Chapter 21: The Sun Challenge

George Eastgate stared sadly at the scoreboard in the corner of the stands. Southampton's first team lost to Swansea City 1-0 at home. Southampton had many chances but Osmund failed to maximize the opportunity to be a goal. Meanwhile, Swansea scored a goal from a counter-attack at the end of the match.

George had the principle that defense was number one in his strategy, but seeing how pathetic Southampton's attack was on the front line made him realize the pain of being a small team coach.

In modern football, it is very difficult for a team like Southampton to keep or get a good striker. At most he could buy a striker who did well in the championship league. But the problem is Southampton is in financial trouble.

Therefore George turned his attention to the players who had not yet made their professional debut.

Putting his thoughts aside, George walked to the press room. Although this defeat was realized due to the inability of the front line to score goals, George knew that he would be blamed by the media.

***

"Mr. George, how do you explain to the fans about this defeat? Because of this defeat, Southampton is in the relegation zone."

Southampton Daily immediately asked George a sharp question.

"This season is still long, I believe we can escape the relegation zone. Our players have the quality to survive in the premier league," George was used to sharp media questions. He can dodge easily.

"I'm not sure what you're saying is relevant to the current situation Mr. George, you've let Southampton's mainstay striker Belliand go. I can tell you that to survive in the Southampton premier league you need a win, not a draw or a loss," a reporter from The Sun immediately refuted George's words and launched another attack on the Southampton coach.

"We did lose Belliand which is very unfortunate for Southampton, however, I believe Southampton can overcome the crisis this time. The reserve team and Southampton academy have good players. I will call some of them to help the first team, hopefully, with them, Southampton can overcome crisis this time."

George was a little annoyed, losing Belliand wasn't entirely George's fault. This is a request from the club's top management to accept Everton's offer. He couldn't refuse the request.

What George didn't know was that his words would become The Sun's new source of news.

***

The next day Kazuki received The Sun magazine from his agent Furochi. At first, he didn't know what Furochi meant by sending this magazine but after seeing one of the news that The Sun delivered, Kazuki understood why Furochi had sent this magazine to him.

One of the articles was emblazoned with the words "Attention! This teenage genius will replace Belliand?!"

From this article, The Sun quotes coach George who will bring some substitute players into the first team. The Sun explained that Kazuki's transfer to the reserve team was due to the approval of the first team assistant, James Ward. This transfer incident was a few days before Belliand left Southampton. The Sun assumed that Southampton was already planning on selling Belliand and replacing him with Kazuki.

"This is ridiculous, I'm not even a member of the first team yet, how could I possibly replace Belliand?" said Kazuki in annoyance.

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With this news people would pay more attention to Kazuki, if he failed or made a mistake The Sun would report it with another provocative title.

Other young players may be worried by news like this. But Kazuki was different.

The Japanese player threw The Sun magazine and said, "I accept The Sun's challenge. I think I have to aim for something bigger than just being a substitute."

With the existence of [Dream Training], Kazuki didn't feel afraid to face such a challenge. Moreover, the GM had said that Kazuki's ability now, he could adapt to the Premier League game well. Of course, the matter of scoring that goal depended on Kazuki's luck.

The next day at the training ground, Kazuki's comrades inquired about his condition. They thought the news of The Sun would make Kazuki depressed and uneasy. Kazuki replied to them with a smile and said that he was fine.

Today was Southampton u-23's third match after Kazuki joined the team. In this match, Southampton will face Swansea City u-23 at A. F. C. Totton's Testwood stadium.

Kazuki and the others saw that this time's match was well attended by Southampton fans. Nearly 2000 spectators filled the available seats at the Testwood Stadium. This made the Southampton U-23 players who were warming up a bit nervous.

"Do you think we can play well?" Rustan asked Kazuki.

"Of course, last week Southampton's first team was beaten by Swansea City, isn't it time we hit back?" Kazuki replied without hesitation.

"One day we will play under the cheers of tens of thousands of people, if you can't withstand this kind of pressure then you don't deserve to play football," said Kazuki who repeated Traves' words he said when Kazuki was still at Manchester United u-18.

Rustan who heard it smiled and said, "You're right, thank you."

In the locker room coach Elen gives his speech. "You probably already know, these few days people's attention has been on us. You will feel nervous and restless etc. But remember, as long as you play well the people will cheer. The cheers of thousands of people are something different than you guys usually feel. I've felt it as a player and I want you to feel it too. Play well and beat Swansea!"

"Defeat Swansea!!"

The Southampton under-23 players came out of the dressing room in high spirits. Today they have the same goal. To look good in front of the fans.

Southampton started the first half kick-off. This time they will play aggressively. From the start of the first half, Southampton's formation was 4-3-3. The wing position is filled by Rustan and Ryan Jr.

Southampton U-23s started their first attack with their right-back overlapping. A one-two pass between Southampton right-back and Rustan was able to overcome the Swansea City defense. The right-back provided a through ball to Rustan. At full speed, Rustan raced with Swansea right-back for the ball.

The Swansea right-back turned out to have a good pace. He could match Rustan's speed. Rustan knew he couldn't push himself through this time, so he didn't kick the ball forward but pushed the ball back. Behind the Southampton right-back Rustan received a pass, he then ran into the Swansea City penalty box. However, just as he was about to pass the ball he saw that Kazuki was being guarded by two defenders. At that moment Kazuki raised his hand convincing the right-back to pass to him.

Finally, the right-back gave Kazuki a pass. The Japanese struggled for the ball among the Swansea City players. With one touch Kazuki deflected the ball using his inner leg.. The Swansea goalkeeper was unable to catch the ball because Kazuki was aiming for the goalkeeper's blind spot.

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