Though he noticed soone closing on him, Hiro couldn't tell who it was. He could palpably feel a presence drawing closer to him.
The atmosphere inside the locker room was rather lively, filled with the chatters of the individuals participating in the match. From their tone of speech and their gestures, Hiro could tell that they weren't worried about the match.
They appeared to be much more relaxed than him.
"Sigh~" Hiro let out a sigh. 'Why am so anxious?'
Halting before Hiro, Alvarez began, "Nervous?"
Hiro rolled his eyes to look at him. He could recognize him imdiately from the tone of his voice. Upon rolling his eyes, he found Alvarez staring at him. Those gazes were filled with warmth as if he truly cared for him.
"A little," Hiro replied sincerely.
For so reason, he didn't want to hide his emotions.
As he heard Hiro's response, Alvarez's gaze turned solemn. He then sat beside him and placed his hand on his shoulder.
"Have I told you about the World Cup final?" he said.
"A stark contrast to the present atmosphere, it was different. The room was filled with an eerie silence, the atmosphere heavy. I could palpably feel the air crackling with tension. Heck, I even heard the pounding heart of the people around ."
"It was grim, an experience so dreadful, I don't even want to rember it again."
"But then ssi walked inside. To him, this match ant more than anything else. He always said that he would even trade his entire cabinet of individual awards if he could lift this trophy."
As Alvarez began to speak, Hiro couldn't help but feel intrigued. Well, he hadn't heard this story from anyone before. So, why wouldn't he feel intrigued?
To be able to get a sneak peek of the undisclosed mont of such an iconic mont, why wouldn't he feel intrigued?
Alvarez's gaze suddenly glistened as he continued, "Yet, he looked different. This man was carrying such a heavy burden on his shoulders. Yet, he looked calr than anyone else in the room. You couldn't even spot a single spec of frown on his face."
"Until this, he had always been the most composed one out of anyone in the squad. Yet still, it's the World Cup final we are talking about."
"Even so, he was calm. I still rember the calmness that I saw in his face, the aura with which he carried himself. Even the air around him felt different."
"Then as he began to speak, everybody turned to look at him. It should have been the coach that should be making a speech. Yet, when I turned to look at the coach, I found him intently listening to ssi too."
"Hearing him speak, I felt an intense urge to help this man lift the trophy. But as I turned around, I found that I wasn't the only person thinking that way. Almost the entire squad had united under the banner called ssi."
"Later, I realized that if we unite for a sole purpose, we can achieve anything," Alvarez paused all of a sudden and rolled his gaze over Hiro, "So, what I'm saying is you're not alone. So, don't feel pressured. You should believe in yourself."
He then raised his fist toward him, signaling for a fist bump.
"And have faith in us too, okay?" he said with a smile.
Hiro couldn't help but feel touched by his words. Simultaneously, he couldn't help but appreciate his assistance to help him calm down.
Bump!
"Yeah, thank you," Hiro said as he bumped his fist with Alvarez.
Now, he felt much more relaxed. Even his shoulder felt lighter than ever. Hiro had heard sothing incredible today. Even great players aren't immune to the budding tension. He got to hear this from a person who had completed football at an early age.
Having won, the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Champions League, the Laliga, and many other titles, Alvarez was one of the most decorated players even at an early age.
He had achieved things that most couldn't achieve in their entire career. Until now, his career had been nothing but glorious.
Well, he hadn't achieved any significant individual awards.
Hiro, however, didn't think like ssi. He wanted individual fa along with the team's achievents. He wanted to beco the first Asian to win the Golden Ball, and he wanted to lead his country to the World Cup.
ssi could say that he would trade all his golden balls for a World Cup because he has already collected a lot of them.
Hiro believed that soone without any achievent shouldn't speak such farfetched words.
After a while, Diego entered the room and an eerie silence fell upon the room. The entire atmosphere of the room changed and the players who earlier were much more cheerful beca serious all of a sudden.
Diego didn't speak much. He kept his words simple and said what was required. He reminded them not to be drunk on their recent form.
But at the sa ti, he also said that they could enjoy their victory after they have actually won the ga. Until then, he asked them to suppress their excitent and focus on the ga at hand.
The players agreed with him and rallied.
While the starting players lined up at the tunnel, Hiro and the others entered the field. The field looked much grander in person.
Walking out of the tunnel, Hiro was t with an almost unbelievable sight. The entire stadium was buzzing with cheers and the atmosphere of the stadium was electrifying.
Noticing Hiro, the stadium erupted forth in cheers. The fans were excited to see him and Hiro could palpably feel their excitent.
'Champions League, I'm here,' Hiro halted, sweeping his gaze around the vicinity.
The buzzing stadium excited him. The growing anticipation made his blood boil. He could feel the excitent coursing through his veins. He could feel his body tingling with excitent. This scene was different than what he was used to.
The venue was grand and the glares he received from the opposing fans were sort of intimidating. He could tell that those fans weren't excited to see him.
Perhaps, even before he had stepped on the field, he had managed to antagonize them.
Feeling their glares, Hiro couldn't help but curl his lips.
Revealing a wry smile, he whispered, "Quite the welco. What did I do to receive those
glares?"
Their icy cold glares penetrated deep inside his bone, sending a shiver down his spine. On the other hand, the warm gaze filled with excitent helped him relax.
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