Whenever Zachary wasn’t training with the team, he would also find time to perform the physical and mental conditioning drills required to master the Robinho-step-over juju. Whether it was day or night, it didn’t matter to him. He would work on his dribbling skills either in the system’s simulator or on the training ground at Lerkendal whenever he got the opportunity.

Step by step, he slowly pushed the progress of his mental and physical mastery of the step-over juju to above 90%. By the fifth day, when only a single day remained to the second leg match against Fiorentina, he could already side-step on the training ground quite well. He could even take on his teammates and beat them while solely relying on his step-overs.

He was evidently on the cusp of achieving true mastery over the technique. Nevertheless, Zachary understood that he wasn’t ready to utilize the step-over skill in official matches.

As long as he couldn’t master all the aspects of the juju to more than a hundred percent, it would remain as good as useless. That was because he would be prone to making missteps during critical moments of the game if he tried out a skill that he hadn’t made his own. It was the simple—but ugly truth.

”I can only take one step at a time,” Zachary resolved. “What’s most important is to beat Fiorentina the day after tomorrow. After the game, I’ll have roughly two weeks to master the skill in its whole totality and make it my own.”

Zachary continued training after making the resolution. Even though the sun had already sunk below the horizon in the west, he continued exerting himself and going through various drills on the training ground to condition himself.

That day, he only ended his targeted practice at around nine o’clock at night. He then stretched for a few minutes before taking a shower in the bathrooms beside the training ground’s locker rooms. After drying himself and dressing up, he quickly exited Lerkendal and jumped into his R8 GT. Before long, he was cruizing on the roads of Trondheim, heading to his apartment to rest for the night. He was eager to get back home since he’d already made plans to spend the night with Camilla.

**** ****

Wednesday, February 26, 2014.

—–

The Rosenborg players, who’d made Coach Johansen’s match squad, boarded a KLM Airlines flight early in the morning that day and headed to Florence, Italy. They were on their way to play the second leg of the Europa League’s round of thirty-two fixture against Fiorentina.

The journey was a pleasant one, without any mishaps. As a result, the plane managed to touch down on the runway of the Aeroporto di Firenze-Peretola five and a half hours later — when the clock was just pointing to midday.

The players, including Zachary, quickly stepped out of the plane under the guidance of the dedicated staff. However, not even a single Rosenborg fan came to welcome them as the club was not famous in Italy. So, before long, they successfully made their way to the airport’s arrivals section without much fanfare.

”Welcome to Florence, team Rosenborg,” a gentleman who was part of the airport staff said. “You can go through that gate to pick up your check-in luggage.”

All the members of Rosenborg’s delegation possessed Norwegian identity cards that were valid throughout the entire Schengen area. Thence, the procedures at the airport were pretty straightforward.

In only about thirty minutes, all the players, coaches, and medical personnel had already collected their luggage and quickly exited the airport. Without wasting time, they boarded a bus arranged for the team and were soon on their way to Hotel Villa Gabriele D’Annunzio, where they would spend the two nights in Florence.

On the way to the hotel, Zachary couldn’t take his eyes off the various captivating sceneries that flashed by the bus window. The blend of the gorgeous roads and the Renaissance architecture gave the metropolis a unique historical ambiance that could even captivate the minds of the most hard-to-please tourists. Florence was really a beautiful city as far as Zachary was concerned.

”Okay, guys,” Trond Henriksen, the assistant head coach, yelled from the front of the bus after a few more minutes of driving. “The schedule is as follows when we arrive at the hotel. We’ll first check into our hotel rooms before having our lunch. We’ll then rest for about an hour to recover from the jet lag before going through a conditioning session in the gym at 3:00 PM. After that, you’ll all have to return to your hotel rooms to rest. No player is allowed to leave the hotel grounds to tour the city. We don’t want any of you to face unexpected incidents before our game tomorrow evening. Are we together?”

”Yes, coach.”

”Good,” Coach Trond Henriksen said, nodding. “We’ve arrived. Get ready to alight from the bus.”

—–

As planned, the team only went through a conditioning session at three that evening. After that, the Rosenborg players returned to their rooms to rest as per the coach’s instructions.

Of late, Coach Johansen had become much stricter and had even benched a couple of first-team players who couldn’t follow his instructions. Thus, all the selected players were on their best behavior that night as they didn’t want to get into the bad books of their coach. They all stayed in their rooms without complaint until it was time for dinner.

After dinner, most of the players, including Zachary, gathered in the hotel lounge to watch the UEFA Champions League match between FC Schalke 04 and Real Madrid.

The game was one-sided, with Real Madrid dominating the proceedings from the first minute. Each of the three forwards – Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale, and Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace, taking Real Madrid’s tally to six goals at the end of the night. FC Schalke 04 only managed to bag one consolation goal, curtsey of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, late in the 90th minute.

Zachary felt his blood boil after watching the complete thrashing by the Spanish giants. Their football was really pleasing to the eyes and their teamwork incredible. Every player had a well-defined role on the pitch, making their football too easy and enjoyable.

Zachary even started considering whether he should also join a giant team after transferring out of Rosenborg. It was a notion that was really tempting, especially to him, a player who desired to play football at the highest level.

——

The following morning, the players woke up early. After having breakfast, they traveled by bus to a nearby training ground to go through some last-minute preparations for the game. Under the strict supervision of the coaches, they worked with the ball for roughly two hours and refined their tactics on the field before returning to their hotel rooms to rest.

Zachary, on his part, soon busied himself with watching the past matches of Fiorentina when he returned to his room. He wanted to effectively exploit all the shortcomings of his opponents since the game was akin to a life and death battle as far as he was concerned. So, aside from when he had meals, he spent most of the day on his phone, trying his best to find Fiorentina’s weaknesses from the past match videos.

It was a tedious task, for sure. However, Zachary went at it with a hundred percent focus until he could name the personal shortcomings of each of the Fiorentina players. By evening, he already knew well those who were slow-paced and had even crammed the usual habits of most regulars on the Italian side. It was as if he’d turned into an analyst for team Fiorentina.

”Knock! Knock! Zachary, are you in?”

Suddenly, his ears picked up a loud knocking sound followed by the voice of Mikael Dorsin, the assistant captain, from behind the door.

”The door is open, Mikael,” Zachary replied, glancing up from his phone. “You can just come in.”

Mikael immediately shoved the door open and stepped into the room. “It’s already 7:00 PM,” he said. “Only two hours remain to the game’s kick-off. So, the coach has called everyone down to eat a light dinner before heading to the stadium.”

”Oh!” Zachary said after taking a peek at his watch. “Give me a minute to prepare my match gear. We can go down together.”

”You seemed quite busy!” Mikael remarked, stealing a peek at Zachary’s phone. “What were you doing?”

”I was analyzing Fiorentina’s past match videos,” Zachary replied as he got up from the bed.

”You’re really working hard!” Mikael exclaimed. “How can you handle watching those boring videos all day long, especially right before a game?”

”I simply want to win,” Zachary responded. “So, I’m doing my best to gain an advantage over the opponents.”

”I guess you’re right,” Mikael said with a smile. “Since the coach has again given you a free role in the squad, you’ll have free reign on the pitch. You’ll have to decide how and where to play during the match. So, researching the opponents is really important in your case.”

”Exactly,” Zachary concurred, slinging his gym bag over his shoulder. “I’m ready now. Let’s head down before the team bus leaves us behind.”

”Okay.”

**** ****