THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME

That afternoon, Zachary followed his three coaches to the hotel's conference hall to attend the pre-tournament meeting. He looked smart in his dark blue tracksuit with the labels of the NF academy. His height and the brown color of his skin made him stand out amongst the team representatives and other young captains attending the meeting.

He'd grown taller than all his coaches during his time in Trondheim. He would have undoubtedly been the tallest player on the academy team had it not been for Magnus, his counterpart in the midfield. He received a few curious glances from the rest of the delegates as he took his seat in the conference room.

Zachary ignored them and surveyed the conference hall after settling in his seat next to Coach Bjørn Peters. To his surprise, he didn't recognize anyone. There were no famous names from his past life present in that room. He was once again made aware of just how few players from the youth leagues would go-on to join the ranks of the best soccer players in the world. He hardened his resolve to work hard and go pro as quickly as possible. Only then would he face off against world-class players on a regular basis and improve himself.

"Welcome to yet another Riga Winter Cup, ladies—and gentlemen," said a red-haired man in a dark suit. He was standing on the arranged podium, addressing the team delegates packed in the conference room. "This is a tournament that will be full of fresh emotions, as always." He smiled and adjusted his microphone to match his height.

"For those of you that don't know my name yet, I'm Raimonds Laizāns, the president of the Riga Cup. We welcome all sixteen teams participating in the tournament..." His accent, similar to that of Russian characters in movies, weighed heavily on his words. He informed the team delegates, including the team captains, about the general rules to be followed.

The Riga Cup matches would follow all applicable parts of the Latvian Football Federation rules. Teams would play in the group stages first and advance to the knockouts only if they made 1st or 2nd in their groups. There would be no draws in the semifinals and finals. Penalties would determine the winners of the knockout matches if such a situation occurred.

Zachary settled in his seat and listened with nonchalance to the thirty-minute speech. He only rose to attention when the president mentioned something about a lottery, previously conducted, to organize the participating teams into groups.

"The organizing committee has already conducted lottery draws and arranged the sixteen participating teams into four groups," said Raimonds Laizāns, his mouth curving into a smile. "I want to assure you that the process was randomized and supervised by credible referees licensed by UEFA. The committee organized the groups in advance for better scheduling and to save time during the tournament. After this meeting, you can pick the tournament program from the officials by the door."

The president continued his oration and even introduced the sixteen teams participating in the tournament. Among the teams participating, Zachary noted some familiar names like Atalanta BC, Tottenham, FC Zenit Saint Petersburg, Genoa, AIK Stockholm, and VfB Stuttgart.

After the one and a half-hour meeting, Zachary excused himself and headed back to his room. He didn't wait for his coaches since they were still mingling with the delegates from the other academies.

On the way back, he did not forget to pick the match fixtures from one of the tournament officials by the conference room's door. That had been the main reason behind his attendance at the pre-tournament meeting.

"You're back," Kasongo intoned, jumping out from a sofa when he opened his hotel room door. Zachary noticed that both Paul and Kendrick, his Swedish flatmates, were also present. "Did you get the fixtures?" Kasongo and Paul asked more or less in unison.

Zachary flashed his teammates a soft smile. "What do you think?" He waved a brown A4 envelope in front of his flatmates.

"Great." Paul grinned. "Hurry. Let's check out the teams we'll be facing." He held out his arm towards Zachary.

"Give me a moment to open the envelope." Zachary hadn't perused through the fixtures before arriving in his room. He settled on his bed before tearing open the envelope and withdrawing a set of printed papers from it. There was a detailed list of the tournament groups and a few matches on the second page.

****

The Riga Cup Tournament Groups (Under-18)

Group A

(1) JFC Riga (Latvia)

(2) Genoa FC Youth (Italy)

(3) NF International (Norway)

(4) BK Frem (Denmark)

Group B

(1) Zenit сшор (Russia)

(2)Tottenham (England)

(3) Atalanta (Italy)

(4) AIK Stockholm (Sweden)

Group C

(1) Viimsi MRJK (Estonia)

(2) Skonto Academy (Latvia)

(3) VfB Stuttgart (Germany)

(4) FC Olimpiki Tbilisi (Georgia)

Group D

(1) ADO Den Haag (Netherlands)

(2) HJK Helsinki (Finland)

(3) SK Sturm Graz (Austria)

(4) Jagiellonia (Poland)

****

"Group B seems like the group of death," Paul commented as Zachary looked through the contents of the second page. At one point, his three flatmates had crowded over his shoulders—to glance at the fixtures in his hands.

"Zenit, Tottenham, and Atalanta." Kasongo whistled, shaking his head. "That surely is the group of death. Let them exhaust themselves in the group stages. We'll find it easier to win during the knockouts." Kasongo grinned.

"Our group is not an easy one as well," Kendrick chipped in. "We have to face Riga, a local club, as well as the Genoa academy from Italy."

Zachary ignored the chattering of his teammates and turned to the next page. Inscribed were the match fixtures and their scheduled times.

"So, we face JFC Riga on Monday at 8:00 A.M," Kasongo observed. "Isn't that too early for a match?" He frowned.

"There's a limited number of pitches, bro," Paul replied. "You should have noticed that there's a game every two hours. But the fixture that worries me is our last group match against Genoa at 7:00 P.M on Thursday."

"Relax," Zachary cut in after he finished perusing through the fixtures. "I would rather face Genoa than either Stuttgart or Zenit. Those academies have produced some really good players over the years."