Once the sabbath day was over, they were all finally back in the hotel room for another meeting. They still didn’t go for a full training yet, as the morning session was used to discuss the next opponent. It was always important to manage the training time properly in a tournament with a tight schedule like this.
It was the morning of the new day, and everyone had been in the meeting room earlier than usual. Soon enough, Kageyama-sensei also entered the room with the staff. However, the boys could see his face so ashen that they thought someone had just burnt his house or something like that.
"Hey, hey, have you heard it?"
"What?"
"I heard Kageyama-sensei has been scolded mercilessly by someone from Nagoya Grampus and Gamba Osaka. They even threatened not to release any players to the national team again if he is still the team’s head coach."
"Damn! That bad? Can they do that, though?"
"Well, they can. The federation doesn’t pay for the players, but the club does. The national team will not be able to do anything if the club doesn’t allow the players to join."
"Fuck! That is bad!"
Whispers of gossip spread so quickly as they also noticed Kageyama-sensei’s expression. Little did they realize, though, that they said everything a little bit too loud, and the head coach could hear everything clearly.
His expression darkened further, enough to make those on the front side of the room flinch and avoid the man’s gaze. However, in the end, his silent wrath disappeared instantly, getting replaced by a sense of melancholy.
’Yeah, I am the one who is at fault; why would I scold my boys for speaking honestly like that?’ He shook his head slightly. Still, seeing that the chatter was getting louder, he coughed loudly, gaining everyone’s attention in a blink. "So, have you had enough gossiping about me?" The man asked flatly.
The boys yelped immediately, especially those who sat on the back side. They straightened their back like good soldiers, not daring to make any sound. Kageyama-sensei just snorted a little bit before brushing this off as nothing.
"As you guys know, we are going to face a big shot in the next round, the World Cup winner last year, France." The man started speaking immediately. "Even though this junior team has no Mbappe in it, they are still a dangerous team, scoring a lot of goals in this tournament.
Some people couldn’t help but laugh secretly when they imagined Mbappe wreaking havoc in this tournament.
Kylian Mbappe was France’s new superstar, becoming the country’s biggest star, especially in the last World Cup in Russia for his amazing performance. Not only that, but the striker was also the holder of the second-most expensive transfer record in history with a transfer fee of 180 million Euros, only behind the Brazilian superstar who was also his teammate at PSG, Neymar Jr.
Currently, that boy was still 19 years old, about to go to 20. He was still eligible to play in this U-20 tournament. However, letting Mbappe join the France team would be like a cheat code, with no one being able to fight back later.
So, it was good that his team didn’t let the star play in this tournament, giving anyone a chance to fight back against France.
"Once again, even without Mbappe, they are still a dangerous team to face. In fact, they are the most productive team in terms of scoring goals. So far, they have been putting the ball on the back of their opponents’ goal at least 12 times, four more than us. So, you can expect a dynamic frontline with every single one of them being a big threat in the next game."
Makino and Nagai couldn’t help but gulp when they heard this. If nothing went wrong, the next game would be their debut as the team’s main players in this tournament, and yet, they had to face this troublesome opponent from the beginning? This was definitely a hellish start for someone’s career in the national team.
"Based on our research, they basically have five dangerous players who we have to keep an eye on."
Everyone was tensed instantly, with one of the boys yelping unconsciously, "Five?!"
Yeah, this was definitely the biggest number that Kageyama-sensei had ever thrown. The man basically said that half of the opponent’s main players were dangerous, and considering the other half should be defensive players, that meant they could consider all eleven players from France would be difficult to handle.
Thinking about that, both Makino and Nagai went pale once again, starting to think of how to not be picked for the next game. After all, with such a dangerous opponent like this, there was a huge chance that they would only be humiliated later.
Unfortunately, they had no choice here. The team really didn’t have any healthy central defender other than them, so here they were, being thrown at the pack of wolves before they could even learn how to walk.
After this, Kageyama-sensei started explaining all five one by one, and the more the players listened, the more they felt like this was a mission impossible for them.
Three of the opponent’s attackers: Amine Gouiri, Nabil Alioui, and Moussa Diaby, were already a big headache to solve. Those three were dynamic, able to change their position so easily among those three, and each had a different playing style that could overwhelm the opponent’s defense.
However, somehow, they were not the biggest threat here. No, the biggest one came from France’s midfield line, where Michael Cuisance and Youssouf Fofana controlled the game. Those two were just the stronger version of Mamoru and Morita, being able to control everything so easily. Not just that, their offensive talent was also strong enough, as they had already bagged a few goals together in this tournament.
Honestly, it was as if they were the perfect team in this tournament, just getting ready to snatch the trophy from anyone else.
As everyone was in a depressed mood thinking about this, Kumiko suddenly stepped forward, raising her hand like a student. "Um... Can I say something here?"