My Goalkeeping System



Moving to second place just three points behind Supreme United and two points ahead of Dynamo FC was something Unique FC players were quite happy about.

But, they knew it wasn't over yet and anything could happen with the number of matches left to play.

They knew it was better to focus on the matches ahead and not let down their guard now that things were this close.

This week's match schedule had been quite hectic for them to the extent that their first Bilbeth Super League match was moved to next week instead of the same week the other teams played theirs.

Their next match was a Europa Conference League group stage match against Villarreal and they were playing it away from home which meant that they were going to be travelling to Villarreal tomorrow.

It was quite crazy to play three matches in the space of five days but they did something similar last season so it was nothing new.

Norman did what he had to do to make sure none of his players got injured due to fatigue and it worked quite well for him as all his players were fit and ready for the match against Villarreal.

The match against Troham United was played in the afternoon so the players had the rest of the evening to rest and on top of that, Norman told them to get a good rest tomorrow and only start coming to the stadium once it was 4:00 PM.

There were players who wouldn't listen to that and would still go ahead to do whatever they wanted but Mateo wasn't one to let a moment of rest slip by.

The time being displayed on the clock now was 6:30 AM as the sun was slowly rising up to the sky, but the winger was still lying on his bed with both of his hands at the back of his head and his gaze on the ceiling.

'Villarreal beat West Ham, two goals to one last week, and are currently on leveled points. If they beat us they move to first place, if we beat them we stay where we are, a draw also means we will still stay at the top. So, it's either a draw or a win, I'm not looking forward to losing.'

The winger still had other thoughts running through his mind when he suddenly felt his phone vibrate.

He didn't even turn toward it and just stretched his hands toward it with his gaze still on the ceiling and picked it up.

"Amber?" He muttered before pressing the answer option. "Hello."

"Hello, Mateo, um…I'm at your front door, do you mind coming to open the door?" She requested as her voice resounded through the speaker.

"You're in my front door?" Mateo said before quickly sitting up on his bed.

"Yeah." She replied.

"You never told me you were visiting me today and you had to come this early," Mateo said as he got up from the bed and made his way out of his room and to the door.

Amber didn't say anything until he opened the door to see her standing there with a small bag in her hand.

"But, seriously, you should have at least told me earlier." He said before putting his phone down.

"I'm sorry but I didn't plan to come visit you."

"Huh?"

"I just came by to buy something from a shop around here so I figured that since I was near your home I should pay you a visit." She replied before raising her gaze to look at him.

"Oh, so, you just wanted to say hi." The winger said.

"Yeah, but not exactly." She said before walking past him to enter the house.

Mateo just let out a sigh before shutting the door.

"So, what did you go to buy?" He asked with his gaze on her bag.

"Um….a couple of cooking ingredients that I didn't have." She replied.

"Oh, so you were about to go make breakfast." The winger said before slowly moving closer to her.

"Yeah, but since I'm here now, why don't I make breakfast for you?" She suggested before slowly turning her gaze to the kitchen.

"You want to make breakfast for me?"

"Yeah." She said already making her way to the kitchen. "I'll make you something nice so you can skip this part of your daily routine."

"Okay," Mateo muttered.

"Just don't think too much about it, we are friends after all." She said before smiling at him.

"Yeah, I guess I'll go brush my teeth now." He said as he slowly made his way to the door leading to his room. "Thanks for the help."

'She's acting a bit weird but I guess it's not exactly out of character for her.' He said subconsciously before making his way into his room.

It took a couple of minutes for Amber to finish what she was doing and now that she was done, the two sat down together to enjoy the meal.

There was this awkward silence in the room as the two sat opposite each other and ate their meals.

Amber didn't like this and decided to do something about it.

"So, how do you like my cooking?" She asked.

"Um…. It's okay, you cook better than me that's for sure." He replied.

"Oh, I'm glad you're enjoying the food then." She said. "You guys are heading to Villarreal today, right?"

"Yeah, but we still have a lot of time left, we were told to get enough rest before then," Mateo replied.

"Oh, okay."

"Um…Amber, can I ask you something?"

"Sure." She replied with a nod.

"You wanted to come here this morning from the start, it wasn't because you came to this area to buy something, right? There are a lot of places where you can buy the kinds of stuff you bought here over at your side." The winger expressed.

After hearing him say that, she was quiet for a while before slowly putting her head down with a sigh.

"Yeah, you're right, I just wanted to come make breakfast for you before leaving this afternoon." She said.

"Leave? Where are you going?" Mateo asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"I'm not going away forever so don't worry." She said.

"Oh, but where are you going?"

"I made a request for a week leave and got it, so I'm going to visit my parents in Barcelona, it's been a while since we've seen each other." She explained.

"Oh."

"Yeah, and since I wasn't going to be seeing you for a week, I decided to come make my friend breakfast, I just wanted to um….spend the morning with you even if it is just sharing a meal." She expressed.

"I don't really know what to say, but, thanks, you're a really thoughtful person and a good friend." The winger said.

"Thank you." She replied with a smile. "I may come to watch your match against Villarreal tomorrow and if I do then you already know that it's not as a reporter but as a friend."

________ ________

Some hours went by and now it was time for the players to start making their way to Villarreal.

The time was 3:50 PM and all the players were already on the plane waiting for it to take off.

Mateo was sitting next to Dave just like always and while he was going through his phone, the goalkeeper was just staring at the seat in front of him but that wasn't really what he was doing.

<It was just a simulation, Dave, and besides it was just a one-goal defeat>

'Yeah, but that one goal defeat means they'll move ahead of us with three points.'

<It hasn't happened yet, Dave, and who's to say it's going to happen? You guys already trashed S.S. Lazio who are obviously stronger than them so on paper you guys appear stronger than them and you also have the players to prove that you are stronger than them>

'You have a point, we have what it takes to beat them, but I just don't want my teammates to underestimate them.'

<Of course, they wouldn't they didn't underestimate the smaller teams they've faced in the league and went out full force on them so why will they underestimate Villarreal in a European competition?>

'You're right, there's nothing to worry about.' He replied subconsciously before turning his gaze to Mateo.

"Hey, Emma told me that Amber left for Barcelona this afternoon, did you know anything about it?" He asked.

"Yeah, she came to my place this morning," Mateo replied with his gaze still on his phone.

"To tell you?"

"Not exactly she wanted to make breakfast for me which she did, I don't know if she wanted to tell me about it but when I asked, she told me anywhere." The winger explained.

"Oh, so she came over to make breakfast for you before leaving, that's interesting," Dave muttered.

"Huh?"

"Never mind."

The pilot was already on the plane now as the time hit 4:00 PM.

He started the engine and raced down the track before taking off to the sky, their destination being Villarreal.