"The next session of today's trial will be a test of your technique", Coach Joe said.
This aspect of the trial was going to test the players' technical ability. With only 90 players left, they were divided into 2 groups, Group A (45) and Group B (45). Each player from Group A will be assigned an opponent from Group B.
Coach Joe continued "From this moment on, your survival depends on defeating someone you've probably never faced before. A player from Group A will fight a player from Group B. Lose... and you're gone", he said with a smirk on his face.
The players were given opponents at random, to make sure it was fair for everyone. Group A players were called "candidates" and Group B players were called "rank".
Sonny's heart is racing, pumping against his chest faster than a normal human would. "I'm number 20, I hope they don't give me someone too sweaty". he thought to himself.
"Group A, candidate 17... you'll be going against Group B rank 3", the assistant coach exclaimed.
"That's Liam Wilson against Scott Daniels", a player muttered with disbelief. "Aren't they brothers?", another asked. "Yes they are. 2 of the brightest talents in the school", a player replied.
"Group A, candidate 20, against Group B rank 35", the assistant said.
"I'm up against Theo Harrow?!", Sonny asked in disbelief. he looked at Theo and Theo looked back at him with a grin.
"Wish me luck!", Theo chuckled and replied, looking at Sonny with a bright smile.
Sonny was shell-shocked. He could've never imagined being up against Theo, his oldest friend, in a high stakes encounter such as this. He knew it was almost impossible to get the better of him.
When they had finished setting up each player to his opponent. Coach Joe asked for the pitch to be divided into 10 parts, each set was to be on one division on the field. there would be 3 sessions and each session lasted for less than 10 minutes. And there would be 2 small-sided goals on each end of each division.
It was going to be a one on one battle between 2 players to get the best out of them. 45 players were to be eliminated in the technical test.
"The first session will be Ball mastery under pressure. This will test your pure technical control, this includes your first touch, your close control under pressure, change of direction and weak foot ability". Coach Joe said.
He continued "It will last for 10 minutes. There will be a maximum of 7 touches at a time. 1 point per clean dribble past your opponent, 2 points per goal, +1 point for a clean tackle. -1 point for heavy touch and -2 for a bad tackle", Joe concluded.
The first 10 sets go to their assigned divisions on the pitch. Sonny and Theo go to their own division.
Sonny stands in front of his goal already sweating out of pressure, looking at Theo, his best friend now his biggest opponent.
Theo stands in front of his own goal, looking at Sonny with a smirk on his face. Overly relaxed. He felt like Sonny wasn't going to be an issue for him to overcome.
Kelly was watching closely while sipping a juice box. "Isn't Theo a friend of Sonny. This is getting fun" she chuckled.
"Fweee!" The whistle was blown.
The ball is passed to Theo with speed, he controls with a soft first touch with his inside foot. His second touch opens up an angle for a shot.
Sonny rushes to close him down and realises he wanted to pull off a fake shot, so He doesn't bite in to stop the shot.
Theo uses the inside of his foot to fake it. Sonny knew this and bites in to stop him from driving forward towards his right side.
But Theo fakes again, and chops the ball back into his right. "+1 point to Theo". The assistant coach said.
Sonny slips on the floor and Theo escapes, runs forward and scores an easy goal.
"+2 points to Theo, now 3 points in total", the assistant watching said.
"This is impossible! The heck do they want me to do against this guy...", Sonny thought to himself while standing up from the ground.
"Come on bro, get up" Theo said with one hand on his waist. "There's still 8 minutes left. You can do it, right?".
Sonny got up, a bit more motivated than before.
The ball was passed to Sonny, he wanted to do something flashy, he tried to control the ball with his outside foot, but made a mistake and made a heavy touch. "-1 point to Sonny".
He managed to catch on to it and drives forward, he gets to Theo and does 2 step overs and uses the outside of his right foot to push the ball towards his right.
Theo reads this perfectly and slides in to take the ball off Sonny's feet and scores another goal. "+3 points to Theo Harrow" the assistant said with one eye closed as he was a bit embarrassed for Sonny.
Coach Joe watching from the other side of the field thinking to himself "I gave him the blueprint to train for all of this. Why isn't he making use of it".
Theo doesn't have a pinch of sweat on his body. He looks sorry for Sonny. "This is getting ugly fast... but I guess this is how it has to be. I must get on the team", he thought to himself, looking at Sonny as he gets up from the ground yet again.
"Fweee!". The whistle is blown for the third round to begin.
Theo is passed the ball. He controls with a beautiful touch with the outside of his boot, and drives forward.
Sonny remembers what Coach Joe had given him the week before. "I rehearsed this didn't I?" He thought to himself, while trying to guess Theo's next move.
"Coach scribbled some notes for me to practice... I think 1v1 with a tire and a cone was in there".
Coach Joe had given Sonny a note last week at the auditorium to practice for the trial. the note included a bunch of fitness and technical routines, to help him be fit and ready for any session thrown at them during the trial.
Theo was running with speed towards Sonny, getting ready to do a quick shoulder feint to his right.
Sonny tried to guess his movements by watching his weaker foot. "Alright, watch the movement of his weak foot, because that's his standing foot...." He thought to himself.
"if I allow him to go towards his weaker side, he should bait into my trap!"
Sonny gave him space to drive towards his left Theo's left foot wasn't too good but tried the shoulder feint anyways.
Theo was about to shoot with his left foot but Sonny came in clutch and slid in to cut him off. He drove forward with the ball and scored a tap in
"+3 points to Sonny Hale" the assistant said.
"Yeesss!!". Sonny screamed in his mind but was jumping up and down and punching the air visibly. He had just stopped Theo Harrow, a Technical Type winger for the first time in his life.
Kelly was still watching from afar. She wasn't too impressed but was ok with what Sonny had just done.
Theo got up and smiled. "Nice job Sonny, but the fun is just getting started", Theo said. He dusted his body and went back to his position.
"5 minutes left", Coach Joe signaled to all the groups currently still playing on the field.
"It's 6-2. 5 minutes left....I can still close the gap"