Soccer: I became Bruno Fernandes.

Chapter 5: Quiet Development

August 25, 2012, Saturday.

A week later, the entire Novara team once again headed south to the Tuscany region, but this time their destination was not Florence but the small town of Grosseto. They would challenge Grosseto at the Carlo Zecchini Stadium on Saturday evening.

Unlike the challenge against Florence a week ago, Grosseto is a team that has been hovering in Serie B for many years. In the past two seasons, Grosseto has even been a relegation-threatened team in Serie B.

Facing such an underdog opponent, Novara's goal was naturally to win all three points to help the team get rid of the embarrassment of starting the season with negative points.

In fact, last season's Italian match-fixing scandal involved 21 teams, which meant that several teams in Serie B started the season with negative points. Novara wasn't penalized the most; Bari was deducted 7 points, while Novara's first-round opponent, Grosseto, was deducted 6 points.

Although Bruno, who joined the team just half a month ago, made it into the squad for this match, he didn't get a chance to start and could only sit on the bench for now.

Once the game started, Grosseto, playing at home, took the initiative and scored in the 18th minute with their tall striker, Sforzini, taking the lead early on.

Standing at 1.93 meters tall, Sforzini came through Lazio's youth academy and briefly played for Sassuolo before being acquired by Udinese in early 2006. However, this powerful forward never managed to establish himself at Udinese and was loaned out for an extended period.

Last summer, Sforzini chose to leave and joined Grosseto, quickly becoming their main striker and a key player in Grosseto's successful relegation battle last season.

This summer, some Serie A teams showed interest in Sforzini. However, considering his turbulent time at Udinese in previous years, Sforzini chose to stay at Grosseto. Now, he had helped the team score the first goal of the new season, much to the delight of the home fans.

...

Losing a goal early on was not good news for Novara and Coach Tesser.

Indeed, after taking the lead, Grosseto chose to defend, putting Novara, lacking attacking power, in a dilemma.

Until the end of the first half, Novara failed to score.

What made Novara and Tesser even more frustrated was that, just ten minutes into the second half, their midfielder, Brighori, received his second yellow card of the match, resulting in his expulsion from the field. This meant that the team would have to face not only the disadvantage of trailing but also play with one less player for over half an hour.

At this point, it was time to test the coach. Should he play conservatively by substituting in defensive players to preserve the current score, or wait and see, or take a gamble and bring in an attacking player to try to equalize or even take the lead?

Most coaches would choose the second option, which was relatively stable. Some might choose the first option, aiming to minimize losses. Only a few reckless coaches would choose the third option, which might lead to a comeback but more often resulted in a disastrous defeat.

Tesser was a very ordinary coach, so he made the choice that most coaches would—wait and see.

...

As it turned out, there was a reason why this choice was considered relatively stable.

Tesser's wait lasted only 9 minutes before Novara equalized with a counterattack, scored by their Argentine forward, Pablo Gonzalez.

At 27 years old, Pablo Gonzalez was in his prime. He joined Novara on loan from AC Milan's youth academy in the winter of 2010 and was an important member of Novara's consecutive promotions for two years.

In January, Pablo Gonzalez chose to leave Novara, which was deeply mired in the relegation zone, and joined Siena for 1.6 million euros.

However, he didn't adapt well at Siena, so in the summer, he returned to Novara for 1.1 million euros, which was Novara's biggest signing of the summer transfer window.

Seeing his beloved player score, Tesser was very happy. He felt that his expectations were finally paying off.

Then he sat back down in the coach's seat.

And Bruno's heart also calmed down with Tesser's sit. He knew that he probably wouldn't get a chance today.

In the end, Novara drew 1-1 with Grosseto away, and Bruno spent the entire game on the bench.

...

Although Bruno didn't get a chance to make his debut in the first game of the new season, he remained very calm and didn't show any signs of dissatisfaction.

After returning to Novara, he continued to participate seriously in the team's training, being one of the best players in the training matches. His textbook-like and solid football basics amazed both the coaching staff and his teammates.

However, what everyone didn't know was what Bruno had sacrificed for all of this. Since arriving at the end of July, for more than a month, he hadn't wasted a single second. Except for the time to eat, drink, and rest, he trained relentlessly even during sleep.

Currently, the training program arranged by the system for Bruno had progressed from juggling, stopping, passing, to dribbling.

Tesser was very satisfied with Bruno's performance and planned to find the right opportunity to let Bruno play and see his real performance.

Many players performed well in training but showed a completely different performance once on the field, especially young players like Bruno who lacked match experience.

...

On the first day of September, Serie B entered its second round of matches. Novara's match was played first, as they hosted Empoli at home.

In their first home game of the new season, Novara performed well at the Piola Stadium. In the 29th minute of the first half, Luca Giringelli, the talented full-back loaned from AC Milan's youth academy, opened the scoring for the team, taking the lead.

During halftime, seeing Bruno warming up earnestly on the field and remembering Giringelli's opening goal, Tesser decided to give Bruno a chance to substitute in the second half at an appropriate opportunity.

Making a debut at home would be less pressure. Especially when the team was leading, the fans would have greater tolerance for their young players' performance.

However, the second half turned out to be unpredictable. Empoli's talented midfielder, Sapponara, scored in the 48th minute to equalize, and then scored again in the 70th minute to take the lead.

Tesser was somewhat dumbfounded, then discreetly glanced at Bruno and quietly changed his plan again: kid, it's not that I don't want to give you a chance, it's just that the situation is critical now.

Tesser waited again, and Bruno remained on the bench.

And luckily for Novara, in the 81st minute of the match, Pablo Gonzalez scored again, equalizing the score.

Being the hero to save the team in two consecutive matches, the Argentine received the warmest welcome from the home fans. In their eyes, he was a hero, the savior of the team!

But what no one knew was that in the corner of the team's bench, a young man was watching Pablo Gonzalez with envy.

...

In the new week, Bruno continued to train diligently. He was like a bud against the wall, quietly nurturing, waiting for the opportunity to bloom.

This week, Bruno's basic training was on interceptions. Although he considered himself an attacking player, the system required him to be a B2B all-around midfielder, training not only offensive skills but also defense.

The system's training was effective, allowing Bruno to make significant progress in his defensive performance during team training, something that Coach Tesser noticed most clearly.

As an Italian coach, Tesser had his views on defense. Although Bruno's defensive abilities were still as bad as ever, at the moment of interception, Bruno was like a changed person, very accurate with his tackles. Even the technically skilled Argentine midfielder, Gonzalez, who was placed on the opposing side in training, was intercepted many times by Bruno.

...

When the weekend arrived, Bruno also celebrated his eighteenth birthday.

Born on September 8, 1994, he officially became an adult on this day!

However, in distant and unfamiliar Italy, no one noticed this. He was just an ordinary young man, and no one paid attention to the fact that it was his birthday.

Instead, in the evening, he received several phone calls from abroad, including his mother and sister in Portugal, his father making a living in Switzerland, and his girlfriend who had just started college.

Yes, before Bruno crossed over, his counterpart already had a girlfriend. She was his middle school classmate, and the two had been in a relationship for two years.

However, after Bruno crossed over, he didn't know how to treat his counterpart's girlfriend. Plus, after Bruno arrived in Italy, he basically didn't initiate contact with her.

On the phone, Anna often complained to Bruno about not answering her calls. But considering that Bruno was new to Italy and had a lot on his plate, she didn't press too much.

She asked about Bruno's situation with the team and expressed her desire to drop out of college and come to Italy to be with him. Bruno quickly dissuaded her and told her to focus on her studies.

He needed time to seriously consider how to handle this relationship.

(End of chapter)