The System Turned Football's Worst Prospect Into a Monster.

Chapter 107: Volume 2, Chapter 107: A Complete Squad

Inside the away changing room at the Estádio Municipal de Portimão, the air was warm, smelling of deep-heat liniment and damp kit.

Rui Amorim stood in the centre of the room, holding his dry-wipe marker while the eleven starters sat on the low wooden benches, sipping electrolyte drinks. Rayan and Duarte stood near the back wall beside André Falcão, keeping clear of the active circle.

"Talk to me," Rui said, pointing the marker at Inásio. "What are you seeing on the left side?"

"When I take my first touch forward, their right winger isn’t jumping," Inásio said, wiping sweat from his forehead. "He’s standing five yards off, blocking the line to Santos. He wants me to play inside to Morino so their central pivot can trap him."

Rui turned to Morino. "And when the ball comes to you?"

"Zubimendi steps late," Morino replied in steady, measured Portuguese. "He stays two yards behind me until the ball is in flight, then jumps on my back touch. If I turn blind, I turn straight into him."

Rui nodded, looking at Santos. "Santos, your starting position?"

"Too deep," Santos admitted. "Because I’m dropping to help Inásio, their full-back doesn’t have to choose between us. He stays tucked inside."

Rui capped the marker with a sharp snap. "Three adjustments for the second half," he said, his voice flat and precise. "Inásio, you do not pass sideways. You carry the ball forward until their winger is forced to take a step toward you. The moment his hips turn, release. Morino, do not drop to receive facing our goal. Stay on Zubimendi’s blind side, two yards higher, and take the first touch across his line. Santos, push their full-back ten yards deeper. Start on his shoulder. When we switch, we switch on the second pass, not the third."

Rui turned to his assistant coach on the touchline staff. "Prepare Essugo and Geni Catano on the bench. We will use fresh legs in the middle third when their lines open up. Let’s go."

The players stood, tapped each other’s shin pads, and filed back out into the tunnel.

From their seats in the observation box, Rayan and Duarte watched the second half unfold under the floodlights. On the television monitors above them, the Portuguese commentary team picked up the match feed.

"...Sporting return for the second half holding a 1–0 lead over Real Sociedad," the lead analyst noted. "Rui Amorim making no personnel changes at the break, but it will be interesting to see if Sporting can establish more control in the central third..."

The impact of Rui’s instructions was visible within seven minutes of the restart.

In the fifty-second minute, Inásio collected the ball from Adal and drove straight into the space left by Real Sociedad’s mid-block. Instead of releasing an early, safe pass, Inásio carried the ball fifteen yards down the left channel. Real Sociedad’s right winger held his ground as long as he could, but as Inásio crossed the forty-yard mark, the defender was forced to step out to engage him.

The moment the winger’s hips turned, Inásio clipped a firm pass into the seam behind him.

Morino, positioned higher on Zubimendi’s blind side, stepped across the midfielder’s line to shield the ball, letting the pass run across his body. Without stopping, Morino laid a cushioned layoff into the path of Markus Edwins, who stroked a sweeping switch across the pitch.

Santos, who had pinned the opposition full-back ten yards deeper, met the falling ball in stride on the right edge of the penalty box. He cut a low pass across the six-yard box, where Paulino Vieira sprinted ahead of his marker to turn a first-time finish into the bottom corner.

Sporting 2, Real Sociedad 0.

Real Sociedad responded by making a triple substitution, shifting into a high-pressing 4-3-3. For the next fifteen minutes, they pinned Sporting into their own penalty area. Crosses rained into the box, testing Sporting’s organization.

"Clear!" Diamande roared, rising high above two attackers to head a dangerous cross away from the six-yard box.

"Second ball! Reiz, drop!" Inásio shouted, tracking a runner into the channel to block a follow-up shot.

In the seventy-second minute, Rui made his planned changes, sending on Essugo and Geni Catano to replace Morino and Paulino Vieira. The fresh tactical substitutes refreshed the running power in midfield and preserved the defensive shape against Real Sociedad’s second-ball pressure.

The match entered its final phase with Real Sociedad throwing men forward in desperation, leaving vast spaces behind their defensive line.

In the eighty-sixth minute, Sporting sealed the victory through a rapid transition. Essugo intercepted a forced central pass on the edge of Sporting’s penalty box and immediately released Trincano into space. Trincano drove forty yards down the centre of the pitch before slipping a slide-rule pass to Markus Edwins, who took one touch to clear his boots and curled a fine effort off the far post and in.

The final whistle blew shortly after. Sporting 3, Real Sociedad 0.

"...A thoroughly convincing 3–0 victory for Sporting to close out their evening fixture in the Algarve," the commentator announced as the players exchanged handshakes on the pitch. "Two wins from two matches today for Rui Amorim’s squad, demonstrating impressive depth across both units..."

In the dressing room after the match, the atmosphere was satisfied and quiet. The players stripped off their boots, grabbed protein shakes, and settled into their recovery routines.

Rayan walked into the room, acknowledging the evening starters with a brief nod and a quiet word of praise to Santos and Inásio for controlling the second half. Once the initial post-match chatter settled, Rayan walked over to Inásio’s stall holding his tracking sheet.

"Good win," Rayan said, leaning against the wooden frame. "On the second goal. When you carried past their forty-yard line, did you wait for the winger to plant his back foot before you released to Morino?"

Inásio looked up, pulling a sock off his ankle, and nodded. "If I pass while his weight is balanced, he can track back onto Morino. I had to make him commit his body weight forward first."

Rayan nodded, absorbing the detail. Beside them, Duarte was speaking with Falcão, pointing at a freeze-frame on his tablet showing Real Sociedad’s rest defence during transitions.

A few minutes later, André Falcão walked over to Rayan and took his tracking sheet, comparing Rayan’s handwritten notes on Zubimendi’s triggers against the live match video logged on his laptop.

"Good detail on Zubimendi’s late steps," Falcão said, giving the sheet a quick check mark. "You caught the trigger in the twelfth minute."

Rui Amorim walked past, catching the exchange. He glanced at Rayan’s sheet, then looked Rayan in the eye.

"Good work in the stands," Rui said, his tone casual and unhurried. "Now put the clipboard away."

Rui gathered the attention of the entire dressing room, clapping his hands twice.

"Listen up," Rui announced. "The Algarve camp is officially wrapped. Tomorrow morning we take the team coach back to Lisbon. Recovery and tactical review on Wednesday, then back onto the pitch on Thursday morning at the Academy. Selection for the upcoming friendly against Villarreal in Lisbon will be made at the end of the week."

Rui let his gaze sweep across the room, lingering for a fraction of a second on the morning starters before moving on.

"Nobody’s spot is guaranteed because of what they did down here," Rui added flatly. "Portimonense is done. Sociedad is done. Get your recovery done."

Rayan stood quietly by the wall, his phone silent in his pocket. The two goals and two assists against Portimonense remained his complete output for the Algarve camp, keeping his pre-season tally at three goals and three assists across two appearances. Starting in the morning had been a massive step forward, but as he watched the senior squad pack their bags for the coach ride home, he knew the real fight for a permanent place in Lisbon was only just beginning.

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