July 22, 2022
Nanjing Olympic Sports Center
Nanjing, China PR

News Headline: Antonio Conte Expected To Blood Youngster in Elite Cup

Everyone at Tottenham is talking about promising academy graduate Naruto Uzumaki. Ahead of the club's pre-season tour, all the signs are the boss will give the rising star some first-team minutes. An appearance off the bench for the new boy should come as no surprise as Conte has never been afraid to put his faith in young players after all.

Sitting in the dressing room Naruto watched as all his teammates were chatting on about with themselves. The blond just sat on his seat as he faced his jersey. There stripped on the back of his white shirt with dark blue lining was 'Uzumaki' and his number '19'. As it was his first ever pro jersey, Naruto knew it would hold dearly to him.

Finally having the courage to wear the shirt he turned back to listen to Antonio Conte's pre match pep talk. With everyone motivated, we were all set to play against FC Barcelona in their first match. Wearing the green bib Naruto followed the coaching staff and the others subs to the bench.

As the match began everything was levelled, not all the superstars from both teams were playing mostly the reserves and season substitutes were given the chances to impress. The first half was 50% each in possesion for the teams and due to this the second half needed to be away for the deadlock to be broken. Naruto sitting on the bench watched as an assistant coach approached him. "Okay, lad. Conte thinks it's time for you to impress, go on and warm up." Naruto just jolted off the bench with a smile. "Sure thing coach." he told the man as he ran to the warm up zone.

Doing a couple stretches and fast paces up and down the field Naruto warmed himself up till the next dead ball that came from Richarlison blasting the ball at goal only for it to hit the post and go out. "Naruto, that's enough." the assistant coach told the blond who just took off the bib and went to Conte to get his briefing. "Alright kid are you okay, nervous? Since you look nervous." Conte commented. "I am nervous coach, first game after all." Naruto replied. "Well there's no need to be nervous. It's just pre-season." he stated as Naruto just gulped. "Alright listen, I'm going to need you to play off the right wing in this match, we need some fresh legs in that position. Your goal is that on the attacking third you will cut in field so that you can deliver some nice passes in for Richarlison so that he can break this deadlock, you'll need to be able to get at least a 30% successful dribble rate by the end of the game and impress me by getting a match rating of 6.5 can you do that?" Naruto turned to his coach. "Of course." the blond smirked as Conte nodded.

"Well it's substitution time in the 55st minutehere and out coming onto the pitch is the Spurs academy graduate Naruto Uzumaki, Alan." Martin Tyler commented. "Well this will become exciting, the youngster just needs to stay focused and hope the pressure doesn't get the better of him but I believe a couple early touches might settle him in very well." Alan added. "Well it's a goal kick for Barcelona. Marc Ter-Stegan kicks it into the Spurs half and it's intercepted by Ivan Perišić. Bringing it up field he passes over to the youngster Naruto Uzumaki...Uzumaki crosses into Barcelona territory. As he's being defended closely by Jordi Alba...off ball action has Richarlison run in for a support run. Uzumaki does a through ball to the man! He's clear from the defenders! But he's shut down by Hector Bellerin. Throw in for Spurs."

Naruto being the closest went to take the throw in as just then he was approached by Richarlison. "Ei, Naru. Pass to me when I explode into the box, alright?" Naruto nodded as Richarlison went away. As Bissouma came for support, Naruto fakes a pass to the incoming support as with all his strength he threw the ball to the box. As of he was on time, Richarlison had dashed into the box and he was able to chest trap Naruto's pass. Just being in angle to take a shot he took his chances but the ball was blocked by Bellerin.

"Oh what a nice attempt there from Richarlison must I add a great idea from Naruto Uzumaki as well. It seemed as if the pair were on the same page on that attempt but sadly it didn't pan out as they hoped." Martin commented.

As the deflected ball was about to go out for a corner, Naruto was able to arrive to it before it got out as he went for a cross in aimed at Richarlison but the cross went low and it was cleared off the line by Christensen.

"No nonsense there by Andreas Christensen, he clears the ball back only for it to be brought down by Bissouma. Spurs move it forward with great passing, it's in the feet of Naruto Uzumaki who shoots from 25 yards out! Oh! So close to scoring the opening goal! That surely would have put them in a more comfortable feel."

Time passed as Naruto tried to set up his team from the wing. Cutting in when he needed to support and going in from outside the box to cross the ball he helped his team out till it was his time to get an opening. During the 65th minute Naruto ran up ahead as he called for a through ball when Bissouma saw him running up the field he gave the blond a nice aerial pass. At the time some of the Barca midfielders were calling offside since Naruto was on the defense's line but the linesman kept his flag down. So getting the ball before it could go out for a goal kick Naruto was guarded closely by Alba. With a quick V-Cut Naruto passed the man but the ball was swatted away by the veteran defender's tackle, now the ball being loose Naruto beated Bellerin from the ball as he trudged outside the box in a nice angle to shoot at goal which he did.

"HE SHOOTS FROM LONG RANGE?! OHHH! UNLUCKY! He's really trying to get that first goal, Alan."

"Yes I can see that Martin, though I really love the enthusiasm but he should slow down with the attempts before his teammates start complaining."


A few minutes passed as the Tottenham defense began an attack with fast passes. "It's Son on the ball...he passes to Bissouma...Uzumaki and back to Bissouma what fine frequency of passes these lads are having. Bissouma passes to Richarlison as Uzumaki is running up for support. it's a through ball past Jordi Alba! From the left side of the box Uzumaki crosses the ball in... IT'S RICHARLISON WITH THE HEADER! OOH! GREAT SAVE BY MARC TER-STEGEN!"

"He had no right to save that one Martin but he did his job well there." Alan added. "Well they won't be complaining for the corner Tottenham as Son get's ready to take the set piece."

Naruto stood on the semi-circle of the box as he was guarded closely by a midfielder. As Son touched the left side of his neck he signaled that the ball was coming in close to the near post. As he went up to kick the ball, the blond rushed to the near post as he lost his defender with him being alone Naruto was about to hit a nice header but his attempt was deflected by Ter-Stegen once more.

"Tottenham win yet another corner."

This time being in the box Naruto got a little physical with Christensen as he decided to lure the tall defender away from Richarlison, as Son sent the ball in Naruto tried yet another strike with his head but he missed as the ball flied over his head. Just then a running Richarlison just made a diving header attempt that went in the top right corner. The striker just got off as he ran to the corner only for him to be given a few high fives from his teammates.

"AND IT'S GOT IN FOR TOTTENHAM!? ON HIS DEBUT RICHARLISON HAS SCORED A BEAUTIFUL DIVING HEADER TO GIVE HIS NEW CLUB THE LEAD!" Martin commented as the Tottenham fans went wild in cheer due to the wonderful goal.

When all the celebrations were done the ball was back for kick-off and was in Barcelona's possesion. But sadly Tottenham was able to get another counter attack. "Here comes Richarlison...he passes over to Son, who quickly through passes the ball past Christensen! Richarlison running from behind get's the ball and is alone against the goalkeeper, he shoots! What a save from Ter-Stegen. Another corner for Tottenham."

"If they can score again from this corner it would boost their confidence to end this match," Alan added as Son signalled for everyone to get wide. Naruto being inside the box quickly ran infront of his defender before the latter could shiled him away from the ball. Being the one that was closest to the ball he twisted his head in the opposite direction as he watched the ball sail past Ter-Stegen's streached glove as it hit the right lower corner.

"OOOH! In it goes for the young Naruto Uzumaki! It's the first one for his professional career! He's surely going to remember this one." Martin commented. Naruto running towards the corner flag just kissed his wrist as he punched the air only to be turned by motion as his teammates bombarded him.

In the end the match ended with both teams keeping the score the same. "And there goes the final whistle. The main thing in this game is that young Naruto Uzumaki has got his senior debut under his belt finally after some time he's got the goal that will surely calm some nerves. Alan how do you feel about his preformance.

"Well Martin it was a great start from the youngster. He scored and put in a good performance, he'd be really pleased with himself after all of this."

Match Stats

Position: RW
Match Rating: 7.1
Assists: 0
Minutes Played: 39
Goals:1
Shots On Target:2
Conversion Rate: 20%