Assist

"Understood." Du An nodded, turned, and ran onto the pitch. Stepping onto the grass, he quickly scanned the positioning of both sides. What had been covered during the morning's tactical lecture surfaced naturally in his mind. The tactical understanding granted by the blue bead completely stripped away the awkwardness one might expect from playing a full-sided match for the first time. Standing by the touchline, Aslett had been a bit concerned at first. He had made a point of telling Du An to hold his position primarily because he worried that a newcomer, eager to prove himself on his debut, might get carried away. That kind of mindset easily led to mistakes, which in turn could crush a boy's confidence. Yet after watching for five minutes, he quietly let out a sigh of relief. Du An didn't run around unnecessarily, but on several occasions when the opposition attempted to penetrate through the middle, he cut off their passing lanes early, preventing their attacks from developing. His distribution was solid as well. He didn't recklessly dribble on his own, and his backward passes to the defenders and switches to the wingers were all textbook and reliable. Soon, the red team's build-up from the back was pressed by two blue midfielders. The center-back panicked and hastily played a hospital ball, which landed barely half a meter in front of Du An. Almost simultaneously, two blue players pounced from the left and right. The routes ahead, behind, and to his sides were nearly all cut off. Du An wasn't intimidated by such a hospital pass. Bursting forward two paces, he met the incoming ball with a direct diagonal long pass. The football traced a huge arc, bypassing the blue team's entire midfield line and dropping into the space in front of striker Liam Carter. Carter wasn't prepared at all. He hadn't expected Du An to get the ball out while under double pressure, let alone deliver it with such pinpoint accuracy. Scrambling to bring it down, he touched it two meters away. An opposing defender immediately tracked back and dispossessed him. A golden counter-attacking opportunity was wasted just like that. A hush fell over the pitch for a moment. Connor glanced back at Du An, wide-eyed with astonishment. Several opposing midfielders also froze, staring at Du An. Clearly, they were all stunned by the pass. Were they wondering if it was just a fluke? They had trained at Kirkby for years and were used to the standard in the youth ranks; they all knew that in a situation like that, simply shielding the ball to draw a foul and maintain possession would have been considered good work. Yet Du An had sent out a penetrating long ball right off the bat. That kind of vision was absolute top-tier for an Under-16! Then it hit them that Du An had been parachuted directly into the U16s. It dawned on them that this kick had most likely been no fluke. He truly was gifted! Touchline. Ben Hughes had originally been leaning against the railing, watching the match casually. The moment that pass was struck, he stood up straight and said to Heighway with a grin, "Did you see that? The boy's talent is no ordinary thing." There was a deeper meaning to his words. He continued, "Talent has never cared about skin color." Heighway didn't reply, his brow slightly furrowed. His eyes remained fixed on Du An, unable to look away. He had long known Du An was immensely talented, but this was the first time he had witnessed Du An's tactical execution in a competitive, full-sided match. That pass had indeed been stunning. It fully executed what he had preached that morning: move the ball quickly, exploit the gaps, and tear open the opponent's defensive line. It was hard to believe this was a novice who had only been training in football for half a month. The match continued on the pitch. Yet the longer Heighway watched, the more astonished he became. Du An seemed to instinctively know where he ought to stand. In defense, his positioning was reasonably solid. Because of his superior stamina, he stuck close to Adam. Du An didn't recklessly lunge for tackles or bite on feints; he simply shadowed Adam closely, delaying his actions. This made things uncomfortable for Adam, heralded as an English wonderkid. In attack, Du An invariably showed up in the safest receiving position for whichever teammate had the ball. Forming consistent passing triangles, whenever a teammate was pressed, Du An's figure was always the first option in sight. Moreover, his varied passes were all remarkably sound. He was playing entirely in line with the concepts covered in the morning tactics lecture. In fact, his execution was cleaner than that of many senior players. Against the current pressing intensity of the U16s, there was simply no stopping Du An from dictating play from deep. He always managed to find openings. He didn't just play safe, conservative balls either. Whenever he spotted an opening in the opponent's defense, he dared to decisively thread risky through-balls. Though a few went astray, several tore right through the opposition's midfield line. It was only a pity that his attacking teammates weren't on the same wavelength—they were either a step too slow or their first touch let them down. None of those passes were turned into genuine scoring chances. With his arms folded across his chest, Heighway stood motionless by the sideline, the surprise in his eyes gradually turning into evaluation—and then, bit by bit, into delight. Watching today's match, he realized this boy not only possessed elite learning ability, but also elite football IQ and tactical awareness! Forget the U16s; even if placed in the U18 youth team, few players could do better than him. He was, quite simply, a born pitch commander! On the pitch. As the match drew toward its close, both sides were drained of energy. The running intensity dropped noticeably, misplaced passes grew more frequent, and the rhythm of attack and defense grew sluggish. The blue team pushed forward without result; a cross from out wide was headed clear of the penalty box by the red team's center-back. It happened to land at the feet of Flanagan on the left flank. Flanagan took two strides with the ball, looked up, and played a diagonal pass into the central area. Du An happened to make a forward run right into its drop zone. The moment he brought the ball down, a blue defender closed in to shut him down. Du An had never been good at dribbling past defenders, nor did he intend to force his way through. The instant the defender lunged forward, he pushed the ball laterally to Connor, who was surging forward on the right side of midfield. Connor read the play instinctively. Without stopping the ball, he pushed it back with the inside of his foot, sliding it right into the path of Du An's forward run. A crisp one-two instantly sliced open the opponent's midfield line. The defender's momentum was thrown off by Connor's run, and by the time he tried to turn back to chase Du An, he was already too late. Meeting the return pass without a fraction of a pause, Du An smoothly threaded a ground through-ball with the inside of his left foot. This was the beauty of being two-footed. When handling the ball, he left opponents utterly unprepared, with no clue what he would do. The football slipped right through the gap between the two opposing center-backs, running perfectly into the path of Carter's darting run into the penalty box. This time, Carter didn't squander the chance. After adjusting his footing, he met the incoming ball, swung his leg sideways, and unleashed a ferocious strike! *Bang!* The football hurtled toward the net like a cannonball. The diving goalkeeper couldn't even get a touch, and the ball crashed into the net! Goal! Pumping his fist, Carter let out a roaring shout and celebrated ecstatically, not forgetting to give a thumbs-up in Du An's direction. Connor dashed over and wrapped an arm around Du An, yelling, "Brilliant! What a gorgeous through-ball!" The other players on the pitch were also taken by surprise. No one had expected that the one to break the deadlock would be a newcomer playing in his very first intrasquad match.