Greatest Of All Legends - Chapter 55

Chapter 55: The Days That Rolled By… I
The day after the match against Gil Vicente was a rest day for the team but that did not stop Jason from going to the CTFD Portogaia training complex for individual because, to him, he hadn’t exactly done anything that required him to rest.

He also wanted to take any opportunity to better himself so he could join the team’s match day line-up even one second earlier.

It would not be too late to have rest days by then.

With such determined thoughts, he maintained his rigorous training schedule, but his schedule was bound to change a bit in the coming days as Sofia would soon be traveling back to Lisbon to continue her studies, which meant no more evening walks and all.

It was inevitable and there was nothing he could do about it, but thanks to technology, he would still be in contact so it didn’t really change much in their relationship and it would have even less of an effect on his training schedule so it was nothing to be worrying his head over.

With that, the days rolled by…

**30th January 2020**

Team training resumed and the focal point of the training was still the same training to improve the wingers’ individual brilliance just like before.

It could be seen how much more familiar the team had gotten with this style of play and the wingers displayed their long-dormant skills and sent goals flying into the back of the net throughout the session.

It seemed like it would not be long before they reaped the gains of this new style of play that could help the team diversify its attacks.

Jason could also feel himself slowly adjusting to the team’s tempo and it was gradually getting easier to deal with the first team’s defenders and he could not help but be glad to see that his individual training already seemed to be paying off.

Even then, he was not going to stop his efforts and would rather increase them now that he had seen how effective it was being.

**31st January 2020**

There was a slight change in the team’s squad rotation for the day’s training session as Jason was now starting for the second team’s internal scrimmage against the first team.

It could not be considered much progress, but it was progress all the same.

Jason was also glad to see it happen as it felt like his efforts were paying off and he was getting acknowledged for his improvements, but now more than ever he could not afford to slack off as he was finally moving up the food chain.

Thus he dug deep into himself and played with even more ferocity than ever, running at the defense like a psycho, yet smoothly weaving his way in and around them like an experienced Tai Chi master.

His efforts resulted in him finally scoring a goal against the first team and even managing to give two assists.

**1st February 2020**

Today was another match day for the team as they had an away game against Vitoria de Setubal so the players who were part of the team’s line-up for the match would be travelling to Setubal.

This did not affect Jason who still wasn’t in the team’s line-up and as usual, he arrived at the CTFD Portogaia training complex to do his own training, irrespective of whether the team had training or not.

He trained hard all day and by 6 pm when the match started, he was cleaned up and in the cafeteria with the training complex staff to watch the game.

Just as he had been expecting from the team’s improvement in the training set up by the head manager, the wingers were playing very dynamic football and did not give the opposing team a chance to breathe.

They suffocated them with their heavy attacking football and the fact that their attacks could come from all directions up the pitch and soon the Vitoria de Setubal team crumbled.

Luis Diaz found Telles just outside the penalty area in the 39th minute with a fine pass after getting rid of his marker and Telles wasted no time in testing the keeper with a powerful driven shot.

It was not the keeper’s lucky day and the ball flew past his outstretched arm and nestled itself in the back of the net opening up the game’s scoreline.

Just five minutes later, Jesus Corona ran at the defense with the support of his teammates and they swiftly and cleverly passed the ball around the defenders in perfect coordination until Jesus Corona found space between the defenders and ran behind them just in time to collide with a beautiful driven pass from Otavio.

He sent the ball past the goalkeeper’s outstretched hands, bringing the score to 2 – 0 just before the first half ended.

Just three minutes after the second half began, Jesus Corona found Tiquinho Soares in the penalty area with a low cross and Soares didn’t disappoint, quickly bringing the score to 3 – 0.

The match went on and on and just when everyone thought the game would end in 3 – 0, Luiz Diaz unleashed a daring run down the wings and escaped two defenders before curling the ball around the goalkeeper after one minute of additional time.

4 – 0

A few minutes later, the match was over and the Porto team had won by a landslide, but what was worth noticing was that they had finally solved the issue of dynamism among the wingers.

Two of the four goals that the Porto team had were scored by the wingers and they were involved in the remaining two goals as well.

The game ended on a very good note for the Porto team and their fans, but Jason’s day wasn’t over as he had just received the shock of his life that came in the form of an email.

He had just been told that his name had been added to the provisional squad for the Europa League and it would be an exaggeration to say that he was surprised.

Even flabbergasted wouldn’t quite cut it as this was beyond that.

He was a player who hadn’t even had his debut in the middle of the season and now he was being added to the team’s Europa League squad.

At this point, he was willing to believe that the team’s management had smoked some ‘Jamaican cush’ because how else would they make such a decision if their sense of judgment was intact?

After all, it didn’t make any sense no matter how he thought about it unless he chose to be hyper-optimistic and that was something that Jason was not so he calmed down to think about it and only after thinking for a while did he think that it kind of made some sense.

The team didn’t have any additional pure wingers and instead only had players who could play as wingers despite it not being their original position.

Adding him to the squad may help if the team had injury problems.

He could also feature against some of the weaker teams if his team managed to meet up with them even though he wasn’t really sure about the chances of that happening as they were already in the knockout stages.

Their first opponent for the round of 32 was Bayer Leverkusen, and they would be a tough nut to crack for sure.

In the end, it had only benefits for him and wasn’t a loss, so he wouldn’t kick a gift horse in the mouth.

It could also mean that the head manager had him in his plans and he should be able to make a debut soon, so Jason didn’t mind having more opportunities, rather he was grateful for them.