[Football] We're Getting Married Today

*Sorry, this one's gotten too bogged down. I'm going to rewrite it, rewrite it, rewrite it (muttering to myself). I'll probably tweak the characters a little, think through the outline, change the opening to another timeline, and so on. Anyway, I'm starting a new book! I won't lock this one. Sorry, everyone! orz

The title version:

At the next World Cup, the new coach says his squad will have a few rules: no long hair, no earrings, no baseball caps... and no gay stuff.

Achille is furious. His friend has been shut out of the national team over this ridiculous demand!

He puts on a wig, gets his ears pierced, wears a baseball cap every day, and finally tells his best friend, "I'm going to be gay!"

Batistuta has a question: "Then how are you going to prove you're gay?"

Achille says, "Then let's get married!"

And off they go to get married in the Netherlands.

The serious version:

Achille, the crown prince of Fiorentina's youth academy, the star among the Viola's sun, moon, and stars, is always grinning like an idiot. He seems a bit dim, but on the pitch he loves to mess with your head, using feints and technical skill.

Nicknamed "Batterista" (Drummer), Achille is an all-around midfielder. Every attack he launches is a mighty drumbeat on the pitch, and his laughter draws everyone into his rhythm.

In the end, he composes his whole life into a legend.

The hopeless-at-writing-blurbs version (as if the ones above weren't already hopeless):

Nine-year-old Achille has a dream. He wakes up feeling bereft, clings to his mother's leg, and says he wants to play football.

Twenty-two-year-old Achille has a dream. He wakes up sobbing in the arms of his national-team teammates, saying, "Let's win, okay? In four years, Caniggia won't be here anymore."

Thirty-seven-year-old Achille has a dream. He wakes up, goes to AC Milan to apply for a job, and says with an earnest look, "I want to be your head coach."

PS:

1. Most likely, this will run from the 1994 World Cup to summer 2003, with Argentina's national team. After retiring, he goes to Milan to coach.

2. He'll win trophies at club level, but he'll still have to say goodbye to the Viola's sun and moon. It's a one-man, one-city fairy tale, with a setting that doesn't quite follow reality, and things will get weird in inexplicable ways at inexplicable times.

3. The pairing is undecided. I'll probably weave in if-lines.

4. There is a golden finger (family + talent), and he has prophetic dreams that he can't quite remember but that leave him shaken.

Theme: Oppose tyranny