Chapter 63 - 61 - One Yard

Chapter 63: Chapter 61 - One Yard

Rafael joined the substitutes for the last part of the warm-up while the starters finished closer to the penalty area.

Renaud was already involved in a short finishing pattern with Caron and Perrin. A pass came into his feet with one of the coaches leaning a pad into his back, and Renaud absorbed the contact before setting the ball off and turning toward goal.

Rafael finished his own movements farther down the touchline, took a drink and went inside when the staff called them.

By kickoff, Parc des Sports had settled into a steady afternoon noise.

Metz had more of the ball early, but Annecy made the first few possessions awkward without chasing everything. Their midfield stepped forward when Metz played slowly through the back, then dropped once the first line was beaten.

Renaud gave Metz somewhere to go whenever the shorter routes disappeared.

A defender clipped a direct pass into him near halfway with a centre-back already leaning into his back. Renaud widened his stance, brought the ball down and held it long enough for Caron to get close before rolling it into his path.

Metz kept moving.

Several minutes later, Perrin received facing the Annecy defence and got a different response. The nearest centre-back stayed square and backed away as Perrin carried toward him, refusing the early challenge until a midfielder recovered alongside.

Perrin turned back and found Caron.

Rafael watched from the bench without trying to turn every possession into something useful for himself.

Midway through the half, Perrin received on the right and moved the ball inside rather than attacking the full-back again. Caron released it, kept running and appeared outside the box just as Annecy’s midfield shifted toward the wing.

The return pass found him.

Caron’s first touch took the ball out of his feet, and the second sent it low through a defender’s legs.

The goalkeeper dropped late.

The ball brushed the inside of the far post and went in.

The Metz bench rose with the away support behind the goal. Rafael clapped as Caron disappeared beneath two teammates, then sat again when the referee began moving everyone back toward halfway.

Annecy came forward with more numbers after the restart.

Their full-backs began arriving earlier, which kept Metz’s wide players deeper and made the second balls around midfield harder to collect. One clearance returned toward the box almost immediately, and another attack stayed alive after Metz failed to get their line out.

Annecy worked the next possession down Metz’s left, drew the full-back toward the winger and played inside. The overlapping runner continued beyond them, took the return pass and drove a low ball toward the penalty spot.

A midfielder reached it ahead of his marker.

His first-time finish went beyond the goalkeeper.

Parc des Sports lifted around him as he ran toward the corner.

Metz regrouped near halfway, and the rest of the half passed without another clean opening for either side.

They went in level.

The same spaces were still there after the break, although both teams reached them less often.

Renaud continued handling the direct passes Metz used through the middle, but Annecy crowded the next action faster. When Caron or Perrin managed to receive facing forward, the centre-backs were still willing to give ground and wait for support rather than diving into the first movement.

Around the hour, several substitutes were sent to warm up.

Rafael had completed two runs when the assistant called him back.

He jogged across and pulled the warm-up top over his head as he approached the technical area.

The head coach waited beside the fourth official.

"Through the middle. Keep moving off the line. Don’t stand there waiting for everything into your feet."

Rafael nodded.

The board went up at the next stoppage.

Renaud’s number appeared in red, Rafael’s in green.

Renaud started toward the touchline and met Rafael without slowing. They slapped hands as they crossed.

Metz restarted from the back.

Rafael settled between the centre-backs, then checked toward Caron when the ball reached midfield. The nearest defender followed two steps and opened his hips toward the pass.

Rafael stopped before Caron released it.

The second centre-back had already started covering the space behind his partner, so Rafael crossed behind him instead.

Both defenders turned toward their own goal.

Caron saw the movement, but an Annecy midfielder had recovered quickly enough to close the lane. The ball went right to Perrin instead, and Rafael curved back into the line while the attack continued.

A few minutes later, he received with one of the centre-backs square in front of him.

Rafael carried forward, shaped outside and dropped his shoulder before trying to bring the ball across his body.

The defender watched the touch rather than Rafael’s upper body.

By the time the ball changed direction, the centre-back was still balanced enough to close the inside route.

Rafael returned possession to Caron and continued forward as Metz moved the ball left.

The cross that followed was headed away, but the clearance only reached midfield. Metz recovered quickly and worked possession back into the final third, where Rafael met the same defender again several metres outside the area.

There was more room behind him this time.

Rafael carried toward the centre-back at a controlled pace, showing the outside lane while waiting for the man’s weight to follow.

The defender gave him almost nothing.

Rafael changed rhythm and tried to take the ball across his front, but the centre-back matched the movement without reaching. Their shoulders came together, and before Rafael could turn the half-step into a route toward goal, an Annecy midfielder arrived from inside.

Rafael protected possession and played back into midfield.

The attack moved elsewhere.

Annecy forced Metz back shortly afterwards when their winger cut in from the right and struck from distance. The goalkeeper gathered cleanly and released the ball before the home side could reset.

Metz worked left.

Their winger carried toward the edge of the box and lifted his head.

Rafael started toward the centre-back’s front shoulder, drawing the defender with him, then slowed just before the delivery came.

The defender looked toward the ball.

Rafael slipped behind him.

The cross dropped into the gap before the centre-back had fully turned, and Rafael guided the finish back across goal without trying to force power through it.

The goalkeeper got down and blocked with both hands.

The rebound bounced away before Rafael could reach it. ℯℯ𝘭.

Annecy cleared.

The match opened slightly over the final fifteen minutes. Perrin carried inside from the right and had one effort blocked, while Annecy answered with a cutback Metz cleared near the penalty spot. Loïc entered late on the opposite side and found enough room for one cross, but that was headed away as well.

Nothing separated the teams.

The referee blew with the score still 1–1.

Rafael followed the squad inside and had nearly finished changing when he remembered his mother’s message from the previous night.

He took out his phone.

1–1. Played about half an hour. Heading back now.

Her reply came while he was tying his shoes.

Rafael put the phone away.

The first morning back at school was messy enough that nobody had much time to care about football.

Students were checking room numbers in the corridor, somebody had already gone to the wrong class, and Lucas was standing beside Hugo complaining about a timetable change when Rafael reached them.

"Look at this," Lucas said, shoving the paper toward Hugo. "They’ve moved maths."

Hugo barely looked. "It’s still maths."

"That isn’t the point."

Rafael stepped around them and put his bag beside his chair.

Lucas finally noticed him. "Tell him."

"Tell him what?"

"That moving maths to the afternoon is worse."

Rafael looked at the timetable. "I’m not getting involved."

"Coward."

Maxime came in behind them, glanced once at Lucas’s paper and went straight toward his seat.

Registration took longer than expected, and by the time they were released again, most of the conversation had moved onto teachers, rooms and what everyone had done during the last stretch of summer.

At lunch, Lucas was halfway through a story Hugo kept correcting when Maxime looked across the table.

"Your new timetable start today?"

"Yeah."

"What did they change?"

"Mostly afternoons."

Rafael pulled the folded sheet from his bag and passed it over.

Maxime checked it briefly before handing it back.

Hugo looked at the time printed beside Wednesday.

"You’re gone after lunch tomorrow."

"Training."

Lucas stopped eating long enough to glance at the page. "Lucky."

Rafael folded it again. "You can take the training. I’ll stay for class."

Lucas shook his head immediately and went back to his food.

The subject disappeared almost as quickly as it had arrived.

The following afternoon, Rafael packed his books while the others remained seated. Maxime shifted his chair so Rafael could get past, and Hugo continued copying something from the board.

Lucas looked over when Rafael pulled his bag onto one shoulder.

"You’re off now?"

"Yeah."

Lucas checked the clock, then looked back at the work in front of him.

"That’s annoying."

Rafael smiled. "See you tomorrow."

He left while the teacher was still sorting papers at the front.

Ten minutes later, he was on his way to Frescaty.