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

Chapter 87: Volume 1, Chapter 87: Inside

Monday afternoon’s internal eleven-versus-eleven took place under a clear, warm sky. With five full U17 sessions completed, the match gave the coaching staff ninety minutes to test the group’s roles, decisions and tactical habits during preseason. The squad was divided into Green bibs and White bibs for a competitive match simulation.

Rayan lined up for the Green team, starting in his familiar inverted left-winger role. Opposite him, wearing White, was Bruno Sequeira at right-back. Leandro Freitas started behind Rayan at left-back, while Gonçalo Matos led Green’s attack through the centre.

The game opened at a relentless tempo. In the fifth minute, Leandro played a flat, diagonal pass into Rayan’s boots near the touchline. Rayan stood static as he received, trapping the ball under his sole with his hips facing the sideline.

Before he could pivot inside, Bruno stepped out aggressively. Having already anticipated Rayan’s preferred turn, Bruno closed both the ball and the central channel simultaneously, using his forearm to establish leverage and snapping the ball away cleanly. Rayan tracked back to cover the space, refusing to force a reckless recovery tackle or panic. He recognised the flaw instantly: static reception on the flank gave an intelligent full-back all the time needed to shut down the angle.

Ten minutes later, Rayan adjusted. As Leandro carried the ball forward out of the defensive third, Rayan checked his shoulder early to locate Bruno’s position. Instead of standing wide to wait for the ball, Rayan drifted slightly inward, dragging Bruno two steps off his line.

When Leandro released the pass along the flank, Rayan did not let it settle. Scanning as the ball travelled, he identified Leandro’s overlapping run along the touchline and released a crisp, one-touch pass into the stride of his advancing left-back. Immediately after releasing the ball, Rayan accelerated through the half-space and continued towards the far-post lane. The right-sided centre-back tracked his run, opening a central channel for Gonçalo. Leandro reached the final third and curled his cross into that space, where Gonçalo’s header struck the crossbar.

Rayan’s early pass and continued movement had materially created Green’s clearest chance of the opening period.

Green did not score from the chance, and Bruno adjusted quickly. The next time Rayan drifted inside, the right-back held his position and passed him on to the centre-back rather than following. Rayan tried a shoulder drop, but Bruno stayed balanced and forced him backwards.

On another reception, First-Touch Escape carried the ball away from Bruno’s first reach, only for the covering midfielder to close the inside lane. Rayan recycled possession to Leandro instead of dribbling into the second defender. The movement was cleaner, but the older group’s spacing had removed the obvious reward.

Green eventually went ahead shortly before half-time through the opposite side. Duarte Faria attacked the right channel and delivered early, and Gonçalo reached the ball before White’s centre-backs could reset.

At half-time, with Green leading 1–0, Bastos moved Rodrigo Figueiredo into White’s midfield to rebalance the two groups. Rayan shifted into Green’s attacking-midfield position behind Gonçalo, while Salvador Almeida dropped deeper to control the tempo.

The central role felt immediately more complex and suffocating. Unlike the touchline, where half of the field was naturally restricted, central space meant pressure could arrive from every direction.

In his third minute through the middle, Gonçalo played a driven pass into Rayan’s feet. Rayan reached for it with his near foot instead of letting the ball travel to his back foot. The touch closed his body towards the right side, and White’s holding midfielder arrived from behind to dispossess him before he could turn or set the ball back.

"Open before it arrives," Salvador said as he passed. "If you can’t see the pressure, use your back foot and keep your body between him and the ball."

The cue did not solve the position immediately. On the next attack, Rayan checked both shoulders so often that he stopped watching the pass and needed two touches merely to control it. A minute later, he received cleanly but turned towards a lane Namir already occupied, forcing Green backwards. Bastos pointed towards the space behind White’s holding midfielder rather than stopping the match for a lecture.

Rayan’s first cleaner central reception came when he let the ball travel across his body and used First-Touch Escape to move away from the pressure behind him. The movement bought him half a second, but he delayed the release and the forward lane disappeared. He laid the ball back to Salvador.

Later, a compact Body Feint shifted the holding midfielder, but the nearest centre-back stepped out and closed the route. Rayan recycled again rather than forcing the turn. The role offered no stable reference. Every time he focused on one defender, another moved beyond his shoulder. Namir and Salvador communicated before the passes arrived, using short calls and hand signals to organise the next angle while Rayan was still processing each picture alone.

White scored an equaliser off a rapid counter-attack midway through the half, bringing the score to Green 1–1 White.

In the seventy-fifth minute, the defining central sequence arrived. Salvador recovered possession near the centre circle and fed Namir between White’s first two pressing lines. Before Namir’s pass reached him, Rayan scanned both shoulders and saw the centre-back stepping forward behind White’s holding midfielder. He cushioned the ball first time into Namir’s forward path, then moved beyond his immediate presser.

Namir continued onto the return pass without breaking stride and drove through the gap. His low shot forced the goalkeeper into a diving save, sending the ball behind for a corner.

At the final whistle, the training match ended Green 1–1 White. Rayan unlaced his boots near the bench as a familiar smoked-black panel resolved before his eyes:

[POSITIVE MATCH ACTION VERIFIED.]

[Positive match actions: 2/3.]

[TWO-ROLE COMPATIBILITY VERIFIED.]

[Inverted Left Winger: Primary compatibility.]

[Attacking Midfielder: Low familiarity.]

[Development route remains active.]

[Body Feint: Novice — 82%.]

[First-Touch Escape: Novice — 28%.]

The System notifications faded, leaving the overall mission chain open.

As the players walked back towards the changing rooms, Rayan walked a few paces behind Rodrigo Figueiredo and Namir. The two central players were deep in conversation, discussing one movement from the final quarter-hour.

"When you drop between the lines, check the far centre-back," Rodrigo said. "If he’s on his heels, turn. If he’s stepping, set it and move."

"And if the six follows you, the winger’s free," Namir replied.

Listening from a few paces behind them, Rayan realised how much information an established attacking midfielder processed before the ball arrived. Moving inside was not simply a change of starting position. It meant reading the pressure, his teammates and the next passing lane at the same time. Rodrigo and Namir spoke about those pictures as if they had already lived through them. Rayan was still learning how to see them before they disappeared.

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