Fantasy Football-Chapter 31: Striders Style.

“Let’s go!!!” The crowd roared as the match kicked off, they fully expected the Dark Elites to get crushed, but they still wanted a good show, from the first touch, The Striders FC seized control.

They were fast, aggressive, and direct, they tried to catch the Dark Elites cold with every play, the moment their striker rolled the ball backwards, the entire midfield of the Strider FC surged into Dark Elites’ half while both strikers pushed toward the box, while their defenders launched long balls at the two tall forwards up top.

The Striders lined up in a 4-4-2 formation, with the four midfielders stretching wide to pull apart the Dark Elites’ shape, the opening ten minutes were a barrage: long ball, flick-on, shot. 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

If one striker won the header, he nodded it to the other; and the striker who gets the free ball didn’t seem to care much if he either got within range or not, he hit it each time, balanced or not.

More than once, blast shots cannoned into Kehinde (Okududu) or James (Mopol), the Dark Elites’ two center-backs, who threw themselves in front of everything like their lives depended on it.

Even whenever the Dark Elites managed to claw back any loose ball, a Striders midfielder would crash into them recklessly, nick the ball, then recycle it to the back line, where the cycle restarted.

It was crude, simple, and brutally effective and the Dark Elites found themselves wondering why a ref hadn’t blown for half the tackles that they have received.

It took conceding once for the reality to sink in, that nothing would change if they kept playing the same way, the switch finally flipped around the 15th minute.

As usual, the ball was kicked back toward the defence of Striders FC, and as usual, the Dark Elites, were still trying to process how to match their tempo with all the crazy fouls they have been facing—

So they had most of their defenders move toward the two strikers to block, since both of the strikers seem to be the target of everything; however, the slight mistake of Kofo and Chinoso—the right and left backs—made by tucking inside to help in containing the strikers is where the trouble started.

It was almost like the Strider FC defender had been waiting for it; as he pulled back like he wanted to whip the ball in as usual, however he was just feinting another long ball, because the moment the Dark Elites shifted he dropped his leg and drove the ball forward, cutting straight into the middle.

And the ease with which he strode in showed how effective the feint had been; Bhola did moved quickly to close him down at the middle,

However, the defender quickly released the ball to the No. 8 midfielder ahead of him, without any fancy touches or hesitation, the No. 8 twisted his body, even as Lambert tried to nick the ball from between his legs.

He used his superior strength and physique to push past, bursting toward the left wing on a fast break and catching Chinoso off guard,

Though Chinoso tried to track back, however the midfielder had already broken through, and with one deft swing of his left foot he lofted a cross into the penalty box—high—where one of the two strikers had positioned himself and lunged into the air in a bid to head into the net.

The ball finally arced into the penalty area; however, before the first striker could meet it with his Mohawk-styled head, Kado came out and punched the ball clear, the striker, who was still lunging towards the ball, was shocked at how easily Kado beat him to it as he started to think— ‘if Kado wasn’t tall, then how could he spring like that?”

However, Kado hadn’t pushed it far enough to safety, he just pushed it towards the location of Jezzy Vingz, however one of the midfielders of the Striders FC crashed straight into Vingz, sending him sprawling as the two went down in a tangle, he had done this on purpose to make Vingz lose balance and out of the ball range.

And the ball fell to the free striker who had been lurking in the pocket, waiting for his chance—and it finally came.

With no defender on him, thanks to the chaos caused by the No. 8’s cross, he slammed his left foot through the ball.

As it skidded low and drove into the bottom-left corner.

“Goal!!!” The commentator was already screaming before the Striders FC players could even react, and the crowd roared with him, especially those who’d bet on Striders FC.

From his seat, Viper just snickered, fifteen minutes in, and he already believed the game was a lost cause with how much Striders FC were dominating, though he had no interest in rubbing it in Mystic’s face given the amount of money at stake.

Yet while others were losing faith, this was exactly when Mystic smiled the most, as he was more certain than ever they would win, throughout those fifteen minutes of pressure, he hadn’t said a word, even as his players braced for a harsh outburst.

He simply stood there, silent, analyzing Striders’ entire approach with his ability, their gaps, their loose marks, the open lanes, and the most obvious of all: they burned far too much energy trying to control the game with brute force, draining their stamina faster than normal.

As Striders FC celebrated, Mystic beckoned Lambert and Vingz over and tweaked the plan with the two defensive midfielders at the helm.

“Let’s go, boys,” Lambert said quietly as he returned to position, he didn’t even need to shout; as the look in everyone’s eyes had already changed.

They were completely pissed at how they had conceded a goal so easily, and they were ready to flip the game’s tempo.

Now they realized the referee wasn’t interested in calling fouls, if anything, he seemed thrilled by the rough play because it hyped the crowd.

And for the first time, they understood why normal teams avoided this competition.

“Pheeew!” The whistle sounded again as the Dark Elites restarted play, this time with fresh conviction and a small tactical tweak

that Lambert and Vingz had just passed along.