Chapter 247: [247] "MATCHDAY d’Azur 9"

The Côte d’Azur right midfielder sprinted frantically towards him, attempting to close him down. Zack waited until the attacker was two steeps away, then slipped a casual pass forward to Dário Ferrão.

The ball crossed the halfway line. Valois was officially out of the defensive third.

The home crowd recognized the failure of the high press. The stadium erupted into a chaotic symphony of frustrated whistles and shouted insults. The Côte d’Azur players, realizing their gamble had yielded nothing, were forced to turn and sprint backward to reconstruct their defensive shape.

But SC Valois did not allow them to reset.

Coach Henri had drilled possession retention into them. They were not going to launch a reckless attack against a retreating defense. They were going to make the opposition suffer. They were going to utilize the full dimensions of the pitch, stretching the Côte d’Azur players until they were tired and their defensive discipline was shattered completely.

Dário received Zack’s pass on the left flank. He was immediately engaged by the recovering right-back. Dário didn’t attempt to beat him with pace. He dragged the sole of his boot over the ball, shielding it with his hips, and played it backward to Hugo Blanc.

Hugo was operating in the center, navigating the spaces between the shifting defensive lines.

The teenager received the ball. A Côte d’Azur midfielder charged him, aiming to deliver a tackle. Hugo simply tapped the ball with the inside of his left boot, redirecting it to Luc, who had pushed back up the pitch to resume his central attacking role.

Luc met Hugo’s pass with a first-time touch, returning the ball instantly to the teenager’s right foot. The one-two combination outsmarted the charging midfielder. The Côte d’Azur player slid through, his cleats tearing up grass while the ball continued to circulate.

Hugo shifted his sights, anticipating the secondary pressure. He drove a pass diagonally back to Luc.

Luc trapped it, drew the veteran center-back out of the defensive line, and flicked a one-touch pass backward to Cillian Doyle.

Cillian cycled it to Klaus. Klaus switched the play entirely, launching a sweeping diagonal ball out to Gabriel Assis on the right wing.

Gabriel killed the long pass with his chest, dropping the ball to his laces. The Brazilian winger was heavily motivated by his earlier defensive sacrifice. He wanted offensive output. He took two rapid touches inside, driving directly at the Côte d’Azur left-back.

The defender lowered his center of gravity, terrified of Gabriel’s explosive pace. He backpedaled, giving up valuable yards of space.

Gabriel rolled the ball backward with his heel, dropping it into the path of Kévin Aubert, who had made an overlapping run of his own down the touchline.

Aubert received the ball in stride. He didn’t cross it into the empty penalty area because that would be a waste, even if Luc may have met it, Henri wouldn’t approve. He recognized the objective. Keep the ball. Break their spirit.

Aubert chopped the ball backward, stopping his momentum, and played a simple pass inside to Klaus.

The possession statistics began to skew heavily. The clock on the stadium scoreboard ticked forward, but the ball remained exclusively glued to the boots of the SC Valois players.

FC Côte d’Azur was chasing shadows.

Every time a shirt closed the distance to initiate a tackle, the ball was already gone. The Valois players operated with a hive-mind level of synchronization. The passing was pre-calculated. The weight of every touch was perfect.

Luc hovered in the center of the pitch, acting as the primary fulcrum for the possession machine. He pulled the strings alongside Hugo.

The maestro and the captain executed a flawless passing clinic.

Klaus threaded a tight pass through the midfield. Hugo met it, letting the ball run across his body to deceive his marker, before snapping a short pass to Luc.

Luc received the ball with his back to goal. The veteran center-back, wearing the number five, stepped in aggressively, wrapping an arm lightly enough around Luc’s waist.

Luc ignored the contact. He used his shoulders to seal the defender off, holding the ball for mere seconds to draw a second midfielder into the trap. The moment the double-team came for him, Luc slipped a no-look pass through his legs.

The ball rolled perfectly into the path of Dário Ferrão, who had drifted inside from the left flank.

Dário collected the ball in stride, driving into the pocket of space Luc had just manufactured for him by drawing opposition players. The winger reached the edge of the penalty arc. A center-back stepped up to block the shooting angle.

Dário didn’t shoot because of that.

He played a quick give-and-go with Luc, who had spun off his marker the instant the pass was released.

Luc returned the ball with a single touch, weighting the pass to lead Dário into the penalty area.

The Côte d’Azur right-back scrambled across the box, throwing his body into a desperate sliding block, sacrificing his frame to intercept the return pass. The ball deflected off the defender’s shin, rolling out of the penalty area and back into the midfield.

Cillian Doyle was waiting. The Irishman stepped onto the loose ball, securing possession, and immediately recycled it backward to Amadou Fall.

The cycle began again.

The home crowd’s whistles grew deafening. The noise was no longer just impatient, it was furious. They were watching their team being dismantled, not through goals, but through suffocating control. Côte d’Azur had not touched the ball in over three minutes. Their players were exhausted, their defensive structure was fraying at the edges, and their discipline was beginning to crack.

The toll of chasing the ball without ever winning it compounded rapidly.

A Côte d’Azur central midfielder, visibly gasping for air, abandoned his zone and initiated a reckless sprint toward Klaus Becker. Klaus simply dragged the ball backward, executed a lazy Cruyff turn even with his big frame, and played it safely to Zack Florez.

The opposition midfielder threw his hands up in the air.