Soccer System: All the Skills, One Player!

Coach Eddie Thompson had booked a table at a famous Brazilian steakhouse in the city, a place specializing in grilled meats.

When they arrived and passed through the restaurant's large wooden doors, Lucas looked around in awe at the very dark wooden decor, and he saw Luiz Fernando's eyes light up.

"Boy, it's been a long time since I've been to a place like this. You'll see, Brazilian barbecue is a piece of heaven," said Luiz.

When they finally sat down, a waiter explained how the restaurant worked. It was a rotation steakhouse, meaning that the food was served without limit and for a fixed price. As long as the table still wanted meat, they would leave a sign in the center of the table that read "I'm not satisfied" with a green tint; when they wanted no more meat, they could put "I'm satisfied". This was so that the waiters who kept moving between the tables would know who still wanted to eat and who didn't.

It wasn't long before a waiter with a huge skewer of meat in his hands approached. The first round was a shower of picanha, alcatra and maminha, as well as traditional accompaniments including farofa, rice and vinaigrette.

Thompson and Alex each sat at one end of the fourteen-chair table, watching the boys eat heartily.

Luiz Fernando, wasting no time, grabbed a piece of garlic bread from a waiter who came to offer it and bit into it with gusto. "This, my friends, is the real Brazilian gold," he said, still chewing and raising the bread as if it were a trophy.

Lucas laughed, cutting off a piece of juicy meat and putting it on his plate. "I've never eaten so much meat like this. I don't know if I'll be able to last until the end!"

The others laughed, and for a few minutes, the exhaustion of training seemed to have completely dissipated. Even the coach seemed at ease, smiling discreetly as he watched the boys devour each piece of meat that arrived at the table.

After a few rounds, Loki pushed his plate away and let out a satisfied sigh. "Is this really just the beginning?"

Eddie nodded with a smile and lifted a mug of beer. "Oh, they're just warming up! Soon there'll be fillet steak with cheese, sausages, ribs..." He looked around like someone making a sacred promise and continued, "Get ready."

Alex, who was also enjoying the barbecue, raised his beer mug and made an informal toast. "To Team-B, who survived the first week. And may you have more stamina next time, because we're going to need it."

The boys raised their glasses of soda, following the coach and assistant coach.

Alex knew that this was the calm before the storm and smiled, resting his head on one hand. At that moment, looking at the boys, he noticed that Aidan Perry, the boy with the long red hair, was quieter than usual. While the others laughed and had fun, Aidan gazed at one spot on the table, lost in thought. Intrigued by that serious expression in a moment of distraction and with the boy next to him on the edge of the table, Alex leaned a little towards him.

"Aidan, are you all right? You seem to have something on your mind. Do you want to talk?" Alex asked.

He still looked up as if he had been pulled back from somewhere far away. He looked at the young brown-haired technical assistant and was about to say something like "Everything's fine", but decided it was better not to keep that secret much longer. Besides, if it was only Alex who knew, everything was fine.

Aidan lowered his head and looked into his glass of soda. "It's just that... almost three months ago, I did a sift for Liverpool's under-18s."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah... I was excited. I trained for weeks and did everything I could to get through, but... I didn't get through. Not even close. I ended up stopping in the second phase. They told me that left-backs always had to focus on defense because left-backs are usually the fastest players, so having two speedy players running on the same side wouldn't be productive." He looked up and turned to Alex. "At the time, I thought about changing the way I played, changing my position, because I wanted to turn things around. However, I promised myself that I would try out for another club before making that decision, and I ended up doing the trial for Brighton. Now we're going to play them..."

At that moment, Aidan realized that silence had taken over the table. He looked to his left and saw that everyone was listening to him vent his concerns. Even Coach Eddie, who had been so focused on his plate, was quiet and serious as Aidan spoke.

The coach looked up and, after a few seconds, cleared his throat, drawing the boys' attention.

"Defeats mark people and failures irritate, but mistakes ruin ideas, people, relationships and dreams. However, these three things happen all the time in soccer. Do any of you know why it's the most famous sport in the world?"

The boy, who was always sleepy, Denis, raised one hand to answer. "It's because soccer is the most human sport there is. The others are always about standardization, scoring every move, agility of decision, while in soccer things are natural and unplanned."

"A perfect answer, Denis." Eddie congratulated him and then looked at Aidan. "Kid, I will not say that Liverpool was wrong not to sign you for their first team because they're not wrong. How many left-backs are there in the world who can replace a left winger perfectly? Few, maybe less than five, do it excellently. Soccer is a sport of failures and improvisations, but it's still a sport that strives for excellence and, unless you're a generational talent like Ronaldinho, Zidane or Adriano the Emperor, it's best to follow a standardized game, passing sideways instead of crossing all the time."

"Boss..." Alex, with a bead of sweat running down the side of his face, tried to warn the coach about what he was saying.

"Calm down, I'm not finished yet... Yes, the best way to avoid mistakes is to standardize, but talented players easily overcome standardization. Look, Messi made history in Guardiola's tactical scheme at Barcelona and broke the record for goals in a single year in 2012. However, I don't consider this to be Messi's prime, even if he did win the Ballon d'Or. For me, the best Messi I've seen play so far is the Messi of 2015. More mature, distributing more passes and helping the team more."

The atmosphere around the table had changed; the sound of meats being cut and cutlery clinking had diminished, and even the waiters circulating seemed to have slowed down.

"But make no mistake. The excellence you're looking for isn't just about talent or speed; it's about persistence and adaptation. If Liverpool thought that you, Aidan, didn't fit into their scheme of things, maybe they're right... or maybe they've jumped the gun. It happens, and you'll see that even the best coaches, the best scouts, make mistakes."

Eddie, realizing that his speech was having an effect, leaned forward slightly, interlacing his hands on the table.

"What I want you to understand, especially you, Aidan, is that soccer is a long road. It's not just about the talent you show in the first sieve. It's about what you do when you think you've reached the limit... and you decide to keep going. Every player who really wants to grow, who wants to become a reference on the pitch, goes through a moment like this."

He leaned back in his chair, and a slight smile appeared on his face.

"And that's why we're here, isn't it? To share these lessons — and some good food — and to remember that, although soccer is tough, you're in it together. You're a team. So, Aidan, I want you to play this game and show who you really are. Without fear of making mistakes."

*

On Monday morning, everyone was dismissed from their classes and activities at the institute to travel to Liverpool City.

When he arrived in front of the training ground with the boys, Lucas paused for a moment, his gaze fixed on Brighton's blue and white bus with the club crest on the side, as if it were a stamp of pride stamped on the impeccable bodywork.

"That's amazing, isn't it?" Raphael murmured next to him, his eyes equally wide. "It doesn't even look like a youth team bus."

Lucas just nodded, still at a loss for words. They climbed on, one by one, while the driver, a gray-haired man with a watchful eye, did a quick head count, a slight smile forming on his lips. Experience more on empire

When it was Lucas' turn, he took a deep breath before stepping onto the first step, taking in the leather's smell seats and the coolness of the air conditioning. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the dim interior, he stopped abruptly. There, sitting in the first row on the right, was a girl. She had shoulder-length pink hair and green eyes that stared at him.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

'Oh, she's the girl I've seen during the screening a few times.'

"Are you going to stand there?" she asked. "There are more people coming in."