THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

-----

Cagliari Calcio 2: Juventus FC 0

-----

Coach Max Allegri was brimming with fury as he glanced at the score on the Stadio Sant'Elia's massive jumbotron. From his experience as a coach, he clearly understood that the fighting spirit of his players was at the bottom low for that game against Cagliari Calcio. As such, their pass completion rate was terrible, and they were lax and not hardworking enough while taking on the opponents. They were far from their best and had thus already conceded two goals against Cagliari.

"Boss!" Maurizio Trombetta, Juventus' assistant coach in charge of the first team, said. "The medics have already come to a conclusion. Andrea can't continue. His calf suffered the brunt of the tackle, and he can't finish the remaining minutes of the game."

"Shit!" Coach Allegri muttered under his breath. "This day is turning out to be our worst outing in this Serie A season."

"Yes, indeed," Coach Maurizio, his assistant, agreed. "So, what's your plan, boss? Should we bring on Zachary to strengthen our midfield? He's our best option at the moment."

"Zachary..." Coach Max Allegri mumbled, frowning slightly. Of course, he knew Zachary was the best option to help Juventus out of their predicament. But the challenge was that he was still on punishment after arriving late that morning. As such, the coach didn't want to give him leeway by introducing him early into the game.

As if reading his mind, Coach Maurizio sighed. "Boss! I know that the team should be strict with all players, especially with regard to disciplinary matters. But aside from that, we sometimes need flexibility while enforcing some punishments. Take Zachary's case, for example. It was his first time driving in Italy. So, he missed the road sign and incurred the ire of the traffic police, thus arriving late. So, boss! Considering his circumstances, shouldn't we give him some leeway? Moreover, we need him in this game. Shouldn't we stop being rigid and bring him on to help us stabilize the situation? Remember! We must do all our best not to lose this game."

On hearing his assistant's words, Coach Allegri narrowed his eyes. He turned his attention back to the pitch and noticed that the medics were about to finish the first aid on the injured Andrea Pirlo. As such, if he didn't bring on a substitute right away, his team would have to play the next few minutes with only ten men on the field. And just because of that numerical disadvantage, Juventus might concede another goal immediately after the restart.

"This is really a bad day..." Sighing with dejection, Coach Max Allegri finally made up his mind. He turned his attention back to his assistant and said, "Let's go with your suggestion. We'll immediately introduce Zachary in place of Andrea Pirlo. We'll also bring on Alvaro Morata for Fernando Llorente to further stabilize our situation and create more chances up front."

"That's a good plan, boss," Coach Maurizio Trombetta said, his eyes sparkling with expectation. "Both Zachary and Morata have been warming up on the sidelines. I'll tell them to get ready and step onto the pitch immediately."

"Good," Coach Allegri said, nodding. "Let them hurry. We don't want to restart the game with only ten men."

"Okay."

-----

Zachary, who happened to be warming up on the sidelines, sighed with relief after learning that he would be entering the pitch. He hurriedly returned to the bench and changed into his match gear before stepping toward Maurizio Trombetta to receive his match instructions.

"Zachary!" The assistant coach said, patting his shoulder. "We don't have much time. So, I'll have to be brief. You'll be substituting Andrea Pirlo in our midfield. Just play as a classical central midfielder and control the play in and around the center of the pitch. That's all we need from you to take back the initiative against the opponents. Any questions?"

"None, coach," Zachary responded. "I know what I have to do."

"Good!" Coach Trombetta smiled. "Don't forget what we discussed yesterday. Forget the fans during the game and focus only on your football. Okay?"

"I understand, coach," Zachary replied, his voice brimming with confidence. His yearning for some football action had soared high into the night skies of Sardinia, especially after spending a considerable fraction of the match on the bench. His conviction was beyond normal levels, and he was ready to do his best to help his team turn the game around. As for the Cagliari fans, rumored to have racist tendencies, they could go to hell. He would use his skills to silence them, and everything would be uncomplicated from there on.

-----

*FWEEEEEEE*

The referee's whistle sounded a few seconds later, and the fourth official put up his board to signal the substitutions. Zachary immediately ran onto the pitch in place of the injured Andrea Pirlo, while Alvaro Morata, the Spanish striker, replaced Fernando Llorente. They quickly took up their positions, and the referee blew the whistle to restart the match with a Juventus free kick.

Since the free-kick position was close to the center circle and far away from Cagliari's goal, the Juventus players decided to take it short. Arturo Vidal, Juventus' defensive midfielder, flicked the ball toward the right wing — to find Stephan Lichtsteiner, and with that, the game was again underway.

Stephan Lichtsteiner, Juventus' attacking wing-back, was as swift as ever on the flanks. He fed the ball past Danilo Avelar, Cagliari's left midfielder, before initiating a mad dash toward the other side of the pitch. Then, when the angle opened up, he chipped the ball into the middle to find Zachary, who had just run into an unmarked pocket of space on the border of the final third.

Zachary relied on his perfect control to connect with the pass from Stephan Lichtsteiner. But no sooner had he made the second touch than the boos and jeers around the Stadio Sant'Elia hit a crescendo. The Cagliari staunch fans behind their goal immediately started hauling insults at him while others vocalized maddening monkey chants, hoping to throw him off his game.

"What the hell..." Zachary was surprised by the behavior of the fans as he prodded the ball forward. It was as if the entire stadium was against him, as the Cagliari supporters went all out to boo him and disrupt his concentration. And it was at that moment that he realized that it wasn't good to take the warnings of the coaches lightly.

"I just need to keep my calm and ignore them..." Zachary thought to himself as he continued moving the ball forward, hoping to initiate an attack against Cagliari. However, one of his touches on the ball was a bit too heavy, and he gifted the opponents a chance to regain possession through Daniele Conti, a Cagliari midfielder.

Daniele Conti, also the Cagliari captain, was on point when Zachary blundered. He executed a ruthless sliding tackle and booted the ball away from Zachary's feet to find Antonio Balzano, Cagliari's right midfielder.

And with that, Cagliari was again on the counter for the umpteenth time that evening while Zachary was yet to understand how he'd lost the ball. A few seconds had already passed since he committed the error, but he was still standing in the same spot as a statue, seemingly unaware that he'd just gifted the opponents another goal-scoring chance.

"Ripiegare e difendere. Ripiegare e difendere..."

The yells of Coach Allegri jolted Zachary out of his trance, and he whirled around just in time to see Antonio Balzano, the Cagliari midfielder, racing towards Juventus' half at breakneck speed. He could see that it was another dire situation for Juventus, as most of his teammates had been in Cagliari's half when he lost the ball.

"Fortunately, there's still time..."

Such a thought flashed through Zachary's mind, and he took off, chasing after the Cagliari man with the ball. His long strides ate up yards of space in seconds, and he cut through the middle of the pitch like a bullet out of a muzzle. He pursued to defend since he was hell-bent on rectifying his blunder by stopping the counter and winning the ball back for Juventus.

Fortunately for Zachary, Antonio Balzano slowed down after running into a blockade by Giorgio Chiellini right after racing past the center line. The Cagliari man tried to go wide instead of cutting inside with the ball, thus allowing Zachary to catch up from behind. And that simple error was what put an end to Cagliari's counter.

Zachary was not the least bit careless when he caught up to Antonio Balzano. He bided his time well and pressured the Cagliari midfielder with his presence.

He forced Antonio Balzano to make a series of errors, and when the time was ripe, he slid forth without hesitation. He booted the ball toward Giorgio Chiellini and thus stopped Cagliari's counterattack before it could do any damage against Juventus.

"BOOOO..."

Deafening boos and jeers immediately erupted from the stands as Zachary picked himself from the ground after executing the tackle. He could even hear monkey chants mixed in with the sounds as the Cagliari supporters tried to rattle him and throw him off his rhythm.

But unluckily for them, Zachary had already entered the zone after making that tackle to win back the ball. He was in a high state of focus, and the chants from the stands seemed like background noise without any influence on his mental state.

"Chiellini!" He yelled towards the center back. "Pass the ball to me."

On hearing the shout, Chiellini, who was about to pass the ball back to the keeper, immediately halted his actions. He glanced at Zachary with a trace of surprise in his eyes and then kicked the ball to him.

"Excellent..."

Zachary thought to himself as he brought the ball under control. He was already in the zone — and as such, his heightened spatial awareness allowed him to have a perfect view of the entire field.