So he suddenly stood up, cupped his hands around his mouth, and shouted toward the field, “Go, son! Play well! Dad supports you!”

Just as David Carter stepped onto the field, he heard his father’s shout. He turned and saluted his father, and John Carter returned the salute. This was the usual way the father and son communicated with each other.

After finishing the salute, John Carter looked provocatively at those who had been laughing.

When the other parents realized that this man was actually the father of the boy they had been making fun of, and that he was just like them, they all felt a bit awkward. They lowered their heads or looked away.

Only after the last person averted their gaze did John Carter slowly sit down with the posture of a victor.

……

Although David Carter ran onto the field full of ambition, determined to turn the tide single-handedly,

the reality was far from what he had imagined.

As a midfielder, he was supposed to handle the ball frequently on the field.

But after he got on, hardly anyone passed the ball to him—which was only natural. Everyone just wished they could keep the ball glued to their own feet; how could they possibly pass it to a competitor?

No matter how much David Carter raised his hand and shouted, no one passed him the ball.

He had been on the field for five minutes, with zero touches and zero performance.

……

“What a disorganized mess…” Eric Grant on the podium finally couldn’t hold back, shaking his head and sighing.

Next to him, Little Olivia could also tell that the level of this match was very low, so he took the opportunity to ask the question in his heart: “Eric, I have a question… Why isn’t the final like the previous open tryouts, where each individual skill is tested? Why have a match like this? Everyone’s just been thrown together, and they’re all competitors. The game is bound to be bad…”

Eric Grant said, “All these people are good at individual skills, otherwise they wouldn’t have made it to the finals. There’s no point in testing that again. Why did I turn the final into a match? Because I want to see something beyond technique.”

“Something beyond technique?” Little Olivia was puzzled.

“Yeah, something beyond football skills—it’s football awareness,” Eric Grant explained. “It’s something deeper. Skills can be trained, but awareness is mostly innate. That’s real talent.”

“This…” Hearing Eric Grant’s explanation, Little Olivia was even more confused. “You want to see those things in this match? Isn’t that a bit much, Eric?”

“That’s why I only have one requirement.”

“What is it?”

“A sense of teamwork.”

Only then did Little Olivia suddenly understand: “No wonder you mentioned at the end just now, telling them that football is a team sport.”

“Of course. Did you think I was just talking nonsense? But unfortunately… I don’t think these kids took it in.” Eric Grant shook his head and said no more.

……

As a midfielder, David Carter couldn’t even get the ball near the blue team’s goal, and the area was packed with people—players from both the blue and red teams were crowded together, leaving no room to play.

Given the situation, David Carter didn’t try to force his way to the edge of the penalty area to fight his teammates for space. Instead, he chose to fall back, retreating to the defensive midfield position.

The teammate who had originally been playing defensive midfield was surprised to see David Carter voluntarily drop back. But he didn’t ask why—since someone was willing to fall back, didn’t that mean he had a chance to move forward?

Thinking this, he left David Carter behind and charged straight ahead.

David Carter also noticed his teammate’s move, but didn’t mind. His gaze passed over the teammate who had rushed forward and extended further ahead, seeing a scene completely different from when he played as a striker.

When he used to play as a striker on various school teams, his area of activity during attacks was basically always in the attacking third, mainly inside the opponent’s penalty area. There, he focused more on the goal and the situation inside the box. He didn’t need to pay attention to anything else.

But now, he could see the positions of almost everyone on the field, except for the two center-backs and the goalkeeper behind him.

It was like a panoramic scroll painting. When playing as a striker, David Carter always saw only a part of the picture.

But after being forced to play midfield and retreating to the defensive midfield position, this masterpiece finally slowly unfolded before him, revealing its full glory…

Every detail was laid out clearly before David Carter. He turned his head to the left and saw the situation on the left wing. The red team’s left back had already rushed forward and was almost playing as a left winger. Next to him was the blue team’s right back, who was positioned inside the red team’s left back, guarding against him breaking inside and receiving the ball.

Then he turned his head back to the center. The situation in the middle was much more complicated than on the wings, because there were more people.

Players from both the red and blue teams were basically concentrated here, intermingled like interlocking teeth, you in me and me in you.

David Carter looked to the right, and it was basically the same as on the left.

The defensive midfielder who had just rushed forward only made the chaos worse—he couldn’t get the ball up there either.