My Goalkeeping System

Dave was confused and surprised at the same time because he never expected his system to give him a quest like this.

'What does hitting the crossbar have to do with being a goalkeeper?'

<A goalkeeper doesn't only make saves, a goalkeeper also has to be good with the ball on his feet and start-up attacks, this particular quest is to train your long ball accuracy>

'Okay, but what are these attributes? The last one was the sweeper keeper attribute, this one is the ball playing keeper attribute?'

<You'll have to unlock one to find out what it does>

'You're not going to just tell me what they do.'

<No>

Mateo shot the fourth ball which flew straight toward the crossbar and banged on it before falling over.

He had missed the third one so that one made it two out of two.

"Yes," Mateo muttered before turning his gaze to Dave with a smile on his face.

'If that was me, I would have already completed the quest and then receive those sweet rewards.'

<But it's not you, Mateo has good long ball accuracy, it's not the best but it's good>

Mateo drew back a little before closing up the ball and shooting it toward the crossbar.

The two watched as the ball flew toward the crossbar bar and banged on it before falling over.

"Three out of five, yeah!"

"Three out of five, that's insane," Dave said.

"I know, right," Mateo said with a wide smile on his face.

"Let me try and see how well I'll do."

"Sure, go ahead," Mateo said.

The goalkeeper gathered five balls from all the balls lying around in the area and lined them up just like Mateo had done with his own balls.

<You know you don't have to set up the balls like that, right?>

'Yeah, but I want to set them up this way.' Dave replied.

"Good luck," Mateo said as he slowly drew back to take his first shot.

He quickly closed up on the ball and shot it toward the goalpost but he had hit it with so much power that it had flown over the bar without even getting close to the crossbar.

"Oh, that was too much," Mateo said.

"Yeah," Dave said, folding his lips.

"Try hitting it with less shot power and more technique, you can hit the crossbar with that amount of shot power but it's tricky and you may only manage to hit it a few times by luck," Mateo said.

<He's right>

Dave took Mateo's advice and tried to reduce his shot power but despite that, he had failed to hit the crossbar in the next three tries and now it was just down to one ball.

[ Quest failed ]

He had failed the quest the moment he was just down to one ball without hitting the crossbar but he was still going to try and see if he could make this one.

He let out a sigh as he drew back a little from the ball, raced toward it, and shot it only for it to fly into the net.

"Well, look on the bright side, if that was a match that could have been a goal," Mateo said.

"Yeah, and what type of goalkeeper wouldn't keep that ball out?" Dave said with a sigh.

<You can try again>

"Hey, guys."

The two heard Ferran's voice behind them and quickly turned to see him heading into the pitch with Roland following him from behind.

"Is the break over?" Mateo asked.

"Almost," Ferran said before stopping in front of them. "Guess what?"

"What?" Mateo asked.

"The player of the week has just been announced," Ferran said.

"Who won it?" Dave asked.

"Roland," Ferran said with a smile.

"I knew it, I knew they were just going to give it to him again," Mateo said.

"No, not Roland Hills, Roland Ryle," Ferran said, pointing at Roland who was standing beside him.

"Roland?" Mateo said with a voice that indicated that he was quite surprised.

"Yeah, you came in behind with a point deficit, Roland Hills ended up in third place, and I was in fifth place," Ferran said.

"Wow, congrats man, you finally beat me to it," Mateo said. "I guess that dying minute equalizer played a big role in it."

"Thanks, Mateo," Roland said with a smile.

"And don't forget that block from the match against Ronino FC," Ferran said.

<He came in as a substitute in two of the matches this week and still put up a good enough performance to win player of the week>

"Congrats Roland," Dave said.

"Thanks." Roland turned his gaze to him to say.

"So, Ferran where was I ranked?" Dave asked turning his gaze to Ferran.

"Seventh," Ferran said.

"Oh."

"Don't worry Dave, if you keep up your current form, you'll certainly win it this week," Mateo said.

"Yeah," Roland said.

"I hope so," Dave said.

It didn't take long before the players started returning to the pitch to finish their training.

Dave had attempted the crossbar challenge again during training and he had gotten the quest but just like the first time, he failed without being able to hit the crossbar at least once from that far out.

After about two more hours of training, the training session finally came to an end.

He seemed to be engaged in a conversation with Ferran and Mateo as the three made their way outside and once they had reached outside, they parted ways and made their way to their cars.

Dave drove home while thinking of the crossbar quest which he had just failed two times in a row.

<Well, the only key to improvement is constant practice, the system may seem like some special gift but you won't get anything from it if you decide to lie on your bed and sleep all day>

'I know.'

<My point is, you have a smaller version of a goalpost in your house, why not try practicing with it and start from a shorter distance?>

'Yeah, that's a very good idea.' Dave replied as he drove into his parking space.

<You're welcome>

Dave sighed and shook his head as he opened the door and stepped down from the car.

"Emma." She called as soon as he entered the house.

<Wow>

As soon as Catherine said that, he realized that Emma had already left for her interview just like she told him before he left for training.

"Silly me." He said with a smile as he walked to the couch and sat down there.

The television was on but he didn't seem to be interested in the match highlights that were currently showing and was looking around the house instead.

Just two weeks ago, he would leave his house empty and still return to find it empty.

Right now he was getting that empty feeling of coming back and finding his house empty.

<Well, at least you have some alone time>

'Alone time's great when you need it but living alone is something else.'

"And now, we present you, the team of the week." He heard a female voice come from the television and quickly turned his gaze there.

The team of the week was currently displayed there now with a four-four-two formation.

The two center forwards were Roland and Sandro, the midfield was filled up by Mateo, Zen, Ferran, and Mico, a player from Dynamo FC. In defense, Roland was in the left back position, Johnson and Correa in the center back and Alvarez in the right back, and finally in the goalkeeping position was him with an average rating of 7.8 last week.

It was really nice to see himself get nominated for player of the week and be part of the team of the week for the first time in his career.

<Well, it was certain that you were going to be part of the team of the week given the fact that you were the only goalkeeper nominated for player of the week>

'Yeah.' Dave replied.

He brought out his phone to call someone and just before he could tap the screen, the phone began to vibrate as the word dad popped up on the screen.

'Why is he calling me now?'

****

Hope you enjoyed the chapter?

If I get up to a hundred golden tickets before the end of the month I will release six chapters on the first of December.