The Wide Duel I

The Lille Youth Team is a side that matches Le Harve in many aspects. Both teams occasionally find themselves lurking near the top of the league, but never fail to establish themselves as a strong contender for the league title. Lille is also quite similar to Le Harve in terms of the quality of their youngsters. Lille OSC is located in the northern corner of France, and Lille is the 4th most populated city in the country. That poses an obvious virtue of talented footballers that can be scouted at a young age to be incorporated in Lille's vast and modern Domaine de Luchin training complex that was only built last year.

The Le Harve youngsters are in for a tough ride as they sat silently on the team bus, travelling along the motorway that connects the northern city of Lille with its neighbouring city of Valenciennes. They are on their way to Complexe Sportif de Luchin, the small 2000-seater stadium that is the home territory of Lille U-19.

The bus had a quiet atmosphere, not silent, but there were always the lingering sounds of whispers in the air between one teammate to another.

Following traditions, although there is no official seating arrangement for all personnel that were on the bus, the staff sat at the front of the bus and the players sat near the back. Kai was sitting near the middle, but just a bit further up to be beside Marley as the pot-bellied manager found himself late to the team bus, and had no choice but to sit near Kai, which had a spare seat beside him.

4 hours. 4 hours was how long it took for the transit to reach the city of Lille, which is bordering the nation of Belgium. As the bus pulled into the parking lot, the driver opened the doors for the passengers. The Le Harve U-19 members got off the bus one after another as they entered their stage to show, to redeem their previous failure in search of glory.

The crew got onto the complex, through the parking lot, before finding their venue: an open pitch in the middle of nowhere.

Though the pitch is already preoccupied with their hosts, Kai finds the Lille U-19 doing warm-up exercises, stretches, and small activities on the ball in preparation for the match.

Marley offered no hesitance. "Roys! Lead the warm-up." the manager ordered, which the team captain immediately nodded, and gestured to his teammates as they follow him through their routine preparation before a match. –– 2 laps around the field, gate stretches, and some pass-and-move drills.

Whilst this was happening, the away team's presence has already alerted the Lille players, and Marley took this opportunity. With his belly bouncing up and down when he walked, he approached the Lille U-19 Manager with his customary gestures. "Best of luck.Mr Mikael."

The man with short stubby hair, a round chin and a bubbly figure nodded as he shook Marley's hand. "Likewise."

The referee and his accomplices also took this opportunity as they introduced themselves to the two managers before, using a simple coin toss to decide who will be rewarded with the kickoff.

Lanier and Kai were located at their half of the pitch. Watching the players stretching their muscles in preparation for the game, though only half-heartedly as they held the tactic board in front of them.

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Goalkeeper: Luc Faira

Left Back: Ricardo Arbelaez

Centre Back: Dominique Simon

Centre Back: Gaston Allard

Right Back: Kai Chiu

Defensive Midfielder: Gérald Roys

Central Midfielder: Crescenzo Rivera

Central Midfielder: Papillion Séverin

Left Winger: Mauger Chevalier

Right Winger: Benoit Leroy

Centre Foreward: Bernard Pape

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Their default setup as always. But a few key changes to the lineup. The bench players included the likes of Cléments Desroches, Sacha Monet, Léonard Masson, and Léopold Roussel. All were equally capable to be substituted for the match if the situation called upon them, but the staff did have particular concerns with Desroches. The player is capable of walking and running, though the doctors have specified to restrict the number of minutes given to him as he still hasn't fully recovered from his knee injury.

Roussel performed fine last match, but his attacking output was a bit lacklustre compared to the left full-back like Arbeleaz. More importantly, the defender had a slight accident in the training ground, which might present an injury risk for the game. The manager had made the call for Kai Chiu to start as the right-back for this game, as he had performed decently as a wing-back against Amiens. The right-wing position must be filled, and Leroy has been temporarily moved out wide to replace Eze at the wing. At the very top, the impact substitute, Pape, will make his first match as the preferred striker in a 4-3-3

After the coin toss was finished, a light chatter soon commenced among the bald coach and the fat manager, before Marley replied, "Why not go with the flow? Make the best out of what we have."

Lanier nodded as he looked at the team. "Let's see if we have what it takes to win!"

Marley and the rest of the crew are stationed eagerly on the sidelines as they wait for the match to begin. The weather is nicer, with the snow long evaporated from the floor, a far cry from the frozen wasteland that was the match between Amiens and Le Harve. But the thought of that match left a sour taste in Kai's mouth as the score of 1–1 haunted him like a shadow. He shook his head as he focused his vision on the field.

The referee blew his whistle as the game was cleared for the start. There were certainly a lot of changes on the starting lineup, with players positioned in different positions from the usual setup, but this was not without preparation. Many of the players were prepared for this adjustment, as the coaching staff were delicately prepping Eze and Leroy ahead of the match.

But there was confidence, a belief eluding from the Le Harve side as each held firm resolve in defeating Lille even though they are significantly better than Amiens.

This is because of a tactical difference between the two. Le Harve's game has been direct. It's all about the transitional speed and their high-tempo play style that leave the opposition unwary and flustered by their sudden attack. When facing a team that sits back for the game, like Amiens. Le Harve would struggle as their direct style can't exploit the space behind defenders.

Leroy is built for the Le Harve style. Extremely fast, agile, and with excellent off-the-ball movements that often find himself in plenty of space, Benoit Leroy is the perfect striker for their direct game. The speedy forward can chase after those long balls using his speed as his advantage. This is much of the reason why he has scored 10 goals thus far.

Pape is different. He doesn't have that same mobility to get past defenders, but he has the height, something that people don't consider to be that valuable for a striker. Pape's height provides more options for the on-ball runners to find space and lay it off to him for a simple finish. On a simpler note, Bernard Pape is a target man. Someone who uses his strength and aerial dominance to keep the ball in play, holding off defenders when vying for it, and bringing teammates into the game.

Something different. Le Harve is trying something different compared to how they normally would. All in a bid to exploit the oppositional weaknesses.

Sébastien and Horace, partners in crime, sat comfortably at a nearby stand as they viewed the game at an elevated location. "And Horace, what do ya say about that? From a tactical view.?"

The older of the two responded with a snap of his fingers, "4-3-3 against a 4-3-3. We long understand Lille's play style, comfortable in possession but also not afraid to hit the ball long to find their attackers. Le Harve's different though... Leroy moved out wide and Eze being a right back? Eze is a winger, but playing him as a right-back? It is obvious that Le Harve's right flank will be extremely attacking and dangerous for the Lille side. Pape has been used instead of the fast Leroy. An obvious target for crosses and long balls."

"Well well well.... let's see how the match will pan out," Sébastien replied in a jolly tone, though it carries a smudge of irritation as the draw against Amiens still lingered.

The two youth teams are going at each other back and forth. But the key battle would probably be the difference in how the two teams attacked. They both lined up in a 4-3-3, but whereas Lille wanted to maintain an element of control by using their midfield pivot to dictate the game, Le Harve wanted to neglect the midfield battle to a certain extent. Whereas Séverin would normally be much more adventurous and tries killer passes to find the fast Leroy up the pitch. The Le Harve midfield maintained a more supportive duty for the game, sitting back for the game as they instead opted to utilise their extremely attacking wide players to create opportunities.