Chapter 418: Friendly against A-League All-Stars

The Juventus squad was back in action, playing a pre-season friendly the following day, on a rainy Sunday evening. In the ANZ Stadium filled to the brim with passionate Australian fans, they faced off against the Australia & New Zealand A-League All-Stars select team captained by Juventus’ former star and legend – Alessandro Del Piero.

Massimiliano Allegri, Juventus’ head coach, chose to go with a midfield of Paul Pogba, Claudio Marchisio, and Andrea Pirlo that day. As for Zachary and Vidal, his other star midfielders, he left them on the bench due to their match fitness issues.

Once again, Juventus started the friendly on the back foot after conceding an early goal in the 9th minute. Most Old Lady players on the pitch, including star midfielders like Andrea Pirlo and Claudio Marchisio, struggled to find their rhythm during the entire first half. Their performance was not the best, and on several occasions, they lost the ball in the defensive midfield zones and almost gifted the opponents with another goal.

It was only when the game proceeded to the second half that a change transpired. Fernando Llorente showed his brilliance again by scoring Juventus’ 1st goal in the 58th minute. Then, as if the Juventus players had gotten a wake-up call, they started playing some presentable football for the first time that evening.

Slowly but steadily, they began showing their prowess on the pitch and even created a couple of decent half-chances as they searched for opportunities to score and put the game to bed. But before they could build up any momentum, another stunning goal from the all-star team during the 76th minute sent all their previous efforts down the drain. Once again, they were in dire straits since they were trailing by a goal with less than 15 minutes of gameplay remaining on the clock. As a result, everyone in the stadium could deduce that they would most likely lose the game if nothing changed during the next few minutes.

On the sidelines, Coach Allegri was, of course, incensed by the sorry performance of his starting players. He couldn’t stomach the fact that a team filled with international players, who had just won the Italian Serie A only months ago, was struggling against a side from Australia and New Zealand. Even though it was the pre-season, such a situation was unacceptable, and he could not allow the status quo on the pitch to remain the same.

He immediately turned to the bench and summoned Simone Pepe, a winger, Kwadwo Asamoah, a left midfielder, and Zachary Bemba, his newly signed attacking midfielder. He gave them brief instructions concerning positioning and playing patterns before requesting the fourth official to substitute them into the game.

When the ball went out of play for a throw-in during the 78th minute, the three substitutes stepped onto the pitch in place of the seemingly exhausted Andrea Pirlo, the underperforming Patrice Evra, and the uncreative Claudio Marchisio. They took up their positions on the field of play, and the referee blew the whistle to restart the game with a Juventus throw-in.

Kwadwo Asamoah, the freshly introduced left-midfielder, was the man to take the throw-in for Juventus. He made a short run towards the field and then planted his feet before the touchline on the left before throwing the ball towards Leonardo Bonucci, the center-back in the back line.

Leonardo Bonucci calmly controlled the ball without any pressure. He brought it to the ground with his chest and kicked it towards Stephan Lichtsteiner, Juventus’ right wing-back. The latter didn’t dawdle with the ball for long but immediately squared a pass to Zachary, who had just opened himself up in the middle of the pitch.

Zachary was excited after noticing the ball approach his position. But he forced himself to remain calm as he connected with the pass and whirled around to step beyond the reach of an opposing midfielder who was fast closing him down. And just at the right moment, before any other opponents could react, he unleashed a grounded pass towards Kwadwo Asamoah on the left flank.

Kwadwo Asamoah took one touch on the ball before lopping it over an opponent to find Carlos Tévez, the Argentine striker, at the left edge of the box. The latter was as creative as ever, and he immediately chested the ball first time to Paul Pogba, the Frenchman who had been running in sync with him.

Paul Pogba assessed the situation around him while receiving the ball. He danced and performed a few flashy moves to confuse the opposing defenders. Then, when the angle opened up, he placed a perfect pass for Zachary, who was just about to arrive before the arc of the 18-yard-box.

“Perfect Chance!”

Adrenaline started pumping rapidly and abnormally through Zachary’s entire body as he approached the ball from a forty-five-degree angle. His eyes narrowed into slits, and he focused solely on the ball rolling towards his sprinting path at a seemingly slow pace. Then, when he judged that the moment was right, he immediately decided to go into action and pull the trigger.

Breathing in, he took the last jump-step and planted his non-kicking foot next to the ball. Then, he swung his left leg all the way back before whipping it down hard and fast to smack the ball that had just appeared before him.

“BAM!”

His new Missile-Launcher skill worked like a charm as he took the shot, and the ball rose from the ground like a surface-to-surface missile out of its launcher. It tore through the air like a lightning bolt, whooshing and whizzing through the gaps between the opposing defenders. Then, at the final moment, it zigzagged left and right unpredictably before cracking off the post and homing into the back of the net. Due to the incredible velocity of the shot, the keeper couldn’t even react.

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A-League All-Stars 2 : Juventus 2

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There were a brief few seconds of silence after the ball homed into the back of the net. Then, a moment later, the fans within the stands seemed to overcome their shock and started applauding the goal. They happily cheered at the top of their voices as Zachary ran toward his teammates to celebrate his first goal for Juventus.

“Who’s this Zachary Bemba? How come I’ve never heard about him?” One Australian fan asked his friend after the cheering started dying down.

“Mate! You’re out of touch with the current happenings on the football scene,” his friend replied with a sigh. “Zachary Bemba is Juventus’ newest and most expensive signing this year. He was the star who helped a small Norwegian team called Rosenborg to win the Europa League last season. He scored over 20 goals and broke the tournament goal-scoring record in a single season. How can you not know about him?”

It was his friend’s turn to get surprised. He was like most Australians, who had a habit of focusing only on the very big European football clubs and competitions. He would watch the Champions League, yes. But he would never waste his time following an inconsequential tournament like the Europa League. So, how could he have known about Zachary?

“Is he really a great player?” The fan asked his friend again.

“Yes, he is,” his friend replied matter-of-factly. “He can dribble, pass with machine-like precision, and score goals like a football demon. He even scored four goals against Juventus, and that’s why they signed him for a club-record transfer fee. Then, there are his abnormal free kicks. Mate! He has never missed a set piece during his entire professional career. As long as the set piece is within the final third, he’ll convert. So, tell me! Do you think he is impressive or not?”

“You make him sound like another Messi or a CR7,” the fan sounded skeptical. “Is he as good as them?”

His friend thought for a moment before saying, “That, I can’t tell at the moment. I’ll need to watch him in the Serie A first. Then, I’ll be able to judge if he is as good as those two.”

—–

Unbeknownst to Zachary, many Australian fans in the stadium were starting to research his history. Due to his incredible goal that put Juventus back to level terms, they became interested in him and asked their friends about his past deeds. Others even pulled up his information from the internet and watched a few videos of his past highlights. What happened next was pretty obvious. In a few minutes, they comprehended the extent of his skills and couldn’t stop exclaiming in wonderment. They immediately decided to follow him on social media so as to get more updates about him. And that was how Zachary started attracting bunches of more Instagram and Twitter followers while he was with his new team on tour in Australia. But all that didn’t matter to him as he was still on the field of play, facing off against the A-League All-Stars.

It was the 85th minute, but the game was still at a deadlock of 2:2. Naturally, Juventus was dominating the proceedings and creating more chances on the field of play. All the field players, especially the just-introduced substitutes, played like they were hungry predators chasing after prey. They outran their opponents by more than five kilometers as they searched for that one winning goal to put the game to bed. And finally, during the 93rd minute, the chance they had been looking for appeared.

After making an intelligent and abrupt run to escape from an opponent, Zachary met up with a pass from Leonardo Bonucci, the center-back, close to the boundary of the defensive third. His high spatial awareness worked wonders — and he assessed the situation on the field in a flash. Before the opponents could close him down, he angled his body and unleashed a hell-of-a-long-range-pass towards the other end of the pitch. And that was all it took for Zachary to take the entire opposing defense out of the equation.

Whoosh!

The ball zoomed through midair, darting in and out of the spaces between the opponents like a remote-controlled drone. In a matter of seconds, it landed before Paul Pogba, who had coincidentally just beaten the offside trap as he ran towards the opponent’s goal. Without losing composure, the Frenchman chested it down the ground on a half-turn. Then, with a deft touch, he looped it past the approaching keeper to score Juventus’ third goal for the night.

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A-League All-Stars 2 : Juventus 3

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It was a good night for Zachary. He had managed to change the game’s trajectory by scoring a goal and creating an assist after spending less than thirteen minutes on the pitch. As a result, his new teammates couldn’t stop complimenting him when the whole team grouped up to celebrate Pogba’s last-minute winner.

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