Chapter 129: A Misunderstanding

"We have two matches on the same day," Rana said and she didn't need to continue.

Everyone already got what she was meaning.

"Two matches on the opening day!!" Rick was shocked.

"How can we play two matches in a row?"

"They want to exhaust us?" Pat asked while everyone nodded.

"I think they are trying to make us lose two matches in a single day to be kicked out of the tournament," Lan expressed his thoughts.

"No," Rana said, "they want to make sure to expose the ace using the first game."

"Even if they didn't do that, our odds of winning are very slim," Jim said as this was something obvious.

"No they needed to do that, as the second team is the only weak team in our list of opponents," Rana said before adding, "or the weakest of the four teams we have at least."

Jim glanced at her and he started to get her meaning. "But we just started training," Rick complained.

"Who is our opponent?" Jim ignored Rick's remark as well as Rana who answered:

"The first team is a team who has been trying to enter the ace league for years and failed."

"And they decided to use us as a bridge to enter the league?" Deno said while being so mad.

"They are good," Rana said, "but not too powerful. They have many weak spots, and their biggest is their morale."

"What do you mean?" Jim asked.

"They have one common habit; if they started the game scoring the first goal they would end up victorious. But if they didn't they lose morale fast and crush over each other and lose the game."

"This… so we had to score first, right?" Kro said while everyone turned to glance at Jim who simply smiled.

"We need to do that but also we need not to let them score first in us," Rana said as she added, "so in the first formation we will use all the tankers to stop them when they get the ball, then switch to complete offensive formation when we get it."

"The hitters tactic then," Rick was the happiest at this moment while the others only gave him a stern glance without sharing any signs of joy.

"But this is gamble," Jim muttered, "let's discuss the game tactic later, now we need to train."

"No," Rana firmly objected, "we need to select the tactic first then train accordingly."

"She is the right boss," Rick said, "we need to decide on our tactics and train later. We don't have time for anything else."

Jim glanced around and finally nodded. "Alright, then we can't use this tactic," he said and his words made Rick surprised there for a moment.

"Why?" Rana calmly said.

"Because it's what our opponents would expect us to do," Jim simply said, "and I bet they are preparing something in return to deal with our offensive tactic."

"Like what?" Rick asked in a depressed tone, "the offensive tactic is the coolest thing ever in the game! No one can stop it."

"No it's a very open tactic full of holes," Rana calmly said, "but it's the most simple tactic we can learn in the next hours we got."

"No, we got another tactic," Jim said before winking.

"Why did you wink to me just now?" yet his natural move that he used without thinking got him a strong hit to his chest that sent him flying in the air. "Who do you think I am? Huh?" Rana shouted in rage while everyone around was stupefied.

"Coach…" Lim had to step in and stop her before seriously injuring their ace.

"What?" she yelled at him while everyone took a step away.

"It's a signal for hitting something deeper than he said," Lim miraculously stood his ground while explaining, "he didn't mean anything mean or rude by it."

"Lies," Rana harrumphed, "it's used between lovers… I saw a couple using it when I was heading here today."

"…" Lim couldn't answer that while others remained silent out of their shock.

"I really meant to hint at something with it," Jim stood up while feeling extreme pain all over his body right now. He checked and luckily only bruises were there and no serious injuries.

"What is genius?" Rana stood there and crossed her arms in front of her chest while glaring at him.

"The freestyle tactic," he said and his words made her face freeze for a moment before laughing a short one.

"Of course I knew that," she said and Jim and others only gave her a deep glance.

"Alright alright, let's train on this tactic then," she hurriedly said while moving to the side.

"Are you ok?" Rick asked and Jim rubbed his chest.

"Her kick was strong but my wings saved me in the last moment," Jim said before turning to glance at her, "we need not to stir her again, I never expected her to react to my wink like this."

"Don't stand there, come and start training!" she shouted and the team moved at once to resume training while everyone started to exercise control over their words with her.

She was really unpredictable.

"Keep moving… don't stop there… pass the ball… don't hold the ball too much…"

She kept shouting and releasing orders while everyone tried to keep up with her orders. During this Jim acted as the one holding the threads, giving them subtle orders and they tried to follow up.

But not all managed to keep up with his orders, especially when he was also giving some impossible orders sometimes.

"Jim, you need to slow down a little," even Rana noticed this, "your thoughts are much faster and more flexible than our team members here. They can't just fly from one side to another to execute your vision."

"I get it coach," Jim understood her meaning and started to train his mind as well.

His mind always had a path where he could follow to achieve victory. It was the same as what he got while fighting. So he always rushed to give orders so he would finish that path successfully.

However many times the teammates would be far away or not in the right place to help, and that created more disturbance and even losing the ball.

They kept training for hours. During which some got some bruises and superficial wounds but nothing severe luckily.

"Gather up," she suddenly stopped the training and stared at the team. "Now it's about time we get ready to move and face the first team. I've tested all of you and as before those I selected in the main team remain. Go and have half an hour of rest."

She then turned to Jim as she added, "you… come with me."

He moved without hesitation after her to a corner in the field while everyone just let their bodies fall on the ground and closed their eyes.

They were training straight forward for hours now and they needed and deserved some rest.

"What do you have with Pol?"

Her question was sudden and that made him glance weirdly at her. "If you mean that giant master then I have a lot with him," he simply said.

"Like enmity? Or friendship?"

"Friends? With him?" he couldn't help but laugh, "sorry coach, but he is someone I'll never befriend."

"That explains it then," she nodded before glancing at the other team members lying on the ground before adding, "he pushed a certain player from his clan to the team we are going to face."

"A tanker?" Jim asked.

"No a hitter," she corrected, "and this one is quite special."

"Strong?"

"Sneaky," she said, "he loved underhanded tactics and dirty plays. He was famous for being expelled a lot due to cruel play."

"Players can be expelled from the game?" Jim was surprised to hear that.

"Of course they can," she said like it was a well known fact, "first the referee would give a warning, then he would expel the player for half a game, full game, two games, or even the entire season."

"Wow," Jim was amazed when he heard that.

"That's why your talkative friend, Rick, always accuses the referees for their actions against his beloved team. They are just playing hard and dirty which led them to lose many of their best players over the years."

"Then…"

"Don't worry," Rana said as she realized what he was about to say, "It's hard to get expelled from the game. All you need to do is to prepare your team mentally for the next loss."

"We are going to lose?" Jim was more amazed by her words.

"The first game yeah," she casually said, "after all your performance isn't that bad, but it's not good enough to secure you a win."

"But we should aim for a win, right?"

"If you won then it would be better," she said before seriously adding, "but if you lost you need to make sure your team won't break apart from that loss. After all, it's not the only game on this day, and losing it won't make you lose your chances."

Jim understood her meaning and she nodded. "I'll depend on you there. In fact I would have preferred to keep that freestyle tactic of yours hidden in the first game and not use it before the second. But…" she turned to glance at the team, "I doubt your boys would survive that loss if they didn't do what they thought was their best out there."

He turned to his team and nodded, "We should throw everything we have in that game and hope we can win it."