After the referee blew the whistle, the two sides had very distinct reactions. The Monaco B players were hugging and celebrating with each other while the Saint-Malo players fell to the ground.
Tyler pumped his fists into the air, then found Tiago and hugged him. He shook hands with a few of his teammates, and the opposing players before starting to make his way to the locker room.
Before he could escape however, he was pulled aside by a reporter and asked to do an interview.
A couple of minutes later, he was standing in a corner of the field, in front of a board of sponsors that had been brought in, standing beside a reporter who looked like she was in her late thirties.
"Alright Tyler Wilson, you played an incredible ga today. We just did a bit of a background check and we saw that you were brought in from England just a week ago for the first team and now you’re playing here. Do you think that the coach doesn’t believe that you’re good enough or doesn’t appreciate your talents enough to give you the minutes that you think you deserve?" The reporter said, in French.
Tyler chuckled when he heard the question from the reporter. He had heard his coaches say that the press were just a bunch of snakes looking for how to twist words in order to create headlines. He thought that it was a harsh evaluation of them, but here he was, in front of a pretty reporter trying to bait him into publicly slating his manager.
Luckily, he had learnt from quite a few youngsters who had said the wrong things in interviews and knew exactly how to avoid the trap that was being set for him.
"Eh... I think you’ve said it. I just ca from England a week ago. It’s a new league, a new country, a different style of football and I’m only seventeen so I think one week isn’t enough ti to adapt. The coach felt the sa way so I’m playing here to help adjust and develop". Tyler replied.
"Well, you’ve surely shown why you were signed tonight, a hattrick and an assist in your first appearance for the reserve team. Was there perhaps any sort of extra motivation that pushed you to reach that level during the ga?" The reporter asked.
"Well I think the coach did a little. He told to co here and prove why I should be in the first team and so I just did by best, hoping he’s watching and sees the level I put in today".
"So the manager doesn’t think you’re ready for first team football?" The reporter asked imdiately Tyler finished talking.
Tyler laughed when he heard her question. There were just so traps that you couldn’t avoid falling into.
"That’s not it at all. He wants to adapt, but like every player I wanted to be dropped into the deep end right away. He’s protecting , but I want to show him that I’m capable enough to do what he expects of ".
"W_"
Before the reporter could ask him another question, Tyler was saved by an unlikely ally.
"Leave the kid alone. It’s ti for the team talk and I can’t do it if the team isn’t complete". Jas said while folding his arms and staring straight at the reporter.
The reporter laughed nervously and announced that it was the end of the interview. Tyler heaved a sigh of relief and walked towards Jas who had already started walking away to the tunnel.
"Thanks for saving ". Tyler said when he caught up with Jeremi. "That reporter looked like she wanted to eat alive".
Jeremi shrugged. "It’s no problem. I was only doing my job as a coach". The two of them continued walking in silence until Jeremi spoke again. "I want to apologize about what I said to you and your friend. I basically spat on both your faces and then you went and won the ga".
"It’s no problem really". Tyler smiled. "If you weren’t so an to us, I don’t think we’d have played as well".
Even though Tyler already had a few ’extra motivation’ in the form of the system’s reward, he was still affected by what Jeremi said when he and Tiago joined the rest of the team in the locker room. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t the slightest bit determined to make Jeremi eat his words.
As a wise man once said, a real footballer makes his football talk for him. And from Jeremi’s apologies, he thought that he did very well in that aspect.
"I wasn’t familiar with your ga". Jeremi nodded as they entered the locker room together.
Jeremi walked to the front of the squad, while Tyler found Tiago, his only friend in the group so far and sat down beside him.
"Alright boys, you all did well and I’m very happy that we managed to walk away with three points today. And while, as I’ve said, I think you all did well, I still don’t think you were good enough. We might’ve won by three goals, but I know that you all know that we were carried on this occasion. If not for Tyler and Tiago who today carried us we could’ve co out on the losing side today and that is not acceptable".
"We have to realize that they probably won’t even be here co the next ga, thank them for what they have done and then work towards playing without their input because if we rock up to the next ga and play like this, then I’m telling you convincingly that we will be beaten and not by a small margin either".
Jeremi addressed a couple of other things then released the players. Tyler and Tiago walked out of the locker room together, and after walking together for a small distance, before eventually parting ways.
Tyler walked to the apartnt provided to him by the club and as soon as he walked in, he was greeted by shouts and whistles from his two roommates.
"There he is!" Tony shouted dramatically. "The hattrick man!"
"What?" Tyler was surprised when he heard what Tony said. "How’d you even ..." He didn’t get to finish his sentence. Enzo who already seed to know what he was about to ask and answered his question before he got a chance to ask it.
"Our coach hasn’t shut up about it ever since the match results got released. He was like you’re age and you’re already ripping it up with the reserve team even though you just joined and all that". Enzo said.
"It was funny watching him so passionate about a random bum, offense intended, but then it got annoying when he started sending lots of ssages on the group chat". Tony said. "Our captain had to remove him from the group chat"
Tyler laughed when he heard what Tony said. "Wouldn’t that make him pissed".
Tony waved his hands. "Don’t worry, he’s pretty chill. He’ll probably make us run a couple of laps in training and that will probably be it. And I think I prefer running laps to receiving a ssage on my phone every other minute".
Tyler was surprised by Tony’s description of his coach. "You have no idea how lucky you are to have that type of a coach"
"He says the sa thing". Enzo scoffed.
Tyler spent a bit of ti chatting with Tony and Enzo before retreating to his room. As he was taking off his clothes, he heard a familiar bell chi and a smile crept onto his face.
[Ding! Host has completed his mission]
[Host has been rewarded with a New Skill]
[Ding! Congratulations, host has been rewarded an original skill]
[Original skill: A skill which is ’invented’ by host and will be one of host’s trademark skills]
[Skill: Phantom Mirage]
[Description: Using the dominant foot, the ball is tapped slightly forward to mimic a setup for a shot or cross. The non-dominant leg then swings in a full strike motion but plants firmly beside the ball instead. In the sa instant, the dominant foot drags the ball diagonally backward and across the body, shifting it into open space. The exaggerated shooting feint forces the defender to commit forward, while the diagonal drag allows the attacker to escape into the opposite lane.]
(A/N: kind of seems like a fake shot for now, but it’ll beco clearer when he uses it).
[MOTM bonus rewarded]
[ 2 stat points]
[Stat points have been assigned]
Tyler stared blankly when he saw the notifications in front of him. He was taken aback when he saw the new skill section and almost exclaid when he read about it. The system... The system basically invented a new skill for him! And it’s going to be a trademark skill. Like the Ronaldo chop or the Ozil boucepass.
At that mont, Tyler was even more determined to make it to the top. It would be a real waste to go an entire lifeti without hearing soone saying the Wilson phantom mirage... or the Wilson feint. Anyone was fine to him.
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