THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME
chapter-558

Having taken breakfast, Zachary headed to the Vinovo. He arrived a few minutes before nine and quickly donned his training attire. Then, after stepping into his green Nike Mercurial Superfly boots, he exited the dressing room and set off for the main training turf, where the coaches would conduct the official team training that morning.

His teammates, who had left Turin to play international games for their respective national teams, had already returned. Even players like Martín Cáceres, Carlos Tevez, Roberto Pereyra, and Arturo Vidal, who had traveled all the way to South America to represent their respective countries, were already back on the training ground. They were all in groups of fours and fives performing rondo drills when Zachary arrived on the training ground.

"Zachary! You're almost late," Patrice Evra, the French left-back, yelled out on seeing Zachary. "Hurry and join us."

Zachary smiled and nodded in Evra's direction. He first took a minute to say hi to his other teammates, who were also in the midst of performing rondo drills in the other groups. Then, after greeting some of the coaches and technical staff, who were already on the training ground, he tightened his laces and joined Evra's group on the far side of the pitch.

"Hello, to you all," Zachary said after he arrived before the group.

"Hello, Zachary..." The other players in the group, including Patrice Evra, Andrea Pirlo, Carlos Tevez, and Leonardo Bonucci, high-fived him, one after the other while returning his greetings. Then, they talked about their respective international escapades for about five minutes before finally returning their focus to the rondo drill.

"Zachary!" Patrice Evra said. "We're playing a one-touch 4-versus-1 rondo. Since you're the last to arrive, you will be the monkey in the middle."

"Ouch!" Zachary said, pretending to be hurt. "You have just utilized a racist term. I'll sue you for that."

"Do you have any witnesses?" Evra asked.

Zachary didn't reply but pointed at the other three players in the group.

Evra turned to the others and asked with a grin, "Comrades! Are you going to sell out a teammate for this latecomer?"

The others laughed at that and made a few jokes to taunt Zachary and Evra before starting the rondo drill.

In simple terms, a rondo was a keep-away style drill where one team with more players 'would try' to keep possession against a smaller number of defenders trying to take the ball away. It was similar to the children's game - monkey in the middle. That was why Evra had asked Zachary to become the monkey in the middle since he would be the player trying to win the ball as the others played single touches among themselves to keep the ball away from him.

Zachary, of course, was against remaining as the monkey in the middle for a long time. Within seconds after the drill started, he utilized his SS-grade agility and reflexes to corner Patrice Evra. He won the ball from the Frenchman fair and square before taking his position in the drill.

With that, Patrice Evra was the monkey in the middle, and he started chasing the ball while trying to win it from the others who continued passing it around him. He eventually cornered Leonardo Bonucci after a minute or so, and the drill continued at a fast pace.

The five players soon immersed themselves in the drill as they played faster and faster touches while different players took turns taking on the role of the monkey in the middle. The morning sun shone upon them as they passed the ball around, and beads of sweat started rolling down their faces. But they didn't stop the rondo drill until the 'very moment' Coach Max Allegri arrived and summoned them to the center circle of the training ground.

"Good morning, lads!" The coach said after all the players had settled down on the green within the center circle.

"Good morning to you too, coach," the players replied, more or less in unison.

Coach Allegri smiled. "Let me take this opportunity to welcome you back from the international break. Some of you traveled as far as South America, others to Africa, and the rest to various parts of Europe to play international games for your national teams. If you managed to win, congratulations. If, by some chance, you lost any of your international games, work harder so you can win in the future. That's football! We don't give up even after losing. We instead work harder and go all out to accomplish a better result in the next game."

"Now, let's put the international games aside and return our focus to our Serie A matches," the coach continued with a smile. "As you're all aware, we only have two days before playing our next Serie A home game which happens to be against Empoli. Empoli is a club in the bottom half of the table. It has only amassed 33 points from the 28 Serie A games they played this season. It's ranked 14th out of the twenty Serie A teams and only four positions above the relegation zone. But all that doesn't matter to us as Juventus. Even if the opponents have been performing poorly up to this point of the season, we still cannot let our guard down and underestimate them. We must continue doing what we have been doing all season and go all out to defeat them. We must not lose our focus and falter during the game! We must prepare adequately today and tomorrow and ensure we don't lose the game. That's all I'm asking of you. Clear?"

"Yes, coach," the players replied in chorus.

Coach Allegri's expression turned solemn. "I know we're are only four points away from winning the title. One win and one draw from the next two games, against Empoli and Parma, will allow us to become the 2014-15 Serie A Champions. But does that mean that we should relax? Does that mean that we should take things easy and save our energy? The answer is a big NO. In professional football, there's no taking it easy. We have a big responsibility to the fans, the sponsors, and all the other parties supporting us from the background. We cannot just go through the motions and start playing lackluster football simply because we're on the cusp of winning a title. We must continue doing our best off and on the pitch. We must continue doing what we have done all season and make all our supporters proud. Aside from the word victory, nothing else should be in our vocabulary simply because we're Juventus. Are you with me, guys?"

"Yes, coach!"

"Are you with me?"

"Yes, coach!"

"Good!" Coach Allegri smiled. "Since we have our priorities right, let's start training. We have limited time. So, we'll go through a simple dynamic warm-up first. Then, we'll delve straight into working on the tactics, formations, and game plan, as a whole. I need you all to remain focused during today and tomorrow's sessions so we don't waste time on simple stuff. Let's not waste any more time. Training starts now!"

The coach clapped his hands for emphasis, and with that, the preparations for the game against Empoli began. Under the supervision of the coaches, the players went through drills targeted toward refining their tactics as a team. They trained for long hours over the next two days while also taking some time to attend the theoretical lectures touching upon the game by Max Allegri and the other assistant coaches responsible for the tactics.

Most players were still showing signs of fatigue on the training ground, especially after traveling to various parts of the globe to play intensive matches for their national teams. But as professionals, their wills were tenacious, and they didn't let the fatigue bog them down. They pushed through with their all and persisted in training until the eve of the game against Empoli arrived.

That evening, on the eve of the game against Empoli, Coach Max Allegri held a strategic meeting with his assistants. The likes of Marco Landucci, Maurizio Trombetta, Luca Stefanini, and Matteo Fabris all met in one of the conference rooms at the Vinovo to discuss the status of their players and the Juventus team as a whole.

"Colleagues!" Max Allegri was the first to speak. "You must have noticed that most of our players who traveled to play Internationals showed clear signs of fatigue during today's and yesterday's training sessions."

"Boss!" Maurizio Trombetta, the assistant in charge of the first team, said. "You're right. That's the case. Those who traveled to South America, like Martín Cáceres, Carlos Tevez, Roberto Pereyra, and Arturo Vidal, are in even worse condition. But they are not the only ones. I also noticed that Stephan Lichtsteiner, who traveled to Switzerland, Kwadwo Asamoah, who traveled to Ghana, and Andrea Pirlo, who played for Italy twice during the past week, all showed signs of fatigue. I fear they might not be able to handle more than 45 minutes of intensive physical activity if we field them during our game against Empoli tomorrow."

"Indeed," Coach Max Allegri said with a sigh. "I'm still debating whether to include them in the starting line-up."

"Coach, can I say something?" Luca Stefanini, the head of the medical team, interjected. "If you can, it's better you don't include the exhausted players on the starting line-up. Accumulated fatigue will put them at risk of injury during the heat of the game. So, why not rest them for the next matches instead of risking them against Empoli?"

"I'm with Luca on this," Matteo Fabris, the other assistant coach, said. "We still have ten games to play this season, but we're only four points away from claiming the title. So, why should we risk playing our fatigued players when we're in such a commanding position on top of the Serie A table? Moreover, we shouldn't forget that we'll soon be playing against Fiorentina in the second leg of the Coppa Italia semi-finals. After that, we'll face off against Parma away from home before playing Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals. We'll play all those vital fixtures in a short window of less than two weeks. So, why not rest our crucial players now, so they can be a hundred percent match fit when we play those important fixtures?"

"Maybe, we can go with your suggestion, Matteo," Coach Allegri said. "But we don't have to rest all our crucial players as some aren't suffering from accumulated fatigue. For instance, Zachary Bemba has been in tip-top condition during training over the past two days. There are also others, like Claudio Marchisio, Fernando Llorente, Patrice Evra, Giorgio Chiellini, and Leonardo Bonucci, who haven't shown any signs of fatigue over the past two days. They can all start and help us salvage a win against Empoli. Of course, if the need arises, I'll substitute them long before the end of the game."

"That works," Luca Stefanini, the head of the medical team, said. "I'm only against playing the players showing clear signs of fatigue. As for the rest, there shouldn't be a reason for them not to partake in the game."

Coach Allegri smiled. He then discussed a few other issues concerning the team with his assistant before ending the meeting and heading to the tactics room for the pre-game tactical meeting.