manchester's star girl

Gabriela Rodriguez had been obsessed with soccer since before she could even walk. Growing up in a Brazilian household in the melting pot of Miami, the beautiful game was more than just a sport—it was a way of life, a religion, an endless debate with her father over tactics and formations.

While other kids idolized pop stars and fantasized about being actresses, Gabriela devoured every soccer match, study and biographical book she could get her hands on. She analyzed games with an intensity that most reserved for their favorite shows, frantically sketching out diagrams and notating substitutions in her well-worn notebooks. Every dinner was accompanied with sessions with her most-played video game, Football Manager. Observing soccer games of all ages at local parks was her favorite hobby. By the time she was 10, she could out-tactify most youth coaches.

Her favorite team was Lanchester United of the English Premier League. Gabriela loved their flair and attacking style of play. They were an iconic team for an extremely long period of time. But as the years went on and she entered high school, United became increasingly frustrating to watch. A series of managers consistently set them up with the wrong systems, negating their attacking quality with baffling defensive tactics. The latest season was especially horrible—something that Gabriela couldn't bear to watch.

One night, after a particularly maddening 2-0 loss to crosstown rivals City where United never even looked like scoring, Gabriela had finally had enough. She fired off an Instagram DM to star striker Embarcus Flashford, ripping into the manager's clueless tactics.

"Embarcus, I've been watching you and the lads and I have to say—your manager's tactics are all wrong! He has you set up in this defensive low block which completely negates your strengths. You should be playing a 4-3-3 with an attacking midfield rotating the angle of attack..."

She went on, attaching a fully fleshed-out game plan with tactical diagrams, heat maps, substitution matrices and more. It was more detailed and stats-based than anything the team's analysts could produce.

To her utter surprise, Embarcus replied just a couple days later. "Gabi—thank you so much for your message! We used your system against Barsenal over the weekend and it worked a treat. 3-0 win with me getting a brace. The lads are well on board...can you be our secret coach??"

And with that, the rollercoaster began. Next thing the 18-year-old Gabriela knew, she was in a renegade WhatsApp group set up by Embarcus with the entire Lanchester United squad, giving them instructions via voice memos and encrypted video calls. They were surreptitiously following her game plans and tactics while simply ignoring the oblivious, harebrained manager on the sidelines.

With Gabriela's strategies and the players' newfound freedom and confidence, United went on an absolute tear. They reeled off a 19-game win streak, blitzing even the strongest Premier League opposition with wave after wave of attacking brilliance. Her unique approaches completely blindsided opponent after opponent.

However, as her unorthodox arrangement was yielding incredible results, it also created problems internally. Some of the older, veteran players began questioning why they were taking orders from a teenage girl they'd never met. Their inherent misogyny seeped to the other players. A couple leaked their concerns to the media, doubting Gabriela's credentials and authority. The controversy caused divisions in the locker room and threatened their momentum. Gabriela had to work overtime to win back the trust of the doubters, arranging endless video meetings and team-building activities. Just when she thought she'd resolved it, a surprising 3-0 loss against the recently relegated club Buton Town brought all the criticism roaring back. When she lost, she was used as a scapegoat. It wasn't just a normal loss—it was amplified 10 times due to her young age and gender. She almost lost the position as their secret coach. She began to text Flashford— "I don't think I can do this anymore.." Suddenly, she got a notification from the most renowned soccer site. It was an article describing the mastermind of Gen Taag—the so-called "coach" of Lanchester United and how the team could be making a major comeback. A certain rage sparked within her. This was HER team! SHE was the one coaching it! She quickly switched tabs back to her text and cleared it. This was her team—and she was the coach. She couldn't let them down. She had to prove her tactical genius again to regain full control. But first—she had an anatomy test to study for...