It began not as a conscious decision, but as a surrender. In the chaotic aftermath of Aubameyang's goal, as the roar of the Yellow Wall washed over him, Mateo felt a profound shift in his perception.
The constant, chattering stream of data from his internal System, the self-doubt, the physical pain in his shin it all just… faded. It was as if a switch had been flipped in the deepest recesses of his mind, turning down the volume on the world and turning up the volume on his own soul.
This was the Zone.
It was a state of being he had read about, heard whispers of from veteran players, but had never truly understood until this moment.
It was not a place of heightened thought, but of no thought at all. It was a state of pure, unadulterated instinct, where the conscious mind, with all its fears and anxieties, simply got out of the way and let the body, the soul, the very essence of the player, take over.
His senses, paradoxically, became both sharper and more muted.
