"Ok, so here's the plan Zack. And it's really simple..." Sergio started.
--- (Doing Push-ups)
"It turns out my manager, the coach for Real Madrid, is still here in Moscow. I talked to him just yesterday on the phone, he said he wanted to stay to see the end of this cup in person...." He explained as he watched me exercise.
--- (Doing Sit-ups)
"We're going to need to go to one of the most populated spots in the city, a place where there are ALOT of people!..." He continued to explain, has he held my feet down for me.
--- (Both of us, running on a treadmill)
"All we have to do is to get him to cross paths with you and MAYBE he'll express some interest in talking with you, but he can't know that I'm helping out." He continued.
--- (The two of us tossing a ball back and forth with our feet)
"You're going to have to do things to amaze everyone and get their attention..." He pondered.
"So you want me to be a street performer to impress this coach or manager guy?" I summed up his explanation.
"Yes." He answered.
"Don't you see it's snowing outside?? The news said it's supposed to be like from now till the end of the cup." I said, pointing to window.
"Exactly! No one is going to expect it on a day like this! It'll even get you some extra money too!" He insisted.
I just looked him, questioning this plan of his...
"...Don't worry! I've got you covered on clothes and I'll even be there with you, but do you know how to do trick shots?" He asked.
Sergio passed the ball back and I caught it with my hands.
Wait a minute...do I??
"I'm...not sure." I nervously said.
"How are you not sure? You trained with Zlatan and you're not sure??" He seemed confused.
"He made me do a lot of things when I practiced with him." I clarified.
"Ok, ok. Let's try this then...You see this empty trash can?" He said picking it up.
"I'm not blind, clearly it's empty." I smartly replied.
"JUST follow what I'm saying." He said.
"Ok." I listened.
Sergio took the trash can to the other side of the room and placed it on the ground.
"This is testing your accuracy, I want you to kick the ball all the way over here, without over doing it, and make it into the trash can." He instructed.
"Ok..." I contemplated.
Let's see how I'm going to do this...
I bounced the ball off the ground with my feet, and attempted to measure the distance somehow.
We're inside a building. Specifically, the hotel were the Argentina National team stays. I can't kick the ball too high or it would hit the ceiling, and I can't kick it too light of course because I'd miss...
"Any moment now?" Sergio smirked.
"Ok...How about this!" I said as I kicked it.
The ball lobbed across the room and made it into the trash can.
"Yes!!" I cheered.
Sergio looked surprised.
"...Ummm, let's do that again...I just want to make sure it wasn't an accident..." Sergio said, as he took the ball out and tossed it back to me.
"Right..." I said.
I kicked it again, but this time it hit Sergio in the face and fell into the trash can.
I burst out loud laughing at him.
"NOW was it an accident?" I asked him.
"Zack!!!" He yelled, immediately charging at me as I ran away, still laughing.
He chased me around the room but I still evaded him. However the sound of the door opening caught my attention...it was Di Maria.
"Was THIS an accident?" Sergio said, taking the chance he had to pounce on me and put me in a choke hold.
"You guys doing alright? I just wanted to see how everything was---" Di Maria stopped sentence and looked at the two of us goofing off.
Both of us stopped fooling around and looked at Di Maria.
"...going." He finished his sentence.
"What's going on in here? You're supposed to be helping Zack get noticed." Di Maria questioned Sergio.
"Its fine, Sergio already thought of a plan, I'm sure this one is going to work too." I smiled, slowly easing myself out of Sergio's grasp.
"Well, whenever you guys are ready let me know, we'll take my car. But right now, I'm going to get some food, sooo talk to you guys later." He said quickly leaving the room.
Hmmm...
"Hey Sergio, didn't you have a car before? What happened to it?" I curiously asked him.
"Oh that? I returned it yesterday morning, I rented a car so I could still go places while the team was here." He answered.
"Did all the players here rent cars for the month?" I asked him.
"A few." He laughed.
"Anyway, we're done working out for now." He said as we both walked outside the workout room and into the hallway.
"Cool, what time is it?" I asked him.
"It's 10am right now. You have anything planned?" He wondered.
"Not quite, but there's a chance I'm going to end up on TV because of this...and if I do, I want a certain someone to watch." I explained to him.
"Ahh I get you...Marcelo told me that you and Neymar are like best friends." He said.
"Yep. By the way, there's a place downtown that would probably be the best spot for us to meet at, I'll come back whenever I'm ready." I smiled.
"Alright, I'll be waiting. Oh! and Zack, take this. You'll probably want to wear this today." He laughed and pulled out pieces of Spain's gear from his bag.
"You want me to wear this?" I looked at him and asked, being somewhat surprised.
"It's usually the stuff I wear. The top is a long sleeve so it should come in handy. I...had a few extra, Soo you might as well use them." he suggested.
"Thanks...I won't be long, I promise!" I said, Taking the clothes from him and running down the hallway.
It's a good thing the Brazil team and Argentina didn't stay too far from each other.
---(Neymar's room)
"Agh!! No fair Marcelo! Stop cheating!!" I heard David say as I walked inside the room. Both were sitting on the couch, intensely focused on the TV as they played games.
"How am I cheating?? How do you cheat on FIFA? You just suck." Marcelo laughed at him.
"Hey I'm back!....and I see everyone's playing FIFA." I looked at the score and noticed that Marcelo was beating David, 3-1.
Well, not exactly everyone was playing. As I looked at the next couch, I saw Neymar laying down, scrolling through his phone.
"...I see you've taken a liking to Spain's kit!" Neymar looked up from his phone and smiled, complimenting me on what I was wearing.
"A gift from Sergio, turns out he had a few extra." I smiled back.
"It'd be amazing if you were a professional player! The kit looks natural for you." He continued.
"Then that's good! Pay attention to the TV today then." I told him.
"How come?" Neymar questioned.
"I'm going downtown today, i'll be doing trickshots to impress people." I laughed.
Neymar raised an eyebrow and stood up from the couch.
"Why? It's not like you to do stuff like this." he chuckled.
"Um....Extra money?" I nervously smiled, telling him a half-lie.
"Oh, ok cool." He smiled.
Good...he bought it...I don't want to tell Neymar what I'm really doing. I'd rather impress him if I finally get noticed...I'm sure he'd be excited to hear that his best friend would eventually become a famous player too...
"...You seem nervous bro!" Neymar said, grabbing my shoulder.
"I'm fine!" I laughed as I defended myself.
"You aren't fooling anyone." He said out loud.
"He's right you know." David agreed, being distant but still inviting himself into our conversation.
"Hey! Don't you have a game you should be playing!?" I forcefully pointed at David, making him carry on with the match against Marcelo.
"I believe in you though...you'll do great." Neymar said, expressing his confidence in my abilities.
"Thanks." I smiled.
"Oh! What time is it?" I quickly asked, remembering that I need to be back to meet up with Sergio and Di Maria.
"It's 11:34, are you about to leave?" Neymar asked.
"Yea. Pay attention to the news! I'll see you guys later!" I said rushing out the room.
Well, here goes nothing...
--- (In the middle of the city)
"Step right up! Step right up! Put any amount of money into the jar and give the trick shot artist a challenge, any challenge!" Sergio announced to people passing by, still managing to keep himself hidden from everyone, wearing a jacket and a hat.
A man put money in the jar.
"Can you shoot it over this car and still make it in the goal?" he asked.
"Of course I can." I signaled Sergio to put the net in front of a car that was right next to me.
Once it was in place, I measured where I needed to be, and how I need to kick the ball. All I need to do now is to put it into action.
I kicked the ball, making it lob over the car and land inside the net.
"Nice!" The guy commented.
Everyone else clapped and applauded.
Well...this should be fun, it's getting easier to do this...
--- (2 hours later, 69 people later...)
I'm exhausted!!
I was breathing heavily, people have been making do some crazy things...but I've managed to make it through without missing a shot.
The only problem, there are A LOT of people here now that are watching me, so I can't mess up. Not here, not now.
A woman came up to me, with a camera guy following her. A news reporter?
"Excuse me! Do you mind if I interview you? It'll be a fun little article to post for the day." She asked, being really polite...No way can I turn her down.
"Sure I don't mind." I accepted.
Sergio backed away slowly.
"Good!" She said as she motioned the camera guy to get close.
"I'm here on this lightly snowy day, bringing EXCITING news to your home!" She expressed.
"Please, tell us your name?" She asked.
"I'm Zack." I shyly smiled.
"And how old are you?" She asked.
"21 years old." I asked calmly.
"You mind explaining what you're doing here today? It's snowing! Are you crazy?" She laughed and joked.
"I might be!" I joked back.
"But seriously, there's no reason. I just wanted to come out here to earn some extra cash and I'm just a guy who enjoys the sport." I answered her question.
"Looking around now, I can see that you've 'wow'd' the audience with your ability and talent; you haven't missed haven't miss a goal yet and you've been taking on challenges from everyone who's dared to come up!" She sounded amazed.
"You flatter me." I modestly thanked her.
"It's quite obvious that you have a lot of inspiration. You're wearing a Sergio Ramos jersey! Any favorite players of yours you'd like to tell us?" She asked.
"Too many." I laughed.
"Just give us a few." She asked again.
"Well...let's see...There's Isco, Angel Di Maria, James Rodriguez, Zlatan Ibrahimović, Leo Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, David De Gea, Neymar Jr. Oh! And...there's Sergio Ramos of course." I lastly mentioned.
"Incredible! You're still young too! Do you have a desire to play for the big leagues?" She curiously asked.
"I do...but to be honest, I don't think there's a way that could happen, I've never played for a team ever." I truthfully answered.
"Then wow! You have talent!" She complimented me.
"Thanks." I smiled.
"Well there you have it folks! A young player with amazing talent. Here in the city of Moscow. Please stay tuned, we'll record one more stunt before we cut to commercials." She ended her interview.
"Come on up! Don't be shy! Have a challenge you want this future superstar to take? Let us hear it!" Sergio invited everyone.
All I could do was look and laugh, Sergio is having fun. He's really good at this...
"Oo!! Oh!! I have one!" I heard a man shout from the crowd.
The moment he said that, everyone cleared a path for him.
Sergio's mouth dropped, someone he knew maybe?
"Mesut Özil??" He said, shocked to see him here.
"You know him?" I asked Sergio.
"I do. A long time ago, He played for Real Madrid. In fact, people loved him and were sad to see him leave the club." Sergio informed me.
"Seriously?" I raised my eyebrow.
I've never seen him before, but I remember hearing his name at the Netherlands Vs Germany game. He was supposedly injured...
As I looked up and down, I didn't see anything that--- Wait there it is! There's his injury...
His knee is wrapped up...
"I'm betting...THIS much." Özil said, taking a huge wad of cash and placing it in the jar.
My eyes bulged.
Why so much?
"What's your challenge?" I asked.
"I want you to try to take the ball away from me and score, but if I score against you I take the money back." He explained and teased.
"But you're obviously injured. I can't play against you, it wouldn't be fair." I contested.
"And you're obviously exhausted, so we both have a handicap." He smiled.
Well he's not wrong...
"Ok fine, you're on." I finally agreed.
I nodded to Sergio and signaled him to set up the net.
"Alright, then let's get started." He said, as I passed the ball to him.
He ran for the goal and tried to kick the ball in to the net, but I quickly ran and stopped it with my foot, resting it on top of the ball.
"You're pretty fast!" He complimented.
"I get that often." I chuckled.
"But you're going to need more than speed if you want to make it in the big leagues." He truthfully explained.
"Is that so?" I cheekily asked.
"Yep. So if you want to beat me, show me something interesting. Do something outside of the box." He said. But as he finished, he quickly stole the ball from me.
I made a few more attempts to take the ball from him, but he was smart, he kept the ball away from me. Kicking it into the air, so it goes over me, and tapping it after the ball moves to make it go in a different direction...
So he knows a few tricks...
It was starting to annoy me how good he was...but I need to keep calm, that's what he wants from me...the more I watched him and how he maneuvered the ball, made something click in my head.
How else could he be pulling this off? Just means one thing.
Özil has incredible ball control...
But the question is if I can come up with something to throw him off, besides...I'm friends with a trickster myself, He doesn't have Neymar as a friend.
I know what to do now...and I can't mess it up.
I ran fast, and acted like I was running right past him, but I didn't. Once I was behind him I turned around and stole the ball from him and ran for the goal.
He caught up to me again, but this time I kicked the ball to a car, making it bounce off to another one that was closer to the goal.
As the ball bounced off of the second car, I ran up to it and kicked it into the goal.
The crowd cheered and I smiled, but as I looked back I saw Özil kneeled down holding his leg.
Immediately I ran up to him.
"Are you ok?" I asked him, putting a hand on his shoulder. He seemed as if he was in pain.
"It's fine." He smiled and insisted.
"You on the other hand, you're pretty good, that was tricky what you did...I'll leave you for now, but practice will you?" He both praised and asked of me.
"Of course." I said, helping him up.
"To everyone here today! You all are witnessing a star in the making! Yes, he hasn't played for a team before, but he's full of spirt! Any team that doesn't consider taking him...well, it would be a big mistake." He turned and winked at me and Sergio both.
Does he know Sergio is helping me??
Özil was about to leave, but I stopped him and whispered.
"How did you know I was being helped by someone?" I asked.
"It was obvious, the ring on your hand?" I pointed out.
"So you knew the whole time?" I said, being surprised.
"Sergio took that ring everywhere, wore it to every game we played together in. The moment I saw you with it, I knew. Sergio wouldn't give that I just anyone. I was supposed to be taking a walk to workout my leg. But when I saw you, I couldn't resist myself from playing a bit." Özil explained.
"If that leg of yours was working, you would have beaten me no problem." I nervously rubbed my head.
"We'll get a chance to play again on a another day. Be proud that Sergio trusts and believes in you." Özil Informed me as he opened the back door to a black car, get inside and leave.
Sergio walked up to me to see if I was ok.
I nodded back.
"Thanks for coming out today everyone! We're going to call it a day!" Sergio said as he wrapped up the event, He could tell I was tired.
--- (In the car, sitting in the back)
Not long after, Di Maria came and picked us up, Sergio and I both managed to get everything packed up.
"Looks like we failed." I said being a little disappointed that things didn't go as planned.
"What're you talking about? I think today went really well!" Sergio said excitedly.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Yea, we didn't get to talk to the guy we wanted to. But we got you noticed on TV, and Özil being here only helped you out. So because of all that, I think it turned out well." He explained, finally closing the trunk.
"If you say so." I chuckled as we both got inside the car, Sergio in front, and I in the back.
"I believe this is yours." Sergio said, handing me the jar money.
It was full of bills and coins, nearly overflowing and Özil's wad of cash was the icing on top.
But today I realized that I was proven wrong again, that not all players are created equally. Özil is defiantly not Bastian. In fact, Özil just taught me that I need to keep an open mind about things. With that said, I shouldn't have anything against the whole Germany team.
My grudge is with Bastian.
"Hey Zack, what do you want to do now?" Sergio asked, interrupting my thoughts.
Hmm....what should we do?
"...Can you make a few calls?" I asked him.
"Yea, what did you have in mind?" He questioned.
--- (Restaurant, Nighttime)
Everyone arrived.
Neymar, Marcelo, David, Sergio, Iker, Messi, Di Maria. Even Fabio and Miguel Veloso showed up.
OK...so not everyone was here...But we're still having fun, eating and chatting the night away.
"Hey! Does anyone else see what's wrong with this picture? Where's Cristiano?" Fabio asked.
"I don't know...Cristiano wasn't answering...so I decided we should carry on with what we were doing. Can't let one guy ruin a night like this, Am I right?" Sergio said.
"Yea...you're right. He doesn't know what he's missing! This food is amazing!" Fabio said, continuing to eat.
I looked down, from the table.
It saddened me the both Cristiano and Maria weren't here...they're the last two that would make this table feel whole...
I stood up from my chair.
"Give me a minute, I'll be right back." I told everyone, as I excused myself from the room and stepped outside for a minute to think.
I was alone for a few minutes before someone came to check on me.
"You know I can tell if something is wrong right?" Neymar said, coming from inside the building.
"Let me guess, you wanted Cristiano to come here too?" He asked.
"Not just him, Maria too. The whole point of having a dinner like this was to get everyone together one last time..." I tried to explain.
Neymar came and sat right next to me.
"One last time?" He asked.
"The Semi-finals is next week, and the Final game is happening that Friday too...The world cup is ending, and after this week, there's no telling how things are going to be." I rested my head.
"You're right...an unseen future can be pretty scary...but it can be exciting too, you know? The possibilities are endless. Who knows what the future holds for us." Neymar said as he smiled.
"Like what?" I replied.
"I don't know, maybe there's a future where you play for Barcelona or Real Madrid." He chuckled.
"That sounds more like wishful thinking..." I said, not really sounding surprised that Neymar would say something like that.
"That's up to you Zack. Is it really wishful thinking? Or could it be a possible reality? Everyone sitting at that table tonight finally sees it after what you did today. You're ready. All you need is a team to pick you up." Neymar encouraged me,
"Thanks..." I smiled as he stood up.
"Not sure about you, but I still planned on us being friends after the world Cup." He said, reaching for my hand, and helping me up
"Of course dude. Who else is going to be my partner in crime?" I laughed.
"So now we're criminals?" Neymar questioned.
"It's a figure of speech you idiot." I punched his arm.
We both laughed, but then it got quiet.
...
"...for whatever reason, if my team loses...don't let me stop you from achieving your dream...Promise me?" He asked, bringing his fist up.
"Promise." I said as we bumped fists.
"Good. Now if you don't mind, I'm going to go continue eating your food now." Neymar said, quickly running inside.
"What!?" I stood up.
As I ran back inside and took my seat, everyone's attention was on the TV.
"What's going on?" I turned and asked Sergio, who I sat right next to.
"Take a look for yourself." He said.
I looked up at the TV which hung above our table, and on the screen were the match ups for the semi-finals.
Portugal – Germany
Brazil – Argentina
My jaw dropped.
I wasn't sure what to say...these next few days are going to be intense...
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Next Chapter Hint: The Perfect "Insider"