Chapter 36: The personality of a G.O.A.T!
Team Yellow dressing room…
"You have 10 minutes to rest and recover during the half time". One of the hired officials of the final announced to them as they went in.
Total silence dominated the dressing room as the 11 players of Team Yellow located their seats and sat down. None of them had the energy to speak, their brain was just filled with recollections of the first half.
'What went wrong?' Endrick felt like he was going crazy.
'I did everything that I could, I played amazing, then why couldn't we score?'
One of his greatest fears started being realized before his face, he was yet to start and his dreams of becoming the G.O.A.T of this era were already being dashed, he felt like everything was amiss.
While Endrick tried to discover what went wrong in his thoughts, his teammates were not in much of a dilemma, they knew what went wrong.
All of them felt like they were stuck in an abyss.
'We were simply outmatched and outplayed'.
Apart from Turtle909, Hell-Bulldozer and the other defenders of this team felt crushed. They shuddered. 'I still feel like the aura of those 2 killers are stalking me, playing against them is…' They could not describe it.
Throughout the first half, Legion and Enigma taught them a lesson.
Maria202 pursed her lips, unwilling to accept defeat. 'Is Lord-of-Support better than me? He bossed the midfield in terms of creativity'.
While she asked, unwilling to accept it, WarriorThug already accepted it. 'I was outplayed on every angle by Apeman'.
His face was like a warrior stuck in a world war who had gone through a lot.
He finally remembered Endrick's words, then he came to his conclusion. 'Team Black is simply better than us'.
Anthony1 and Drip-Lord were experiencing the same feeling of inferiority. 'Flash204's speed is too rapid to beat'.
'Aurora88 is even better than I am at dribbling, what's the use?'
Paschal007's face was pale. Unlike the others, he didn't keep it in his mind, he just kept on muttering softly. "Ice-in-mah-veins".
"Prime-Defender".
"Ice-in-mah-veins".
"Prime-Defender".
Sitting close to him, Endrick was annoyed but he did not speak out.
He remained drowned in the prison and battle of his mind. Different chaotic thoughts filled his brain, and unknowing to him, time was almost up already.
"You have 2 minutes before the 2nd half starts".
All the players except Endrick felt their hearts skip beats, he was not bothered by that, what really bothered him soon came.
~_______________~
~Strongest System~
DING!
[Daily System Reminder!]
[Penalty for Mission Failure: You lose the Strongest System!]
~___________~
"…" Endrick's eyes instantly became hollow.
They didn't stay like that for long though, a fiery Lion soon awakened in his heart. 'This is not the mentality of a G.O.A.T!' He reprimanded himself.
'F*ck me!' He cursed himself.
'If Kylian Mbappe had this mentality, he would have never ascended his limits in the 2022 World Cup final to come so close to mounting an almost impossible comeback, scoring a hattrick'.
'And this isn't even a World Cup final, it's just the elite team trials'.
His eyes gleamed. 'This tournament is too low-grade to stop my rise'.
'Nothing can stop my rise!'
His brain immediately geared into a multi-tasking state, while keeping track of the time, he asked a question. 'I have a problem here; I need to solve it'.
'The 5 main steps to problem solving are defining the problem, gathering information, generating possible solutions, evaluating ideas and then choosing one'.
'Now, what is the problem?'
His eyes glowed like they were possessed by a wisdom demon.
'Me not returning to the peak state of my previous life is a problem but it's not the real problem, the real problem is the lacking skill level of my teammates'.
'Team Black outmatches us!' It was a bitter truth.
'Their central defenders are too good, including their midfielders, presenting a distribution problem to my team. What is the perfect way to solve this?'
He racked his brain; he almost tore it apart.
Despite how much he tried, he could not arrive at a full proof plan so he settled for the only one. 'Me!'
'I am the only one who can change the outcome of this final'.
'I've been trying to restrain myself, act humble so as to leave a good impression on my teammates but that is not the personality of a G.O.A.T'.
'The personality of a G.O.A.T is to be the leader!'
'The personality of a G.O.A.T is to take games tyrannically by the head and singlehandedly turn them around!'
'The personality of a G.O.A.T is Ronaldo scoring a hattrick, singlehandedly helping Juventus advance in the Champions League against all odds!'
'The personality of a G.O.A.T is Messi taking the 2011 Champions League final by the horns like a boss, dominating the field!'
'I…' He paused, he no longer stayed silent.
"I need to dominate the field!"
"That is the personality of a G.O.A.T!"
"Now, that is my solution".
Endrick's sudden outburst attracted the attention of his teammates. As they looked at him, he no longer decided to cower and drown in his thoughts like a coward, he finally decided to take charge of this game.
He stood up aggressively and faced his teammates.
"There has been a change of plans".
"From the first half, it is clear that we are inferior to our opponents".
He looked at them aggressively. "I am the only one who can change this game, if you want to win, align with my plans".
"In the 2nd half". He turned to look at Drip-Lord. "You'll be playing as the 2nd center forward, I will be moving to my natural position, the right wing".
Then he looked at the defenders. "Like I said before the game began, forwards win matches but defenders win trophies".
"To mount a comeback, I need all 4 of you at your best".
He faced the fullbacks. "Your offensive input is valuable but in this 2nd half, it's not the most valuable, it's your defensive input that is".
"I need you all to do everything in your power to keep our defense sturdy".
"Even if it will break you, defend our goal".
"Even if it will kill you, defend our goal!"
Then he looked at the midfielders, WarriorThug. "It's painful to admit it but you're outmatched by Apeman, let's face reality".
"In this 2nd half, I don't want you to match him".
"Instead…, battle him".
"Push him, shove him, foul him, do everything to break his game".
WarriorThug clenched his fists, his blood started boiling.
Then Endrick finally faced Maria. "In this 2nd half, all I need from you is your vision, no matter where you are in the pitch, always know my position".
"Your number 1 job is to always feed the ball to me when I need it".
Endrick patted his chest. "I will do the rest".
He looked at the forwards. "Play like your life depends on it".
"Play the game of your lives".
"Let's show them what we are made of".
Team Yellow was finally invited back to the pitch for the 2nd half.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone