My Goalkeeping System

"Sure, a shirt swap would be nice," Dave said with a nod.

There's no way he was going to say no after receiving so many compliments, but even without the compliments, he didn't have any reason to turn him down since he also wanted the shirt swap.

"Okay," Filip said before he quickly removed his shirt, and in return, Dave did the same.

They were supposed to shake hands and walk away at this point but Filip wanted to talk about one more thing.

"So, that shot from the goalpost, you did it twice and almost scored from both, you could have scored from the second if I wasn't fast enough and that would have been really embarrassing, getting scored by a fellow goalkeeper all the way from his goalpost." Filip expressed.

"Yeah, I guess it would have been embarrassing," Dave said as he scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile on his face.

"So, how do you do it?" Filip asked.

"Huh?"

"The shot, how did you do it? I thought you were just lucky with the first one, but then you did it again, and that one was even closer to going in." Filip stated.

"Um…I just kicked it like I normally kick a ball." Dave replied.

"How can a goalkeeper like you have a monstrous shot power like that, and it's not only that, your accuracy is top notch too."

Dave didn't say anything as he was beginning to get a bit uncomfortable here.

"If I had that much shot power and good accuracy, I would be on the pitch as an attacking midfielder since I've always admired that position or a striker," Filip said. "When you played that first shot, I thought you would be one of those ball-playing goalkeepers who weren't that good in shot stopping but you proved me wrong with those saves you pulled off."

"A goalkeeper who is pretty good with the ball on his feet and can stop shots well, those types of goalkeepers are quite rare to come around."

'Someone has told me that before.'

"I'm not that good with shots so I'm not sure I can do what you did twice in this match."

"But, you're a pretty good shot-stopper," Dave said.

"Yeah, I can agree on that, but you're one of a kind, I'm sure you'll do well playing as a forward or midfielder but I guess you prefer staying in between the sticks just like me."

"Yeah," Dave replied with a nod. "I've always wanted to be a goalkeeper since I was a child."

"I see, and now you're one, a pretty good one," Filip said before turning to leave. "It was nice meeting you Dave, see you in the second league and I hope we'll meet again after that."

Dave kept his gaze on him for a while before he quickly turned it to his teammates to see that they were still applauding the fans so he had to quickly head over to the area.

After applauding the fans, the players made their way down the tunnel where Dave was approached by a male sports journalist who wanted to ask him a couple of questions and he couldn't say no.

"So, Dave, you guys just defeated FC Basel on their home turf and you pulled off a couple of saves to make sure your team won, how do you feel about this win with the second leg coming up at the Wondanimo stadium?"

"Um…I'm very happy about this victory today, I think that's quite obvious, we have the lead going into the second leg and that is a boost of confidence for me and my teammates." The goalkeeper expressed. "You mentioned me pulling out a couple of saves but it wasn't just me, the defenders especially Adolf did well to stop them."

"Yeah, Adolf was spectacular today, that's why he won the man of the match."

"Yeah, he deserved it and he got it," Dave said.

.

"Okay, so what do you think about the second leg? How do you feel about the upcoming second leg?"

"It feels great to go into the second leg with the advantage, and of course, it's at the Wondanimo Stadium, that's also an advantage for us, but that doesn't mean it's going to be easy for us, FC Basel is a strong team just as we witnessed now, but I think we have what it takes to go all the way."

"Okay, thank you, Dave, I think that will be all." The reporter said before shaking hands with the goalkeeper.

"Okay." The goalkeeper said before he turned and continued his work to the locker room.

He got to the locker room to see that his teammates were already celebrating the victory but he didn't bother to join them as he made his way to the locker where he dropped his phone, opened it up and took out his phone before sitting down on the bench.

"I wonder where Mateo went to." He muttered before turning his gaze to his phone which suddenly began to ring. "Emma."

'I didn't think she would call me just a few minutes after the match ended.' He said subconsciously before picking up the call.

"Hey, babe, what's up?"

"I didn't expect you to pick up." She said.

"Yeah, I wasn't your call either, so how're you doing?" He asked.

"I'm okay." She replied.

"Good to know that, and what about the other person?"

"He's fine." She replied.

"You mean she."

"We'll find out in a couple of months."

"Yeah."

"You know I just watched your interview."

"Okay, what about it?"

"You really can't give journalists something to make headlines with." She said,

"Headlines, you mean by replying in a cocky way?" He said. "Arrogantly like Darwin Shaw always does."

"No, don't reply arrogantly, that's not good, Darwin can be annoying with his words most of the time but there's nothing wrong with slipping in a few cheeky lines like Mateo does sometimes."

"Okay, I'll try to be a little cheeky, is that why you called me?"

"No, I just wanted to know when you guys are coming back." She replied.

"We'll be back in the night probably." He said.

"Okay, safe journey."

"Thank you."

"I have to go now, bye." She said before ending the call.

"She's right, you're way too modest during interviews."

The goalkeeper was quite startled to find Minino sitting beside him now.

"How did you know who I was talking to?"

"You called her babe, that was enough unless…."

"No, no, there's nothing like that." The goalkeeper said with a nervous look on his face.

"Okay, but you should try to bring out your cheeky side a bit when answering those questions, I know you have it in you, you may even end up striking a nerve," Minino said before getting up from the seat. "I think I need to pay a visit to the restroom."

Dave kept his gaze on him until he was out of the room before he let out a sigh.

'Catherine, can I see my match rewards please?'

<Sure>

[ Victory rewards ]

[ Five crucial saves: +50 exp ]

[ Goals conceded (0): +50 exp ]

[ Match rating: 7.8 ]

'I guess I didn't contribute much to the clean sheet.'

<You contributed enough to get fifty experience points, you did very well but you can't deny the fact that things could have been bad at some points if it wasn't for Adolf>

'Yeah, I can't deny that.'

****

Mass release goals.

A magic castle= one extra chapter.

Two magic castles= two extra chapters.