder. ”You’re in a good rhythm, kid. But remember, Cádiz won’t give you this much space.”

Izan nodded, his expression focused. ”I’ll be ready, coach.”

As the session ended, Sosa and Pietro jogged over, with the latter tossing an arm around Izan. ”You’re almost getting as good as me,” Pietro said with a smug expression.

”You wish you were as good as me,” Izan said with a laugh. ”Anyways, I think I’m going to get to play against Cadiz,” Sosa said excitedly.

”Good for you, but don’t be sure, alright. If the Coach hasn’t announced the lineups yet, then don’t be certain” Pietro said.

”This is the best wisdom you’ve spoken today”, Izan said, eliciting a smile from Sosa.

”Alright, but get ready, though. This might be it” Izan said. Sosa’s demeanour changed into that of a serious person.

”Not so serious though,” Izan said with a little laugh.

”And this is just training. The real work starts on the pitch.”

Sosa nodded sensing the fire within him. He was more than ready. After a bit of roaming, Izan and Sosa left Pietro and rode home as usual.

After arriving home, Izan went through a set of recovery exercises before taking another bath. After that, Izan drank a few recovery pills before going down for dinner. Komi had arrived early that day and was already done with dinner.

At dinner, Hori and Komi asked Izan a few questions about the match tomorrow. Izan explained a bit to them before remembering about the tickets.

”I should have asked for the tickets” Izan said with a sigh. ”Don’t worry. I had a feeling you’d forget with all that was going on, so I bought it with Mom’s card”, Hori said.

Komi didn’t know how to react. Should she be happy that her daughter was thoughtful or be shocked about how her daughter knew her credit card PIN?

”Remember I asked you about your favourite numbers a while ago” Hori decided to clarify after seeing Komi’s face. Komi nodded before urging Hori to continue.

”Well, I did, and I found a pattern, and the numbers seemed familiar. So I took a slight guess and found it to be the day you probably moved to Spain since you’ve already told me about it,” Hori said before adding, ”You should probably change it”.

”You scammer,” Komi said as Hori and Izan laughed. She took her phone to change it after being angry for a bit.

”Change your laptop password while you’re at it” Hori spoke again. This time Komi chased after her. Izan just sat down and watched the whole thing with a smile.

A/n: Guys, I made a mistake with the Privilege tier pricing. I’m really sorry about that but they said I can’t change it until next month.

So I had to create a new tier with more chapters but same pricing as the one I made a mistake in. Sorry about this and if you have any knowledge on how to change it, I’d be thankful