Soccer System: All the Skills, One Player!

The clouds continued to hang ominously over the pitch, while the score was now 1-1. Lucas Tanaka was ecstatic. The goal had been a cry of affirmation, but he knew the job was not yet complete. Manchester United were no ordinary opponents; they would press harder and harder until the final whistle.

In the middle of the pitch, Jason Hawthorne stared at Lucas like a predator eyeing its prey. The gleam in the striker’s eyes was of one who was determined to return the blow.

"Is that what you’ve got?" Jason teased, with a smile in his corner. "Let’s see how long you last."

Lucas didn’t reply. Instead, he raised his chin and signaled to his teammates. He knew that, right now, words didn’t matter. It was the performance that would speak loudest.

The referee blew his whistle, and the game resumed with even greater intensity. Malik Adebayor, like a hurricane in midfield, sought to create chances for United. He got past Felix with a quick feint and played the ball to Angel Gomes, who controlled the ball with class and advanced towards the Brighton box.

"Close him down, Aidan!" shouted Lucas, gesturing to the left-back.

Aidan reacted quickly, blocking Gomes’ path and forcing him to stop the ball and retreat. The ball came back to Malik, who tried a long throw towards Jason. But Daniel Riber was alert. The defender rose high and headed the ball clear.

"That’s it! Let’s organize!" shouted Eddie from the sidelines, clapping his hands.

Raphael received the ball on the left wing and advanced. He took on Bernard in a fierce duel. With a dry cut inside, he left his marker behind and attempted a cross. The ball crossed the box, but went past all the players and off the end line.

"Thanks, Rapha! Don’t stop trying!" encouraged Lucas, raising his arm in a gesture of support.

As United’s goalkeeper prepared for the rebound, Miguel ran towards Lucas and spoke in a low tone:

"They’re getting nervous. We can use that to our advantage. I’ll try to distract them from the edge of the box and draw the line. That way, you can infiltrate more."

Lucas nodded. "They’re watching me." He pointed at Jason with his head, and Miguel saw Jason was about five meters away and looking at the two of them.

United pressed again, and Jason received a precise pass from Gomes. He dribbled past Luiz Fernando and, with a powerful shot, forced Anton into a spectacular save. The ball spilled to the side, where Loki was ready to clear the danger.

"Great save, Anton!" shouted Luiz, clapping his hands as he stepped back to help with the defensive organization.

With the ball back under control, Brighton put together a move. Felix received in the middle and, with a quick turn, passed to Javier. The midfielder looked ahead and saw Miguel breaking at speed down the right. He flicked the ball on with precision and Miguel took it to his chest, drawing applause from the small crowd in attendance.

Miguel cut into the middle and tried a shot, but the defense deflected the ball to Arthur, who was well positioned on the edge of the box. The center-forward turned quickly and shot low. The ball flew past the goalkeeper, but was intercepted on the line by a United defender.

It was a tough game. Both teams really wanted to win.

A few minutes later, Raphael won a corner for Brighton. Lucas went to take the corner and asked as many players as possible to go into the area, but without compromising the integrity of the defense.

At a time like this, the defenders, usually the tallest players in the team, had to go into the box and try their luck at a header. However, this was not Brighton’s custom. Daniel wasn’t quick to get back from the edge of the area and recompose the defense, and Luiz Fernando wasn’t very good at headers.

Lucas Tanaka latched onto the ball at the corner flag. He looked towards the area where the Brighton players were positioning themselves.

"This time it’s going to be different..." muttered Lucas and raised his eyes to Luiz Fernando, who was in the area for the first time.

The green-haired defender, tall and slender, was clearly nervous. Luiz’s forte had always been defensive agility, not finishing. But this was a rare occasion when he felt he needed to go into the box.

As he waited for the cross, Luiz Fernando couldn’t help but let his mind travel back in time. He was just an 8-year-old boy when his family left Brazil and moved to London.

The change wasn’t easy. English seemed like an indecipherable code, and the grey streets were a stark contrast to the warmth and color of the neighborhood where he had grown up in Brazil.

But there was one thing that always made him feel at home: soccer. Ever since he was little, Luiz loved soccer. He spent much of his childhood in the courts near his home in Brazil. Among the best players, he wasn’t one; he wasn’t even close, but he was a kid who had fun.

When they arrived in London, Luiz connected with new friends through the soccer ball. Because he came from Brazil, he was a promising striker, the kind of kid who made his friends exclaim "What a goal!" with his quick feints and kicks.

His father, a fervent Corinthians fan, watched soccer with his son and encouraged him to play. For this reason, his father signed him up for the local neighborhood team. In the beginning, Luiz, of course, was the star. His ability on the ball impressed the coaches and inspired his teammates. But as the years went by, the gap between him and the other boys narrowed. Other players grew, became faster, stronger, more technical, while Luiz seemed to stagnate.

Losing his first-team place was a hard blow. His father, always positive, said:

"Don’t give up, my son. Find your space."

Determined to keep playing and make his family proud, Luiz tried his hand at various positions - midfield, full-back, even goalkeeper - until one day the coach put him in as a defender in training.

"You understand strikers because you used to be one," explained the coach. And it was true. Luiz knew the feints, the moves that confused the defense. He didn’t have the strength of a classic defender like Daniel Riber, but his agility and ability to expect made him an effective defender.

Even so, the issue of finishing remained a weakness. Every player liked and needed to score goals. It was the basics of the sport. It was what guaranteed victory.

That’s why, over the last few weeks, Luiz had devoted himself tirelessly to training his headers. He knew he wasn’t the tallest or the strongest, but he could make up for it with technique and positioning. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Now, in the Manchester United penalty area, Luiz Fernando was ready to put his progress to the test. He observed the opposing defenders, all tall and well positioned, and felt his heart race.

Jason Hawthorne, United’s star striker, was on the edge of the box, waiting for a counter-attack.

"Relax, Luiz. Trust what you’ve trained," he whispered to himself.

He saw Lucas raise his arm, signaling that the cross was about to be made. Luiz took a deep breath and took two steps back, creating a space between himself and his marker.

The cross came in. The ball sliced through the air like an arrow, heading towards the penalty spot. Luiz calculated the timing of the jump, also watching the movements of the other players. Two United defenders went up, but Luiz was quicker. He propelled himself upward, reaching the ball with his forehead. The impact reverberated through his head. Luiz powered his header into the goalkeeper’s right-hand corner.

It was a strong, well-placed shot, but not perfect. The opposing goalkeeper stretched as far as he could, but still couldn’t reach it. The ball kissed the net.

"Goal! Luiz Fernando has scored!" said narrator Henry.

Eddie, on the side of the pitch, celebrated by waving his arms in excitement. "That’s it! That’s how it’s done!" he shouted, raising his arms.

Find your adventure at empire

As he ran aimlessly, Luiz looked up at the sky, the clouds still threatening, and remembered his father. He imagined the proud smile on his face and he couldn’t have been more right.

Over 200 miles away, in London, José Fernando was working on a construction site. He was a robust man, with hands calloused by hard work and an energy that never seemed to run out. Despite the exhausting routine, he always found time to follow the soccer news and, especially, the Brighton matches.

That day, he had taken his small cell phone to the construction site, carefully setting it up for him and his friends to watch while they worked.

When the narrator announced Luiz Fernando’s goal, José dropped the wooden beam he was carrying. His coworkers looked at him, alarmed, but before they could say anything, he started jumping up and down and shouting.

"My son scored! My son scored!" he repeated, his eyes shining with excitement.

Some celebrated, others laughed at José’s exaggerated reaction, while José ran from one side to the other, unable to contain his joy. He picked up his cell phone again, bringing it close to his eyes to watch the replay.