Morning arrived quietly at the facility.
The tension of Matchday 3 still lingered in the air.
Inside the cafeteria, screens replayed highlights from the previous matches.
Daniel sat with his roommates eating breakfast.
Tunde pointed at the screen where the replay of Daniel's final goal appeared again.
"Bro, they're showing that goal everywhere."
Ayo laughed.
"You've become the entertainment of the entire facility."
Chinedu leaned back in his chair.
"That means people are studying you now."
Daniel nodded slowly.
"I know."
That thought had been sitting in the back of his mind since yesterday.
More eyes meant more danger.
Suddenly the system screens around the cafeteria activated.
SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT
Matchday 4 preparation period has begun.
The next set of fixtures appeared.
Conversations immediately exploded around the room.
Candidates began analyzing their upcoming opponents.
Daniel stood up.
"I'm going to the strategy room."
Tunde grinned.
"Already studying?"
Daniel shrugged.
"If people are watching me, I should watch them too."
Inside the strategy room, Daniel opened the tactical board interface.
A holographic pitch appeared in front of him.
He began placing player markers on the field.
Adjusting runs.
Planning chain reactions.
Preparing for the next opponent.
After twenty minutes, he finally finished his tactical plan.
He saved the setup and closed the system.
Satisfied.
But elsewhere in the facility…
Someone else was watching.
Inside a restricted data corridor, a dim terminal screen flickered.
Lines of code scrolled rapidly.
A hidden access channel had been opened.
The system replayed Daniel's saved tactical board.
His formation.
His movement triggers.
His attacking routes.
A shadowed figure stood in front of the monitor.
Watching silently.
Behind him stood Farouk.
Farouk crossed his arms.
"So that's his plan?"
The shadowed figure said nothing.
Instead, he replayed the tactical movement again.
The winger cutting inside.
The overlapping fullback.
The striker dropping deep.
The chain reaction.
Farouk smirked.
"Perfect."
He cracked his knuckles.
"If I know his system beforehand…"
"…crushing him will be easy."
The shadowed figure finally spoke.
His voice was calm.
Cold.
"You're thinking too small."
Farouk frowned.
"What do you mean?"
The man turned slightly.
His face still hidden in darkness.
"You want revenge against one person."
He paused.
"I want control over the entire competition."
Farouk blinked.
"…Control?"
The man gestured toward the terminal screen.
The system interface appeared.
Dozens of candidate profiles.
Player rosters.
Tactical archives.
Match simulations.
"All of this information…"
His voice remained calm.
"…decides the future of football."
He turned back toward the monitor.
"If someone controlled the information…"
"…they could control the results."
Farouk slowly realized something.
"You're saying we could manipulate matches?"
The man smiled faintly.
"Not directly."
"But information…"
"…is power."
He pointed at Daniel's tactical board.
"Let your opponent know the trap beforehand…"
"…and the trap becomes useless."
Farouk's smile returned.
"So Daniel won't even understand why he's losing."
The man shut down the screen.
The room went dark.
"This is only the beginning."
Meanwhile, back in the strategy room…
Daniel suddenly paused.
Something felt strange.
He reopened the tactical interface.
His saved formation appeared again.
But something was wrong.
One of the player movements had been shifted slightly.
Daniel frowned.
"…That's weird."
He was sure he hadn't placed that run there.
He stared at the screen longer.
A quiet suspicion formed in his mind.
Someone…
Might be looking at his tactics.
SYSTEM ANNOUNCEMENT
The cafeteria screens suddenly lit up.
A calm mechanical voice echoed through the facility.
MATCHDAY 4 PREPARATION PERIOD HAS BEGUN.
Immediately, the next fixtures appeared on the holographic display.
GROUP E — MATCHDAY 4 FIXTURES
Martins Adeyemi vs Ibrahim Sule
Mendes vs Silva
Harada vs Okoye
Farouk vs Adisa
Daniel vs Petrov
Murmurs spread across the cafeteria.
"Petrov?"
"Isn't he last place in the group?"
"He hasn't scored a single point yet."
Tunde leaned back in his chair and grinned.
"Well Daniel, looks like you got the easiest match this round."
Ayo nodded.
"Yeah, Petrov's been struggling since Matchday 1."
Chinedu, however, didn't look convinced.
"Careful."
The others looked at him.
"In tournaments like this," he continued, "the matches that look easiest are usually the ones where people get careless."
Daniel stared quietly at the screen.
Daniel vs Petrov.
Last place.
Zero points.
On paper, it should be an easy victory.
But for some reason…
Daniel felt uneasy.
He couldn't explain it.
Somewhere in the facility…
Someone was already studying his tactics.