Unforeseen Resistance I

It was mid-January, the weather was a piercing, cold 7 degrees Celsius and the wind is blowing harder than desired. On the field, it was the clash of Amiens U-19 vs Le Harve U-19. The game was being played in the snow despite the fact that the pitchman was scrambling the clear the pitch of snow until the very last moment before the match begins.. Both teams were in their typical business-like routine but to be honest, it was anything but business. As Le Harve and Amiens braced themselves for a busy yet freezing afternoon league match.

Kai zipped his jacket up to its highest whilst also adjusting his beanie to protect himself from getting a cold. He sat quietly at the dugout next to Lanier who was fidgeting and rocking his leg, not to warm himself up but agitated at the game.

Marley stood quietly on the sidelines as he rubbed his hands, blowing on them in fear of his hands becoming numb. The manager stared at the field and felt the snow beneath him. He shook his head. He wanted a blowout. He felt the frustration start to build. He then began shaking his head in disapproval. He felt the fuel is being ignited within. He wanted the game to end like this.

Sébastien: "It is a cold day in Stade Charles Argentin as players position themselves on the pitch. All settling in their positions. It is 11:59 AM. Only a few minutes before the referee would blow the whistle for kickoff. Horace, what should we expect on this frosty day as the two teams faced each other for the second time this season?"

Horace scratched his chin as he looked at the field. The snow on the field was not properly cleared.

Horace: "It is not the cold that bothers me. It is the conditions on the pitch. In such circumstances, as experiences as commentators kick in, we should expect utter chaos and lots of mistakes from both sides."

"And from a tactical perspective, what does your nose tell you?"

"Well... Less dilly dally and a more direct and exciting game. In such conditions, teams that continuously deploy a short passing game could suffer. The snow residue can cause the ball to react in unexpected ways. It would be safer and more effective to use long and direct balls. And from this, we should expect both teams to be extremely direct in their attack, attempting many longs balls over the backline to find their strikers." Horace pointed to the field as he explained to Sébastien.

"Oh, so you are saying Le Harve and Amiens are playing in conditions that suit their football style?" Sébastien asked his colleague.

"Yes, but I am concerned that the players of Amiens are very feverish on their aggressive dribbling, so the players might have to adapt for this game. But other than that, we should not be surprised to see Le Harve dominate this match, given the sky and navy blue team are in good form of late, and is near the top of league table unlike Amiens who are struggling to find a win of late.

The two teams walked out onto the field for the start of the match. In complete silence, the two teams watched and listened as the referee blew the whistle.

Kai keenly observed the field as he noted that the Amiens team have made a tactical change from their usual setup. Amiens often played in a 4-4-2 for much of their campaign, but their manager has a reputation for being extremely reactive and making frequent changes in their tactics depending on the opposition. Unlike their usual setup, Amiens are playing a 5-3-2, adding an extra central midfielder and sacrificing the wide areas. On the other hand, Le Harve has come with their standard 4-3-3.

The Le Harve line-up from back to front consists of players:

GK: Luc Faira

LB: Ricardo Arbelaez

CB: Dominique Simon

CB: Gaston Allard

RB: Léopold Roussel

DM: Crescenzo Rivera

CM: Gérald Roys

CM: Papillion Séverin

LW: Mauger Chevalier

RW: Mtupeni Eze

ST: Benoit Leroy

However, this setup does differ from how Le Harve usually line up. Whilst Captain Gérald Roys often plays as the deepest midfielder, for this match he is moved further up in place of Crescenzo Rivera. This is because of a change made in adjustment to the opposition. Rivera is of Italian descent, and whether his country's roots and traditions have carried over, the team may never know. But unlike the Roys and Séverin, who are both comfortable on the ball and creative, Rivera is more of a traditional midfield destroyer. Though he is decent on the ball, Rivera is one of the team's leading players in terms of tackles and a successful interception. Whilst Rivera usually plays higher up the pitch to win the possession of the ball closer to the goal, he has been moved back to adapt to Amiens.

Lanier and Marley agreed that Amiens wouldn't be too keen on keeping possession for extended periods of time, and would look for dangerous long balls to their strikers. Having a ball winner like Rivera playing up at the centre of the pitch would be useless, as Amiens would lob the ball over the midfield, it would be more effective if the Italian youth stays further back and help win the inevitable aerial duals the Le Harve centre-back would be subjected to for the duration of the match.

As for the rest of the team, the staff have gone for their familiar players, with not much change from their usual lineup as they have agreed to stick with what has worked so far for this league campaign.

The referee blew his whistle, and Leroy had the pleasure to perform the kick-off from the centre circle.

Sébastien: "And away we go. The match between Amiens U-19 and Le Harve U-19 begins. Leroy lays the ball to Séverin and the game commences!"

Papillion Séverin, the Frenchman, had been a Le Harve player since his early teens, spending much of his youth career at the sky and navy blue club. Often deployed as a midfielder, Séverin is the most creative of his peers, with him being the creative outlet of his team.

The youthful player received the ball to their feet, rejoicing at the touch of the ball that he so missed in his last league match against RC Lens. He scanned the pitch in front of him, finding the Amiens teams are playing just as Lanier had prophesied, that they are not eager to win the ball back and are content to sit back in a compact block.

Finding time on the ball, Séverin evaluated his options before choosing the most progressive option to further Le Harve's intentions to attack.

"Midfielder Séverin receives the ball, and he sprays the ball to the right flank to Mtupeni Eze."

Lanier grinned. If their opponents are giving up space on the flanks, then they would take full advantage of this gift and make the most of it, with them using both full-backs and wingers to double up on the Amiens wing-backs.

However, the tactical coach clicked his tongue as he realised Séverin hadn't measured the pass, as the ball was delivered too low and was instead intercepted by an Amiens midfielder.

Séverin had his eyes in shame as he blamed his poor pass on the poor conditions of the pitch, with him kicking a fair bit of snow off the ground, which ruined his pass.

Eze, realising he wouldn't be first to the ball, closed down the Amiens midfield as he noticed Léopold Roussel had already placed himself at a location to overlap himself, which leaves the Right Flank very exposed if their opponent attempted a direct attack at this moment.

"But the pass has been intercepted by André. Who cleverly reads the pass."

Andre took a touch on the ball as he steadied the ball before himself, but Eze was closing him down on the flank, not letting him have a moment to think. Without much thought, he wished to pass to his midfield partners. But he soon realised the Le Harve No.6, Gérald Roys is lurking dangerously to where he wished to pass.

Left with no choice, Andre was about to spray the ball long without checking, but he soon saw the reliable Granger only a few feet in front of him. With the Amiens striker dropping deep and eyeing him for the ball. Trusting his team's light bearer, Andre lays the ball off to Granger, who is met with immediate confrontation, from Roys as he lunges for the ball.

"Beautiful one-two between Mainard Granger and Andre. Granger read the situation well and helped relieve the pressure on the midfielder."

Andre finding himself settled on the ball, silently thanking the striker for helping him out in a pickle, before passing the ball to Konavo, who is playing on the opposite side of him in the Amiens midfield.

Konavo, adorned in the white shirt with a tint of red, finds himself with ample space and time on the ball as he realised no player is in his vicinity to immediately place pressure on him. The player closest to him would be the Le Harve dangerman, Chevalier. But the winger is more concerned with following the run of the Amiens right wing-back.

But realising the unsettled positioning of their opponent, Konavo directly looked at his team's assist king as he noticed the Amiens left wing-back is open, with him raising his arm whilst dashing up the wing.

Sébastien: "And Konavo switches the ball to the other flank, delivering it to the feet of Azad. That's how you do it Séverin!"

Azad received a blistering fastball from Konavo as he positions himself in line with the Amiens strikers. As he balances the ball with his chest and bounces it on the floor. He noticed the Le Harve right-back Roussel is right in front of him, not letting him have the time to think.

His eyes fixed on the ball and cast a side glance at Roussel. The left wing-back took one touch with his chest to control the ball, and the second with his left foot as he instinctively ran down the left flank, making the best use of his speed to torment his marker.

But Roussel read the situation well, as he had already positioned his body to force Roussel down the sidelines, with himself mentally prepared to engage the wing-back in a foot race down the flanks.

Sébastien: "Azad with the ball, dribbling down the wing but is tracked by Roussel."

The Le Harve players tracked back to their goal as they settled back into their defensive shape. Rivera, when tracking back to help win the ball, noticed that Granger isn't on-par with their backline, but has dropped deeper almost like an attacking midfielder to find himself space. The defensive midfielder read this and voluntarily marked him.

Down the flank, Azad holds up the ball as he measured his pace to allow his teammates to arrive into the box for his cross. Not caring about the option to perform a one-two with Andre who has offered himself in an open space.

Sébastien: "Azad with the ball between his feet, takes a glance into the box, and the wing-back crosses the ball into the danger area."