Chapter 10 - Danone Cup Istanbul Semi Finals(1)

The warm-up movements were over.

Helder and his teammates were ready for the game.

The coach gathered the team.

It had become commonplace for them now.

Coach took a deep breath…

"Who are we?"

"Losers!"

"Who are we?"

"Losers!"

And he took a deeper breath again, shouted with all his might.

"Who are we?"

"Losers!"

Normally they did this in the locker room, but they wanted to psychologically affect the opponent.

This was Helder"s idea.

He left the last sentences on the coach to Helder.

"What are we going to do today?"

The whole team shouted like crazy.

"We will win!"

But Helder said something extra.

"Close your eyes."

Everyone on the team instantly closed their eyes.

"And just imagine being the champion, that"s all." Helder said.

He was literally a captain.

***

"Wow have you seen the opposing team?" said the playmaker Melih.

"Didn"t they get on too much gas?" said striker Emre.

"The real opponent"s shouting like this has brought me to the gas, I am already looking forward to the goals I will score for them." said another striker Arda.

Melih laughed.

"I heard that the goalkeeper of the opponent team received an offer from Gençlerbirliği."

"Oh really, I haven't heard of that." said Arda.

"Then it will be even more fun to score him." he continued.

They were unaware that the game was going to be bad for them.

***

Orange Necklace Middle School vs Mustafa Çamcı Middle School...

Orange Necklace was wearing an orange uniform as its name suggests.

Mustafa Çamcı Middle School wore a green uniform.

The referee whistled and the green team started the game.

The opposing team started the match as fast as expected.

They were attacking like crazy from the right and left.

Helder"s team, on the other hand, was struggling with their strength to meet the opponent"s attack.

"Calm down." cried Helder.

"Everything is going as planned, do not be afraid of the opponent." he continued to shout.

Something caught his attention when Helder looked at the goal minutes of the opposing team.

The opposing team scored all of the goals in the first half in all the matches it played.

In the second half, they did not even have a single goal.

This was an interesting statistic.

That"s why Helder told his friends about this the day before the game. Their primary goal was not to score in the first half. Even if they played the 3-3-1 tactic, the striker Burak came to the midfield and pressed from time to time.

And the tactic has worked so far.

The opponent team could not find any position.

Helder"s team was covering the fields very well.

But Helder nevertheless kept an eye on the opponent"s number 10.

Because he had to be careful about the unexpected shots he took.

Just as he was thinking about this, Melih, number 10 of the opponent, took the ball.

Melih passed the striker Arda.

As he took the ball in Arda, he immediately threw it in front of Melih.

They made great passes.

After making this pass, Melih shot the goalkeeper as soon as he saw it.

The ball was too fast.

Helder had stepped forward 3 steps from the line before the shot came.

He knew that this ball would have been scored if he had stayed on the line.

The ball was coming out of the air to his right.

Helder jumped.

He easily controlled the ball with both hands.

"If I hadn't stepped forward, I guess I would have scored a goal." he thought.

Melih looked at Helder after shooting.

His morale was upset.

"This goalkeeper knows his job well." said…

The referee blew the whistle that ended the first half after the shot ...

The second half would be very interesting ...