"Good morning to you all," Coach Johansen said when all the Rosenborg players had taken up their seats in the tactics room. An easy, relaxed smile outlined his face as he stepped in front of the room to address the players. He seemed to be in a good mood.
"Good morning, coach," the players replied, more or less in unison.
The coach nodded and glanced around. His gaze paused on Zachary the next moment. He grinned and said, "You're back?"
"Yes, I'm back," Zachary replied with a smile. "I returned yesterday afternoon."
"How is she?"
"She's recovering well. She should be able to leave the hospital in about a month's time."
It was already common knowledge among the Rosenborg players that Zachary's grandma was in a hospital in Zurich. He had already informed all his teammates since he wanted them to understand why he'd missed several training sessions over the past few weeks. So, he didn't mind talking about the issue in front of all the players within the tactics room.
"That's great news," Coach Johansen said, smiling, after hearing his response. "We're all happy for you."
"Thanks."
After the coach finished speaking, his teammates congratulated him and voiced their well-wishes over the next few seconds. Zachary, of course, accepted them all and replied politely before settling back in his seat.
"Okay, okay," the coach suddenly said. "Settle down, and let's move on to official business."
The players immediately returned to their seats.
Coach Johansen swept his gaze across the room before nodding and continuing. "We have two upcoming games that will require us to exert ourselves over the next few days. First, we'll play against Viking in our Tippeligaen season opener scheduled for six days later here at Lerkendal. Then, four days after that, we'll travel to France to face off against Olympique Lyon in the quarter-finals of the Europa League."
"For the Tippeligaen game against Viking FK, I have decided to give a chance to members of the second team. When putting together the squad for the match, I'll consider all the reserve players who perform well during training over the next few days."
"But that doesn't mean that I'm giving up on the game. We're a big team in Norway. We should be able to put up fair competition against any opponents, even with our third team. So, I expect no less than a win against Viking. Are we together?"
"Yes, coach," the players replied enthusiastically.
Coach Johansen smiled. "As for the game against Lyon, I'll mainly select the squad from the usual regulars who performed well against Juventus. But if a reserve player is to put up a spectacular performance against Viking, I'll also automatically consider him for the squad..."
The coach then went over the training plans for the next few minutes before dismissing the players back to the training ground.
A few minutes later, the preparations for the two upcoming matches started in full swing. The coaches immediately divided the players into two training camps.
The first included the regulars like Nicki Nielsen, Thomas Partey, Yerry Mina, Takumi Minamino, Eric Bailly, Zachary Bemba, etcetera. The training camp's main focus was to prepare for the Europa game against Lyon, scheduled for ten days later.
The second training camp included the second-stringers like John Chibuike, Mix Diskerud, Paul Kasongo, Paul Otterson, William Troost-Ekong, Kendrick Otterson, Jonas Svensson, Ole Selnæs, etcetera. The aim of the camp was to prepare for the Tippeligaen game against Viking, scheduled for six days later.
Coach Johansen took up the reigns of the first camp, while Trond Henriksen, the assistant head coach, concentrated on the second camp's preparations. They soon put the players through strict conditioning to instill match tactics into their heads. They were overly stern and didn't allow anyone to slack off during training.
The following days became increasingly hectic as the Rosenborg players and technical staff prepared for the upcoming two matches. With everyone busy, the atmosphere around the team grew more solemn – and soon, it was Saturday, March 29th, 2014.
The day for the Tippeligaen season-opening match between Rosenborg and Viking had finally arrived.
The weather was not the best that day. The temperatures were abnormally low while the drizzling started in the morning and didn't stop even in the afternoon.
Nonetheless, the poor weather didn't stop the excited Rosenborg fans from swarming toward Lerkendal to watch the game. By 3:30 PM, when thirty minutes remained before kick-off, the stadium was already almost at maximum capacity.
The Rosenborg fans seemed not to mind the cold weather. They sang and cheered at the top of their voices as they waited to witness another incredible performance from their home team.
However, the festive atmosphere within the stands came to an abrupt halt when the starting line-ups for the day came out on the big screen.
"Starting in goal for Rosenborg is Kendrick Otterson," the commentator's voice resounded across the stadium. "The center-backs are William Troost-Ekong and Stefan Strandberg. The wing-backs are Cristian Gamboa on the right flank and Jörgen Skjelvik on the left. The three midfielders are Mix Diskerud, Ole Selnæs, and Mike Jensen. And the three forwards to complete Rosenborg's 4-3-3 formation are Paul Kasongo, Riku Riski, and John Chibuike."
No sooner had the commentator finished announcing the Rosenborg starting players than a wave of chaotic and dissatisfied chattering swept through the stands.
"Where is Zachary?" One fan asked with narrowed eyes. "Is he injured?"
"Don't jinx us, man," another fan replied. "Don't you see him on the bench? Maybe, the coach has decided to allow him to rest. He should be reserving him for the Europa League quarter-final match against Lyon."
"Does the coach want to give up on the Tippeligaen to focus on the Europa League? But that's a bit ridiculous. I've seen players in top teams all around Europe playing the weekend domestic league matches before appearing for the UEFA games during midweek. Why can't Coach Johansen do the same?"
"Who knows?" Another fan said, shrugging. "Damn! I was looking forward to watching Zachary's magic again. But I guess I'll have to go another four days without seeing him play. What a bummer!"
The fans seemed baffled by Coach Johansen's choice of players for the day. They couldn't understand why the coach had fielded a line-up of unknowns and benched all the star players for the season's opening match. And slowly, their moods sank into the abyss of desperation as they speculated that he might have given up on the game.
Their taut nerves only loosened when the game started a few minutes later. They soon started cheering like usual as the Rosenborg players on the field launched unending waves of attacks against Viking FK. Before long, Rosenborg totally controlled the game and dictated the tempo.
And then the floodgates opened during the 10th minute with a goal from Paul Kasongo. After connecting with a pin-point long-range pass from Ole Selnæs at the edge of the box, he skipped past a Viking center-back and then rifled a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner to score Rosenborg's 1st goal.
After the goal, the Rosenborg players didn't relax in the slightest. They continued pushing forward and ripping apart Viking's defense with wing-play tactics until they created another goal-scoring opportunity nine minutes later.
That time around, the goal came through a corner kick. William Troost-Ekong outjumped the rest of the players in the box to connect with the teasing corner ball from Ole Selnæs. He angled his head slightly to plant a header into the top right corner from around the penalty spot.
The rest of the first half was uneventful, at least in terms of goals. Rosenborg continued attacking relentlessly, with the wingers and midfielders unleashing crosses and grounded through-passes into the box. However, the Viking defense held on for dear life and prevented the Troll Kids from scoring the third goal before halftime.
When the second half started, the game situation changed swiftly and abruptly. The Viking players launched a counterattack during the 48th minute and caught Rosenborg unawares. They cut through Rosenborg's defense like a knife slicing through butter before scoring their first goal for the day.
Rosenborg BK 2 : Viking FK 1
On the sidelines, Coach Johansen glanced at the score on the stadium's jumbotron with narrowed eyes. He was a bit apprehensive, especially since only one goal was still separating his team from the opponents. But after a moment of consideration, he still decided to wait instead of making an immediate substitution.
And his patience was finally rewarded in the 65th minute. After a failed Viking corner kick, the Rosenborg players hit back with a sudden counterattack.
Mike Jensen collected the loose ball at the edge of the box and immediately passed it to Ole Selnæs. The latter controlled it well before unleashing a lofted pass into the left wing to find Paul Kasongo.
Paul Kasongo exploded with speed and raced towards the other side of the pitch in mere seconds. A Viking defender soon came to close him down. However, the highly agile Rosenborg winger threaded the ball back to the sprinting Ole Selnæs in the middle.
Ole Selnæs received it and immediately switched gameplay to the right-wing to find Riku Riski with a lofted pass over an approaching opponent.
Riku Riski controlled it mid-sprint and immediately passed to John Chibuike, the Rosenborg center forward.
The cheers in the stadium hit a crescendo as John Chibuike skipped past a center back with a deft touch before chipping the ball past the outstretched fingertips of the Viking keeper.
Rosenborg BK 3 : Viking FK 1
After scoring the third goal, the Rosenborg players played more conservatively. They focused more on defense and prevented Viking from creating other goal-scoring opportunities for the rest of the game. And finally, the game ended 3:1 in favor of Rosenborg after four minutes of added time.
Nicki Nielsen turned his attention from the game after hearing the final whistle. He sighed and stood up before saying to no one in particular, "These guys are quite something. If we're not careful, they might bench us anytime."
"You're right," Mikael echoed as he also stood up to head towards the tunnel. "In particular, the performances of Ole Selnæs and Paul Kasongo have surprised me. The coach will start taking them seriously from now on."
Zachary listened to his teammates conversing but chose not to comment. He was also surprised by the performance of the second team. But he wasn't worried that any of the reserves would snatch his number.
Instead, he was delighted by the fact that his team had grown to a level where it could thrash domestic league opponents with the second-stringers. He was more at ease since the highly-skilled players in reserve would allow the coach to rotate players more often to ensure that the team became more competitive on many fronts.
