Open Play: Ladies, Goals, The Everything System in-between

Chapter 65: [65] "Seven"

The second half began with Lyon B’s shape in ruins.

Picot had changed systems at halftime... again. Abandoning the tiki-taka entirely and shifting into a reactive 5-3-2. Five defenders. Three hard-working midfielders. Two forwards who were now being asked to run into space instead of linking up play.

It was a white flag dressed as a tactical change.

Bastien came on for Hugo at halftime. Henri’s rotation choice, not influenced by a medical suggestion. Hugo’s ankle had held beautifully, but there were two league matches remaining and Henri was not risking it on a cup tie that was already won.

Hugo sat in the technical area with his training jacket over his shoulders and his eyes on the pitch.

Cillian came on for Mateo at halftime for the same reason. The captain had led the first half from his midfield anchor position with the authority of a man playing his last weeks in these colors. He sat next to Hugo and immediately started explaining something to him in Spanish, knowing he might not understand, because that was the kind of thing Mateo did.

---

Minute forty-eight.

Lyon B’s new 5-3-2 wasn’t built for the kind of immediate, aggressive transition that SC Valois had deployed all evening. Five defenders created numerical security but it also meant their three midfielders had to cover more upfield ground than three men could cover.

Bastien identified it within the first three minutes of the second half and pointed at the gap between Lyon B’s left defensive midfielder and their left center-back.

Luc played the ball wide right to Aubert on the next SC Valois possession. Aubert drove forward, forcing Lyon B’s left wing-back to close, which dragged Lyon B’s left center-back a yard across to cover the overlap.

The gap appeared on the other side.

Bastien arrived into it.

From Aubert to Cillian. Cillian found Bastien with a driven diagonal pass from forty yards, the kind of ball Cillian hit better than any other player in the squad because it required no subtlety, just power and timing.

Bastien took one touch inside his right foot and played it square to Luc, who had arrived in the pocket behind Lyon B’s midfield line.

Luc hit it first time. His right foot this time. Low through the legs of the retreating center-back.

The keeper was wrong-footed by the deflection.

4-0.

---

Minute fifty-seven.

Lacombe came on for Idriss.

The Ivorian walked off with his chest rising from the two goals he had scored in the first half. He wasn’t celebrating. Idriss didn’t celebrate cup goals against Ligue Beta opposition. He sat on the bench, pulled a towel over his shoulders, and watched on.

Lacombe took his position, his first competitive minutes in weeks, from his movement he still carryied the rhythm of a player who hadn’t fully switched off despite his time on the bench.

Within four minutes of his arrival, he received a ball from Cillian in space, turned his marker with a sharp inside roll, and drove a low cross across the face of goal.

Bastien arrived at the back post.

His finish was simple, side-footed without hesitation.

5-0.

Bastien ran toward the away end with both arms out, a young footballer who was finally running toward goals instead of away from them. The away end booed him heavily but he didn’t care.

Luc caught up to him and grabbed the back of his shirt.

"Keep improving like this and people will have a problem," Luc said.

"What problem?"

"They’ll start expecting it from you."

Bastien grinned. "That wouldn’t be so bad."

---

Minute sixty-six.

Cillian won the ball in midfield with a tackle, the sound audible above the crowd, a genuine contest between boot and ball with no malice.

He played it immediately to Lacombe, who was already moving.

Lacombe drove at Lyon B’s left center-back, waited for the commitment, then played a one-two with Bastien off the edge of the box.

The return pass split the center-back and the covering wing-back.

Lacombe arrived into the penalty area at full stride, no marker, the keeper coming off his line.

He didn’t chip it.

The difference between him and Idriss in recent weeks. He put his boot through it instead, it was fast and went high over the keeper’s outstretched glove.

It just crept under the underside of the crossbar for a goal.

6-0.

The stadium rose for the first time that night for someone other than Luc. A full standing ovation for a substitute who had needed nine minutes to remind the squad what they had been missing.

Lacombe ran over the advertisement board and hugged a few of the home fans. It was obvious what the goal meant to him.

---

Luc received the ball at the top of the 18-yard box in the sixty-ninth minute, with a Lyon B midfielder arriving by his side.

[System Notification]

[Predatory Aura — 1 use remaining]

"No."

He didn’t need it. Not here. Not against a team that had already stopped competing.

He killed the ball’s motion with the outside of his left foot, dragged it across the face of the arriving midfielder, and found a yard of space inside the penalty area.

He whacked the ball to the near post.

The keeper got both hands on it but the power drove him backward over the line.

7-0.

Hat-trick!!

Three goals for the evening. Three goals in a cup tie that would not count toward the wager.

---

The final twenty minutes were conservative for both sides.

Henri rotated. Edouard came on for Aubert. Demirci dropped into a deeper role. Lyon B’s players stopped pressing with any urgency and were only just completing the ninety minutes cause they were be paid to.

Their captain won a header near the end and punted a ball long, into nobody, and the stadium applauded even that because twenty-six thousand people had long since surrendered to the result too.

Piii Piii Piiii.

7-0.

---

In the locker room, Lacombe sat in the middle of it all with a goal.

Bastien sat beside him with one goal, his kit still on, not yet ready to come back to earth.

Hugo, from his corner, put one hand up. "Lacombe. That was a good goal."

Lacombe raised his chin at him.

"The same shot you told me never works under pressure. Your time on the bench helped you refine it, eh?"

The room laughed.

Lacombe threw a towel at him.

Luc checked his phone.

"You and Juliette are quite serious, aren’t you." Mateo grinned.

"Ha ha." Luc said deadpanly.

Two messages.

Valérie:

Seven! Love you

Loved IT I meant to say. The goals.

I’ll pretend I didn’t already know this was going to happen though. I did ask for it — V

"She could’ve just edited the message." Luc thought. "She must have wanted me to see it."

And Rose:

7-0???? That’s my guy!

I told Zara and she said "Ligue Beta side" She’s useless.

[System Notification]

[Objective complete: Scored twice]

[Reward: +4 General Points, +4 Skill Points]

[Balance: 12 General Points | 10 Skill Points | Predatory Aura ×1]

[Cup goals not added to Open Play Wager Tally]

[Wager Tally remains: Beaumont 11 | Fontaine 14]

[MD16 incoming: AS Montclair. At home again. They are not Lyon B.]