Football Reborn: The Manager from the future

⚽ Football Reborn: The Manager from the Future

Chapter 66 – The Ghost Club from Antarctica

In the coldest part of Earth, where no nation planted a flag…

A team was born.

Not to win — but to erase the idea of victory.

❄️ The Second Round Draw – A Blank Name

After the match against Zidane's Forgotten Sons, the Rebirth Eleven barely had 24 hours before the next draw.

Kojo stood in the floating Atlas Arena's Match Command Room.

Teams were being paired live.

Dozens of names flickered by.

Then it landed:

Match 2: Rebirth Eleven vs. [BLANK]

León frowned. "A glitch?"

"No," Chuva said. "It's worse than that."

He tapped a hidden file on the touchpad.

A deep-freeze dossier appeared.

Ghost Club. No name. No crest. No footage.

Kojo raised his brows. "Where are they from?"

Chuva replied:

"They're not from anywhere. They were built in Antarctica."

🧪 Origins – Project W.H.I.T.E.

Buried beneath the South Pole was a secret research lab once owned by the Old FIFA.

It had one purpose: create footballers with zero emotion.

No fame. No ego. No celebration.

Just 90 minutes of execution.

The lab had been shut down… supposedly.

But clearly, something — or someone — had survived.

These weren't clones.

They weren't humans.

They were a third category.

Cold-footed specters who played as a single entity.

And now, they'd entered the WFL without fanfare.

Their application? Blank.

Their training footage? Blacked out.

Only their win record showed: 1 game, 1 win — 11-0.

Kojo looked at Chuva and León.

"This," he whispered, "might be our real first game."

🏟️ Match Day – Fog on the Pitch

As the Rebirth Eleven entered the field, something was wrong.

The stadium fog system activated without command.

Visibility dropped to 30%.

Fans watching via neural streams complained of glitches.

Then they appeared.

Not walked. Appeared.

The Ghost Club.

All 11 players wore all-white — not jerseys, but skin-tight bodysuits with no numbers, no names.

Their faces were covered in translucent visors.

They moved like whispers.

They warmed up by running a hexagonal rotation drill that looped endlessly — faster and faster — until even the ball couldn't be tracked.

Malik Jr. cracked his knuckles.

Miko Prime activated heat-vision mode.

León spat into the turf. "Let's freeze these ghosts."

🕸️ Kickoff – The Trap Begins

Minute 1.

The Ghost Club didn't touch the ball.

They let the Rebirth Eleven hold it — press up the field.

Dima and Safi began stringing passes.

Malik Jr. took a shot wide.

Then the Ghosts attacked.

One pass.

Then two.

Then none.

The ball didn't move — they did.

Ghost 7 (not that anyone could identify them) launched into a forward line press and within four seconds had stolen the ball and scored.

⚽ 1-0, Ghost Club.

Zairee didn't even move.

🧊 Minute 10 to 30 – Descent into Confusion

The Rebirth Eleven couldn't adapt.

Every tactic Kojo tried was absorbed and recycled.

Chuva changed shape. They changed shape.

Kora shifted wide. A Ghost shadowed her before she blinked.

Even Miko Prime's predictive model hit 0% certainty.

"They're reactive AI," Dima muttered. "They learn in milliseconds."

But Safi noticed something.

"They don't express. They don't create," she said. "They're mirrors."

Kojo nodded slowly.

"That's their weakness."

He made a bold call:

"Take your positions — then do everything wrong."

🎭 Chaos Tactics – Breaking the Mirror

Minute 33.

The Rebirth Eleven turned into a circus.

Bullet started dribbling backwards.

Safi lay down during a throw-in.

Miko started juggling inside the penalty box.

And Malik Jr.? He ran to his own corner and waved at the Ghost keeper.

The Ghosts froze.

Literally.

Their systems couldn't simulate irrational behavior.

Their perfect symmetry stuttered.

Tanaka No.4 saw his moment and screamed, for the first time ever:

"NOW!"

Dima flicked a lob. Kora backflipped the cross.

Malik Jr., still grinning like a fool, spun midair and bicycle-kicked it through the fog.

⚽ 1-1.

Stadium erupted.

The first goal ever conceded by the Ghost Club.

🚨 Ghost Override – Protocol X

But the match wasn't over.

The Ghosts recalibrated.

They activated Protocol X.

They started duplicating movement.

2 players mirrored Malik Jr.

2 followed Bullet.

1 shadowed Safi.

They were trying to erase identity.

But Kojo had a final card.

He whispered: "Code: Flamethrower."

León and Chuva lit the midfield.

Crunching tackles. No space. Just grit.

The Rebirth Eleven embraced being human.

Dirty. Flawed. Alive.

Minute 88 — Dima Vasko intercepted a Ghost pass with his chest, slid to recover it, and chipped it without looking.

Malik Jr. didn't even shoot.

He tapped it once.

Then walked it in.

⚽ 2-1.

🔔 Full Time – The Ghosts Vanish

The whistle blew.

The Ghosts didn't shake hands.

They didn't retreat.

They just disappeared — literally, dematerialized.

All that remained was a data chip left in the center circle.

Kojo picked it up.

Ada analyzed it.

Her voice came through:

"Project W.H.I.T.E. sent that match to someone."

"Who?" Kojo asked.

Ada hesitated.

"I think… it was forwarded to the System Lords."

Kojo's eyes narrowed.

That name again.

The real enemy wasn't another team.

It was the System that built the Ghosts. That once erased legends. That once ran football like a prison.

And now… it wanted Kojo dead.