Chapter 169: Volume 2, - 169: Six Before Lunch

Chapter 169: Volume 2, Chapter 169: Six Before Lunch

The bench in the changing room was hard beneath him, the smell of liniment and sweat hanging in the August air.

Nuno Marques didn’t wait for everyone to sit before tapping his marker against the magnetic board.

"Three-nil is a trap," he said. "You think the game’s done. You think you have time for three touches where one will do."

He looked straight at Rayan.

"Forty-fourth minute. Tiago makes a diagonal run. There’s a gap you could drive a bus through, and you try a flick against a defender who’s already set. Why?"

Rayan shifted on the bench. "I saw him, Coach. Thought I could beat Gustavo first."

"Gustavo Amaral was waiting for you. You had the pass. The ball moves faster than your feet. Stop performing for the crowd."

"Understood."

Rayan stared at his boots. A cleaner touch might have beaten the right-back. He kept that thought to himself.

"Cova will drop deeper," Nuno continued. "Salvador, protect the space behind us. Duarte, don’t stand next to their midfielders asking for the ball. Make them turn their heads. Bernardo, keep your width."

Duarte nodded and tugged his shirt straight. "And if they follow me?"

"Then someone else gets the space. That’s the point."

When the sides returned, Cova captain Sérgio Costa pulled his defensive line towards the penalty area. Gustavo stayed tucked beside centre-back Leonardo Nunes, while right midfielder Dinis Correia doubled up on Rayan whenever Sporting reached the left touchline.

The first fifteen minutes dragged. Sporting passed across the face of the line. Cova’s goalkeeper, Rodrigo Malheiro, shouted numbers and moved his defenders together.

André Belo, Cova’s left midfielder, escaped down the opposite flank when Diogo Loureiro stepped too high. His cross reached Hugo Nobre beyond Sporting’s far post, but Tomás Seabra got across to block the striker’s shot. Rayan heard Henrique Barros shouting for the line to move out before he could even turn to see where the rebound had gone.

"They’re not packing up," Salvador warned, waving Guilherme Azevedo closer to him. "Don’t leave me alone in here."

"I’m here," Guilherme answered, cutting off Miguel Viegas’s next run through midfield.

Duarte tried to turn between two midfielders and lost the ball to Rúben Valente. He spun after it, pressed from behind and forced a hurried clearance that Sporting centre-back Martim Sequeira collected near halfway.

"Again!" Duarte demanded.

On the next attack, he received sideways, drew Rúben towards him and slipped a pass behind the midfield line to Tiago. The striker shot early. Rodrigo pushed it around the post, then yelled at Sérgio to stay closer to the runners.

Rayan wanted a pass into space, but Gustavo refused to step out. When Dinis carried the ball forward on Cova’s next break, Rayan tracked him forty yards and jabbed it away near Sporting’s corner flag. The tackle left grass stuck to his calf. He scraped it away as Afonso took the throw, then accelerated back up the wing even though the pass went to Duarte instead.

"Better," Nuno called. "Now give us that run going the other way."

At fifty-eight minutes, Nuno sent on Sim?o Ferreira for Guilherme Azevedo in midfield. Sim?o’s first touch was a safe pass back to Salvador. His second earned him a shout from Tiago for waiting too long.

In the sixty-second minute, Salvador collected a loose clearance beyond the centre circle. Duarte checked towards him, pulling Rúben out of position, and returned the ball first time. Salvador moved it wide to Bernardo, whose marker had drifted inside.

Bernardo raced towards the byline and cut a low ball into the box. Tiago darted across the goalkeeper, taking Sérgio with him. Sim?o arrived behind them and struck first time into the roof of the net.

"That’s how you arrive!" Tiago shouted, grabbing him around the shoulders.

Sim?o almost lost his footing under the pile of teammates. Rayan reached them last, laughing as Sim?o insisted he’d meant to hit it that hard.

Four-nil.

Cova still fought for every clearance. Miguel Viegas, their number ten, chased a long pass and held off Afonso Pires long enough to win a throw deep in Sporting territory. From it, Fábio Soares hooked an effort towards goal. Henrique Barros caught it cleanly and called for everyone to push out.

Ten minutes after Sporting’s fourth, Salvador intercepted another clearance and exchanged a quick one-two with Duarte. Bernardo darted past Cova left-back Rafael Medeiros and received Salvador’s pass down the right.

"Tiago, front!" Duarte shouted.

Bernardo drove a low cross towards Tiago’s feet. Leonardo lunged across the striker and stuck out a boot. The ball ricocheted off his shin and spun past Rodrigo before he could change direction.

Leonardo crouched with his hands on his knees. Sérgio went over and pulled him upright.

Five-nil. An own goal, though Bernardo had done everything but put the ball over the line himself.

Rayan slapped Bernardo’s hand on the way back. "You can claim that one in the group chat."

"I’ve already drafted the message," Bernardo said.

Duarte snorted. "You’d claim a corner if it went in off the goalkeeper."

"Still counts," Bernardo replied.

In the eightieth minute, Rayan received near the left corner of the box. Gustavo was exhausted but held his position. Rayan stepped across the ball, trying to sell an inside burst. Gustavo didn’t move.

"Release it!" Nuno yelled.

Rayan checked, laid the ball back to Salvador and immediately ran behind Gustavo’s shoulder. Salvador clipped a measured return over the defensive line.

Rayan cushioned it with his chest. As Rodrigo charged out, he twisted and struck a low left-footed half-volley across the keeper into the far corner.

Six-nil.

He ran towards the corner with both arms wide. Duarte caught him first and clapped his shoulder.

"Better pass before the finish," Duarte said. "You nearly tried to beat him twice."

"And you nearly forgot to congratulate me."

"I’m saving it for when Nuno doesn’t have to shout at you first."

Tiago shoved between them, laughing. "Some of us are trying to get through ninety minutes without hearing you two."

The final ten minutes brought a tired tackle, a booking for Cova midfielder Fábio Soares and one last near-post header that Henrique held. Nuno replaced Tiago, who headed off to the bench demanding water, and asked the remaining forwards to keep their defensive distances. Rayan made one final run without receiving a pass; this time he turned and helped Diogo close down the throw-in.

When the referee finally whistled after ninety minutes and stoppage time, Rayan bent over, hands on knees, then straightened and looked at the scoreboard.

Sporting U17 6–0 CD Cova da Piedade.

[COMPETITIVE MATCH EVIDENCE RECORDED.]

[U17 NACIONAL JUNIORES B — ROUND 1.]

[OFFICIAL U17 LEDGER: 1 APPEARANCE, 2 GOALS, 1 ASSIST.]

By the tunnel, Rayan leaned towards assistant coach Rui Matias’s tablet.

"Checking your goals already?" Bernardo asked, tipping water over his hair.

"Two against Cova," Tiago said, catching him around the neck. "You’ll want a statue outside Alvalade next."

"Bigger than yours," Rayan replied.

Behind them, Duarte and Bernardo were arguing about the speaker playlist.

"You’re not putting that song on again," Duarte said.

"Scored a goal and suddenly you’re the DJ as well?" Bernardo replied.

Back in the changing room, boots clattered against tiles and someone turned the music up. Nuno passed Sim?o and tapped his shoulder. He spoke briefly to Salvador, then stopped at Rayan’s bench.

"Film review tomorrow. Normal time."

Rayan looked up. "Right."

"Tuesday, eight o’clock. Pitch Two. You’ll report to Pedro Coelo’s U19 group."

Rayan’s fingers stopped on his bag zipper. "The U19s?"

"Don’t be late," Nuno said, already moving on to talk to Bernardo.

Rayan pulled the zipper closed. Across the room, Duarte caught his eye and raised an eyebrow. Rayan grinned back before lifting the bag onto his shoulder.