My Football Legends Chat Group-Chapter 82: FA Cup Third Round

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Georginio Rutter was essentially the most gifted technical player on the team, and he was only twenty-one years old. Just imagining what kind of monster would be unleashed if his potential was fully unlocked gave Rio goosebumps.

Now that he thought about it, Rutter never made it to a top Champions League side in his previous life either, mostly due to his confidence issues.

Rio’s thoughts were broken by the manager who looked like he was about to speak.

"We’ve been working our asses off for the past month, and now is the time to test out how far we’ve come," Farke said, looking over all his players on the Thorp Arch training pitch.

"In the busy December lead up to the FA Cup, we’ll be playing three games a week."

He continued, "We’ll talk about the league games later, but I wanted to announce the squad for the FA Cup Third Round against Arsenal."

A wave of excitement fell upon the players, or at least those who were not already guaranteed a starting spot. Archie Gray subconsciously gravitated towards Rio, gripping onto his jacket and showing his anxiety.

"If I call your name, step forward..."

"Midfield: Ethan Ampadu, Glen Kamara, Ilia Gruev. Defense: Joe Rodon, Pascal Struijk, Sam Byram, Junior Firpo. Forwards: Dan James, Joel Piroe, Crysencio Summerville."

Rio nodded; these were the standard senior squad members. He wasn’t surprised that the manager was picking a strong lineup for such a massive occasion.

"Goalkeeper... Illan Meslier. Bench impact: Rio Lance, Georginio Rutter."

The manager’s next words caused every player on the grass to look around with pure confusion. There were even some players such as Ampadu who audibly let out their shock.

However, Dan James was the most shocked out of everyone. He knew that Rio was miles better than him, which was why he had been working so hard to just keep up in the last month.

’So the Boss hasn’t given up on my pace just yet.’

Tears began to form at the corner of his eyes as he was filled with gratitude. He inwardly vowed to run until his lungs collapsed against Arsenal, thanking the manager for his belief in him.

Farke’s gaze fell on Rio who seemed to have no reaction. His expression was unflappable, as if nothing could affect him.

"Boss, I thought Rio was already named our new permanent Captain?"

Ethan Ampadu voiced his concerns aloud, taking it upon himself to address the tactical elephant in the room.

However, Farke shook his head. "I said this is the starting line up for the cup game. I won’t be accepting any fucking feedback."

A small smile crept onto Rio’s face as he was able to read between the lines.

[Chat Room Active]

Total_Football_14: Ah, the classic decoy. Arsenal will prepare for you, and your manager pulls the rug out. Brilliant.

Zizou_5: A risky game. But when you come on in the 60th minute against tired legs... it will be a bloodbath.

’The Boss wants to keep me a secret by the looks of it. But I should probably get some play time against the Premier League leaders eventually,’ Rio thought.

Since they would only see Arsenal’s elite defenders at the Emirates, it would be inconsequential if Rio played against their reserves in a dead league game. It seemed that Farke had this planned from the beginning.

The less data Mikel Arteta had of Rio’s new S-Grade stats, the better their chances of pulling off a massive giant-killing.

Of course he wanted to start the biggest game of his life, but he would do anything in order for the team to win at this point.

After shutting down Ampadu curtly, Farke continued.

"Remaining bench players: Liam Cooper, Jaidon Anthony, Archie Gray. That is all."

Rio felt the grip on his jacket tighten. When he turned around he saw Archie’s ugly crying face, causing him to recoil subconsciously.

"I-I’m so happy," Archie said, tears and snot covering his face.

Since he was still kind of out of breath from his rehab runs, Archie looked like a sick patient in the hospital who was afflicted with some kind of disease.

"D-Dude, stay the fuck back," Rio said as he saw Archie inching closer to him for a hug. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

Sarah, the young social media admin, along with the other media staff who were off to the side filming, watched on with mixed emotions as the manager gave the announcement.

The youngest of them, Sarah, looked worriedly at Rio who was currently backing away from a snotty Archie. She had watched him since Farke said he’d be on the bench, yet his expression was as stoic as ever.

She expected to see some pain or disappointment on his features, especially since he had been carrying the team on his back over the past month. However, he was like a machine instead, showing no emotions.

For some reason this made her feel sorrow on his behalf.

Sarah thought back to their meeting this morning in the canteen where he seemed to be so genuinely happy and excited, and felt an ache in her heart.

"Don’t worry Sarah, I’m sure the manager has his reasons for making Rio the bench impact," Dave the kit man said, placing his hand on the girl’s shoulder.

"Y-Yeah. See even Rio doesn’t appear to be upset about it," Tim the intern pointed out, trying to cheer her up.

"Yeah..." Sarah said after a while, letting out a sigh.

"Let’s go get the cameras packed up and get the post-training interviews ready," She said a moment later, leaving the scene.

Unaware of the concern being shown his way, Rio had managed to finally avoid the snot demon Archie and was about to head over and begin his free-kick practice.

"Rio, do you have a moment?"

"Hmm?" Rio spun around, hearing the manager’s voice.

He quickly followed Farke, having an inkling about what he wanted to talk about.

Once they were far enough away from prying ears inside the empty analytics office, Farke turned to Rio and spoke. "I know I said that I would make you the main guy, the Captain, but you need to trust me okay?"

Hearing this, Rio could only smile in response. Despite his outward German stoicism, the manager always looked out for his players’ mental health, even going so far as to pull Rio aside after such a shock announcement.

"Don’t worry Boss, I would have done the exact same thing," He said confidently.

"Oh? And why is that?" Taken aback, Farke asked.

With a smirk, Rio replied. "It makes sense to keep your best weapon hidden until the big boys get tired, right?"

Daniel Farke blinked a few times behind his glasses before scoffing.

"Bah, just make sure you’re in form when I need you," He said, waving off the cocky teenager. However, a small smile crept onto his face the moment he turned his back.

"Don’t worry, Boss," Rio whispered to the empty room as Farke walked away. "The Emirates won’t know what hit them."