COULD ACHILLES' INJURY COST COLLOSUS THEIR NEXT GAME?

Maci Gian

Clossus has recently finished a match against Hydra, and while the team got to keep their title as: "The Gods of Football", beating Hydra 2-0 at their home stadium, they didn't leave completely unscathed. During their intense game, their midfielder, Achilles, had a clash against Hydra's own midfielder, Liquido.

Literally.

The two of them ended up colliding into each other while going after the ball. Liquido took a nasty fall but managed to get back on his feet unscathed. The same couldn’t be said about Achilles, who ended up severely twisting his ankle and had to sit out for the rest of the game. The Greek players are scheduled to play against Iron Tank in a matter of weeks, will Achilles' leg be healed enough in time to play? I spoke with their coach, [name], at their [stadium name] for his insight.

"Achilles will be able to recover." He told me, his arms folded, "Like the rest of my men, the Gods have gifted him with their strength. No mere twisting nor tumbling could ever keep him down."

[Coach name] had to go back to training his players, but he was kind enough to give me the chance to ask them about their thoughts on the matter.

"Oh, he'll absolutely be fine." [Team member] said while doing crunches, "He does this sorta stuff all the time when he thinks he's about to lose. Saves him the embarrassment, not that he'll ever admit to it."

"I'd rather he miss a shot than put on a show." Their teammate [name] chimed in as he approached us, "When we miss a shot, the goalie grabs the ball, throws it, and we keep playing." He took a swig from his water bottle before he continued, "But when Achilles gets 'injured', he has to fall to the ground, hold onto his leg, roll around in the grass—and he always rolls around in the grass—then the referee has to walk over—"

"Art thou talking'th about me!?" A voice screamed at us from across the field, their old english not sounding completely accurate. We all looked over to see Achilles himself hobbling over, clinging onto the shoulder of Ares, the team's [position] for support! He must have insanely good hearing! Or it was insanely obvious we were talking about him. Either way, very impressive observation skills!

"I wouldst expecteth mine own teammates to show'th supp'rt during mine own time of need!" Achilles said as he pointed an accusatory finger at… One of his teammates, I wasn't sure which one.

[Teammember] let out a scoff before fixing his [desc] hair, "And I would expect you to be on the bench where you belong."

Achilles gasped (and I couldn't help but gasp too).

"How dare thee! I've been hurt and now thy claimeth thee doesn't need'st me around!?" He jabbed that finger into [teammember's chest], who looked less than amused.

"[Teammember]." Ares said, at least I think. I saw his thick, long black beard move so I'm assuming he's the one who spoke.

"I didn't mean it like that and you two know it." [Teammember] pointed a finger right back at Achilles, "All I'm saying is that if he was as hurt as he said he was, he wouldn't be wasting his energy dragging himself over here just because we're talking about him!"

"Mine leg is feeling'th much bett'r than yest'rday!" Achilles snapped back.

"Right, just like how it was suddenly better the day after we went against Invincible United and you got that 'terrible' injury from Automatic, or when you tripped at the [other stadium name]—you didn't even get touched by anyone that time! This is why no one else wants to interview us anymore, because you keep—!"

"Enough." Ares put his hands between the two and gently pushed them back, "Achilles's injury wasn't horrible, but he still needs time to recover. That being said, he should be resting."

[Teammember] turned away, and I watched him put his hands together and pray to the gods. Most of his words were mumbled, but I could hear him asking the gods to 'help him' and 'give him strength'. Achilles stuck his tongue out at him--but then he locked eyes with me and quickly slid it back in before smiling. Apparently, he hadn’t been informed that I was visiting their stadium today. He was more than eager to answer any questions I had in regards to his team, his injury, or himself.

Sadly though, as soon as I was about to ask him to share his story about this collision, Coach [name] had noticed Achilles was off of the bench and assumed he was feeling 'well enough to practice with the others again', so he promptly got dragged away by Ares and straight to practice. Hopefully I'll be able to hear first hand experience of what happened soon! If not, I'll definitely try to make it to their next game to see how Achilles' leg is doing then, and maybe try to get an interview with any of the Iron Tank members!