My Ultimate Gacha System

Chapter 346 - 20: Malta Away Preparation I

Wednesday, June 13, 2023St George’s Park — Training Pitch9:00 AM

The possession drill started the same way Tuesday’s had — three teams of eight, forty-by-thirty grid, two-touch maximum, press from the middle — but the difference was in the first touch.

The ball came to him from Gallagher at the edge of the grid with Rice closing from six yards, and his touch directed it inside immediately, clean and weighted, before Rice arrived, and Rice’s momentum carried him past the space where the ball had been and he had to reset.

The second time Rice pressed him the Press Resistant trait did what it was built to do — when the pressure arrived his body shielded the ball with the instinct of someone who had done it ten thousand times rather than someone remembering a technique, and the pass to Gallagher came out of the shield without needing an extra touch.

The third time Henderson closed him and the angle to the next pass was tight and the old version of the decision was to hold it one beat too long, but his reactions were quicker now and the ball was already moving before he’d consciously chosen the direction, and it found Eze in space outside the press.

Nothing dramatic. Just sharper. More certain.

Southgate watched from the touchline with his arms folded and his expression the same as it always was, and he didn’t make any notes and he didn’t call anything out.

The small-sided game came after the drill and he was in a deeper role and Phillips was pressing him in midfield and Phillips was strong — properly strong, City-strong, the kind that came from four years of Premier League football — and the first physical duel ended level rather than in Phillips’ favour, which it hadn’t in Tuesday’s training, and Demien felt the difference in his hips and his core and the way his weight settled under contact.

Ball Control at 89 showed in the way he received under pressure and turned in one movement rather than two, and he was looking for shooting space in the twenty-fifth minute when a gap opened thirty yards from goal and his Long Shot Taker instinct identified it, but Henderson was closing the angle and the professional choice was the wide pass to Eze, and he played it.

Correct decision. Not the exciting one.

The system notification appeared in the peripheral during the water break.

「DAILY TRAINING MISSION COMPLETE」 「Pass Accuracy: 93%」 「Physical Duels Won: 7/9」 「REWARD: +10 TP」 「BONUS: Coaching Staff Impression — Improved」

「UPDATED BALANCE」 「300 TP | 11 SP | 13 MP」

Southgate came over while he was drinking, and the coaching staff were moving back toward the pitch behind him while the squad loosened back into their positions.

"Better today," Southgate said.

"Yes, boss," Demien said.

That was the end of it. Southgate walked back toward the pitch. No promise, no analysis, just the acknowledgment that Tuesday and Wednesday were different things and he’d noticed.

Demien capped his water bottle and jogged back into position.

Tactical Room — 2:30 PM

The projector showed Malta’s defensive shape from their last three matches — a 4-5-1 block sitting deep, the space in front of the backline deliberately left empty and then collapsed when England entered it, the width compressed by both wingers tucking inside to create the five-man midfield.

Southgate stood at the board with a laser pointer and his voice was measured and specific.

"They’ve lost their last three. They know what Thursday is for them — don’t embarrass the country against England. Their job is to make this as difficult as possible and hope we get frustrated." He pointed to the two zones between Malta’s fullback and the outer central defender. "Half-spaces here and here. When we shift them left and switch right, these open for three to four seconds before they recover. That’s the window."

He clicked to the next clip — Malta against Ukraine, the way their block compressed centrally — and the coaching staff annotated over the footage in real time with arrows showing where the Ukraine wingers had found the gaps and where they hadn’t.

"We’re patient. We move them. We don’t force it before the moment’s there."

He stepped back. "Starting XI."

Pickford. Walker, Guehi, Maguire, Shaw. Trent Alexander-Arnold in the number ten role in midfield. Rice. Henderson. Saka, Kane, Maddison across the attack.

Demien’s name wasn’t called. He knew before it was confirmed, the way you always knew. He was in the second group — Rashford, Wilson, Foden, Eze, Gallagher, Phillips, Grealish, and himself.

"Subs — the second half will open up," Southgate said, and he looked along the bench group briefly. "Malta will tire around sixty minutes. Fresh legs in those half-spaces will matter." He looked at each of them for a second, no particular emphasis on any one face. "Be ready when it comes."

He closed the session.

Demien walked back to the room, sat on the bed, and studied Malta’s defensive shape on his laptop for another forty minutes while Phillips slept on the other side.

Room 318 — 7:45 PM

The England official account had posted the starting XI graphic at half six and his phone had been buzzing since then. He opened it eventually — white background, player headshots arranged in a 4-3-3, clean FA design.

@England:Friday’s XI 🦁 #ThreeLions #MLTENG

He scrolled the comments briefly.

@ThreeLionsDaily:Trent in the ten role let’s go@KaneFanpage:Harry Kane incoming 👑@AtalantaEN:Walter on the bench tonight. Deserves his chance 🖤💙@LFC_Transfer:If Demien comes on and does what he did in the Coppa final, Liverpool move is done. Watch.

He locked the phone and put it face-down.

A message from Sophia had come in at half seven: Saw the lineup. You’ll get your chance. Proud of you x

He screenshot it without replying immediately and set the phone on charge.

The Adidas Football Instagram story had posted a photo taken at training that morning — him receiving a ball, mid-stride, white England training top, the SGP pitches behind him — and the caption read: Three stripes in Three Lions camp 🦁 @demienwalter. He’d been tagged at St George’s Park. 14,000 likes before he’d even seen it.

He set the phone face-down again and went to sleep at nine.

Thursday, June 14, 2023St George’s Park → Birmingham Airport → Malta8:00 AM

The team bus left at eight through the oak trees and the long driveway and the security gate, and players filed on in various states of morning — headphones in, tracksuits, some still eating from takeaway cups of coffee the hotel had put out at the door.

Demien sat with Eze near the back and neither of them spoke much on the ninety-minute drive to Birmingham, which was fine because there wasn’t much that needed saying. Both first senior camp. Both on the bench. Both watching how the people ahead of them in the hierarchy moved through the routine of international travel as though it had no particular weight, because for most of them it didn’t anymore.

Birmingham Airport’s private terminal had no public check-in, no queues, no recognition incidents — just the FA liaison directing players through the gate in a line while passports were checked against a printed manifest, and then the chartered Airbus A320 with the Three Lions on the tail and seats assigned by the coaching staff.

Seat 18C. Window. Phillips across the aisle in 18D.

The plane filled in ten minutes and the door closed and the runway at Birmingham International came into view through his window before dropping away below as the nose lifted.

He was asleep by the time they were over France.