Second Chances: Indonesian Football Player

Chapter 103's

Dressed in Anderlecht's new purple-white sportswear, Nero made it onto the pitch as the new time showed nine minutes to nine. He let out a long sigh when he realized that the coaches had not come yet.

Most of the other players have long started doing warm-up exercises on the field. Some stretch or gather in groups playing rondo or juggling balls. The rest run cone exercises.

It was still a pre-training session. The players are free to use it to practice in any way they want. Despite the lack of supervision, they all undergo training with absolute focus, according to their status as professional footballers from the Belgian top-flight club.

Nero let his gaze scour the entire field, passing four goalkeepers who were practicing diving and catching until finally it was fixed on a group that was doing cone training. He saw Olivier Deschacht, the newly appointed captain of Anderlecht, running a triangle through a cone. His thinning hairline and towering height of over six feet gave him a cruel look. It was the kind of display Nero saw in unreasonable players like Rio Ferdinand, Marco Materazzi and Gennaro Gattuso.

Contrary to his fearsome attitude, the captain is a relaxed person who has no conflict with anyone unless they make a big mistake on the pitch. As long as you play to the best of your ability, you will remain in the captain's good book without further ado.

Accompanying him are Bram Nuytinck, vice-captain, Matias Suarez, the striker from Argentina, and Alexsandar Mitrovic, Nero's new acquaintance. They run past the cone— sometimes moving backwards and forwards while making sharp turns in a row.

When Nero saw the four of them taking turns running conical exercises, he guessed they were training their speed, reaction time, and agility.

He had a good understanding of the practice because he had trained with it even in his previous life. This helps increase speed and agility for short sprints and quick change of direction. It teaches players how to control their bodies and maintain a ready attitude. In addition, practice increases reaction time because players have to wait for a pair cue before running to cone— similar to how one should react to the ball or an opponent during a game. It was a very effective exercise.

Since Nero had already run six miles that morning, he had no intention of joining in any intensive training. So, he found himself on the sidelines and started stretching.

She wants to save her stamina by doing a lighter warm-up routine. That way, he will be able to perform optimally when the actual training session begins.

However, when he was only a minute into the routine, Bram Nuytinck noticed him and stopped running the triangle cone exercise. "Nero," he, the vice-captain, shouted, waving. "Come and join us. Don't just lie on the sidelines." Hearing Bram's cry, the other three players who were training with him also turned their heads and turned their gazes towards Nero.

"And here I thought I could relax during the warm-up today," murmured Nero inaudibly, smiling wryly. He stopped stretching and ran small towards the middle circle, where Bram and the others were training.

Although Nero wanted to avoid training, he could not simply ignore the vice-captain's invitation. He wants to fit in with the team, and the first step to doing that is to tie up excessive training.

"A little bird told me that you have finally joined our ranks" Bram, the vice-captain, said with a smile. "Congratulations." He extended a gloved hand to greet her.

"Thank you, and good morning to you, too" Nero said, shaking his hand.

Mikael looks like a typical Dutchman, with his bald hair . He is a tough defender who has been a central figure at Anderlecht since 2010. If not for his more mature age, Nero is confident he will remain captain rather than Olivier Deschacht, the new recruit number 4.

During the last few training sessions Anderlecht attended by Nero, he began to understand that he had to be on good terms with the vice-captain in order to fit in with the team. But luckily, Bram only cares about one thing: bringing Anderlecht back to the top. As long as you are talented enough, he will treat you as a friend both on and off the field. He considers Nero very good because he is one of the most promising young talents in the team.

"OK, let's get back to business," Bram said after Nero finished tos with his fists with Alexsandar Mitrovic and uttered 'hello' to another player— namely captain Olivier and Matias Suarez.

*PRIIIT*

At 09:30, the assistant coach's whistle sounded. Every player on the pitch, including Nero, immediately stopped whatever they were doing and got into their ranks at one end of the pitch. When the assistant finally finished arranging the cones into two rows, Mr. Rolf, the fitness coach, began to lead Nero and his new teammates through dynamic warm-ups.

Anderlecht's first-team training has officially begun.

"Let's start slowly and warm those sleeping muscles" Mr. John Van Vert as he stepped past the cone, showing what he expects from the players.

The players follow suit, starting with slow, light dynamic movements such as stretching the calf. They continue to add more vigorous movements like frog hop and walk forward by lifting the legs as they make rounds around the cones. They made the exercise even more intense until they ran fast and everything was soaked in sweat towards the end of the workout.

By then, Nero was breathing like a fish that had just been taken out of the water. He was exhausted from having practiced intensively since before dawn. However, Nero still forced himself to follow the others until the training session was over. He understood that he could get better faster only when he pushed himself beyond his limits. And since he had a cheat like a physical conditioning potion, he was determined to use it to improve his fitness as quickly as possible.

After completing the dynamic warm-up, the players were allowed a short break. But two minutes later, Bersch Hill, Anderlecht's assistant coach, blew his whistle, signaling the start of passing practice.

Nero and his team-mates did not complain in the slightest. They begin passing the ball through a practice mannequin set up in a rectangular formation around the field. For the next twenty minutes, they did nothing complicated. They 'just' kick the ball to their peers when it's their turn as they move clockwise around the mannequin. They mainly focus on training the basics such as passing, ball control, and— positioning and perform related routines in repetitive exercises to achieve perfection.

Nero is once again amazed at how professionals can use simple basic training routines to achieve their goals. But he was well aware that it was all thanks to the coach watching the players.

The coaches are constantly yelling at the players to stay sharp or improve their kicking posture. They do not allow any weakness, making the exercise very intense and effective. When a player makes a mistake, they will not make small talk with him. They would give him a mouthful of their harsh criticism as they pointed out what he had done wrong.

As the session progresses, the players move on to more complex moves involving many variations of the Give and Go routine. As Nero is not new to professional team training focused on passing, he goes through passing practice without making mistakes. He was highly motivated to make an impression and win a place in the squad heading to Russia the next day. Moreover, his mastery of Perfect Vision had helped hone his passing ability. Thus, he went through training without losing a lot of energy because he was more efficient with the ball.

At exactly 11:00, Coach Hill, Anderlecht's assistant coach, blew his whistle once more and gestured for all the players to head to the sidelines where Coach Marcel was waiting. Everyone on the pitch, including Nero and his group, immediately stopped their training and walked towards the coach.

"Good morning to all of you" said Coach Marcel after the players formed a semi-circle around him. He speaks English because he is aware that many of the newly recruited players have not yet mastered Dutch.

"Good morning, coach," replied the players, more or less in unison.

"Without wasting any time, we will soon resume the positioning exercises we started yesterday" said the coach, rubbing his bearded chin. “In this session, we will not focus on any position-specific exercises, but teamwork. This session aims to help us adapt to the new 4-3-3 formation that we will mainly use during the season. For your information, that's the formation we'll use in the friendly against Rubin Kazan tomorrow. So fight it."

Coach Marcel went on to explain what he expected from the players during the next session. They will play a game of 11 vs 11, focusing on passing and positioning in a 4-3-3 formation. Each player can only do a maximum of two touches on the ball before passing it. Otherwise, he will be penalized for holding the ball longer than allowed.

When Coach Marcel finished explaining the practice, his assistant Bersch Hill split the players into two teams one in the red vest and the other in the green vest. Nero is desperate to play because it has been a long time since he has not participated in such an intense match.