Tyler was sick and tired of how the match was going. Even though he was in the weaker team, he didn't like how easily his team was dominated, and when the starters scored their second goal, something in him snapped, and now he was throwing caution to the wind.
As soon as he started running forward, Lamine Camara lazily jogged towards him, expecting the teenager to pass back like he'd been doing so far. To Lamine's surprise, Tyler's leg flashed over the ball a couple of times as he did a stepover, while positioning himself such that a burst inside was his obvious course of action.
Lamine then moved to his right in an attempt to cut Tyler off. Once again, Lamine was surprised. Tyler's leg moved over the ball again as he did another stepover. Free from Lamine's obstruction, Tyler took off immediately.
Lamine started chasing him, but Tyler was faster than him. Eventually the midfielder gave up on catching up and ran towards the middle of the pitch.
When Tyler bolted past Lamine, Dennis Zakaria who was nearby bolted towards him and stretched out a leg, aiming to kick the ball off Tyler's leg, and maybe out for a throwing or something.
Tyler managed to chip the ball over the outstretched leg and continued his run, only slowing down when he slowly approached the opposition eighteen-yard box and found himself one on one with Caio Henrique.
Seeing the veteran left back in front of him, Tyler understood he had to tread with caution. So far, he had been able to move as he pleased because he had the element of surprise on his side. The players who marked him expected him to recycle possession like he'd been doing since he came on.
Now, facing the right back, Tyler understood that he had lost that element of surprise. Henrique fully expected him to dribble at him so Tyler knew that he had to be smart and creative.
His left leg flashed over the ball as he resumed his stepovers, teasing cutting into the box before bursting out wide. Unfortunately, his bit of trickery did not faze Henrique because the left back ran along with him, causing Tyler to cut back.
As soon as Tyler cut back though, he knocked the ball forward again, gaining a moment's head-start on Henrique before crossing the ball into the penalty box.
Breel Embolo who had next to nothing to do all game, rose higher than all the other bodies in the box, and he headed the ball into the back of the net. The scoreline was 2-1. The reserves had pulled one back.
"Get in!" Tyler shouted as he pumped his fists while walking back to the center circle. A few of the players in the reserve team gave him a pat on the back, as a sort of well done for managing to go on that solo run and end up with an assist.
"Can you see what I'm saying?" Adi Hutter said to Julian with a smile on his face. "The crazy part is, it seems like he's improved again, and not by a small amount. That kid... that kid is going places. I'm going to make sure that he goes places".
"You're sure you don't want him to stay here at Monaco?" Julian teased.
Adi Hutter didn't take his assistant's teasing to heart. "I want him to stay but he isn't going to be here for long. He's going to go onto much bigger things".
Julian didn't say anything after Adi Hutter's remarked, and instead turned his attention to Tyler who was walking down the right flank, moving near his team's penalty box to help out with defense.
'The gaffer seems to think highly of you... don't disappoint me'
After Tyler's solo run, not much time passed before the assistant who was refereeing the match blew his whistle to signify the end of the match. Adi Hutter ordered the players to gather round him and began to address them one by one.
"Takumi, great stuff from you out there, but you have to be a lot more clinical. If you finished all the chances afforded to you then your team could've won the match five or six goals to one".
"Vanderson, work on your recovery pace. Remember, wingers are usually very fast, even the slightest head-start you give to them can..."
One by one, Adi Hutter began to address everyone on the team until, of course, he got to Tyler.
"Tyler, I'm impressed". Adi Hutter said. "It's just your second day training with us, your first day of proper training and even though it's just a training match, you managed to get an assist. Great stuff, it seems you may be ready for first team football after all".
Tyler had a huge grin on his face as he heard the gaffer's praise. His grin got wider, when a notification flashed in front of him.
[Ding! Mission complete]
[...]
There were a couple of other notifications, telling him his reward, but Tyler didn't pay attention to them. Adi was still talking and after getting such high praise from him, he didn't want to look distracted.
Eventually, Adi Hutter dismissed everyone.
"Wow man, that run you went on was nuts". Tiago walked up to Tyler as soon as Adi left everyone. "I didn't even think you could do something like that".
"Tch, it's just one dribble. I did a couple of them myself". George said, walking to Tyler's right.
"You little liar". Tiago said, making Tyler chuckle a bit, as Tiago was five feet and eight inches. He wasn't short, especially since he still had a little bit of time to grow, but compared to George who was already over six feet tall, he was the little one instead. "The only thing we saw was you getting skinned by Vanderson the entire match".
"You're talking as if you could dribble past that monster". George shrugged. "Or like you can dribble better than me".
"I'm a midfielder, you should be better at dribbling than me". Tiago said.
"I beg to differ. I'm a striker. I score goal. I'm supposed to be clumsy with the ball but you're meant to be silky with it. Big difference. The fact that I'm better on the ball than you is a disgrace to you and other midfielders everywhere".
"You're not better than me on the ball, you're just better at dribbling".
"Same diff". George shrugged.
Tyler didn't bother getting involved. He just watched the pair argue all the way to the locker room, while occasionally chuckling whenever someone said something funny.