THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

Zachary saw the football pundits' critical comments about him in the news the following morning. He even watched the replay of Emilia Vasquez's Sports Daily show and heard all the negative remarks that Charles Adams, the sports journalist, had made about him.

He was obviously a bit surprised by the harsh appraisal of his previous day's performance by the journalist. But that was it. He neither lost his head nor felt discouraged, especially since he understood how to solve his match fitness issues and return to his peak in the shortest time possible.

He was sure that as long as he finished dealing with the side effects of the S-grade vitality-enhancing elixir, he would be able to shut the blubber mouths criticizing him with his prowess on the pitch. And knowing that fact allowed him to remain focused on his efforts to realize his short to mid-term goals without really minding the comments of a journalist who was probably trying to gain some attention on television.

His priority for the pre-season was still to try his best to fit into the new team. He hoped to continue putting up concrete and stable performances for Juventus by relying on his solid basics, such as passing and ball control skills.

Rather than rushing to gain some quick popularity among the fans and journalists by executing risky plays, he would aim to remain a reliable teammate who couldn't easily commit mistakes or lose the ball. Then, when he dealt with the side effects of the S-grade vitality-enhancing elixir, he would take his game to a higher level and start playing like a ball wizard. That was his plan to cement his place within the Juventus team.

With the right frame of mind, Zachary had no problems focusing on preparing for the upcoming pre-season friendlies. He joined Juventus' last training in Jakarta, Indonesia, and continued working as hard as ever on his fitness. And as usual, he forgot everything else and focused only on training until the team sessions ended late in the evening that Thursday.

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The following day, on Friday, August 8th, all the Juventus players and staff boarded their chattered plane and traveled to Sydney, Australia, to kick-start the next phase of their pre-season tour.

They arrived in Sydney at ten in the evening, and with the help of some dedicated tour guides, they completed all procedures at the airport within minutes. Then, after greeting their fans waiting outside the airport, they took the prearranged team bus to the trendy neighborhood of Sydney Olympic Park and checked into the Ibis Hotel, which was strategically located less than a kilometer from the ANZ Stadium.

The hotel's facilities were at a five-star rating, allowing the players to relax and rest before delving back into preparations for their next pre-season friendly. As a result, they were all fresh and energetic when they trained at one of the football grounds near the ANZ stadium in Sydney the following day.

Under the supervision of Coach Allegri and his team of assistants, the Juventus squad covered all aspects of competitive football training, including fitness, ball handling, and team tactics, within three sessions spread over a brief period of a single day.

By the time they finished all the exercises, the sun was just about to sink below the horizon in the eastern skies of Sydney. They returned to the hotel and had a sumptuous dinner before heading to their respective rooms for the night.

Zachary, on his part, was ready to take a shower and enter bed after he returned to his hotel room. But right after he connected his phone to the hotel's Wi-Fi, he immediately received a WhatsApp video call from Camilla, his girlfriend in the other hemisphere, in Trondheim, Norway. Without any hesitation, he decided to put everything on hold and first accept the call.

Camilla's gorgeous face immediately appeared on the phone's screen when he pressed the accept button. She smiled and said, "Hello, dear! I haven't heard from you in four days! How are you, and how's everything?"

"Hello, Camilla," Zachary said, feeling guilty for ignoring his girlfriend for all those days. "Sorry about not calling you for the past four days. The pre-season tour is quite hectic. Aside from training with the team, I usually don't get time to do anything else. But I promise to do better from now on. I'll call you more often."

"That would be for the best," Camilla said, sighing. "You know that we're now thousands of miles apart. Communication is crucial if we want to keep our relationship going strong. We can't spend four days without talking to each other. Otherwise, we'll gradually grow apart as the months flash by."

"I understand," he said in an apologetic tone. "I'll do better from now on." He was aware that Camilla couldn't easily reach him through his phone during the pre-season tour. She would probably always find his number off due to challenges arising from the difference in network service providers from country to country. So, it was up to him to always call her and ensure they kept a connection, at least, until he returned to Italy.

Camilla's bright emerald-green eyes crinkled slightly at the corners as she smiled. "Let's push the irritating stuff to the side," she said. "How's your pre-season tour with Juventus? Are you enjoying your first trip to Asia and Australia?"

Zachary sighed, glancing straight into Camilla's eyes through the screen. "All I can say is that the tour is quite intense. Aside from match days, we train from morning to evening and even hold tactical meetings at the breakfast and dinner table. By the time we go to bed, we're already like tired dogs, only thinking about resting and preparing for the next day's training. It's that intense."

"Really?" Camilla's eyes widened. "Even you, a training madman, find the training schedule intense? Are you sure you're with a football team or did you unknowingly join some Special Forces military unit?"

Zachary chuckled at her efforts to make a joke. "My new teammates tell me that the schedule is only that hectic partly because a new coach has just taken the job. The other reason is that it's close to the beginning of the Serie A season. So, the club is doing everything possible to raise our fitness as quickly as possible. That's why we're playing matches every three days in different cities and countries while also finding the time to continue training together as a team."

"Oh, I see," Camilla said. "Does that mean that you didn't get a chance to tour the capital city of Indonesia?"

"There was no time for that," Zachary admitted. "We just trained and played a match in Jakarta before setting off for Australia. The coaches were strict and didn't allow us to move around."

"That quite a tough life," Camilla said, sighing. "So, you won't even take a few hours off and look at the sights in Sydney?"

"That's indeed the case," Zachary said, walking across the hotel room and settling on his bed. "Our schedule will remain intense until the end of August. For instance, we have to play three matches within the upcoming week. First, we play the Australia & New Zealand A-League All-Stars team tomorrow on Sunday. Then, on Wednesday, August 13th, we'll travel to Carlton, in the far south of Australia, and play against the Newcastle Jets. Finally, on Saturday, August 16th, we'll have to be in Kallang, Singapore, for our game against LionsXII & S-League Internationals Select. Those are three games within a short seven-day window. Factor in the time for training and traveling, and you can see how busy we are over the next week."

"But you must be having a blast since you like football," Camilla pressed. "How can that schedule faze the Zachary I know? I have a feeling that you're even fixing in a few more private training sessions within your already busy schedule. Isn't that so?"

Zachary laughed, choosing to ignore the question. "Enough about me," he said. "How're you doing? And how's life in Trondheim?"

"Everything is as before," she replied. "Just waking up, eating, working, and sleeping. Nothing interesting. I'm also already missing you."

"Oh," Zachary said, "I miss you too."

"Liar," Camilla replied jokingly. "If you miss me, why don't you call or text me more often?"

"Ahh..." Zachary was at a loss for what to say. He couldn't give the same old excuse of "I've been busy" since that would prove her point. He only sighed and shook his head in defeat.

Camilla chuckled on seeing his reaction. "By the way," she said, "All my friends and co-workers have been going on about Rosenborg's UEFA Super Cup game against Real Madrid. The ones aware that we're dating are always asking me why I didn't convince you to stay in Norway, at least until after the Super Cup. They fear their team will lose miserably to Real Madrid, especially without you to hold the reins in the midfield."

Zachary sighed, recalling that Rosenborg's game against Real Madrid was on Tuesday night. His former teammates would face off against one of the strongest football clubs filled with incredible players, like Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema, Luka Modrić, and Toni Kroos. As far as he was concerned, Rosenborg would have to pull off something akin to a miracle to defeat such an assemblage of talent and class and win the game.

"Will you watch the game?" Zachary asked Camilla.

"Nope," Camilla readily replied. "I can't sleep late that day as I have a busy schedule on Wednesday."

"Eh!" Zachary was surprised. "I thought you were a fan of Rosenborg? How can you miss such an important match?"

"You dummy," Camilla said humorously. "I was only supporting Rosenborg simply because you were playing for them. Now that you have joined Juventus, I have already become a staunch supporter of Juventus. It's as simple as that."

Zachary smiled, finding her whole reasoning amusing. But he chose not to comment about her shaky support of football clubs and said his goodbyes to her. A bit later, they exchanged some sweet nothings and "I love you" phrases for minutes before repeatedly expressing their heartfelt goodbyes once again. And that was how the two love birds ended their call that night.