124 League Tie-Sheet
Sunday, March 15th, 2022
The sun was shining brilliantly in the blue sky above. With new leaves starting to bud, the once naked trees which looked completely dull and lifeless was once again starting to gleam with vitality.
And with the temperature rising once again, spring, the season of rebirth and awakening had begun.
Panting heavily, Hiro and his teammates who had just finished their morning training were sweating profusely in the U-18 pitch while looking completely exhausted.
And despite the end of the training, no one had yet left the pitch. They all were waiting for some announcements from the manager.
"Is it about the premier league, senior Naoto?" Questioned Hiro feeling all curious about coach's order.
They all were ordered to stay at the pitch for a little longer by manager Makoto, since he had some announcements to make.
"I'm not sure. Since there's still about a month left for the beginning of the premier league. But it must be something related to the league." Naoto answered while taking off his goalkeeping gloves.
That year's tournament was going to start from 4th April onwards.
'Takamado Cup is only a month away. How time flew by. Just yesterday it felt like I was in U-15 team. Just yesterday it felt like I was helping Masao. But it's already been about six months since I joined the youth team.' Thought Hiro feeling nostalgic.
"May be the tie sheet is out." Tatsuki who was just beside them doing some light stretches joined in.
"That makes sense. Since there's only 20 days left for the beginning of the tournament. So it's probably about the tie-sheet." Naoto nodded his head.
Just as they were talking, manager Makoto accompanied by few other coaches made his way towards the squad. Those old coaches, all had stern expression on their faces.
Seeing the coaches, all the players present there at that moment, immediately shut their mouth and focused all their attention towards the coaches.
After reaching them, the coaches then paused at a certain distance away from them.
Manager Makoto then stepped forward with a sheet of paper in his hand.
"Ahum!!" Before making his announcement, he coughed a bit to clear his throat.
"In my hand I have the list of clubs which we'll be facing against in our group." Manager Makoto spoke while raising the sheet of paper above his head.
"See. I was indeed right." Tatsuki grinned.
"Obviously we'll paste the tie-sheet in the bulletin board. But before that I'll personally announce the name of clubs we'll be facing against. So everyone listen carefully." Makoto intoned in a serious way.
"Altogether there'll be 12 teams in our group, including us. And among those 11 teams, there are 5 high school teams. Yokohama F Marinos, Omiya Ardija, Aomori Yamada High School, FC Tokyo, Maebashi Ikuei HS, Yokohama FC, Ryutsu Keizai Kashiwa HS, Kashiwa Reysol, Ichiritsu Funabashi HS, JFA Academy Fukushima and Kiryu Daiichi HS. This are the names of the team which we'll be competing against." Makoto read out the names of the team from the tie sheet.
Since Kawasaki belonged to the eastern part of Japan, they were placed in Premier League East group.
"I don't even know some of the teams in that list." Hiro mumbled casually, without thinking after hearing the name of the teams which he'll be facing against.
"Well!! It's understandable, since it's your first time." Naoto mumbled meekly.
Since the coaches were still infront of them, Naoto couldn't speak aloud.
"That's all for the team in our group. But there's still something left to be discussed. We still haven't selected our starting players. So I think you all know what this means." Makoto continued.
Saying such, he completed his announcement. His last statement was very ambiguous.
And as Makoto finished making the announcement, the players present there started to clap their hands.
Although his last statement was quite ambiguous, Hiro could somewhat guess the meaning behind his statement.
'The spot's are vacant, so bust your ass off to clench the spot.' Thought Hiro after hearing the announcement made by manager Makoto.
Looking around him, he found the facial expression of his teammates quite different than what it used to look before. With a spark of fire burning in their eyes, they all looked very determined.
"He's really one cheeky bastard. By saying such, he had initiated a war among the players." Hiro murmured under his breath with a subtle smile on his face.
And just as manager Makoto was about to walk away, coach Kensuke began to gesture something. As if he was telling that he forgot something, he was reminding manager Makoto to check his pocket.
Hiro who's attention was completely focused on manager Makoto noticed something off.
'Did he forgot something?' Thought Hiro while looking infront.
Because of their excitement, other players completely ignored the thing happening infront of them. They all were thinking about giving their best.
Manager Makoto then suddenly turned around and walked towards the spot he was standing a moment ago.
The coach's actions greatly confused Hiro.
"Stop for a moment everyone." Makoto yelled.
Hearing Makoto's loud voice, the players immediately stopped clapping their hands.
"I thought that the announcement was over."
"Has coach forgot to mention something?"
Players began to guess and chatter among themselves.
"Silence!!" Makoto yelled once again.
Hearing his roar, the players immediately shut their mouth out of fear.
Makoto then spoke again, "The trial for new players will be happening today. So don't disturb the new players."
The announcement left almost everyone shocked. Their eyes wide open and mouth agape, they were shocked to hear such an important news. And what's more shocking was that coach Makoto had nearly forgotten about the most important news.
'What?? The trial's happening today? But why so late?' Thought Hiro with his eyes wide open after hearing the announcement.
"But don't worry about the trial. And just focus on giving your best. There might be few players joining or there's also a possibility that no would pass the trial this year. So saying this, I just want to remind all of you to focus on your own training. Remember the league is just 20 days away." Saying such manager Makoto finally ended his announcement for real.
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