Glory Glory Rebels

Chapter 21 Left Back Star

The team in Yviore was an amateur team, if they could even be called a team. They were more like a dedicated group of fans who enjoyed playing and were still hanging on to the French amateur league. Their home stadium was run down and could not seat more than 1200 people and the field was open to the public when there was no match or training, which just increased the damage done to the grounds.

Rudy walked into the stadium and saw young children playing football. It was clear that they were not under any training but they were laughing and having fun just playing with the ball. At around 5pm, several players looking to be in their early twenties came into the stadium and began to change into jerseys.

They began to warm up, they didn’t even notice Rudy standing there watching them. They were used to it, after all the stadium was open to the public. Slowly more and more players showed up, they all put jerseys on and started warming up with the other players. Soon there were enough players to divided into two teams so they could play a practice match.

Rudy watched them, they obviously played football everyday and knew the basic rules of football, but it seemed that they lacked the finesse of better players. They had no coach or referee, they didn’t seem to have any kind of tactics and there were no set positions for the players, they just played the position they wanted to.

Rudy looked carefully at all the players on the field but could not see the familiar face he was looking for. Rudy doubted himself, had he made a mistake and the person he was looking for was not going to be here? He thought that maybe he just needed to enjoy the game in front of him and hope that he would find what he was looking for.

The game was a mess, there was no rhyme or reason to the match even the goalie would step out of his defense area and play on the field. The other players were laughing and not taking it seriously either. People watching though it was funny too, it was more like a friendly game of football at a picnic than a practice match.

It was nice for Rudy to see people enjoying themselves playing a sport that they loved, it was a simple pleasure and Rudy found himself lost in the moment until another player ran onto the field.

He was very short, he stood at 5 feet 2 inches tall. He looked compact, strong and he was very dark. He took off his jacket as he ran and began warming up with the other players. Rudy paid attention as soon as he saw this young man enter. After careful observation, Rudy confirmed in his mind that this was the player he had been looking for.

A player on the court called out and the guy that just arrived ran onto the field. However instead of going to back left, as Rudy had expected, he ran straight to midfield. He looked confused and unsure of what he was supposed to be doing but he was trying.

Rudy could see that the lack of tactics and direction was not letting this young man play at his full potential. He was extremely fast compared to the other players and he seemed to have a natural movement about him that made Rudy think that this kid was made for football.

Rudy thought that any club that passed this natural talent, would be missing out for sure. Although he was rough, this player had talent and it was obvious that he was better than anyone else on the field, his speed and explosive force was unmatched. He faced another player that was good at defense but he was too fast and flew past him without missing a beat.

Even though the youth was playing in a midfield position he often moved and played in other positions due to his speed, he could get there faster than the other players on his team. But it seemed that after he had taken the ball he wasn’t sure what to do with it, he didn’t seem to understand to pass the ball to his teammates or if he did pass the ball, it was not in the right direction or the player wasn’t ready to receive.

He wasted a lot of chances over and over again, but he still kept at it. Rudy approached the player that had come off the field;

“Hi, could you tell me that players name?” Rudy asked politely.

“Patrice Evra, he good isn’t he?” The young man spoke broken English.

"Yes he is very good. He is very fast and strong, he seems to have a natural talent. That’s why I needed to know his name, Thankyou.” Rudy smiled.

”He is the best player with us.” The young man nodded.

“Do you know if he has had any professional training? His skills are excellent.” Rudy asked the man.

The young man nodded while watching Evra on the field.

“He had trained for St Germain, but they never give the chance to play for the club, so he came back to us. Usually he would come and play football with us when he was free.” The young man smiled.

Evra was only 17 years old now, right now there was nothing overly special about the boy, if Rudy didn’t know what he future held, he would have thought that Evra would not become anybody special.

If Rudy’s memory was correct, Evra transferred to Masala, in Italy later this year. However, Evra was not appreciated by them and after 12 months moved to Monza only to have the same results with them, they did not appreciate him as a player and he often did not play.

After that he returned to France and played for Nice. He was appreciated by the coach and was trained as a left back, the position that made him famous. Eventually, Evra’s performance was noticed by Ferguson from Manchester United and soon after Evra joined Manchester United as their main left back star.

Because of his outstanding performance in the French League, Evra was noticed by Ferguson from Manchester United. Then he joined Manchester United, soon became the main force of left back, and finally became a famous left back in the football.