2026-05-25, 01:17 PM - Word count:
The Wolfe of Istanbul felt something other then just excitement leading up to this week, and it didn't take much to realize exactly why.
He was going to face-off against his buddy.
More then just a buddy, the opposing Defensive Midfielder on Sydney was his cousin S. Sei (@xyan), someone who had become his lifelong friend and the person who helped entrance him with soccer. However, the reason he was excited for this match in particular was not because he solely wanted to see his friend ... no, he wanted to crush him on the field and prove his existence. It was rivalry and competition built on the desire to show their shared origin would never slow Dante down ... or Wolfe, since that's what people had continued to call him. It was too much effort to bother asking people to call him Dante, but now "Wolfe" had grown into a nickname for him based on his name and the way he always strived to be the leader of the pack when it came to attacking. He hadn't realized how his determination to score goals came across on the field as an obsession ... he'd never even really thought about why he loved scoring goals so much, but that didn't mean he would stop doing so anytime soon. On the contrary, the fact that he had such unconditional love for the simple act of scoring made Dante all the more determined to score more goals.
Just thinking about the match however was making Dante tired, like the act of thinking of moving that much was enough to exhaust him. Still he rolled out of bed and flopped onto the ground, slowly standing with a noticeable droop in his form as he stumbled towards the bathroom to shower. When he was done he slowly opened the sliding door of his small closet and grabbed one of his sets of workout clothes the coaches had put together for him after he'd come out in his pajamas the one day. He didn't bother to brush his hair or anything and just let it messily sit upon his head before taking some multi-vitamins and entering the shared kitchen. He went to his designated cereal shelf and grabbed the one closest to him, eating it out of the box because he didn't want to need to clean a bowl later. Despite how nonchalant he both seemed and acted, Dante's mind was actually quite active today as he thought about how he could maneuver himself against Sydney's defence. Would they focus on marking Dante after his four goal, Player of the Match performance? Maybe they would play more zone coverage to try and limit big plays and 1v1's? Maybe Dante would try and dribble further up to throw them off?
Before he knew it Dante had somehow been on autopilot and was already at the training field, a ball in his hand. Whatever. It didn't matter what they threw at him, Dante would just face it then and there like usual and come out on top. That was how the Wolfe of Istanbul operated.
"These two teams are the absolute ... antithesis of each other. Sydney, hanging back playing defensive, soaking up the pressure while Istanbul is an all-out attack. Full YOLO!" @McLumberjack The announcer was undoubtedly right in this case. He couldn't tell you when it happened, but at some point Dante Von Wolfe had become the King of this team and his philosophy of scoring goals over everything else was seemingly contagious, not that he'd attempted to do anything of the such like spread his playing style to his teammates ... well, nothing other then being vocal about wanting to touch the ball more. It was just a pain because it meant that his teammates might start passing to him less if they all tried to score more.
Stepping onto the pitch The Wolfe gazed around until his sights were set on Sei. He stared him down for a moment, and as if they had some telepathic communication Sei's gaze clearly locked with Dante's. The young Striker moved toward the centerfield with Sei moving in unison. They reached it at the same time.
"Hope you're ready to get crushed." Dante said while cracking his neck side to side.
"It'll be my Strikers who come out on top." Sei responded in a rather fiery tone.
That was all they said to each other before turning around and walking back to their respective sides of the field to warm up for the battle just 30 minutes away.
Whistle start!
The game was never going to start slowly, and Sydney only proved that notion correct. 2 and a half minutes into the game you could practically feel the hunger of these two teams, with Sydney's LWB Don Banjo going winding up a throw in and absolutely yeeting that ball down the wing! It bounced a few times before Striker Leonardo Stone caught up to it, showing off some nice speed. However one of Istanbul's Legend players quickly chased him down and cut him off, taking away space inside and forcing him to continue down the touchline. A quick turn as Stone approached the corner and he made an easy ground pass to CAM Josh Harper. Castellani was marking him closely though and despite being a step behind, the moment the pass headed for Harper, Istanbul's CD was all over him. Boudreaux came in from behind and tried to cut him off from behind, but as Boudreaux and Castellani converged Stone threaded a pass inside to S. Sei at the top of the box. Warhurst turned quickly to follow his mark while Bergmann cut off his shooting lane ... or so he thought. The moment Bergmann's feet were set, Sei was already kicking the ball butting some inside rotation on it and almost nailing it into the far side of the net, had "Headhunter" not made one of his usual elite saves.
Just seeing this play out from up top, Dante was getting restless. He looked over to his coach then back a couple times, seeing the shake of his head to be patient. Coach was right. He needed to put all his focus towards scoring and trust his teammates to defend. They were a capable group, but to stop the draw monster known as Sydney, Istanbul would need to find an overwhelming attack ... and Dante planned to be the Supernova which triggered the landslide.
Exactly two minutes later to the second Dante's team was finally in a good position to attack. It once again started with a throw in, this one by Joshua Homme III Esquire who tossed it in towards Warhurst. The Defender didn't bother to trap the ball and instead kicked it towards Lopta Legend who was beside the penalty box, but had no angle to shoot. Lopta Legend carried it up to the top corner of the box and passed it to Castellani, but the young man from Switzerland wasn't prepared for the instant press by Sydney's Quackareedoo and lost the ball. It was tapped behind him through his legs, but Quackareedoo stumbled and fell to the ground after the successful tackle giving Castellani enough time to easily turn around and take possession of it once more. The attack was still on. The ball goes back to Julusson Legend and after waiting a moment he taps it back to Castellani in stride, then left towards Warhurst! It goes back to a Legend and the play seems to be reset, although Dante maintains his aggressive position pushing the very backline. The legend moves closer to the sideline which opens up a bit of space in the middle which Castellani quickly fills before driving a perfect pass down the middle! The Wolfe of Istanbul anticipated the pass and broke behind his mark then cut in towards the middle to receive the pass with a delicate touch. "As always, this defence is like a house--" @McLumberjack the announcer began to say. Two steps later Dante was in the middle 1 on 1 with GK Duic. The moment the Striker's leg winded backwards Duic committed, practically falling over in place. As if to say "you know where I'm going, but can't stop it." Dante's shot slid into the bottom right of the net. Boom.
The house crumbled with one kick.
(Just gonna share my favorite quote though ...) "He has awoken. Howl at the moon, Von Wolfe is here!" - @McLumberjack (4:10 into Matchday 13 Stream)
Not 30 seconds later after Dante opened the floodgates Istanbul forged another opportunity from their opponents mistakes. GK Duic kicked the ball with impressive power, but the longball was targeting Quackareedoo who was double-teamed by both Esquire and Warhurst. The header was tall and bounced high into the air, yet landed perfectly and Legend Lopta's chest. He trapped it while moving inside and fired a quick pass to Ronaldo in the middle. Dante was running through the center and had the perfect positioning to receive the pass and shoot. He was in front of his defender and wasn't in full stride, meaning he could speed up and take the pass into the center and fire home another goal easy. But Ronaldo saw a better way to get the ball to Dante by using Ozzy Boudreaux as an intermediary. It was a nice through pass, but with Banjo behind him and the speedy Mertz Legend accelerating rapidly to cut off the pass, Ozzy took a shot and made a nice goal, slamming it to the far side of the net and up into the top of the mesh. Dante's passing lane was closed off pretty quickly, but more importantly his teammate made the goal ... otherwise he would've gotten a little more annoyed with him. Still, it sucked he wasn't able to get that one, but at least they now had a 2 - 0 lead. Ozzy was lucky that finish was so good.
Shortly thereafter, Dante was running down the middle of the pitch, trusting his teammates to move the ball down towards him. Ronaldo who got the ball close to the right wing passed it used some pace to bring it to the middle before making a weak kick to Esquire who came up to support the attack. It was a quick trap before pressure could arrive then another quick pass to Legend Lopta who may a nice roulette spin and had a step on Syndey's Pea. LeDiver Legend moved to cut him off leaving Wolfe unmarked and onside in front of the net ...! But Lopta shot from where he was, a decision Dante was unhappy with considering Legend Lopta didn't have a decent angle, could have made a rapid pass to Dante for a volley to put them up 3 - 0 , and Dante would have been well on his way to a hattrick a mere 9 minutes into the match! That failed attack was what happened when his teammates ignored him ... but he dismissed those thoughts as quickly as they had come, knowing their was still 80 minutes of game time left for him to score more goals.
15 and a half minutes into the match, AM Josh Harper unfortunately went down with an injury. Dante went over to help him off the field and reminded the player to keep his head up. He'd played fairly well, and Dante wouldn't do him the disservice of ignoring that. He was going to continue to play this match as if they were the ones down points. Unfortunately Dante Von Wolfe doesn't really play much defence, and wasn't anywhere near the ball when it was crossed from the sideline all the way to the goal box to be perfectly headed in by Stone. It was an excellent play to cut the deficit to 2 - 1 , which gave Dante a feeling in his gut ... he just, didn't want to lose to them ... even as he stood there catching his breath it was all he could think about ... how losing to Sei, to Sydney, the defensive draw masters of the Academy ... they may as well have just forfeited. A tie was a loss.
The next big play happened when Pea took a kick in for Sydney, and wanting to try and clear it he booted it as far as he could, but Plink Legend just bumped it towards Esquire and the attack was on. He centered it to Castellani who had been playing excellent as the in-between man today, and he made a nice, powerful pass to Ronaldo, who turned around and passed it to Lopta Legend running on the outside. He drew a defender with him along with LeDriver Legend who aimed to move into the space behind Pea and guard it from any opposing invaders. But Dante Von Wolfe was not the kind of beast who needed things simply handed to him. They just came to him naturally. Lopta Legend made a nice left-footed boot to Dante with excellent power. Dante sped up just a smidge to fix his positioning and align himself perfectly with the ball, and instantly volleyed it in to the top, back left corner far from GK Duic's reach.
A touch over halfway through the first half we had an impressive goal poached by Jake Ronaldo. It was a beautiful team play as Castellani pressured Walker VI in Istanbul's own half, forcing a hurried pass which the speedy Ozzy Boudreaux intercepted, tapping it to the side as Ronaldo ran back to take the ball and start the counter. He threaded a pass between S. Sei and a Snooks Legend who replaced Josh Harper earlier back to Boudreaux who had a wide berth of empty space in front of him. He took some big touches and used his speed to outrun S. Sei who was hot on his tail and went all the way to the other end of the pitch, making a no-look pass inside to Castellani. He had been searching for Wolfe but the box was too crowded and with Dante being closely marked it was reckless to force the ball to him. Castellani was a step inside the box and fired a HEATER aimed at the top left corner. The ball looked good, but it failed to account for a surprised Jake Ronaldo! The ball smacked into his face like the famous fish slap gif, and the ball bounced into the net. An incredible accidental assist by Castellani ... who now understood a Strikers pain just a little better. Dante didn't know how to cry or he would have shed a tear for him in solidarity. Dante helped out for the final 10 minutes of the first half, even making a clean steal to dispossess a ball which had bounced backwards towards Pea after he'd taken a corner kick ... although nothing came of it, the play gave Dante another tick of confidence.
The last play of the first half that Dante recalled was of course his own shot at the hattrick. He looked back and saw his team snag the ball off a nice interception, with Castellani passing to Ozzy, and Boudreaux of course knew exactly where Dante would be. He was good at that kind of thing, reading the field and making passes. He booted a nice one towards Dante which he wishes was a little bit lower, but certainly got the job done. However the Keeper took the time Dante needed to make his chest trap to close the distance between them. Sandwiched on both sides by a Sydney player, Dante had to take an early shot. The ball was kicked slightly off from where he wanted it to be, but it was still a good kick regardless. But it didn't have enough spin on it, and Duic was able to deflect it off his knee leaving Dante slightly frustrated by the missed opportunity. He had scored twice, but Ozzy had given him a good pass and he should have made that damned shot! No one to blame but himself.
The first half ended 4 - 1, and Istanbul became much more defensive after the second half kickoff. The frustration at being down 4 - 1 however, seemed to be getting to Sydney as Mertz Legend just swept Dante's legs out from underneath him in a rather dirty play. Fortunately the ref handed out a red card, but Dante was more annoyed the chance to score another goal had been taken from him before he could charge into the box with the ball. But Dante wasn't injured, and thus decided that he just needed to keep on attacking.
80 minutes in that attacking came to fruition as Dante waited close to the front of the goal as Esquire made a nice throw in to Legend Lopta, who immediately made a powerful header back to Esquire. No one was on Dante as his mark LeDiver Legend had given him a bit of space, so he dipped forwards receiving a low pass which squeaked by Pea. But Dante was too close to the net ... did he pass? He didn't like passing ... at all. He could make the shot from here as well, although the shooting course was tight he had a chance ...! But he saw one man on the far side of the net, the same man who had given him countless chances during his time with Istanbul, especially the past couple games. He tried to shoot the ball, but at the last moment he let the ball slide past him and gave it a tap to redirect it towards Ozzy Boudreaux for the most WIDE OPEN goal of the century. He didn't like assists ... but this was one he could handle, given who scored and the situation. Dante's play had transformed Istanbul, carried them to a 5 - 1 victory in this match. He actually felt pretty good about it, minus the assist.
It was only after the final whistle blew that Dante realized just how far he'd come. He had entered Istanbul as a raw player with limitless potential and taken a massive leap towards his goal of being the greatest Striker of all time. He had now managed to snatch victory away from his greatest friend and rival twice in the process. He had made this team into a home. Now their was just one match left to prove himself.
Matchday 14.
The Wolfe is ready for the hunt.
He was going to face-off against his buddy.
More then just a buddy, the opposing Defensive Midfielder on Sydney was his cousin S. Sei (@xyan), someone who had become his lifelong friend and the person who helped entrance him with soccer. However, the reason he was excited for this match in particular was not because he solely wanted to see his friend ... no, he wanted to crush him on the field and prove his existence. It was rivalry and competition built on the desire to show their shared origin would never slow Dante down ... or Wolfe, since that's what people had continued to call him. It was too much effort to bother asking people to call him Dante, but now "Wolfe" had grown into a nickname for him based on his name and the way he always strived to be the leader of the pack when it came to attacking. He hadn't realized how his determination to score goals came across on the field as an obsession ... he'd never even really thought about why he loved scoring goals so much, but that didn't mean he would stop doing so anytime soon. On the contrary, the fact that he had such unconditional love for the simple act of scoring made Dante all the more determined to score more goals.
Just thinking about the match however was making Dante tired, like the act of thinking of moving that much was enough to exhaust him. Still he rolled out of bed and flopped onto the ground, slowly standing with a noticeable droop in his form as he stumbled towards the bathroom to shower. When he was done he slowly opened the sliding door of his small closet and grabbed one of his sets of workout clothes the coaches had put together for him after he'd come out in his pajamas the one day. He didn't bother to brush his hair or anything and just let it messily sit upon his head before taking some multi-vitamins and entering the shared kitchen. He went to his designated cereal shelf and grabbed the one closest to him, eating it out of the box because he didn't want to need to clean a bowl later. Despite how nonchalant he both seemed and acted, Dante's mind was actually quite active today as he thought about how he could maneuver himself against Sydney's defence. Would they focus on marking Dante after his four goal, Player of the Match performance? Maybe they would play more zone coverage to try and limit big plays and 1v1's? Maybe Dante would try and dribble further up to throw them off?
Before he knew it Dante had somehow been on autopilot and was already at the training field, a ball in his hand. Whatever. It didn't matter what they threw at him, Dante would just face it then and there like usual and come out on top. That was how the Wolfe of Istanbul operated.
"These two teams are the absolute ... antithesis of each other. Sydney, hanging back playing defensive, soaking up the pressure while Istanbul is an all-out attack. Full YOLO!" @McLumberjack The announcer was undoubtedly right in this case. He couldn't tell you when it happened, but at some point Dante Von Wolfe had become the King of this team and his philosophy of scoring goals over everything else was seemingly contagious, not that he'd attempted to do anything of the such like spread his playing style to his teammates ... well, nothing other then being vocal about wanting to touch the ball more. It was just a pain because it meant that his teammates might start passing to him less if they all tried to score more.
Stepping onto the pitch The Wolfe gazed around until his sights were set on Sei. He stared him down for a moment, and as if they had some telepathic communication Sei's gaze clearly locked with Dante's. The young Striker moved toward the centerfield with Sei moving in unison. They reached it at the same time.
"Hope you're ready to get crushed." Dante said while cracking his neck side to side.
"It'll be my Strikers who come out on top." Sei responded in a rather fiery tone.
That was all they said to each other before turning around and walking back to their respective sides of the field to warm up for the battle just 30 minutes away.
Whistle start!
The game was never going to start slowly, and Sydney only proved that notion correct. 2 and a half minutes into the game you could practically feel the hunger of these two teams, with Sydney's LWB Don Banjo going winding up a throw in and absolutely yeeting that ball down the wing! It bounced a few times before Striker Leonardo Stone caught up to it, showing off some nice speed. However one of Istanbul's Legend players quickly chased him down and cut him off, taking away space inside and forcing him to continue down the touchline. A quick turn as Stone approached the corner and he made an easy ground pass to CAM Josh Harper. Castellani was marking him closely though and despite being a step behind, the moment the pass headed for Harper, Istanbul's CD was all over him. Boudreaux came in from behind and tried to cut him off from behind, but as Boudreaux and Castellani converged Stone threaded a pass inside to S. Sei at the top of the box. Warhurst turned quickly to follow his mark while Bergmann cut off his shooting lane ... or so he thought. The moment Bergmann's feet were set, Sei was already kicking the ball butting some inside rotation on it and almost nailing it into the far side of the net, had "Headhunter" not made one of his usual elite saves.
Just seeing this play out from up top, Dante was getting restless. He looked over to his coach then back a couple times, seeing the shake of his head to be patient. Coach was right. He needed to put all his focus towards scoring and trust his teammates to defend. They were a capable group, but to stop the draw monster known as Sydney, Istanbul would need to find an overwhelming attack ... and Dante planned to be the Supernova which triggered the landslide.
Exactly two minutes later to the second Dante's team was finally in a good position to attack. It once again started with a throw in, this one by Joshua Homme III Esquire who tossed it in towards Warhurst. The Defender didn't bother to trap the ball and instead kicked it towards Lopta Legend who was beside the penalty box, but had no angle to shoot. Lopta Legend carried it up to the top corner of the box and passed it to Castellani, but the young man from Switzerland wasn't prepared for the instant press by Sydney's Quackareedoo and lost the ball. It was tapped behind him through his legs, but Quackareedoo stumbled and fell to the ground after the successful tackle giving Castellani enough time to easily turn around and take possession of it once more. The attack was still on. The ball goes back to Julusson Legend and after waiting a moment he taps it back to Castellani in stride, then left towards Warhurst! It goes back to a Legend and the play seems to be reset, although Dante maintains his aggressive position pushing the very backline. The legend moves closer to the sideline which opens up a bit of space in the middle which Castellani quickly fills before driving a perfect pass down the middle! The Wolfe of Istanbul anticipated the pass and broke behind his mark then cut in towards the middle to receive the pass with a delicate touch. "As always, this defence is like a house--" @McLumberjack the announcer began to say. Two steps later Dante was in the middle 1 on 1 with GK Duic. The moment the Striker's leg winded backwards Duic committed, practically falling over in place. As if to say "you know where I'm going, but can't stop it." Dante's shot slid into the bottom right of the net. Boom.
The house crumbled with one kick.
(Just gonna share my favorite quote though ...) "He has awoken. Howl at the moon, Von Wolfe is here!" - @McLumberjack (4:10 into Matchday 13 Stream)
Not 30 seconds later after Dante opened the floodgates Istanbul forged another opportunity from their opponents mistakes. GK Duic kicked the ball with impressive power, but the longball was targeting Quackareedoo who was double-teamed by both Esquire and Warhurst. The header was tall and bounced high into the air, yet landed perfectly and Legend Lopta's chest. He trapped it while moving inside and fired a quick pass to Ronaldo in the middle. Dante was running through the center and had the perfect positioning to receive the pass and shoot. He was in front of his defender and wasn't in full stride, meaning he could speed up and take the pass into the center and fire home another goal easy. But Ronaldo saw a better way to get the ball to Dante by using Ozzy Boudreaux as an intermediary. It was a nice through pass, but with Banjo behind him and the speedy Mertz Legend accelerating rapidly to cut off the pass, Ozzy took a shot and made a nice goal, slamming it to the far side of the net and up into the top of the mesh. Dante's passing lane was closed off pretty quickly, but more importantly his teammate made the goal ... otherwise he would've gotten a little more annoyed with him. Still, it sucked he wasn't able to get that one, but at least they now had a 2 - 0 lead. Ozzy was lucky that finish was so good.
Shortly thereafter, Dante was running down the middle of the pitch, trusting his teammates to move the ball down towards him. Ronaldo who got the ball close to the right wing passed it used some pace to bring it to the middle before making a weak kick to Esquire who came up to support the attack. It was a quick trap before pressure could arrive then another quick pass to Legend Lopta who may a nice roulette spin and had a step on Syndey's Pea. LeDiver Legend moved to cut him off leaving Wolfe unmarked and onside in front of the net ...! But Lopta shot from where he was, a decision Dante was unhappy with considering Legend Lopta didn't have a decent angle, could have made a rapid pass to Dante for a volley to put them up 3 - 0 , and Dante would have been well on his way to a hattrick a mere 9 minutes into the match! That failed attack was what happened when his teammates ignored him ... but he dismissed those thoughts as quickly as they had come, knowing their was still 80 minutes of game time left for him to score more goals.
15 and a half minutes into the match, AM Josh Harper unfortunately went down with an injury. Dante went over to help him off the field and reminded the player to keep his head up. He'd played fairly well, and Dante wouldn't do him the disservice of ignoring that. He was going to continue to play this match as if they were the ones down points. Unfortunately Dante Von Wolfe doesn't really play much defence, and wasn't anywhere near the ball when it was crossed from the sideline all the way to the goal box to be perfectly headed in by Stone. It was an excellent play to cut the deficit to 2 - 1 , which gave Dante a feeling in his gut ... he just, didn't want to lose to them ... even as he stood there catching his breath it was all he could think about ... how losing to Sei, to Sydney, the defensive draw masters of the Academy ... they may as well have just forfeited. A tie was a loss.
The next big play happened when Pea took a kick in for Sydney, and wanting to try and clear it he booted it as far as he could, but Plink Legend just bumped it towards Esquire and the attack was on. He centered it to Castellani who had been playing excellent as the in-between man today, and he made a nice, powerful pass to Ronaldo, who turned around and passed it to Lopta Legend running on the outside. He drew a defender with him along with LeDriver Legend who aimed to move into the space behind Pea and guard it from any opposing invaders. But Dante Von Wolfe was not the kind of beast who needed things simply handed to him. They just came to him naturally. Lopta Legend made a nice left-footed boot to Dante with excellent power. Dante sped up just a smidge to fix his positioning and align himself perfectly with the ball, and instantly volleyed it in to the top, back left corner far from GK Duic's reach.
A touch over halfway through the first half we had an impressive goal poached by Jake Ronaldo. It was a beautiful team play as Castellani pressured Walker VI in Istanbul's own half, forcing a hurried pass which the speedy Ozzy Boudreaux intercepted, tapping it to the side as Ronaldo ran back to take the ball and start the counter. He threaded a pass between S. Sei and a Snooks Legend who replaced Josh Harper earlier back to Boudreaux who had a wide berth of empty space in front of him. He took some big touches and used his speed to outrun S. Sei who was hot on his tail and went all the way to the other end of the pitch, making a no-look pass inside to Castellani. He had been searching for Wolfe but the box was too crowded and with Dante being closely marked it was reckless to force the ball to him. Castellani was a step inside the box and fired a HEATER aimed at the top left corner. The ball looked good, but it failed to account for a surprised Jake Ronaldo! The ball smacked into his face like the famous fish slap gif, and the ball bounced into the net. An incredible accidental assist by Castellani ... who now understood a Strikers pain just a little better. Dante didn't know how to cry or he would have shed a tear for him in solidarity. Dante helped out for the final 10 minutes of the first half, even making a clean steal to dispossess a ball which had bounced backwards towards Pea after he'd taken a corner kick ... although nothing came of it, the play gave Dante another tick of confidence.
The last play of the first half that Dante recalled was of course his own shot at the hattrick. He looked back and saw his team snag the ball off a nice interception, with Castellani passing to Ozzy, and Boudreaux of course knew exactly where Dante would be. He was good at that kind of thing, reading the field and making passes. He booted a nice one towards Dante which he wishes was a little bit lower, but certainly got the job done. However the Keeper took the time Dante needed to make his chest trap to close the distance between them. Sandwiched on both sides by a Sydney player, Dante had to take an early shot. The ball was kicked slightly off from where he wanted it to be, but it was still a good kick regardless. But it didn't have enough spin on it, and Duic was able to deflect it off his knee leaving Dante slightly frustrated by the missed opportunity. He had scored twice, but Ozzy had given him a good pass and he should have made that damned shot! No one to blame but himself.
The first half ended 4 - 1, and Istanbul became much more defensive after the second half kickoff. The frustration at being down 4 - 1 however, seemed to be getting to Sydney as Mertz Legend just swept Dante's legs out from underneath him in a rather dirty play. Fortunately the ref handed out a red card, but Dante was more annoyed the chance to score another goal had been taken from him before he could charge into the box with the ball. But Dante wasn't injured, and thus decided that he just needed to keep on attacking.
80 minutes in that attacking came to fruition as Dante waited close to the front of the goal as Esquire made a nice throw in to Legend Lopta, who immediately made a powerful header back to Esquire. No one was on Dante as his mark LeDiver Legend had given him a bit of space, so he dipped forwards receiving a low pass which squeaked by Pea. But Dante was too close to the net ... did he pass? He didn't like passing ... at all. He could make the shot from here as well, although the shooting course was tight he had a chance ...! But he saw one man on the far side of the net, the same man who had given him countless chances during his time with Istanbul, especially the past couple games. He tried to shoot the ball, but at the last moment he let the ball slide past him and gave it a tap to redirect it towards Ozzy Boudreaux for the most WIDE OPEN goal of the century. He didn't like assists ... but this was one he could handle, given who scored and the situation. Dante's play had transformed Istanbul, carried them to a 5 - 1 victory in this match. He actually felt pretty good about it, minus the assist.
It was only after the final whistle blew that Dante realized just how far he'd come. He had entered Istanbul as a raw player with limitless potential and taken a massive leap towards his goal of being the greatest Striker of all time. He had now managed to snatch victory away from his greatest friend and rival twice in the process. He had made this team into a home. Now their was just one match left to prove himself.
Matchday 14.
The Wolfe is ready for the hunt.
![[Image: ySrStzC.jpeg]](https://i.imgur.com/ySrStzC.jpeg)
