28 Save. Rookie
Leeds's pre-season schedule passed without incident.
Against teams rated as weak, Capello experimented with aggressive tactics, and even considering it was pre-season, it wasn't too bad.
During this period, Sin Uison had tried to build some rapport with Miley. Not in the hotel, but inside the stadium.
Somehow, outside the stadium, there had been an awkward feeling between them.
However, matching up with Miley, who could dart off in any direction, was no easy task. To the point that his concentration would scatter instead.
"Focus!"
Capello shouted as he looked at the players.
Even though it was a training camp, they didn't always play only friendly matches.
Naturally, there were times for normal training.
Today, he had divided the players into teams of five each, Team A and Team B, pitting them against each other.
Sin Uison was on Team A. Likewise, Miley was also on Team A.
With fewer players, they had to cover more space, but the guy dashed around tirelessly and blocked Team B.
With a big guy buzzing around and bumping bodies, the pressure was no joke. Eventually, the Team B players grew annoyed.
"Damn, he's energetic."
"Over here! Now! Send it up!"
A Team B player who had been clicking his tongue looked at a teammate who had raised his hand and lofted a pass.
It was a height that couldn't be reached under normal circumstances.
It should have been such a height.
"I, I flew!"
Miley, who had jumped high, successfully headed the ball clear.
Sin Uison also watched with surprised eyes.
Watching Miley soar high.
He recalled a YouTube video uploaded under the name Air Jordan.
[Wow.]
Even that voice was in awe.
'He's really a beast.'
Perhaps the NBA would suit him better than football.
The ball that bounced far away was recovered by a Team B player again.
And the player who took the ball was Ross McCormack. The man with the most clinical finishing ability at Leeds.
Bang!
A shot released a split second faster to deceive the goalkeeper arrowed toward the corner of the goal.
"Oh, that's sharp this time."
But Sin Uison, faced with the ball, looked more composed than expected. As if it weren't mere bluff, he kicked the ball far away as if taking a shot himself.
"Ooh!"
"Haha! Not a chance!"
Players from both Team A and Team B shouted. Those close to McCormack even teased him.
"Don't you think Sin's been saving better lately?"
"He's at the age where he's growing fast."
He had saved well before too, but certainly, the current Sin Uison appeared more composed than before.
And there was a reason for that.
[Intuition II]
His Intuition, which had risen by one stage, was proving its point value worth every bit.
Should he say his prediction range had widened?
Before, he would have thrown his body quickly the moment he predicted, but now he could afford a slight delay.
"Good, stop there!"
Just then, Capello, who had checked the time, ended the mini-game.
Having assembled the players, he continued speaking like a dictator giving a speech before the masses.
"So far, it hasn't been bad. I am pleased with your enthusiasm in handling the pre-season well."
Before they knew it.
The pre-season was also facing its final schedule.
Capello smiled contentedly at the players, whose discipline was ironclad.
Cutting El Hadji Diouf loose had shown quite a good effect.
Watching Diouf pack his bags, the Leeds players realized this was no joke.
To avoid ending up like him, they had moved desperately.
"Good, ahead of the match against Celtic, we will mix the two tactics we have been practicing half and half. No need to worry. It won't be that difficult."
Capello demanded they employ only half of the defensive and offensive tactics each. Perhaps using defensive tactics in one match and offensive tactics in another had been for this purpose.
"And Sin."
"Yes."
Sin Uison answered the manager calling him.
"You seem to pass a bit."
"Well, I do a little."
"In the match against Celtic, try that pass you do somewhat well."
Capello gave a new order.
Instead of having defense and attack compromise with each other, he told Sin Uison to distribute passes and play the link role.
"I will try."
Sin Uison nodded.
Since receiving the order from former manager Brian McDermott not to interfere with field play, it had been a long time since he had received instructions like this.
And time passed.
The pre-season's final schedule.
The day of the match against Celtic approached.
"Pleased to meet you."
"Likewise."
The Leeds and Celtic players exchanged greetings.
Even though they were bound to the same Great Britain, as England and Scotland had different leagues.
They were two teams that would never meet outside of European competition.
The match began.
Leeds neither sat too deep nor pushed up too high. Literally, they maintained a middle ground.
"Hey, Sin!"
Then Leeds's right full-back Sam Byram sent a long back pass.
Sin Uison, who had received the ball leisurely,
cracked his neck once and opened his mouth.
"Shall we give it a go."
He had his orders, after all. Since it was pre-season, he intended to have some fun.
Bang!
A long ball was delivered to Leeds's left winger near the halfway line.
The left winger who received the ball immediately started running, which was a familiar pattern almost second nature.
"Hoo."
After this situation occurred a few more times, Capello, who was on the bench, crossed his legs as if intrigued. Sin Uison's passing was certainly better than expected.
'I can make use of him.'
When the game had briefly stopped due to a Celtic foul,
Capello called Sin Uison, who was taking a drink.
"What is it?"
"Come here for a moment."
Soon he gave some new instructions in a whisper.
"Is that enough?"
"It's sufficient."
"Understood."
Sin Uison nodded and returned to his goal.
The game resumed.
Leeds's play showed immediate change.
Sin Uison's passes didn't aim for the flanks or cross the halfway line, but were threaded directly to the defensive midfielders in the center.
"Wow."
A Leeds defensive midfielder who had been roaming to receive the ball let out a low exclamation. It was an accurate pass.
In this manner, Sin Uison turned the tide for Leeds's passing.
It changed to a style where the defensive midfielder became the link, spraying passes to the front or flanks.
Needless to say, the Celtic players, unfamiliar with this, struggled.
"That's it!"
McCormack, who had taken the shot, instinctively sensed the goal. As if it weren't a delusion, soon the goal net rippled.
In the end, the match claimed a 1-0 victory with McCormack's opening goal.
Capello praised Sin Uison with a satisfied expression.
"You're quite good."
And as he squeezed his shoulder firmly, it felt like strange pressure, which scared Sin Uison.
On top of that,
there was another intense pressure.
[He's still watching, you know?]
'I know.'
Sin Uison sighed as he looked at Miley glaring at him as if resentful.
***
The Leeds players who had finished the pre-season schedule returned to England.
Now all that remained was raising the team's level of completion until the Premier League opening.
"Phew."
The training ground in his dream.
Sin Uison, who had just finished a training session, wiped sweat with his sleeve.
[Calculating the score!]
[Rewards vary depending on the training results......]
[Rating B]
-> Good.
The training Sin Uison had just completed was free-kick save training.
Shadows had formed a defensive wall in front of the kicker, and quite diverse situations were enacted.
Of course, as the difficulty was relatively easier compared to other trainings, the experience points were that much fewer.
Because he had avoided trainings with little experience as much as possible, there were some he had only now cleared.
[You have satisfied the conditions!]
[The next difficulty has been unlocked!]
"So with this, the free-kick training is also a lower difficulty?"
As his words suggested, Sin Uison had been clearing the lowest-tier trainings until now.
He still didn't know much about this dream training ground.
It was part of a plan to grasp at least what kinds of trainings there were and how the experience differed.
'This time.'
[Corner Kick Save Training - Lowest Difficulty]
Only one attempt remained now.
He had to clear it on the first try, and once was enough. Since his stats had risen, the lowest difficulty trainings weren't that difficult.
When he selected the corner kick training from the training window, shadows appeared.
This time, opponents and allies were tangled inside the penalty area, divided into sides.
"Ugh, creepy."
Sin Uison grumbled while pushing away a shadow pressing its body against him.
The shadows inside the penalty box were each of different sizes.
A guy with a very large frame.
And even a guy so small one wouldn't know why he was participating in set pieces.
'Huh?'
At that moment, Sin Uison's eyes gleamed with strange light upon discovering a shadow.
It was a lanky shadow.
'Somehow looks familiar.'
He tilted his head but couldn't quite recall. Well, if he looked for people with a similar build, a truckload would come up.
Bang!
Soon the corner kick was put in.
As befitting the lowest difficulty, an enormous cross wasn't sent in or anything.
It was just a relatively accurate long pass that curved into the penalty box, and the shadows tangled to compete for it.
"You're in the way."
Sin Uison punched the ball far away, clearing it outside the line.
There was no need to worry about the second ball. Though it differed for each training, in this type of training, putting the ball out was recognized as a success.
Block it five times in total and it's over.
And so the last turn came.
Sin Uison successfully blocked all four corner kicks, satisfying the minimum clear condition.
As expected, it wasn't a very difficult difficulty for the current Sin Uison.
Bang!
The corner kick came in once more.
'Huh?'
Sin Uison looked at an ally shadow with surprised eyes.
That shadow that had looked somewhat familiar earlier.
That guy had sprung toward the ball.
'So this kind of thing happens too.'
He could understand in lower difficulties, but in the lowest difficulty, the shadows were basically decorative screens aside from the kicker.
But to think it would show such active movement.
This was another first.
And then.
'Air Jordan?'
Watching the shadow soar high.
Sin Uison recalled the scene he had seen recently.
[Calculating the score!]
[Rewards vary depending on the training results......]
[Rating A]
-> Wow.
"...?"
Sin Uison blinked.
How much time had passed while he stood blankly?
Waking from the dream, he sprang up and scratched his chin with a serious expression.
"Huh?"
***
What on earth was that?
Sin Uison sighed at the question that wouldn't easily resolve.
He hoped it was a simple mistake, but what if it wasn't?
Could it be that that guy was also related to the dream training ground?
[No. I can give you a definitive answer on this. He, Emmanuel Miley, is someone who has nothing to do with that place.]
"So that's how it is."
An uncomfortable feeling remained, but currently there was nothing he could do about it.
The corner kick training had been an attempt to understand the dream training ground.
But like this, wasn't it only increasing doubts?
"Phew."
Sin Uison, having sighed, changed clothes and left the locker room.
Today's training was over, but
there was still business left to attend to.
Thud, thud.
The sound of walking down the hallway echoed quietly.
Sin Uison felt the hallway he was now walking was like a path leading to the execution ground.
And for good reason.
[Fabio Capello]
Looking at the nameplate hanging on the door, Sin Uison sighed.
The place he was about to enter now was Fabio Capello's office.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
He heard a voice from inside.
Sin Uison opened the door and spoke.
"Did you call for me?"
"Ah, sit there."
Capello sitting in his chair looking at documents looked like a hellish jailor weighing the severity of a sin.