Chapter 445: Overcoming Failure
Chapter 445: Eve of the New Italian Serie A Season
After completing the team practice on Friday afternoon, Zachary washed up
before heading to the player resting lounge at the far end of the training
center. He intended to spend some time unwinding and conversing with his
teammates before attending Coach Allegri's pre-match tactical briefing
scheduled to start an hour later.
He traversed the already familiar hallways of Juventus' training center before
arriving at the door of the resting lounge. He pushed it open and immediately
stepped forward to enter the room occupied by four familiar players. Patrice
Evra was lounging on a couch at the far end of the room while Claudio
Marchisio, Giorgio Chiellini, and Simone Pepe were seated in front of the big
screen, watching a football match.
"Zachary, my man!" Patrice Evra, the Frenchman, was the first to call out to
him in French. "Don't just stand there. Come over and sit beside me." He patted
"Okay," Zachary readily agreed. He first said hi to the other three in the room
before taking a few steps and settling on a couch near Evra's.
Evra gave him a once over before saying, "You were brilliant in today's tactical
training session and even dribbled past Chiellini with expert ease on several
occasions! What were you on, my man? Care to share?"
Zachary chuckled. "If you wish to know what I ate for breakfast or lunch, I'll
humor you. I had milk, bread, cereal, and fruits in the morning. As for lunch,
you don't need to ask since we ate the same food at the canteen."
"You're such a bore," Evra said, grinning and shaking his head. A few seconds
passed, and he seemed to remember something. He glanced at Zachary again
and said, "By the way, did you hear the news of Pogba leaving Juventus?"
“He left?" Zachary's eyes widened. "I thought he was absent from training due
to the knock he received the other day!"
"Your information is outdated," Evra said with an audible sigh. "A couple of
United for a reported approximate fee of 83 million Euros. Man! He's even
more expensive than you. What the hell are the guys in Manchester thinking?"
Zachary almost couldn't believe his ears when he heard the news. Two days
ago, Pogba had excused himself from Juventus' training sessions by claiming
that he had received a knock on his thigh muscle. But Zachary was now hearing
that he was leaving the club. It was a shocking piece of news.
But there was also something else that intrigued Zachary. During his previous
life, Manchester United had only managed to re-sign Pogba in the 2016
summer transfer window. But during his second life, there was a slight change.
The French midfielder had completed the move out of Juventus two years in
advance, meaning that his future at Manchester might take a different
trajectory from that in Zachary's previous life. The Frenchman could just
escape his fate and do wonders at the club since he was going to be under the
management of Louis van Gaal — a coach with a knack for shaping young and
talented midfielders.
“Where's Pogba now?" Zachary asked Evra. "Is he still in Turin?"
"Nah," Evra said, shaking his head. "He is already on his way to undergo a
medical in Manchester."
“He's fast!" Zachary was shocked again.
"He has to be as the transfer window closes i
three days," Evra remarked and
closed his eyes to rest.
Zachary smiled and adjusted his body to lay supine on the couch. In only a few
minutes, he regulated his breathing and pushed the thoughts about Pogba's
move to the back of his mind. Then, he closed his eyes and started
contemplating his status at Juventus.
Over the past six days, he had relied on his peak match fitness to work hard
and impress the coaches during training. He had followed all their instructions
to the letter while also trying to stand out from his teammates. As a result, he
was confident that he had done his best to at least make it to the squad for the
starting line-up or remain on the bench was still a mystery to him. He could
only wait for Coach Allegri's tactical meeting before knowing the final verdict.
Various thoughts continued going through Zachary's mind until he dozed off a
few minutes later. He sank into a deep slumber and only managed to wake up
after Patrice Evra tapped his shoulder and reminded him about the pre-match
tactical meeting.
When he checked the time on his phone and realized that only a few minutes
remained until four o'clock, he reacted with all the haste he could muster. He
got up with a start from the couch and hurriedly made his way out of the
resting lounge. He entered a washroom a few minutes later and splashed water
on his face. Then, without losing a second, he dried himself with the available
paper towels before rushing out into the hallways and heading to the tactics
room.
He arrived a few minutes later and realized that most of his teammates had
already taken .theicseats A few of. them. were even liddled together. baldine
Zachary tried his best to calm his racing heart and settled on a seat at the back
of the room. Of course, he was a bit nervous since he was about to attend the
tactical meeting to kick-start the new Serie A season with Juventus. He was
also tense since he couldn't be sure that he would make Coach Allegri starting
eleven Cen)
“Posso avere la tua attenzione, per favore?" Coach Allegri said when he took
center stage a minute later. He started delivering his speech and spent the next
thirty minutes explaining tactics in Italian to his players. He was intense as he
paced the entire room while spewing out words that sounded alien to Zachary's
ears,
The coach was obviously doing his best to explain the game strategy to his
players. However, Zachary couldn't understand what he was saying since he
had yet to learn the Italian language. Zachary would have to wait for Coach
Trombetta to translate the content for him at the end of the session.
briefing. Zachary was almost dozing off on several occasions since he found
the entire session boring. He only prevented his mind from descending into
slumberland by focusing all his willpower.
More minutes that seemed like weeks to Zachary passed, and finally, the coach
ended his speech and got to the exciting part of the pre-match briefing. It was
finally time for the coach to announce the squad for the following day's game
against Chievo Verona. As a result, a numbing silence descended upon the
entire room as the players waited for the next part of the coach's presentation
with bated breaths.
Coach Allegri took a few seconds to observe all the players in the tactics room.
He could tell that some of his new signings, like Zachary Bemba, Patrice Evra,
Alvaro Morata, and Kingsley Coman, couldn't understand what he was saying
due to their zero knowledge of Italian. But even then, he wasn't about to
prolong the tactical meeting by having someone else translate his words for
for them after the meeting had ended. That way, he would remain efficient and
avoid wasting the precious time of his other players.
"Let's begin with the starting eleven," he said as the big screen behind him lit
up and displayed the names of the players who had made his squad. "Gianluigi
Buffon will be in goal. Then, we'll use three defenders, namely: Martin Céceres,
Leonardo Bonucci, and Angelo Ogbonna, to complete our back-three defense."
"Further up the pitch, Claudio Marchisio, Andre Pirlo, and Arturo Vidal will
play as our central midfielders. Then, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Kwadwo
Asamoah will play on the flanks to complete our midfield of five. And finally,
Carlos Tévez and Kingsley Coman will be the men to lead our attack on the
striking line of our 3-5-2 formation. That's it for the starting eleven. Any
questions?" The coach glanced around.
In response, all the players around the room remained silent.
"Okay, okay," Coach Allegri said after a few seconds. "Let's move on. On the
bench, we have Rubinho, Marco Storari, Luca Marrone, Patrice Evra, Federico
Mattiello, Rémulo, Simone Padoin, Roberto Pereyra, Zachary Bemba, Simone
Pepe, Sebastian Giovinco, and Fernando Llorente. And that's all concerning our
match squad. Any questions?"
Once again, the players remained silent. They obviously had no questions for
the coach.
Coach Allegri smiled and nodded. "Since there are no questions, let's conclude
the tactical meeting here. The match against Chievo is at 6:00 PM tomorrow,
and we'll be playing at an away ground. You all need to head back to your
homes and have some ample rest tonight. That way, you will be sharp and at
the top of your game during the match tomorrow. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes, coach," the players replied.