I.land had a fresh start at the beginning of the season; they were playing well, but towards the middle, they began throwing matches, and it was clear that Neto was their weak point.
Since GW 10, they had 8 losses, 4 draws and 5 wins. It was GW 27 and they were 7th on the league table. It seemed as if they wouldn't get promoted to higher leagues.
Meanwhile, Poker, their CB was on red card and had to miss the next game. This was a problem for the ' yellowz'. Once again, Neto would have to start against Coadbrix FC – currently 5th on the table.
Neto, on his own, was trying to better his skills. He was trying to get better, learning to pass, clear and much more things.
The team were training hard core for what seemed to be another tough game in their season. Losing this game would take them to 10th place on the table.
The match was an away game for I. Land by 8:00pm. The team headed out and arrived at Brix's stadium. They came down from the bus, and were met for a few autographs before entering the stadium.
Their away kit was black.
'And it is going to be an interesting game between these two teams.'
The referee was a former player of Caodbrix as far as 1998.
Neto's parents sat down to watch their son play at home. For them, this was their first watching of Neto for it was unaware to them that he had started other games.
The referee blew the whistle and the game began. The center pass was given to the away team, that played a 4-2-3-1 formation:
GK: Kim #53
RB: Dogo #37
LB: Leiser #14
LCB: Ral #18
RCB: Neto #75
RDMF: Alexis #27
LDMF: Michael #35
LW: Lexar #19
AMF: Xavez #25
RW: Shroder #17
CF: Samba #10
Jolar was benched for this match. Only Michael Wood, Neto Kibb and Dogo would be playing this match. Michael already had like 5 goals, and 12 assists for I. Land and for sure was probably rooted one of their best players that season.
Samba passed back to Michael and he began sprinting backwards. I. land planned to go on an all-out attack through their wing backs. Michael was able to keep the ball in control over two opponents, that were marking him. When the time was right, he passed it to Leiser.
Leiser was looking for a clear space while pacing in. He passed to Alexis, whom drew back. Leiser and Alexis began making one- two passes, availing Caodbrix's attackers, before passing to Xavez. What was a 4-2-3-1 turned to a 4-2-4. It was an all attack mechanism put forth by I. land in the first few minutes.
Samba took the lead, with Michael and Lexar to his right and Xavez to his left. The four maintained passes till they got to their opponent's penalty box. As planned, Alexis who was playing DMF, along with Michael, would come to attack with.
As Michael fake kicked his opponents, taking the ball to his right, he passed to Samba, who made a light touch on the pass, setting it up for Alexis to shoot.
'This has to be a goal', Alexis said, striking against the left side of the ball, driving a somewhat "trivela" shot to the right of the post.
'GOAL!!!' The commentator shouted. "Alexis has scored in the opening quarter of the match(22' 52")
Alexis was the only goal scorer in the first half. The 2nd half had other things in store for I.land.
What does the 'I' in I. Land stand for anyway?" Neto asked. "Ignazio's. Ignazio was the founder of I. Land FC. So it is called Ignazio's FC, but due to some adjustments, it's now called I. Land", Alexis replied.
The 2nd half began, and seemed to be going well for I.land, but Neto had a few difficulties.
Caodbrix's CF got the ball and snapped fit from the center of the pitch, 10 yards to his MF . The MF was in possession of the ball, and he passed to his RW.
Neto, who had just sighted this, rushed to steal the pass, but he ended up fouling the RW. It was a free kick for Caodbrix. Their RW, John took the free kick. The free- kick bent towards the post to be deflected and cleared by Dogo.
The ball came for Samba; passing to Shroder, he switched to the left side, opposite of Shroder and received the incoming pass from him.
Samba took the attempt, but took the ball barely a few inches from the right side of the post. Though it was going out, Caodbrix's GK made contact with the ball, giving I. Land a corner kick.
"Could this set piece level them to 2 goals?"
Neto, last man, came a bit forward to intercept any cleared ball that would come his way. Shroder crossed the ball from the left corner region into the box, but it was intercepted by Caodbrx's CB in towards Neto's direction.
Caodbrix's CF was on the run. The ball arrived, and as Neto put out his leg to trap it, he missed and the ball ended up bouncing over him. The momentum kicked up by the opposing CF was able to meet the ball, outrunning I. Land's defense.
It was a one- on- one with Kim. Kim came out of the post to intercept the ball, but Caodbrix's CF shot the ball the the right of the post, before Kim could tackle him. Match score (72' 56'')
The match was tied. Alexis' goal now felt like nothing. I. Land continued the game, trying to hold back Caodbrix. Eventually, they got the ball through a goal attempt by Shroder to curve the ball into the left side of the post from the right wing. Their GK saved it, and regained possession of the ball He passed it their LB, who paced in and passed it to his LMF. Alexis on his sight, arrived for a tackle, but he immediately crossed it to the opposite side of the pitch to his RW.
The RW paced down to be met by Neto, who matched up with him. Neto was trying to keep up with his movements, but he nutmeged Neto, passing the ball to his CF. Neto reached the CF to match up again, but he nutmeged Neto, giving another pass to his RW.
Neto still made it to him, but was nutmeged again.
"Hat meg, Triple meg, you name it."
Still in control, he paced down and scored a banger, 30 yards from the post. Match score:1-2 (77')
"What's wrong? I can't read this game. I can't tackle. I'm stiff. Why can't I move lively? Arrgh!!"Neto was pissed.
Caodbrix's CF was in possession of the ball, half line from the post. Caodbrix began attacking through passes that were being switched through their RW, CF, LW, and MF, in that order.
Neto became so confused and thought to rush up against the LW. The LW was with the ball, trying to find space; Neto was on him preparing to block any kicks. The LW crossed to his right, the ball reaching the end of the pitch.
As the cross was coming, Neto spiked it upwards with his left hand, costing I. Land a penalty kick. Caodbrix's CF was to take this.
"Scoring this would give him 17 goals in the league. Can he score this?"
The sound of the whistle came, and striking the left side of the ball, sent an uproar of shouts among Caodbrix's fans. Match score 1-3(82')
"Dude, a hand ball? Really? Why did you punch the ball?"Leiser complained, "Arghh, ruffling his hair.
From here on, Neto began playing aggressively and cost I.land 2 more goals- A penalty and a free kick goal, 18.5 yards from the post. Match score: 1-5
Neto's play ticked I.land players much; they continued their game. Shroder tried to make a chance through the right wing. He dribbled down using a series of skills: he gave a midfielder a nutmeg, fake shot at another midfielder. He cut into the penalty box and back passed it to Xavez. Xavez going all out, struck the ball against the bar. The momentum of the ball was so much that it deflected back to Caodbrix's MF.
The midfielder sent a through to his CF, who was unopposed. Neto, who was pulling forward began sprinting back.
Pacing back, Neto guessed that the CF would pass to his left winger for the strike, so he paced in his direction. Neto was right; the pass came to the LW. "I know you'll pass. Just pass", Neto thought.
The CF averted Dogo, passing to his LW to finish. Neto got to the pass, but couldn't control the ball and got it into his own post.
"Kibb really ain't on form in this game. A triple meg and an own goal (OG)? That's something you do not see every day."
Caodbrix FC 6 – 1 I. land
The full time whistle sounded and the game was up.
I.land lost and were 10th place on the table.
Walking back, a few Caodbrix fans signaled Neto, thanking him for granting Caodbrix their biggest win that season.
"Here, Can we get a selfie?"A Caodbrix fan asked. "Uhh", Neto was confused, but the flashlight came anyway. The fans left, mumbling to themselves that footballers may play bad sometimes, but that Neto was just bad.
He entered his locker room, realizing everyone was pissed off. He didn't bother staying long. He just grabbed his stuff and left, as he knew he was the reason for their 6-1 loss and others prior.