In the blink of an eye.
The match had reached the 89th minute.
On the pitch, the Aston Villa U17 squad was running purely on adrenaline.
Through sheer, relentless grit, they finally managed to dispossess the Swansea midfielders.
Following Coach Charles's frantic touchline screaming, the ball was immediately booted out to the right wing—straight to Theodore Bjorn.
Theodore brought the ball down perfectly.
He picked his head up and scanned the penalty area, coldly calculating the geometry of the pitch.
By now, Swansea's defense had scrambled back into position. A full-back and a defensive midfielder immediately stepped up, double-teaming Theodore to block any of his lethal long passes.
Theodore locked eyes with them and fluidly pulled his right leg back, selling the passing motion completely.
Terrified of another Pirlo-esque cruise missile, the two Swansea defenders lunged forward throwing their legs out in a desperate bid to block the cross.
'Dumbass.'
In a split second, Theodore chopped the ball inside, decisively dropping his shoulder to blow right past them.
His speed attribute was sitting at 72. In the Premier League, 72 was painfully average. But here? In the dying minutes of a U17 match? Against two defenders whose legs had completely turned to jelly after ninety minutes of grueling football?
It was more than enough.
With a simple, devastating touch, Theodore left both defenders eating grass. Driving straight toward the byline, he finally unleashed his newly minted 99 long-pass attribute, whipping a vicious cross into the box.
The ball traced a dipping arc through the freezing air. It sailed effortlessly over the heads of Swansea's two towering center-backs, dropping rapidly with pinpoint precision.
It landed dead in front of Aston Villa's striker, Terr.
Terr didn't even have to jump. He simply threw his head forward.
Smash.
The ball flashed past the desperate dive of the Swansea goalkeeper.
3-3!
Aston Villa had clawed their way back from the grave!
"Beautiful!" "Fucking brilliant, lads!" "Get in!!"
Coach Charles absolutely lost his mind on the touchline, jumping into the air and tackling his assistant coach.
Terr screamed in triumph and immediately turn around, sprinting toward Theodore to celebrate the last-minute equalizer.
But Theodore wasn't looking at him.
He was already sprinting at full speed toward the Swansea goal, diving into the back of the net to retrieve the ball himself.
Tucking it under his arm, he sprinted back to the center circle.
For Theodore Bjorn, a draw was useless.
He didn't transmigrate to tie U17 games.
He came to win!
Just then, the mechanical voice echoed in his skull.
[Ding! Mission Issued: Help the team achieve victory!]
[Mission Reward: Draw one Platinum Card!]
"What the hell is a Platinum Card?" Theodore muttered under his breath as he jogged.
[Ding! System Explanation:]
[The Host can obtain attribute points via two methods. Method 1: Physical training (slow, minimal effect). Method 2: Completing random system missions for attribute rewards.] [Depending on mission difficulty, the system rewards different tiers of skill cards. From lowest to highest: Platinum Card, Black Gold Card, Peak Card.]
"Got it."
Theodore's blood was boiling with fighting spirit now. His first draw gave him a Peak Card, maxing out his long-pass to 99 thanks to Pirlo.
Even if a Platinum Card was the lowest tier, it was still a golden ticket to boost his current mediocre stats.
He was going to win this damn game even if it killed him!
The fourth official on the sideline raised the electronic board.
Three minutes of added time.
Three minutes to steal a victory.
"Press them!" Theodore roared as Swansea kicked off. "Don't just stand there! Push up! Press together!"
But as the seconds ticked by, Theodore realized with sinking dread that his teammates weren't moving. Their legs were gone. To the Aston Villa squad, coming back from 3-0 down to secure a 3-3 draw was already a miracle.
They were completely drained, physically and mentally.
'Fine,' Theodore gritted his teeth. 'I'll do it my self.'
Since he was a late substitute, his stamina was practically full.
Theodore transformed into an absolute mad dog, sprinting all over the pitch, hunting the ball with the ferocity of a starving wolf.
In the 92nd minute, his sheer force paid off.
Just as the Swansea full-back tried to play a lazy pass out of the back, Theodore exploded forward.
With a tackling attribute of 74, he brutally dispossessed the defender with a perfectly timed sliding tackle.
The ball popped loose and Theodore scrambled to his feet instantly.
Seeing their midfielder win the ball back against all odds, Terr and Andri found one last burst of adrenaline, charging the Swansea penalty area simultaneously.
Theodore took one touch to steady himself and delivered a blistering, curling pass right into the mixer.
The ball whipped into the penalty area, an absolute nightmare for the keeper to deal with.
Terr threw his exhausted body forward, connecting with a desperate diving header.
The Swansea goalkeeper launched himself, stretching as far as humanly possible.
The ball grazed the very tips of his gloves—but the angle was too perfect.
The power was too much.
Smack.
The ball rippled the back of the net!
4-3!
The exact second the ball crossed the line, the referee blew the final whistle.
A 92nd-minute, jaw-dropping, match-winning goal.
Every single Aston Villa player on the pitch rushed Theodore, tackling him to the freezing grass and burying him under a massive screaming human pyramid.
On the bench, Coach Charles let out a breath he felt like he'd been holding for an hour.
The horrific losing streak was dead.
As the players finally trudged off the pitch, Charles bypassed everyone else and pulled Theodore into a tight hug.
"Bloody well done, Bjorn! What an absolute masterclass!" Charles yelled over the noise of the celebrating squad.
"From now on, your ass is starting! I'm sending this match footage straight to the first-team coaching staff tonight. You keep playing like this and you'll be promoted before the month is out!"
Theodore just smirked, nodding his thanks to the coach.
Twenty minutes later, the locker room was still vibrating with hype, but Theodore had slipped away to his locker.
Toweling off his wet hair, he suddenly remembered the pending notification from the system.
He immediately opened the system interface.
Five glowing Platinum Cards materialized in his vision. He didn't hesitate, reaching out and tapping the second one from the left.
[Ding! Platinum Card Selected.]
The red and yellow stripes of the Spanish flag flared brightly across the screen, followed by the stoic bearded face of a midfield maestro.
Xabi Alonso.
[Ding! Congratulations to the Host for obtaining Xabi Alonso's Vision Skill Card!]
[Vision Attribute Increased: 62 -> 84!]