14th July 2014.
When Neil opened his eyes, He fell into a state of confusion when he saw the scenery in front of him.
"Why does this place look like my old house, where I lived with my parents in my childhood?" he mumbled.
When his eyes got adjusted to the brightness of the room, some of his previous memories resurfaced in his mind.
He was just riding his motorcycle to go to the nearby supermarket when he was crashed into by an SUV car, which resulted in him falling and hitting his head on the ground.
Injuring his head, which made him fall into the realm of unconsciousness.
But when he opened his eyes, he was back in his old house, where he had spent his early childhood.
When he scanned his surroundings, he found out that he was in his personal bedroom of his old house.
Everything around him was rather familiar to him as well as strange at the same time. In front of him, the wall was decorated with portraits of football legends. Portraits of Pele, Maradona, Zidane, Ronaldo (R9), Xavi, Iniesta, and Van Basten.
But what stood out the most among these posters were two portraits, which were bigger than the rest. The two portraits were pasted side by side. Each of them holding a Ballon d'Or, one was a picture of Cristiano Ronaldo in a Man Utd jersey when he won the 2008 Ballon d'Or, and the other was of Lionel Messi in a Barca jersey when he won the 2011 Ballon d'Or.
On further inspection of his room, he found out on the digital watch in his room that today is 14 July 2014.
On recalling his memories, he remembered the fact that this day will be recorded in history, as today was the World Cup Final match of 2014 between Germany and Argentina.
He heard some sounds from the living room outside. Hearing the sound, he went out of his bedroom.
In the living room he saw his father sitting on the sofa watching the match with keen interest.
His father was a die-hard fan of Lionel Messi and was filled with hope that today his favorite player, Messi, with his team, Argentina, will be included in the esteemed list of World Cup Winners.
But only he knew that Mario Götze would score a goal in the 113th minute to take the World Cup trophy to Germany, which will result in a heartbreak for many Messi fans.
He sat down on the sofa with his father, hiding his shock at seeing him again.
In his previous life, his father died of a heart attack when he was just 20 years old, leaving him and his mom with only the two of them in this world.
He wanted to hug his dad at that moment only, as he remembered the painful memories of his father's demise, but he knew it would feel rather awkward at random, so he restrained himself.
As he sat down on the sofa, he and his father talked about the match and tried to predict the result of the match.
His dad predicted the outcome to be in Argentina's favor, but as Neil knew the future, he countered his dad's prediction by telling him that Germany would be the one winning the trophy today.
His dad replied that there was no way Germany would be able to beat Messi and his out-of-the-world dribbling.
But only he knew that Manuel Neuer would save all the shots fired on his goalpost and maintain a clean sheet in this match.
When the match reached the 113th minute.
Schürrle raced past two defenders on the left before crossing into the penalty area, where Götze controlled the ball on his chest and then volleyed left-footed into the net.
This was the only goal scored in the match and steered the results in the favor of the Germans.
Neil's father was very sad when the referee blew the final whistle indicating the end of the match, as his favorite player was not able to lift the World Cup Trophy.
After the German team lifted the trophy,
They both went to their bed to sleep, his father tried to forget the outcome of the result, as it didn't go the way he had hoped for.
Just when Neil was about to lie down onto his bed. He heard a sound in his own consciousness.
-------------------------------------------------
[System Initializing]
[Establishing connection with the current world and the system]
[Connecting the user with the System]
[The GOAT Football System has been connected with the user Neil Goyal.]
Neil was startled by the sudden sound in his head, although this was just like the novels and manga he had read where, when the MC regresses or transmigrates, it awakens a system with him.
But experiencing the phenomenon himself, it was quite a sudden shock to him.
Reluctant at first, though, he checked out the system to see if it was real and not just his mind playing tricks on him.
A blue screen appeared in front of his eyes, which displayed the following tabs on the screen.
BASIC INFORMATION
ATTRIBUTES
USER STATS
SHOP
SYSTEM LOTTERY
INVENTORY
He clicked on the Status Window tab in the system to open the Status Window, and a screen opened in front of him.
[BASIC INFORMATION]
Name: Neil Goyal
Age: 9 years old
Position: To be determined
Available Attribute Points: 0
Skills: None
Current Talent: D grade
[A young boy who is currently very far from becoming a professional in the football world]
[ATTRIBUTES]
Physique: 37/100 (Grade: C-)
Dribbling: 50/100 (Grade: B-)
Pace: 39/100 (Grade: C-)
Shooting: 48/100 (Grade: C+)
Passing: 50/100 (Grade: B-)
Aerial : 35/100 (Grade: C-)
Defending: 25/100 (Grade: D)
Overall Grade: C
[USER STATS]
Goals: 0
Assists: 0
[Only professional games stats are accounted for.]
[SHOP]: Locked
[SYSTEM LOTTERY]: Locked
[INVENTORY]: Locked
Neil was displeased with the system evaluation of his talent only being D rank, as in his eyes he thought he at least had B-grade talent, but the system knew better than him.
His stats highlighted the fact that he has decent dribbling and passing skills, but in defending he was very weak, as it was in the D grade currently.
Other than this, all the system functions right now are currently locked, so he didn't give too much attention to them.
With the system, he knew he could live his dream of becoming the best player in the whole world, and it's not impossible for him to surpass the legacies of CR7 and LM10 now.
Seeing the determination in the host, the system told Neil that to accomplish these tasks he will have to pour constant efforts throughout the whole journey, and this path will not be at all easy.
Neil, in his mind, vowed to pour his whole heart into becoming the greatest football player of all time (GOAT) that the world will ever see.