My Goalkeeping System

Dave was quite surprised by how quiet Johnson Smith had been throughout the meal, he expected the man to start bashing him as soon as they had sat down for their meal but none of that had happened up till now.

<This wasn't what I was expecting>

Johnson Smith, Emma and Mateo's father was a middle-aged man who looked just like a carbon copy of Mateo only that he looked older and had a few distinct features like a stream-lined jawline which Mateo didn't exactly have.

Just like Mateo was a carbon copy of his father, Emma was a carbon copy of her mother, the only difference was that while her mother had brown eyes she had blue eyes, that was something she got from her father just like Mateo.

The room was silent as they all ate their meal and that silence was beginning to make Dave uncomfortable until Johnson decided to say something.

"So, Dave, you guys have a match against Spree City on Tuesday right?" He asked turning his gaze to Dave who was sitting opposite him on the table.

"Yeah," Dave said with a nod.

"Okay, I just hope you won't still be out with a minor concussion." The man said, turning his gaze back to his plate.

'He's started.' Dave sighed inwardly.

"I wasn't out with a concussion," Dave said.

"Then why didn't you play the match against Litno FC?" Johnson asked.

"The board thought I wasn't fit and needed to rest," Dave answered.

"Oh, so the board decided and you agreed because you also thought you needed rest," Johnson said.

"No, I didn't agree with it but they said they had already made the decision," Dave said.

Johnson didn't reply as he stared at him for quite a while before turning his gaze back to his plate.

"Okay, I hope to see you in the match against Spree City and I also hope your lucky good form doesn't start failing you in that match," Johnson said with a straight face.

"Stop this dad, we're here to eat and talk as a family not talk about football and who's in a lucky form or not," Emma said

"Well he isn't exactly family is he?" Johnson said with his gaze still fixed on Dave. "Heck, you guys are not even engaged yet."

That one had hit Dave hard as he didn't expect Johnson to say anything relating to that.

"They are clearly working on it, Johnson," Martha said.

"For how long?"

"I'm going to go use the bathroom now," Dave said, getting up from his seat.

"Nice way to run away from a conversation," Johnson said just before he entered the hallway.

"Dad," Emma said looking at his father with annoyance written all over her face. "That was mean."

"But it's the truth," Johnson said. "Are you even sure he's going to propose to you?"
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"Don't say that dad," Emma said before turning her gaze to her younger brother. "Aren't you going to say anything about this?"

"What do you expect me to say?" Mateo said raising his hand.

She let out a sigh before slowly getting up from her seat.

"I need to go to the.... bathroom." She said before making her way toward the area.

"Just know that whatever you two may do in there is not allowed in my house," Johnson said just before she left the room.

"Johnson," Martha said.

"What? You know I don't hate him, if I did he wouldn't be sitting here having a meal with me and I wouldn't allow my daughter to stay in his house for over one week now." Johnson said.

Mateo smiled as soon as he heard that, that was the reason why he never said anything in situations like this whenever Dave was part of the family dinner.

______ _____

"Well, last night wasn't very enjoyable," Dave muttered as he ran down the road.

<For you, it was quite enjoyable for me, a great night>

"Because you enjoy it when I get roasted," Dave said.

<Only when it's just for the fun of it>

"For the fun of it?" He muttered.

He had entered the pack now and after reaching the grass area to complete two kilometers, he quickly walked to the match in the area and sat there.

'You mean, he didn't mean those things he said.'

<Well, he meant some of them>

'Oh.'

<You should know that he doesn't hate you>

'You're not the first person to tell me that, but I find it a bit hard to believe.' Dave replied before getting up from the bench.

_____ ____

The training schedule for today was set by 10:PM, the players had taken a whole day off yesterday so Norman wanted to start the training for today early.

All the players were already on the pitch with Norman and the rest of the coaching staff standing in front of them.

'It's good to be back in training.' Dave thought as he stood in between Ferran and Mateo.

"We are facing Spree City on Tuesday," Norman said. "We made a lot of mistakes during the last match, mistakes that we cannot afford to make against Spree City.

"They may not be in good form at the moment but we all know what happens every time we face those guys, we have lost all our matches against them home and away for two consecutive seasons and if we lose this one, it will be the third consecutive season."

"We could have drawn the last one if Dave had been less of a basket," Jonas said.
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<This guy just doesn't seem to learn>

"We could have won our last match against Litno FC if you didn't turn into a ghost every time Zen approached you with the ball," Ferran said.

That had taken Jonas by surprise as he was expecting a reply from Dave so that he could tell him what he had planned in his mind if only he knew that Dave wasn't going to reply to him even though Ferran had not said anything.

"I'm just glad coach decided to bring in Roland, if not that match could have ended in a bad way for us," Ferran added before turning away from the left back.

Mateo wanted to laugh out loud but he knew that was going to be weird given the fact that Norman was still addressing them so he decided to hold it in.

<That was brutal>

"As I was saying, we need to try our best to get a win for that match, a draw is not even an option, we need to win that match if we're going to push Lesica United out of that conference league spot," Norman said.

"If winning is our priority coach, then you know the players to start," Ferran said, before turning his gaze to Jonas who had an unpleasant look on his face now.

After Norman had addressed them on a few other things, the training kicked off.

Running laps, stretches, strategy training, and other forms of training.

The team had trained for about an hour and thirty minutes now, and while they were on a short break, Mateo had decided to practice something.

"What are you doing?" Dave asked.

He had almost left the pitch when he spotted Mateo arranging five balls in a row, a little distance away from the eighteen-yard box.

"Trying something," Mateo said as stepped back from his row of balls.

"What?"

Mateo didn't reply as he raced toward the balls and kicked the first in line which flew over the top bar almost making contact with it in the process.

"Hitting the crossbar." He said.

"Oh, crossbar challenge," Dave said.

"Yeah," Mateo said before shooting the other ball which went straight to the crossbar and hit it before falling in front of the goalpost.

"Yes," Mateo said in excitement. "Did you see that?"

"Yeah, I saw it, it was awesome."

[ Quest received ]

[ Hit the crossbar twice in five tries ]

[ Quest rewards ]

[ +15 exp ]

[ +5 skill points ]

[ Unlock ball-playing keeper attribute ]

'Huh?'