With 2:32 PM showing on the clock, Dave was ready for the press conference and was making his way down the staircase now.
He walked into the living room and looked around for a while before picking up his car keys from the table and making his way out of the house.
He was about to open the door to his car when his phone began to vibrate in his pocket.
He brought out his phone from his pocket to see his girlfriend's name displayed on the screen and for a few seconds there a smile appeared on his face before vanishing as he picked up the call and placed the phone against his ear.
"Hey." He said.
"Hey, how're you doing?" She asked.
"I'm okay, you?"
"I'm surviving so far." She replied. "Where are you now?"
"At home, about to start heading to the stadium."
"Okay, that's good."
"Is that the reason why you called?" Dave asked.
"Um…..no I just wanted to ask you how Mateo got injured." She said, "No, don't answer that question, I'm supposed to find that out at the press conference."
"Okay," Dave asked.
"Actually, I called to ask about what happened this morning." She said,
"What happened this morning?"
There was a little moment of silence between the two before she finally said something.
"Never mind." She said with a sigh before ending the call.
<Be careful what you wish for, Dave>
'I'm not wishing for anything.' Dave said before pulling the door open and entering his car.
It didn't take long before the engines roared after he closed the door and after driving out to the road, he zoomed off toward the stadium.
_______ ______
He arrived at the stadium with about fifteen minutes left before the conference started so he had enough time to exchange a few words with Norman before the two made their way to the main hall of the building for the press conference.
The desk had already been set up with microphones on top of the desk.
There were already four journalists in the area, three males and a female with the cameramen and just as the two sat down, the door was pushed open for Emma to enter the room and make it two female journalists in the room.
"Welcome, Mr. Norman and Dave Richards." One of the male journalists said.
"Yeah, let's just get this over with," Norman said.
"Okay, you will be facing Lesica United tomorrow, that is your last fixture of the season, Lesica United destroyed Razid FC six goals to zero last night with Okafor Michael scoring four goals, how do you plan on approaching the match with you?"
"Lesica United are a very strong team just like every other team we've faced and with the return of Okafor, they're now stronger but we'll approach the match the same way we've approached other tough matches this season and hope we can get a good result," Norman replied.
"And how do you plan on stopping Okafor, he was a real menace to your team the last time you faced Lesica United?" The female journalist in the room asked.
"You're right, he is a menace to my team but we're better now with Dave finally finding his form between the sticks, I think we can stop him this time," Norman said with a nod.
While Norman was answering other questions from the journalists, Emma turned his gaze to Dave who hasn't gotten any attention so far, and raised her hand a little to wave at him with a smile on her face.
There was no response from Dave as the goalkeeper just stared at her for a little while before slowly turning his gaze away from her.
'What is wrong with him?'
"Many people are saying that this is going to be like a final for your team given the fact that you have to win it as a draw or lose means that Lesica United will qualify for the UEFA conference league ahead of you, I want to know your thoughts, is qualifying for the conference really that much of a priority for you and your team?" One of the male journalists in the room asked.
"Why wouldn't it be a priority for us, this is the first time we're getting this close to qualifying for a European competition in a long time and we will fight with everything we have to make sure that we get to be part of that competition next season," Norman answered.
"Speaking of fighting with everything you have," Emma said, walking a little closer to the area. "There has been a rumor going around that Mateo Smith got injured in training today, can you please confirm if this is true or false?"
"It's true," Norman said with a sigh.
"How did it happen and what's the status of the injury?" She asked.
"He was brought down by Roger David during the training session, it was a muscle strain so he won't be available for our match tomorrow."
"Mateo Smith has been a keen part of your squad, the best player in the team in my opinion, how do you feel about taking on Lesica United without him?" One of the male journalists asked.
"Honestly, I've been thinking about it since it happened this morning and it's a bit scary but we have a squad with other talented players, I had to change a few things because Mateo won't be playing and hopefully with the changes um…they will be able to get the win, I have confidence in them."
"Okay, another key player in the team so far is Dave Richards who has been surprising everyone recently with his heroics. A lot of people have been talking about his current form. How did you unlock this form in him?"
"I know I'm his coach and I know a lot of you would think that I'm the reason why he's playing the way he's playing currently but that's not exactly the truth, as his coach, I didn't have that much confidence in him but I still tried to encourage him in the little ways that I could. I think the question about unlocking his form should be directed to him, his answer will be more accurate."
<At least he's an honest coach>
"Okay, Dave." The journalist said, turning his gaze to Dave. "What is your secret, how did you suddenly unlock this newfound form of yours?"
Dave stared at him for a while before letting out a sigh.
"Like coach said he played a part in helping me find my place, Mateo Smith has always been there for me, he's my best friend in the team but people can't just improve with encouragement, can they? Something made me realize that I needed to work on myself and pushed me to start working on myself to improve." Dave expressed. "But that's not just it, I would have maybe quit a long time ago if I didn't have the biggest motivation in my life after my mother, my girlfriend." He added before turning his gaze to Emma
Hearing him say that, her face melted into a warm smile and everything she had in her mind was beginning to disappear but she was still wary though.
'Why is he constantly switching?'
*****
Hope you enjoyed the chapter?
If we can hit 1000+ privilege unlocks before the end of this month, I'll do five chapters mass release on any day between the 20-25th of January.
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