Chapter 3 - Goalkeeper in Turkey?

The year is 2007…

Xerxes wanted to take a strong leap forward in the world of football.

He had learned from his mistakes in his previous life.

Also, there was something he knew in his previous life that there was as much difference between the football of the 2000s and the football of the 1970s.

And the teams that left their mark in the 2010s were obvious, Real Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Bayern Munich ...

But something had happened that he had never anticipated.

He was not born in Spain, Germany, or England.

Helder was born in Turkey and the future of Turkish football was dark, literally.

Teams such as Fenerbahçe, Galatasaray, and Beşiktaş were the strongest of their countries, but could not be compared to other European teams financially.

And Turkish football teams did not pay much attention to infrastructure.

Very rarely did they give a chance to opponents and even if they made a single mistake, they would send it directly from the team.

However, young Turkish footballers from 2015 noticed something later. They were not actually without talent.

Therefore, confident young Turkish football players would go to the teams abroad and show themselves there.

Helder was also conscious of this.

However, he was not yet aware that fate would prepare him for many different surprises ...

Everything had just begun for Helder, whose mother was Turkish and his father was German ...

***

One of the three strong Turkish football teams mentioned above has been famous for its Turkish goalkeepers throughout its history.

He was Fenerbahçe in that team.

Fenerbahçe"s goalkeeper is also a goalkeeper in the national team.

This situation would never change easily.

Therefore, Helder first wanted to try his luck there by attending the Fenerbahçe infrastructure auditions.

2007 was the 100th anniversary of Fenerbahçe, and the next year they would play in the Champions League quarter-finals.

Helder knew these, but unfortunately, he was only 12 years old.

27 June 2007 u-12 Audition Day

"You are all welcome to the Audition. I am Şemol Çollu, the coach responsible for Infrastructure. Will you all put your soul forward for the future of Fenerbahçe? "

They always shouted in unison.

"Yes sir."

Scouts from different clubs were also there. They were waiting for the next match.

Everyone had one chance.

As the warming continued, a short boy approached Helder.

"Ooo, you were pretty tall. I"m sure you are the goalkeeper. "

"Isn"t it obvious from my gloves that I am a goalkeeper?"

The boy smiled.

"When I saw your torn and old gloves, I wanted to be sure."

Helder clenched his fist.

"Oho, take it easy, buddy, I"m just having fun. If you hit a single punch, you will be sent instantly from here, don"t you? "

Helder calmed down.

The boy was still grinning wiser.

"It must be painful to have an audition that you cannot win ..."

Helder could not stand it. "What do you mean?"

"You"ll see it when the match is over."

The boy walked away from Helder.

The warm-up moves were over and the match was about to begin.

The whistle rang ...

"Take it easy, Helder, I am sure you will succeed, you were the legendary goalkeeper of Bayern Munich in your previous life, do not forget this."

At the start of the match, the voice of a single person on the field was coming out with all his might. That voice belonged to Helder.

A goalkeeper would both relieve his teammates and affect the opponent psychologically by shouting throughout the match, and he was aware of this.

Helder"s team was weak compared to the opponent, but this was a great chance for Helder, it could show itself.

"Hey number 4 don"t turn the man, number 6 is dribbling from the right side, watch him. You have to help the number 7 defense. "

Helder was affecting the whole team.

For a moment he thought not to shout because the more he shouted, the better his team was playing and the opponent could not attack.

He would not be able to show himself in Him.

Helder"s team started attacking too many opponents, which was an opportunity for the opponent"s counterattack.

Helder was aware of this.

"Number 6 don"t go forward, if you go and lose the ball, they will attack from where you are."

Number 6 turned and looked at Helder and shook his head to you, trying to run forward.

Then it was just as Helder had expected.

The ball is lost to the opponent.

They had begun to attack quickly from the gap in the midfield where there was number 6.

"Number 5 calm down. Do not be afraid. Don"t worry, we won"t have a goal. Just concentrate on your opponent. "

"Don"t press number 4, trust the number 5 next to it and move together."

Neither made a mistake, in line with Helder"s instructions.

"How far do you intend to stay with number 6? Come back quickly and try to grab that ball. "

Number 6 was not listening to Helder.

Helder was also getting angry.

As Helder gave directions to his teammates, something unexpected happened.

From about 25 meters, a shot was coming towards Helder very hard.

Helder saw the ball at the last moment.

The ball was coming to his left.

He took two steps and jumped with all his might.

With the tips of his fingers, he cornered the ball going to the corner.

"Oh… you see?"

"Wow what saved ..."

"The shot was good too."

The kid who took the shot was the kid who made fun of Helder as he warmed up.

Helder stood up.

"Be careful, everyone defend man-to-man."

"Watch out for the tall people, don"t make the head."

Helder was not even aware of who was shooting, he was overly concentrated.

Years of experience were visible.

The match went back and forth on behalf of both teams.

Both teams were attacking after the attack.

But unfortunately, the time was not enough.

Since they were 12 years old, they played 2 periods of 20 minutes each and it was a 40-minute match.

The match was over 0-0.

With the final whistle of the match, number 4 came towards Helder.

"We didn"t score because of you. Your directives were very good, have you played in a team before? "

"Ah, no…"

"So let"s meet, I"m Çağlar."

"I"m Helder too."

"Helder? Are you a foreigner or how do you speak Turkish fluently? "

"Ah, that"s a long story, buddy."

"Helder, it sounds like we could be a good couple with you."

"Time will tell, we cannot know."

Then Şemol Çollu blew another whistle. Everyone was in front of him.

"Good health to all of you. Now I will explain to you who are selected for the team. "

Everyone was waiting with great curiosity.

The selected ones are as follows.

"Number 7 and number 5 from the blue vests."

Helder was in a yellow vest suit.

Among the yellow vests ...

"Number 4."

"It"s just that."

A minute?

Am I not chosen?

How is this possible?

The boy during the warm-up came towards Helder.

"I told you, my friend, try as much as you want, all in vain."

The boy was wearing the number 7.

At that moment he understood.

There was no merit in Turkish Football.

And Turkish Football was unexpected ...

Caglar came to Helder and comforted him.

"Dude, don"t worry, I"m sure you will come to very good places, I feel it."

Helder said one thing.

"Do your best…"

Helder was walking thoughtfully out of the locker room.

He looked into the stands, there were no scouts left and they were all gone. His last hope was also lost.

He thought he"d try again next year.

"Do you have a minute?"

The voice was coming from behind.

Helder turned around. A man with glasses and stubble called out to him. He also had a notebook.

"What would you like?"

The man with the glasses took the handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the sweat off his face.

"I am the scout of the Gençlerbirliği football team. If you have a minute I"d like to see you. "

Genclerbirligi?

"Sure, please, come on."

Miracles are unexpected, but there was still a long time for Helder"s miracle ...