My Goalkeeping System

Chapter 384 Keep Hoping

?

The day Unique FC were going to battle it against West Ham United in the Wondanimo stadium was just a few hours away, and because of that, the players had gone back to training.

They had a training session on Wednesday morning and they were still at it.

On one side, there were a couple of players busy playing rondo, and on the other side, there was Dave who had Fredinho trying out his shots on him.

The striker had the ball placed twenty-five yards away from the goalpost while Dave was jumping up and down on his line.

"I'm pretty sure you won't be able to stop this one!" Fredinho yelled as he quickly closed up on the ball and fired it toward the goalpost.

The ball was sent flying toward the top left-hand side of the goalpost with great force, but that was no problem for Dave.

[ Thrust activated ]

He sprang up toward the ball as soon as that skill was activated, and with his left glove, he punched the ball over the bar.

"Dude, why are you so fast?" Fredinho asked with both of his hands on his waist.

The expression on his face was one of immense shock.

"Well, I've been training my reflexes and speed."

'Courtesy of, Catherine.'

"Yeah, I get that, but you moved way faster now compared to the other times, almost like you instantly got a boost." The striker expressed.

"Got a boost? Maybe that's because I decided to put everything into stopping that ball from going in." The goalkeeper said.

"Oh, wait does that mean you have not been giving it your all?"

"No, not really, I just don't really like to overexert myself for the sake of making one save, I tried really hard to stop those ones that went in."

"Oh."

<Look at you, trying so hard to not make him feel bad>

"I think it's about time we took a break," Dave said before turning his gaze to the sidelines where most of his teammates were already resting now while pouring some water down their system.

After that, the players returned back to training, and this time, Norman supervised it by himself to check a couple of things and see what he was going to do for the match against West Ham United.

It didn't take long for the training session to come to an end, and now that it was over, the players were heading back to the locker room where Norman was going to brief them on the tactics and the starting eleven.

[ Training session completed ]

[ +10 exp received ]

Dave didn't even bother to look at that message as he walked into the locker room with his teammates.

After getting to the locker room, they sat down and chatted for a while before Norman walked in to tell them everything they needed to hear.

"Alright, boys, we all know West Ham United have lost their last two matches in the competition so far which means they are in a tight situation right, that is the one and only reason why we are not allowed to underestimate them." Norman expressed.

<It's a good thing he's not trying to underestimate them>

"Now, let us move on to the starting eleven, three players from the standard starting eleven will not be starting the match and will most likely come in on the second half."

"And who are those, coach?" Adolf asked.

'I hope this isn't what I think it is.'

"Roland, Ferran, and Mateo."

'Oh, dear.'

"No offense, but I don't really think this is a good idea," Minino said.

<Me too>

"And why's that?" Norman asked.

"Because removing those three is going to affect our gameplay in a bad way, at least let Roland stand for the sake of not conceding any meaningless goal, we may be able to work up something up front without Mateo," Minino explained.

As soon as the midfielder said that, Jonas shot him a gaze and it wasn't just an ordinary gaze but Minino was too focused on what Norman was saying to even notice him.

"You make a good point, Minino, but I know what I'm doing, if things get too dire," Norman replied.

<Wow, after saying not to underestimate West Ham United, he goes on to explain his plan to use the match for experimentation, this isn't going to end well>

"But you said we aren't going to underestimate them, coach," Dave said.

"Yeah, and we aren't going to underestimate them."

"Really? Isn't benching Mateo, Ferran, and Roland underestimating them? I know there's no way you would bench them in a match against Supreme United or Dynamo FC." The goalkeeper expressed. "I know you'll want to do it anyway and maybe it won't be that bad depending on how they play, but for safety reasons please let Roland start."

Norman kept his gaze on the goalkeeper for a while before letting out a deep sigh.

"Okay, since you all want him to start so much, he'll start, but I wonder what will happen to the team if he gets injured somewhere down the season, I'm not praying for it but we all know the possibility is clearly there."

<That's the reason why you should have a proper backup for each position>

Norman went on to name the full starting eleven for the match but he did say that it could be changed at any moment from now till the match starts tomorrow.

After that, he went on to explain the tactics for the match, and as soon as he was done.

Devon drove straight home after chatting with a couple of his teammates.

He parked his car in the usual spot and stepped down from it before he came down from it and made his way to the door.

He opened the door to find a piece of paper on the ground.

"What's that?" He muttered before picking up the piece of paper.

It was laid out straight, and when he turned it around, he could see that there was something written on it.

'Hello, Dave, I love you so much, you are the best goalkeeper I have ever seen and I hope to see you one day. Your number one fan.' The goalkeeper read subconsciously. 'Something like this inside my house, this is um…a little creepy.'

<And cringe, looks like you have a stalker>

'I used to move around this area freely even before becoming a footballer so it's not really a big deal if someone knows that I live here, but still, sliding a message written on paper into someone's house isn't really what people should go around doing.' He said subconsciously as he made his way to the couch. 'I just hope this is a one-time thing.'

<Keep hoping>

It didn't take long for him to forget all about that after throwing the piece of paper away.

He went upstairs and took a shower and after that, he came downstairs to enjoy the rest of the afternoon on the couch.

He watched a couple of shows and when he got bored, he played a couple of games on the PlayStation.

He ended up falling asleep while still on his phone and slept till the evening.

He woke up to the sound of someone opening the door by 4:30 PM, and when he turned toward the door, he could see that it was Emma.

She was about to say something to him when her eyes suddenly caught a bunch of things lying on the floor.

She looked down to see that it was a bunch of envelopes.

"Letters?" She muttered before picking some of them up. "Hey, baby, Do you have any idea how these got here?"

As soon as Dave saw the envelopes, the memory of what happened when he walked in that afternoon suddenly came back to him.

'You have got to be kidding me.'

<I told you to keep hoping>