The Cleated knight

The Cleated knight First half : chapter 1 (origins )

Hii , look don't blame me  I never wanted to be an footballer . I was good with my own life . I took neither life nor football seriously , until one incident changed my perspective towards both of these things forever. My name's Vincent Van de Graaff and
That's my journey from A Good For Nothing Wayward to an Era defining Football player !

This all started on the same lousy evening of Bradford . The sun was about to reach its wane and all those birds were chirping back home to their chicks . The evening breeze was at it's full force blowing all those dry and rusty leaves from the trees and arranging them on dusty roads , only to get crushed by the people walking on them .

And me ? I was as usual playing football in the skateboard park
Nearby. The park is always inhabited by skateboarders of the "Bradford Cult" . These guys are as weird as their name  implies . Therefore the security closes the park for them after 5 pm in Eve . Since then we all homies goof around the park , playing football sometimes or just chilling around like any British teen.

Today none of the regular guys were present on time in the park ,
Lloris and Co were busy in their school project and rest of them were too lethargic to play . So I had to team up with a bunch of nerds (oh I hate them ! ) . Against some Nigerian immigrants who  as usual weren't given a place by the Londoners while the government was too busy to look into their affairs .

My team was made up of 4 players (including me ) . 1.Johnathan slyvesta  the physics Geek , as the Goalkeeper
2. Vivek mandali the maths wiz as the Right Central midfielder (because he played decent football and was very calculative about his moves )
3. Andre Silva , as the Left Central midfielder ( This jackass jumped off the window of his room and joined us just to evade his grounding punishment )
4. Your friendly neighborhood Wayward ; Me as the Central midfielder

And on our opposition we had these Sturdy , athletic Nigerian immigrants who were Hungry to play ( or to kill maybe ) . The game started with us choosing the start and them taking side . Our start was pretty decent . With neat touches on the ball except Andre Silva slipping over the ball .

Then all out of the sudden these opposition players started to control the pace of the game , all of them were passing quick and with pin point precision . Round by round they continued to shower our goalpost with shots , passes and step  overs on the wings . Slyvesta was doing well stopping all those shots
He even stopped one shot by his face

After a game of 20 minutes , Slyvesta passed me the ball and I decided to take the matter in my own hands ( or feets maybe ) . As long as I took possession of the ball , the opponent Red shirt Nigerian pounced on me as I was his animal of prey , I flicked the ball over his head and watched him getting destroyed of embarrassment . Then I moved further and another guy came to steal the possession from me . I looked at his left and fake passed to divert his attention . Then suddenly I fiented towards right , This guy slipped and fell on his knees . Then I saw the Goalkeeper of the opposition had  moved a little bit farther from his Goal .

That's my chance ! I felt it . Andre was approaching fast towards the second poll screaming " Hey there Runt ! Pass me " I ignored him and scooped the ball a lil further and took my chance
I released the Ball with full power . " He won't stop it , or he can't stop it " I said reassuring myself beaming with confidence .

The ball approaches with full speed and force towards the keeper . Keeper moved a little and applied force on his left leg and jumped .
To my suprise he touches the ball with tip of his fingers and he blocked the shot .

I looked at myself . Flabbergasted . Andre gave me nasty look
" You really thought you could score . Give me a break Vince "
"Sorry , my bad " I babbled
" Cool down guys let's focus on the game " Vivek calmed us down with his cool demeanour

Now the opposition had the possession . They started slow
But halfway through they put their foot on the pedestal , Quick and short  passes were released by them . Keeping up with them was a tough task . It felt like Morphing of Tiki taka and long passing , Suddenly both me and Vivek lost the track of their Game  And one their players , the long haired one released the shot . And this time for my suprise slyvesta couldn't bear his another blow , He tried but ball passed through his hands and entered  the Goal post.
A missed chance and a Goal conceded 
Addition to our misery !

" Mind playing as a Team , Van de Graaff?  " Silva blurted
"Okay , I'm sorry " I apologized in rather annoying way . Now it was time for some serious business.
I came to vivek and whispered something in his ears , his face glowed as he heard  my plan
"Convey this to Silva will you ? " "on it ! Senpai " . After hearing my plan Silva remarked " you know this is really a stupid idea  , but let's do it !"
Seeing our small get together slyvesta who still was recovering from the last blow yelled
" Hey ya low level nerds , include me too "
" Pass it to Silva , and watch the fun " I replied , "Okay " he remarked plainly . As soon as Silva recieved the ball , he started storming along the Left wing . 2 Guys started pressing him , to this response Silva slipped the ball between the legs of opposition . And to this response I came forward and took the possession  of the ball , I started slow and scooped the ball again forward over the third player ; that Long haired Guy. I stormed over the Right wing and I saw all three of the opposite players pressing me . The red shirted one tackled me twice , somehow I managed to break through his strings of tackles . When I reached the Right corner of the ground , all 3 of them surrounding me , I took a loose shot and sent the ball rolling towards the opposite Goal post .

The ball went and opposition keeper cleared with Ease.  Seeing this scenario he  smirked and said " You really are a persistent rat arentcha?
Tried to score but of no use against us  Nigga !" .  I smirked and said " you always look at the half painted canvass , don't you ?
Didn't you see the whole thing , You three defend and attack together , Trying to cover each other's weakness , and your sync is commendable .
But one thing you didn't notice that is ;
You can't Attack or Defend at the same time . That's the chink in your Armour , look at your keeper Sir "
"Vivek  that's your Goal , give your best shot !"

Near to opposition Goal post . Vivek mandali the maths Wiz was facing the post with ball in his legs. Before any of those 3 players could reach to defend , Vivek fired the shot and thanks to his sheer accuracy . He scored the Goal ! What a way to score the equaliser .
All the players dispersed and me , vivek , Silva and slyvesta celebrated .

"Okay it's high time guys , I'll take your leave now ." I said by taking a look at my watch . Saying this I started walking near the exit of the gate ,
Suddenly I felt a rough hand on  my shoulder 
It was the Red haired Guy
"Wait homie "
"Sorry I'd loved to but my mom doesn't allow me to stay this late outside "
"Nope you'll wait . The game isn't decided yet "
"Brother you scored , we scored
It's tie leave me "
"There are only 2 outcomes in game  A win or a loss . Tie isn't allowed ."
"Okay so what ? We will continue it tomorrow evening . Let me go
Imbecile !"

"Wait, we'll play a small game to decide and then you may leave "
" okay just one Game " I replied .  "Yeah now that's it lanky bitch !" He was beaming with happiness .

I was freely standing on ground , waiting for him to disclose me the challenge and go all out to win that and go home. Although I casually agreed to play this last round to decide the game , I never ever thought in a million years that this would change my whole life and it's future perspectives .