Greatest Of All Legends - Chapter 35

Chapter 35: Porto Juniors vs Familicao U-19: A Disastrous Scoreline
The cheers of the crowd rose as Jason got past Hugo and he could hear the commentator’s voice increasing in tone, making it clear that the crowd and the commentator watching were impressed by his play, but he ignored that as another defender was still in his way.

Duarte Oliveira had just arrived before him and before he could even get in a position to block Jason’s path, Jason quickly slotted the ball between the player’s legs, nutmegging him, and ran behind him to get the ball, now having to face only the keeper as he approached the Familicao penalty area.

Tomas Pereira had watched Jason easily get past his team’s defenders and he didn’t want to be gotten past that easily as well so he charged at Jason who had just entered the penalty area.

Tomas tried to make himself look big in front of the net and make Jason unable to shoot the ball easily due to being uneasy, and just as he had hoped, Jason changed his direction to the left slightly as if he was trying to avoid and run behind him.

Tomas quickly followed, not letting Jason get past him and pushing Jason further away from the goal

Just when it seemed like Jason would push the ball out of play, Jason’s right leg suddenly went behind his left leg and chipped the ball over the keeper in a perfectly executed Rabona pass.

Tomas hadn’t been expecting Jason to make such an unexpected move and he had been too surprised to block the ball that flew over his head

His eyes followed the ball that flew behind him and he saw that the ball wasn’t going in the direction of the goal, but before he could feel relieved, he saw Mylo from the Porto Juniors team jumping to meet the ball with his head and sending it into the back of the net.

{GOAALLLLLL!!!!!!}

{HAT-TRICK!!!!!!} the commentator shouted along with the Porto fans as the ball flew into the back of the net in a satisfying end to a beautiful counter-attack.

{With that the score becomes 5 : 2 and what a goal it was!}

{A beautifully electrifying run from Jason and a beautiful pass over the goalkeeper to set up the striker for a hat-trick!}

{What a goal! What a goal!} The commentator’s excited voice as he recounted the goal served as an addition to the crowd’s excited cheers and the players’s jubilations on the pitch.

Even Antonio Frasco, the other youth team staff, as well as the substitutes were not left out as they could be seen celebrating with each other on the sidelines.

In the stands, Luis Pinto suddenly looked at Sergio Conceicao and said,

“If you let that kid stay in the youth team, I believe I’m speaking for myself and other Porto fans when I say that we will never forgive you,” his tone expressed how serious he was as he spoke, completely impressed by Jason.

Rafael agreed silently as he felt like it was a crime for Sergio to refuse to bring Jason into the senior team after this wonderful display.

While the youth league wasn’t as tough and as competitive as the senior league, for a player to be able to play at this level on his first game in the league proved his talent and readiness to step onto bigger grounds.

With this display as well as the fact that Jason was already eighteen years of age, Rafael already had the fear that if they didn’t move fast and other teams caught wind of Jason’s status, they wouldn’t waste any time in offering him a professional contract.

“…” Sergio Conceicao didn’t say a word, but internally was thinking the same thing as Rafael and already had plans of getting Jason to sign a professional contract before the January transfer season was over.

“Rafael, get him to get an agent to discuss the contract terms with the club, but let him keep his conditions realistic or else he can find another team,” Sergio finally said, not revealing his true internal feelings and making it sound like he just grudgingly accepted to offer him a contract.

“If he can sign for the team, it would be okay, but I can’t promise him constant playtime as there’s a lot of competition for places on the first team,” he continued with his eye on Rafael, his revealing his intention for Rafael to tell all that to Jason.

“Alright, I’ll tell him” Rafael answered back, a little smile appearing on his and Luis’s faces as they returned their attention to the match that was about to resume, with the players already returning to their halves.

Once again the match kicked off, but the body language of the Familicao players after the goal was not good and there was none of their previous unwavering spirits as they passed the ball around, but the Porto Juniors team didn’t care for their opponents’ mental condition and pressed heavily, their every movement seemingly carrying the intention to extend their lead even further.

Soon the floodgates were pulled open by the FC Porto Juniors team and by the 72nd minute, Jeremy found Goncalo Sousa in the Familicao’s penalty area with a sweeping pass and Goncalo didn’t waste any time in slotting the ball into the back of the net.

GOAL!!!!

6 : 2

Barely another five minutes later, Bernando Fereira found the back of the Familicao net from a corner that he had directed into the net with his head, bringing the score to 7 : 2.

In the 85th minute of the game, Jason found Goncalo with a grounded cross into the box after getting rid of his marker. Goncalo didn’t disappoint and rifled the ball into the back of the net, getting his hat-trick as well and bringing the score to 8 : 2.

Finally, in the 94th minute, a newly brought-on player, Francisco Silva found Jason with a well-placed pass down the right wing that Jason had trapped before cutting into the box, dribbling past three players and curving the ball behind Tomas Pereira with a left-footed shot.

When the referee had blown the whistle just over a minute later, the Porto fans were still jubilating happily on the goal that had put their junior team seven goals ahead and brought the score of the game to 9 : 2.

It was a disastrous scoreline and the players of the Familicao U19 team could hardly raise their heads at the few fans that had come to watch them play, while the Porto Juniors team that was on the favorable end of this scoreline joined the fans in cheering after the match was over.

The Porto Juniors team players waved happily and cheered with the team while singing along with the crowd’s chants.

Jason waved at the crowd a few times and was going to go down the tunnel immediately, but his teammates, especially Goncalo, Mylo, and Jeremy weren’t having it and dragged him back to the pitch to join them in celebrating with the fans and despite all his arguments while they dragged him to the field, he still joined them in celebrating with the fans, a happy smile on his face.