THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

"I heard that you were once Zachary Bemba's coach!" The president said abruptly after a few more seconds of silence. "Is that right?"

"No, I have never gotten the pleasure of coaching Zachary," Coach Damata replied right away, shaking his head. "I was simply the coach who organized his trials when he caught the eyes of the scouts from Norway. However, I have always maintained a cordial relationship with him, ever since he left for Norway. I also have a close relationship with his immediate family in Lubumbashi."

"Oh, that's very good, then," the association president said, smiling and letting out a breath. "Coach Damata! You know that I'm a man who doesn't like beating around the bush. So, I'll get straight to the reason why I sought you out today. I don't want to waste your time on needless chatter since the match is about to commence."

"Go ahead, Mr. President," Coach Damata said, nodding. "I'm all ears. I'll help in whatever way I can." He already had some guesses but decided to wait for the president to make his request.

"Well," the association president said, pausing momentarily and folding his arms across his chest. I have already watched several of Rosenborg's matches this season, and I'm really impressed by how rapidly Zachary Bemba is improving with every game he plays for the Norwegian giants. The boy really has what it takes to join the rankings of the best players on the planet if he continues developing at such a rate. So, we would like to invite him to join the senior national team, starting next year."

"However," the association president continued in a somber tone before Coach Damata could reply. "We're afraid that if we offer him an official call up, without showing any sincerity, he might ignore us and even opt to play for another country. Yet, this time around, we don't wish to end up losing another talented player to some other foreign country simply because we didn't show enough sincerity. Do you get my point, Coach Damata?"

"Yes, Mr. President," Coach Damata replied, nodding. "But why are you telling me all this?"

"Well," the association president said, glancing at Coach Damata squarely. "You're close to Zachary. So, we figured that you're the only coach in the association with the highest possibility of successfully inviting him to the national team."

Coach Damata couldn't help but crease his brows. "So, you want me to convince Zachary to commit to the DR Congo Leopards right away? Why not give him a direct invitation to the national team like the other players? The way I know Zachary, he'll most likely not refuse the invite."

"As I already said, we want to snuff out any possibility of him refusing our call," the president said with an audible sigh. "You can't blame us for taking such precautions. We've already lost a lot of talented players to other countries simply because we didn't take the time to have a heart-to-heart with them. This time around, we want to do everything right with Zachary. We really want to do our best to recruit him into the national team, especially before next year's AFCON qualifiers. And that's where we need you, Coach Damata. As a close acquaintance to Zachary, you have the best chance to carry out this mission successfully."

"Okay," Coach Damata said, nodding. "I'll inform him about the call-up to the national team during the Christmas break. But you guys really took your time inviting him to the national team. Let's hope that no other country has already made him an offer, especially with the way he has been playing over the previous few months."

"As long as he hasn't played an official FIFA game for any other country, then we can still bring him back home," the president said with a chuckle. "Just do your best to have a heart-to-heart with him and convince him to play for our national team."

"I'll see what I can do," Coach Damata said, nodding. "But, the match is about to start. So, let's hurry up to the activity room first. We can then continue our discussion there."

"Okay."

**** ****

The Rosenborg players returned to the dressing room after a short pre-match dynamic warm-up session in the middle of the field. They then quickly donned their match attire in preparation for the commencement of the match a few minutes later.

"Guys, can I have your attention for a few minutes before we head into the pitch for the match?" Coach Johansen said as he slowly stepped forward into the center of the dressing room. "Let's hurry up as we don't have much time to spare."

The players, including Zachary, quickly settled down on the seats around the dressing rooms before fixing their eyes on the coach. At that moment, they were all radiating fierce auras as if they were a group of experienced predators about to pounce on some helpless prey. Anyone could tell that their fighting spirit was slowly inflating and almost soaring into the skies as the start of the match drew closer with every passing minute.

Zachary, on his part, was akin to the true embodiment of the word confidence at that moment. He'd already upgraded his body control attribute to the S-grading and, as a plus, also achieved initial mastery in the Zinedine-Touch-Magic Juju after going through the system's mental conditioning a few days prior.

He was an utterly different version of his previous self from a few days ago due to his heightened abilities. So, he was rearing to go on to the pitch and test out his abilities on the opponents. He could hardly contain his excitement and anticipation at that moment.

"Only fifteen minutes are remaining to the start of the game," Coach Johansen said, sweeping his gaze across the dressing room. "So, I won't say much as we have been discussing the tactics for a few days already. I believe everyone knows their roles by now in our new 4-4-2 formation. Is that right, guys?"

"Yes, coach," the players replied enthusiastically.

"I'm glad that we're on the same page." Coach Johansen nodded. "This is a very crucial match, and we can't afford to slip since a lot is at stake. We can't afford to falter at this stage. We've got to do everything in our power to win and grab the three points from our opponents today so that we can keep our Europa League dream alive. Are we together, guys?"

"Yes, coach."

"Standard Liège has already obtained six points and is now second in our group," Coach Johansen continued in a somber tone after a moment. "They only require a draw against us today, and then they will qualify for the next stage while we'll be eliminated. Thus, if we wish to qualify for the knock-out stages, we have to ruthlessly crush Standard Liège and knock them out of the tournament. That's our only way forward. Are we together, guys?"

"Yes, coach."

Coach Johansen nodded and made a few more remarks to motivate the players before sending them to the pitch for the second last fixture of the 2013/14 Europa League group stages. He'd already instilled the tactics for the game into the players' minds. So, the rest was up to his field players.

**** ****