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Episode 6. Adaptation (2)
After finishing training, I returned home.
A 4-story villa within a 10-minute walking distance.
It felt more like a lodging than a home. There was almost nothing.
A wardrobe, a bed, a refrigerator, a microwave, a dining table.
And two boxes containing soccer gear.
That was the entirety of the items in Seo Jae-woo’s house. It made me wonder what kind of life he had been living.
Creak—
Dragging my tired body, I pushed the front door open.
“You’re back?”
A variable had appeared.
Someone was in the house I thought Seo Jae-woo lived in alone.
“W- who—”
Upon making eye contact, I immediately remembered who it was.
Yang Jeong-ho.
A retired soccer player.
His physique clearly showed he had trained hard.
He was probably in his late 30 s to early 40 s?
But why was this person in Seo Jae-woo’s house?
“I was just stocking up some food.”
So…
Why, mister?
“I stocked up on things you can easily prepare, so make sure to eat on time. Train hard. I’ll be back soon!”
With those words, Yang Jeong-ho left the house.
He seemed very accustomed to Seo Jae-woo not saying anything.
‘Feels like a storm just passed through.’
Anyway.
Judging by the circumstances, Yang Jeong-ho seemed to be Seo Jae-woo’s guardian.
Not exactly raising him, but more like looking out for him.
‘I’ll have to ask next time.’
Once I become a bit more familiar with Seo Jae-woo’s life, an opportunity will come.
I opened the refrigerator.
‘He stocked it quite thoroughly.’
It was filled with similar items to when I first became Seo Jae-woo.
Frozen vegetable mix, frozen patties.
Pasta ingredients.
Or convenient meal kits, etc.
Although incomparable to a properly managed diet—these were meager items—there was a sense of trying to balance things as much as possible within that.
What could I do?
I had to live like this for the time being. It was fortunate someone was looking out for me.
‘Next time, I need to try talking to him.’
He probably holds many hints about the person named Seo Jae-woo.
Head Coach Yoo Hae-wan tapped loudly on the whiteboard in the locker room.
“As you all know, today’s opponent is in a desperate situation.”
The tournament the team is currently playing in is the King of Kings Championship.
A national tournament that gathers the top teams from the regional high school soccer leagues for a knockout competition.
Now is the period when the group stage is nearing its end.
“Look at this.”
The part the coach pointed to had the standings for our Group 13 written on it.
Standings (W-D-L, Goal Difference)
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Suwon F C (2 W, +6)
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F C Seoul (1 W-2 L, -1)
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Daeseong High (1 W-2 L, -2)
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Yeongdeok High (2 L, -3)
Suwon F C, as group leaders, have already secured advancement to the round of 32.
But the situation is different for today’s opponent, Yeongdeok High.
A loss or a draw means elimination for sure.
Even if they win, they must beat Suwon by a margin of at least 2 goals.
“They will undoubtedly come out with an aggressive tactic. The opponent will cling to you like mad dogs.”
From Suwon F C’s perspective, today’s match result isn’t that important.
But for the individual players, it’s different.
“This is the national King of Kings tournament. I shouldn’t need to give a long-winded explanation about why you need to play your hardest, right?”
Mistakes here are fatal.
It’s the biggest tournament of the year.
If you had to pick one tournament scouts consider most important, the King of Kings would undoubtedly be mentioned.
“Showcase your skills within our usual tactics.”
Head Coach Yoo Hae-wan’s instruction was blatant.
‘It’s the best showcase stage, so he’s telling us to play hard.’
But the effect of those words didn’t seem significant.
The locker room atmosphere seemed complacent. There was no sense of tension visible on the players’ faces.
‘Are they overconfident?’
Team complacency.
Working as a coach, you often face this crisis. Of course, times like now when advancement is already secured. Playing the remaining season matches after clinching the title early was also quite a hassle back in the day.
Shaking my head in disgust was short-lived.
“Actually, this works out well.”
I changed my mindset.
The opponent is more desperate than ever.
My teammates are about to take the field with a complacent attitude.
At first glance, it seems like an uncomfortable situation, but…
“Huh? What works out?”
“Nothing.”
I’m going to run myself into the ground.
And this team will overcome the crisis. And ultimately win.
Through my decisive performance.
I can already picture it.
‘The greatest talent I believe a soccer player can have.’
Skill?
It’s important.
Physical elements like stamina, speed, jumping ability, strength.
Technical elements like passing, first touch, tackling.
Even mental elements like teamwork, vision, composure.
You can’t omit a single one. Every item is important.
But when looking at young players, the criteria change a bit.
‘Consistency, diligence, sportsmanship, and…… desperation.’
Professional mindset.
In the end, you need this to succeed.
It seemed like the perfect environment had been set up to show my attitude towards soccer.
And from what I’ve observed, Coach Ham Gwang-chun isn’t bad at judging players. His criteria for evaluating players probably aren’t that different from mine.
“Alright– Let’s start warming up slowly!”
I did a very light warm-up on the field and then sat on the bench.
Peep!
The match began.
I felt at ease naturally. The view was all too familiar to me.
I could see the whole game at a glance. Everything was readable.
‘It’s definitely different from a player’s perspective. Being a coach is more comfortable.’
As expected, Yeongdeok High fiercely pressed Suwon F C.
They absolutely didn’t let Suwon hold the ball and develop play slowly.
Intense pressure.
Fast tempo.
A tactic that revealed a strong will to score somehow.
Of course, mistakes happened often too. Weaknesses were clearly visible.
Their tactical vulnerabilities were already clear, and the players’ execution wasn’t perfect either.
But it didn’t show.
“Hey! Lee Kwang-jae! Get it right! If you hesitate there, it immediately becomes a big chance for the opponent!”
That’s because Suwon’s performance was too miserable to point out such details.
It’s ironic.
Yeongdeok High lost their last two matches.
Suwon F C defeated the two teams that had beaten Yeongdeok.
‘This is why soccer is fun, but…’
The person in charge’s head can’t help but ache.
Sure enough.
Thud!
“Ah!”
Suwon F C conceded an early goal in the 7th minute of the first half.
Losing possession in our own half naturally led to a major crisis.
A reckless tackle occurred inside the penalty box, and the referee blew the whistle.
A PK goal followed.
‘Right. I had a feeling something like this would happen.’
I slightly turned my head to observe Coach Ham Gwang-chun.
His face was flushed red, as expected.
Right.
As a coach, you should be furious at this point.
Though how you act afterwards differs from coach to coach.
Anyway.
I took in every aspect of the match.
To find as many weaknesses and gaps as possible.
‘Once I get on the field, my vision inevitably narrows.’
Since I’m scheduled to be deployed on this field as a player soon.
But the opportunity came earlier than I thought.
“Ahhh!”
Due to a rough tackle from an opponent, left winger Lee Kwang-jae grabbed his leg and fell.
As soon as the incident happened, intuition struck.
That’s an injury he can’t immediately return from.
“Oh my– What’s with that?”
“Haewan.”
“Yes, Coach.”
“Tell Jaewoo to warm up.”
“Jaewoo?”
Coach Ham Gwang-chun didn’t answer.
Instead, he walked towards the field. Likely to check Lee Kwang-jae’s condition directly.
Yoo Hae-wan shrugged his shoulders as if familiar with this.
“……You heard? Seo Jae-woo, get ready.”
“Yes.”
I hurriedly warmed up.
‘Left winger.’
It’s not the position I anticipated.
I thought for sure I’d be put in at fullback.
Of course, it’s not a major variable. In fact, my thoughts organized themselves even faster.
‘Lucky.’
Fullback?
It’s an important position.
In modern soccer, how you utilize fullbacks can even change the framework of tactics.
But that’s talk at the professional level, and even then, the very top tier.
Here, it’s merely the domain of relatively less skilled players.
I hate to admit it, but that’s the reality.
In the opponent’s lineup, the biggest hole was also at fullback. They probably placed their relatively better players elsewhere.
Dynamic matches where you can frequently utilize the wide areas don’t even unfold here to begin with.
‘A winger can do more than a fullback.’
Furthermore.
A winger is the position that faces the opponent’s fullback.
Relatively lower difficulty, so to speak.
In fact, the player who just injured our player with a rough tackle was the opponent’s right fullback.
“Alright– Relax! Just play like you do in practice. Like in practice. Okay?”
“Understood.”
Of course, I had no intention of listening to Coach Yoo Hae-wan’s words in the slightest.
Because I’ll do better than in practice.
I stepped onto the field. And delivered the coach’s instructions.
“Coach Yoo says to stick with the same tactics. But he says it’ll be trouble if we lose any more focus.”
I agreed with that sentiment.
How many people wanted to be in this very position?
There are about thirty players not playing in the match.
More than half of them didn’t even come today because the bus didn’t have enough seats.
They weren’t even allowed to watch from the stands.
I heard they stayed at the training ground for voluntary training.
A few days ago, Seo Jae-woo was probably in a similar situation.
The only consolation was the fact that Lee Kwang-jae had left the field.
He provided the pretext for the first goal conceded. Wasn’t losing possession in our own half the initial problem?
His subsequent response was regrettable but half unavoidable.
That situation itself shouldn’t have occurred in the first place.
Right now, I’m not the coach.
I’m in a position where I can only hope such fatal mistakes don’t happen to other players.
Peep!
The match resumed.
Our free kick.
A position not ideal for a direct shot but decent for a cross.
Thud
Our kicker struck the ball. But the direction wasn’t good. The goalkeeper came out and caught it.
“Darn it!”
“Alright– Focus again! Defend solidly!”
For about the next three minutes, I watched the match without any significant activity.
‘It’s definitely different.’
There was a clear difference between the field and bench perspectives.
The field view wasn’t unconditionally worse either.
Some things visible from outside the sideline are hard to see from inside.
‘But there are things you can only see on the field.’
The flow.
The atmosphere.
Catching these from the bench is quite difficult. You can only guess based on hints and various circumstances.
But on the field, you can feel them distinctly.
The mindset today’s opponents are approaching the game with.
What our team’s tempo is like.
Various other pieces of information flowed into me.
‘It’s become clear how I should move.’
The opponent’s eyes are spinning, desperate to win the ball back.
Their situation of needing to score somehow has made them that way.
Also, Seo Jae-woo is not a player to be wary of.
At best, he won’t be seen as more than a surplus resource thrown in as an emergency substitute.
What does this mean?
‘The marking will be lax.’
I already know our team’s attacking development patterns well.
I watched tactical training during basic drills and confirmed how it’s applied in actual matches from the bench.
‘Just hide your presence and be where the ball will come. Easy, right?’
An estimate forms.
It shouldn’t be difficult to move chasing the ball while avoiding the opponent’s eyes.
The corners of my mouth rise on their own.
I think I’m adapting a bit.
To the field.
To the player’s perspective.
