THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Zachary signed the endorsement contract with Audi that very afternoon. It didn't involve much fanfare. Susanne, Camilla, and Emily were the only other people present when he put pen on paper. Nonetheless, he was as happy as a punch after having managed to secure his first endorsement contract in both his lives.

Susanne had already promised that Audi would wire the six million NOK to his account within the week. He was about to start swimming in a pool of Norwegian Kroners.

That wasn't the only benefit he'd gotten out of the deal, though. Audi had also offered him the opportunity to select another car from their 2012 models once more.

At first, he had thought of requesting that Susanne offer him money in place of the vehicle since he already had the convenience of an R8 GT in Trondheim. But after a bit of deliberation, he decided to grab himself an Audi Q7-SUV and ship it back home to Lubumbashi.

The Q7-SUV was the perfect machine for the bumpy roads back in DR Congo. It had a Quattro four-wheel-drive system as standard and a turbocharged engine to power it through the trickiest situations one might encounter on the road. He would be able to use it himself whenever he traveled back home or gift it to his grandma—if she would accept it. Thus, he contacted Ryan to help him with the shipping details right after picking it out from the dealership.

When he finished signing all the necessary papers for the car, he hurriedly said his goodbyes to the Audi team and left the Møller Bil dealership. Emily was still polishing the details of some of the addendums to the contract—so he left her there. Without dilly-dallying, he got into his R8 GT and drove to Lerkendal to recommence his training.

The match against Molde was Monday, three days later. He needed to remain in top shape and maintain a perfect match condition in order to perform at his best in the game. He couldn't afford to get distracted and miss another clear goal-scoring chance as he'd done during the match against Hönefoss. He was intent on using every second of free time for training.

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Sunday, May 20, 2013

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"Tomorrow, we'll be facing Molde," Coach Johansen said to the Rosenborg players seated in the tactics room at Lerkendal. "This is a game we must win. We can't afford to slip up and lose points when we're so close to returning to the top of the table. So, I need us to be solid and remain highly focused during the game tomorrow. I won't tolerate any amateur mistakes. Are we together, guys?"

"Yes, coach," Zachary and the rest of the Rosenborg players replied, more or less in unison.

As usual, Zachary was seated at the very back of the tactics room. He listened intently to the pre-match briefing since he didn't want to miss any details.

He had already noticed that the coach appeared to be more agitated than usual and knew better than to test his patience by losing focus right in the middle of the session. So, he remained on his best behavior throughout the session, like an A-grade student attending class.

Coach Johansen took a moment to sweep his gaze across the entire tactics room before continuing. "For the game against Molde, I won't accept anything other than a win," he said, his tone somber. "We're now a point behind Strømsgodset since they managed to pick up a draw from their game in hand against Brann. If we lose points in our fixture tomorrow and they happen to win theirs, the gap between our positions will have widened by a large margin. We can't afford to let that happen since our aim is to become champions."

"Over the past two games, we've developed a habit of relaxing and losing concentration at the start of the second half," he continued, his brows drawing together. "Against both Hönefoss and Sarpsborg-08, we conceded goals within the first twenty minutes after the break. We started the second halves of both games playing like real amateurs. We had no zeal, and we lacked focus. I was disappointed that you lost all your professionalism in just the span of a few minutes. We were merely lucky to win those two games."

"I know that I've talked about this a lot during training over the past few days," the coach continued, a half-smile outlining his face. "But I feel that I should remind you once more because I don't want to see the same thing happening in tomorrow's fixture. The laxity in our game approach at the start of the second half is caused by you, yourselves, prematurely thinking that you've won the game before hearing the final whistle."

"When you manage to score a goal or two during the first half, you become overconfident. You then relax and lose concentration. That's when we start conceding. That is the sort of habit that I wouldn't have expected to see in a professional team that is supposed to be the best in Norway." He paused, letting his intense gaze settle momentarily on some of the players in the tactics room.

"Tell me," he continued after a moment, starting to move slowly around the room. "Have you seen the players of teams like Barcelona or Bayern relaxing after scoring a few goals? Have you?"

"That's a big no," the coach immediately replied to his own question, shaking his head. "The likes of Messi, Iniesta, Franck Ribéry, and Arjen Robben will never relax before hearing the final whistle. They'll continue attacking like madmen even when they're four goals ahead. That's how players in big teams handle games, and we should learn from them. We shouldn't assume that the three points are already in the bag after netting only one or two goals. That's the way of amateurs, and I won't tolerate that kind of unprofessionalism on this squad. Are we together, guys?" He asked, his voice stern.

"Yes, coach," all the players replied in chorus.

"That's good," Coach Johansen said, nodding. "I'm glad that we're on the same page. But please heed my words. I'll regard any player that acts in such an unprofessional manner, especially during tomorrow's match, as an enemy of the entire team. And be warned: I never treat my enemies kindly. Is that clear?" He swept his gaze across the room once more.

"Yes, coach."

"Then, I'm glad," he said after a moment. "Now, I'll go ahead and announce the line-up for tomorrow's game." He stepped towards the flat screen at the front of the tactics room, where white shirts in a 4-2-3-1 formation had already appeared.

"I'll begin with the starting eleven for tomorrow," the coach announced. "Lund Hansen will be our goalkeeper, as usual. Mikael Dorsin, Tore Reginiussen, Stefan Strandberg, and Cristian Gamboa will handle our defense. Mike Jensen and Jonas Svensson will act as our two double-pivots or holding midfielders—just in front of our defensive line." He added, pointing to the two positions on the screen.

"Zachary Bemba will be our only attacking midfielder, just behind the center-forward for this game. Tarik Elyounoussi and Tobias Mikkelsen will play on the wings. And finally, Nicki Nielsen will play as our center-forward to complete our 4-2-3-1 formation."

"Moving on," Coach Johansen said after a moment. "On the bench, we'll have Daniel Örlund, Per Verner Rönning, Jon Inge Höiland, Ole Selnaes, Mix Diskerud, Borek Dockal, and John Chibuike. That's it for the starting squad for tomorrow."

"Do you have any questions regarding the line-up?" The coach asked, sweeping his gaze across the room.

None of the players dared to question the coach's final line-up. They all remained silent, waiting for the coach to continue. Zachary, on his part, was very excited since he'd managed to make Coach Johansen's starting eleven once again. He wished the hours could go by faster so he could play the game he loved so much once more.

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