<h4>Chapter 350 The Mighty Second Team</h4>
"Good morning to you all," Coach Johansen said when all the Rosenborg yers had taken up their seats in the tactics room. An easy, rxed smile outlined his face as he stepped in front of the room to address the yers. He seemed to be in a good mood.
"Good morning, coach," the yers replied, more or less in unison.
The coach nodded and nced around. His gaze paused on Zachary the next moment. He grinned and said, "You''re back?"
"Yes, I''m back," Zachary replied with a smile. "I returned yesterday afternoon."
"How is she?"
"She''s recovering well. She should be able to leave the hospital in about a month''s time."
It was alreadymon knowledge among the Rosenborg yers that Zachary''s grandma was in a hospital in Zurich. He had already informed all his teammates since he wanted them to understand why he''d missed several training sessions over the past few weeks. So, he didn''t mind talking about the issue in front of all the yers within the tactics room.
"That''s great news," Coach Johansen said, smiling, after hearing his response. "We''re all happy for you."
"Thanks."
After the coach finished speaking, his teammates congratted him and voiced their well-wishes over the next few seconds. Zachary, of course, epted them all and replied politely before settling back in his seat.
"Okay, okay," the coach suddenly said. "Settle down, and let''s move on to official business."
The yers immediately returned to their seats.
Coach Johansen swept his gaze across the room before nodding and continuing. "We have two uing games that will require us to exert ourselves over the next few days. First, we''ll y against Viking in our Tippeligaen season opener scheduled for six dayster here at Lerkendal. Then, four days after that, we''ll travel to France to face off against Olympique Lyon in the quarter-finals of the Europa League."
"For the Tippeligaen game against Viking FK, I have decided to give a chance to members of the second team. When putting together the squad for the match, I''ll consider all the reserve yers who perform well during training over the next few days."
"But that doesn''t mean that I''m giving up on the game. We''re a big team in Norway. We should be able to put up fairpetition against any opponents, even with our third team. So, I expect no less than a win against Viking. Are we together?"
"Yes, coach," the yers replied enthusiastically.
Coach Johansen smiled. "As for the game against Lyon, I''ll mainly select the squad from the usual regrs who performed well against Juventus. But if a reserve yer is to put up a spectacr performance against Viking, I''ll also automatically consider him for the squad..."
The coach then went over the training ns for the next few minutes before dismissing the yers back to the training ground.
A few minutester, the preparations for the two uing matches started in full swing. The coaches immediately divided the yers into two training camps.
The first included the regrs like Nicki Nielsen, Thomas Partey, Yerry Mina, Takumi Minamino, Eric Bailly, Zachary Bemba, etcetera. The training camp''s main focus was to prepare for the Europa game against Lyon, scheduled for ten dayster.
The second training camp included the second-stringers like John Chibuike, Mix Diskerud, Paul Kasongo, Paul Otterson, William Troost-Ekong, Kendrick Otterson, Jonas Svensson, Ole Seln?s, etcetera. The aim of the camp was to prepare for the Tippeligaen game against Viking, scheduled for six dayster.
Coach Johansen took up the reigns of the first camp, while Trond Henriksen, the assistant head coach, concentrated on the second camp''s preparations. They soon put the yers through strict conditioning to instill match tactics into their heads. They were overly stern and didn''t allow anyone to ck off during training.
The following days became increasingly hectic as the Rosenborg yers and technical staff prepared for the uing two matches. With everyone busy, the atmosphere around the team grew more solemn – and soon, it was Saturday, March 29th, 2014.
The day for the Tippeligaen season-opening match between Rosenborg and Viking had finally arrived.
The weather was not the best that day. The temperatures were abnormally low while the drizzling started in the morning and didn''t stop even in the afternoon.
Nheless, the poor weather didn''t stop the excited Rosenborg fans from swarming toward Lerkendal to watch the game. By 3:30 PM, when thirty minutes remained before kick-off, the stadium was already almost at maximum capacity.
The Rosenborg fans seemed not to mind the cold weather. They sang and cheered at the top of their voices as they waited to witness another incredible performance from their home team.
However, the festive atmosphere within the stands came to an abrupt halt when the starting line-ups for the day came out on the big screen.
"Starting in goal for Rosenborg is Kendrick Otterson," thementator''s voice resounded across the stadium. "The center-backs are William Troost-Ekong and Stefan Strandberg. The wing-backs are Cristian Gamboa on the right nk and J?rgen Skjelvik on the left. The three midfielders are Mix Diskerud, Ole Seln?s, and Mike Jensen. And the three forwards toplete Rosenborg''s 4-3-3 formation are Paul Kasongo, Riku Riski, and John Chibuike."
No sooner had thementator finished announcing the Rosenborg starting yers than a wave of chaotic and dissatisfied chattering swept through the stands.
"Where is Zachary?" One fan asked with narrowed eyes. "Is he injured?"
"Don''t jinx us, man," another fan replied. "Don''t you see him on the bench? Maybe, the coach has decided to allow him to rest. He should be reserving him for the Europa League quarter-final match against Lyon."
"Does the coach want to give up on the Tippeligaen to focus on the Europa League? But that''s a bit ridiculous. I''ve seen yers in top teams all around Europe ying the weekend domestic league matches before appearing for the UEFA games during midweek. Why can''t Coach Johansen do the same?"
"Who knows?" Another fan said, shrugging. "Damn! I was looking forward to watching Zachary''s magic again. But I guess I''ll have to go another four days without seeing him y. What a bummer!"
The fans seemed baffled by Coach Johansen''s choice of yers for the day. They couldn''t understand why the coach had fielded a line-up of unknowns and benched all the star yers for the season''s opening match. And slowly, their moods sank into the abyss of desperation as they spected that he might have given up on the game.
Their taut nerves only loosened when the game started a few minutester. They soon started cheering like usual as the Rosenborg yers on the fieldunched unending waves of attacks against Viking FK. Before long, Rosenborg totally controlled the game and dictated the tempo.
And then the floodgates opened during the 10th minute with a goal from Paul Kasongo. After connecting with a pin-point long-range pass from Ole Seln?s at the edge of the box, he skipped past a Viking center-back and then rifled a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner to score Rosenborg''s 1st goal.
After the goal, the Rosenborg yers didn''t rx in the slightest. They continued pushing forward and ripping apart Viking''s defense with wing-y tactics until they created another goal-scoring opportunity nine minutester.
That time around, the goal came through a corner kick. William Troost-Ekong outjumped the rest of the yers in the box to connect with the teasing corner ball from Ole Seln?s. He angled his head slightly to nt a header into the top right corner from around the penalty spot.
The rest of the first half was uneventful, at least in terms of goals. Rosenborg continued attacking relentlessly, with the wingers and midfielders unleashing crosses and grounded through-passes into the box. However, the Viking defense held on for dear life and prevented the Troll Kids from scoring the third goal before halftime.
When the second half started, the game situation changed swiftly and abruptly. The Viking yersunched a counterattack during the 48th minute and caught Rosenborg unawares. They cut through Rosenborg''s defense like a knife slicing through butter before scoring their first goal for the day.
-----
Rosenborg BK 2 : Viking FK 1
-----
On the sidelines, Coach Johansen nced at the score on the stadium''s jumbotron with narrowed eyes. He was a bit apprehensive, especially since only one goal was still separating his team from the opponents. But after a moment of consideration, he still decided to wait instead of making an immediate substitution.
And his patience was finally rewarded in the 65th minute. After a failed Viking corner kick, the Rosenborg yers hit back with a sudden counterattack.
Mike Jensen collected the loose ball at the edge of the box and immediately passed it to Ole Seln?s. Thetter controlled it well before unleashing a lofted pass into the left wing to find Paul Kasongo.
Paul Kasongo exploded with speed and raced towards the other side of the pitch in mere seconds. A Viking defender soon came to close him down. However, the highly agile Rosenborg winger threaded the ball back to the sprinting Ole Seln?s in the middle.
Ole Seln?s received it and immediately switched gamey to the right-wing to find Riku Riski with a lofted pass over an approaching opponent.
Riku Riski controlled it mid-sprint and immediately passed to John Chibuike, the Rosenborg center forward.
The cheers in the stadium hit a crescendo as John Chibuike skipped past a center back with a deft touch before chipping the ball past the outstretched fingertips of the Viking keeper.
-----
Rosenborg BK 3 : Viking FK 1
-----
After scoring the third goal, the Rosenborg yers yed more conservatively. They focused more on defense and prevented Viking from creating other goal-scoring opportunities for the rest of the game. And finally, the game ended 3:1 in favor of Rosenborg after four minutes of added time.
Nicki Nielsen turned his attention from the game after hearing the final whistle. He sighed and stood up before saying to no one in particr, "These guys are quite something. If we''re not careful, they might bench us anytime."
"You''re right," Mikael echoed as he also stood up to head towards the tunnel. "In particr, the performances of Ole Seln?s and Paul Kasongo have surprised me. The coach will start taking them seriously from now on."
Zachary listened to his teammates conversing but chose not toment. He was also surprised by the performance of the second team. But he wasn''t worried that any of the reserves would snatch his number.
Instead, he was delighted by the fact that his team had grown to a level where it could thrash domestic league opponents with the second-stringers. He was more at ease since the highly-skilled yers in reserve would allow the coach to rotate yers more often to ensure that the team became morepetitive on many fronts.