The System Turned Football's Worst Prospect Into a Monster.

Chapter 98: Volume 1, Chapter 98: The Main Stage

The floodlights of the Estádio do Algarve hummed against the night sky, casting sharp, long shadows across the polished grass. From the bench, Duarte watched the noise of eight thousand supporters bleed down into the technical area. Cameras tracked every throw-in, match photographers hovered behind the LED boards, and the main broadcast commentary unit sat suspended above the grandstand.

At the sixty-fifth minute, Sporting’s first-team assistant signalled the double change. Duarte stripped off his bib, stepped into the illuminated box, and replaced the right winger to a warm round of applause from the travelling Sporting faithful.

He adapted to the senior tempo immediately. As the entry pass travelled towards the touchline, Duarte’s head turned twice, scanning the full-back’s stance and the central recovery lane before the ball even touched his boot. He cushioned the pass with an open body shape, using his frame to absorb a heavy shoulder from Genk’s left-back without giving up an inch of turf. His first touch was already moving, transferring weight smoothly into a clean lay-off before the second defender could press.

Two minutes into his cameo, he attempted his first direct action. Receiving wide, Duarte slowed his stride to coax the defender forward, looking to slip inside through a disguised body shift. But the Belgian full-back stayed disciplined, refusing to bite early. He held his ground and extended a long leg into the inside channel, cleanly cutting off the passing lane and forcing Duarte to turn back and recycle to the pivot.

By the seventy-eighth minute, his patience bore fruit.

Duarte gathered possession forty yards out, driving steadily at the left side of Genk’s retreating shape. He decelerated sharply, dropping his speed just enough to let the defender plant his weight. Duarte shaped his hips to play back towards midfield, drawing the defender’s lead boot forward by half a step. In that fraction of a second, without accelerating or altering his torso shape, he slid a reverse pass beside the defender’s planted lead foot, finding the diagonal runner inside the penalty area.

The senior midfielder took the disguised pass in stride, rounded the keeper with a single touch, and slotted the ball into the open net.

Sporting 2–0 Genk.

The stadium graphics flashed across the big screen, replaying the goal sequence in slow motion. Within minutes, Sporting’s official social channels posted the clip of the disguise pass.

An academy-focused account isolated the five seconds before the pass and uploaded them separately. The clip showed Duarte checking over his shoulder, slowing the defender and opening the diagonal lane without needing to sprint. One Portuguese commentator called him the academy winger closest to senior rhythm. The phrase spread quickly. Older youth clips appeared beneath it, followed by arguments over how soon Sporting should use him again.

While the clip spread online, Duarte remained on the pitch. He spent the final twelve minutes tracking where the senior wide players stood when possession changed sides and recovering into shape when Genk built down his flank. Only after the final whistle, when a staff member showed him Sporting’s post, did he see the attention gathering around the assist.

In the quiet of his room in Olivais, Rayan watched the glowing screen of his phone.

The video of Duarte’s assist had already gathered tens of thousands of views. Comments flooded the feed, calling Duarte the next natural talent to break through from Alcochete. Rayan felt a cold, familiar knot of envy tighten in his stomach. He knew Duarte’s pass was exceptional. Clean, mature, and perfectly timed. But sitting in the dark, knowing he had put up a goal and an assist against Farense while none of the Farense footage was available to the public, left a bitter taste in his mouth.

He didn’t resent the media for covering what they could see. The Farense fixture was behind closed doors; Genk was broadcast to the country. That was simply the reality of the stage.

He opened the clip again and ignored the comments beneath it. The pass looked even better without the noise surrounding it. Duarte had checked the runner before receiving, slowed the defender without stopping the attack and released the ball before the second line could recover. Rayan could not dismiss any part of it as luck.

For a moment, he wanted to post that he had scored and assisted that morning. He stopped before opening the comment box. The Farense match belonged inside Sporting until the club decided otherwise, and arguing with strangers would not make the performance more real. He saved Duarte’s clip instead. Envy could wait. The movement was worth studying.

After the match, Falcão loaded the comparison clips onto a portable review screen in one of the Estádio do Algarve’s analysis rooms. Sporting’s first-team assistant stood beside him while the noise outside gradually faded.

On the left monitor was Tuesday’s training footage: Rayan executing the Body Feint against Tiago Leal, stopping to reset his hips, and getting shut down instantly. On the right monitor was Wednesday’s footage against Farense: Rayan executing the exact same feint, but seamlessly connecting the plant foot, hip rotation, and first stride into one fluid motion, gaining half a yard on a senior defender.

"Tuesday, he finishes the feint and then starts moving," Falcão said. He advanced the footage one frame. "Here, the first step begins before the deception is finished."

The assistant watched both clips again. "He joined the actions in one day."

"The response is much faster than we expected."

"Send both clips to Rui," the assistant said. "Tell him we should test it tomorrow, with the defender waiting for the exit."

Back at the team hotel after the short drive from the stadium, Duarte opened the review folder Falcão had shared with the academy players. He replayed Rayan’s burst past the Farense full-back and the cutback to Gyoker.

He stopped the footage at Rayan’s first acceleration step. On Tuesday, the same body movement had ended with Rayan trapped in Tiago’s protected lane. Twenty-four hours later, the pause between the feint and the first stride had disappeared.

Duarte sent Rayan the frozen frame with a single message.

You couldn’t connect that on Tuesday. Tiago closed the same space twice.

Rayan’s reply arrived less than a minute later.

I can now.

Duarte replayed the sequence once more, closed the folder and placed his phone face down.

In Olivais, Rayan sat on the edge of his bed and summoned the System. The smoked-black interface expanded, displaying his banked resources.

[Available Attribute Points: 4.]

He distributed the four points to refine his core mechanics and structural control.

[Ball Control: 45 → 46.]

[Acceleration: 71 → 72.]

[Composure: 40 → 41.]

[Decision-Making: 40 → 41.]

[Available Attribute Points: 0.]

As the allocations finalised, the central status display shifted, updating his overall standing.

[Overall: 50 → 53.]