by Theo Walcott
‘Hey, TJ,’ Mr Wood said. ‘Listen up! You were miles away!’
They were standing on the field. It was the final training session before their match against Hillside the following day.
‘As I was saying,’ Mr Wood continued. ‘Wanderers won that match by passing the ball and being patient.’
‘And by brilliant skill,’ TJ interrupted.
‘Sure, TJ,’ Mr Wood said. ‘But you can’t score a spectacular volley if your team doesn’t have the ball. Let’s make sure we know how to keep the ball once we have it. Passing and moving, that’s what I want you to do. Make it easy for whoever has the ball to pass it to you. Think about where the rest of the team are. Be ready to pass to them. OK. Let’s do it!’
TJ stood in front of the goal. He knew why he was fed up, but there was nothing he could do. He watched as the team began to play better than he’d ever seen them play before, passing the ball and calling to each other. Even Tulsi ran a few metres to make space for Rodrigo to pass to her, then turned and scored a great goal.
‘Not bad,’ Rob said. He was standing near TJ as usual. ‘We might even have a chance.’
‘I suppose,’ TJ said, kicking the goalpost that Mr Wood had just finished repairing.
‘What’s the matter?’ Rob asked.
‘Nothing.’
TJ kicked the post again, and then he heard Jamie yell. He glanced at the pitch and saw that Jamie had played a back pass. He flung himself across the goal, but he was too late, and the ball skidded past him into the net.
‘What were you doing?’ demanded Jamie.
‘You should have looked to see where I was,’ TJ told him crossly.
‘You should have been ready. You’re the goalkeeper, remember?’
‘That’s enough,’ Mr Wood said. ‘Anyone can make a mistake. Just remember to concentrate tomorrow, TJ.’
When training was over Mr Wood called them together. ‘OK,’ he said. ‘This is the team for the match. Tulsi, Tommy, Rodrigo, Rafi, Jamie, Danny and TJ. Subs will be Cameron, Ariyan and Jay. Play like that tomorrow and you’ll be a match for anyone. TJ, can you wait behind a minute? I want to talk to you.’
‘I’m sorry I messed up,’ TJ said as the others walked away, talking excitedly. ‘I wasn’t concentrating. I’ll be better tomorrow.’
‘It’s not that,’ Mr Wood said. ‘I’ve been watching you in training, TJ. You’re fast. You have excellent ball control. Your friend, Rob, tells me you have the best record of anyone for passes completed in the training exercises. So I just wondered – are you really sure you want to be a goalie? You didn’t look happy today. How about, once this match is out of the way, you have a try on the pitch?’
‘You mean it?’
‘Absolutely.’
‘But . . . someone else would have to go in goal. I mean, you’d have to drop someone.’
‘It’s always like that, TJ. Even for someone like Marshall. Young Dexter Gordon has taken his place in the team at the moment. But it’s good for Wanderers to have two great players fighting to play in the same position. And anyway, for this game you stay in goal, OK? It wouldn’t be fair on the others to change it now.’
Rob was waiting for TJ in the street. ‘What did Mr Wood say?’ he asked.
‘It was just about the goalkeeping,’
TJ replied, hugging his secret to himself. One day soon, he’d get his chance. ‘I messed up today. I won’t do that tomorrow.’
‘We can win,’ Rob said, his eyes shining. ‘I’m sure we can. I counted sixty-three successful passes, and the movement was excellent.’
‘You’re right,’ TJ agreed. ‘And I’m going home to practise. See you in the morning.’
After school the following day, the Parkview School football team changed into their football kit. Cameron’s dad had done a great job of mending it. ‘I can hardly see the holes at all,’ Jamie said.
‘Yeah, but that shirt is a bit tight, isn’t it?’ Tommy laughed. ‘Have you been growing, Jamie?’
‘A bit,’ said Jamie. ‘I can’t help it. I have to eat.’
Jamie looked as if his shirt might burst apart at any moment, but there was nothing they could do about that. They ran out onto the field just as the Hillside minibus arrived.
There was nothing old or tatty about the Hillside kit. Their boots clattered on the playground as they walked over to the pitch in gleaming red shirts and green shorts. Their teacher, Mrs Singh, stopped them at the edge of the pitch.
‘Is this it?’ she said to Mr Wood. ‘Are you seriously expecting us to play on this?’
‘It may look a bit strange,’ Mr Wood said, ‘but it’s perfectly playable.’
‘Looks like it’s had chicken pox,’ said Krissy.
‘Or plague,’ replied Kelvin.
‘Why do we have to play against them?’ Krissy demanded. ‘We already know they’re rubbish.’
‘Well, let’s prove it, shall we?’ Mrs Singh said. ‘Over there, please. Start your warm-ups.’
‘Well?’ said Mr Wood, walking over to the Parkview team. ‘What are you all staring at?’
Mrs Singh had laid out cones on the pitch and the Hillside team were already dribbling balls in and out of them in a well-practised routine. ‘They’re really good,’ gulped Rafi.
‘And their kit hasn’t got holes in,’ said Tulsi, frowning.
‘And it fits them,’ added Jamie gloomily, as his shirt threatened to split.
TJ pulled on his goalkeeping gloves. He was determined that, whatever else happened, he wasn’t going to make a single mistake today. After all, it might be his last ever appearance in goal.
CHAPTER 18
‘YOU CAN STOP feeling sorry for yourselves,’ Mr Wood told them. ‘There’s nothing special about that lot. I’ve watched them play. That teacher has trained them to play like robots. You guys, you’re much better than you think you are, and you’re definitely better than they think you are. Besides, you’ve got your supporters to think about. Look!’
People were pouring out of the school and onto the playground. There were mums, dads, grandparents and just about every child in the school. All the dinner ladies were there, waving pink pom-poms in the air. The school cook was there, and even Mr Coggins, the caretaker. Janice and the dinner ladies started chanting: ‘PARKVIEW . . . PARKVIEW.’ They’d worked out a whole routine with the pom-poms and the rest of the crowd joined in with the singing. It made TJ feel excited and nervous at the same time.
‘They won’t mind if you lose,’ Mr Wood said. ‘They know it’s your first match. They just want to see you play good football. They want to be proud of the school, so let’s get on with it.’
‘Mr Wood?’ asked Tulsi. ‘Who’s going to be ref?’
‘Mrs Singh. Rodrigo, you’re captain. You toss up. Go on.’
Rodrigo gave Mr Wood a huge grin and jogged over to the centre circle.
‘Heads or tails,’ demanded Mrs Singh.
‘Sim,’ said Rodrigo, looking confused.
‘I said, do you want heads or tails?’
‘Que?’
Mrs Singh sighed and showed Rodrigo the coin. He pointed to heads and she tossed. Parkview would kick off.
Standing in goal, TJ remembered what Marshall had said at the Wanderers match – how he hated not being able to make things happen on the pitch. That was exactly how TJ felt. He forced himself to concentrate as Kelvin tackled Rafi and won the ball. Kelvin played it out to the wing, but suddenly Tommy was snapping at the heels of the startled Hillside winger, forcing him into a mistake. The ball spun out for a throw-in. TJ smiled. Tommy reminded him of Gary Devlin, the City player.
From the throw, Rodrigo controlled the ball quickly and passed it back to Danny. Rafi yelled for the ball and ran into space. Just for a second, TJ thought that Rafi was going to start on one of his crazy dribbles, but instead he spotted Tommy racing down the wing. It would have been a great pass if Rafi had kept his eye on the ball. Instead, he kicked thin air and fell flat on his back.
‘You can do it, Jamie,’ TJ shouted.
Krissy laughed. ‘Just you try, fat boy,’ she said and she ran straight past him. But Jamie was angry. He wasn’t going to let her get away with calling him names. And anyway, he wasn’t fat. He moved fast. His right leg snaked out and blocked the ball as solidly as a tree trunk. Krissy went tumbling to the ground and Jamie cleared the ball to Rodrigo as the crowd cheered.
Then the whistle blew. ‘Foul,’ Mrs Singh pronounced. ‘Free kick to Hillside.’
TJ wasn’t sure if he should get the others to make a wall, but anyway, it was too late. Krissy smashed the ball towards TJ’s goal and he flung himself into the air in a desperate attempt to stop it. He felt something sting his fingertips and heard a crash as the ball thudded into the crossbar, then he was rolling on the ground. He heard Rob’s voice yelling, ‘Great save, TJ,’ and started to pull himself to his feet. Danny got his head to the ball and it flew straight up into the air. Everyone was yelling.
‘Clear it, Jamie,’ TJ yelled. ‘Anywhere!’
Jamie swung his boot. TJ realized, too late, what was going to happen, and he could only stand and watch as the ball cannoned off Jamie’s shin, and into the net. Jamie put his head in his hands.
‘Idiot!’ hissed Danny.
‘You shut up,’ said Tulsi. ‘It wasn’t his fault. If you’d been working harder it wouldn’t have happened.’
‘Come on,’ Rafi said, grabbing the ball. ‘We can still beat them.’
But by half time even Rafi had stopped believing. TJ had watched two more unstoppable shots fly past him, and even Tommy and Rodrigo had stopped smiling. Mr Wood called them together. ‘You started off really well,’ he said. ‘That was very bad luck, that own goal, and it’s wrecked your confidence.’
He glanced up and they saw Mr Burrows and Mrs Logan approaching. ‘It’s a shame,’ Mr Burrows told them. ‘You were doing jolly well too. I really thought something good was going to happen for once.’
‘Well, you know, Mr Burrows,’ Mrs Logan said to him as they walked away again, ‘perhaps something good will happen. Perhaps we shall get back to basics. Reading, writing, arithmetic . . .’
‘Or perhaps we can beat them,’ Mr Wood said, turning back to the team. ‘TJ, I’d like you to come out of goal and play up front. Danny, you go in goal and Tommy can be a defender. How about it, everyone?’
CHAPTER 19
THERE WAS A chorus of protest, and Danny’s voice was loudest of all. ‘Why me?’ he said. ‘I don’t even like being in goal.’
‘TJ’s never played except in goal,’ Tulsi said doubtfully.
‘Yeah,’ said Rafi. ‘We don’t actually know if he’s any good.’
But Rodrigo was grinning. ‘TJ,’ he said. ‘Mr Burrows. Bam!’ He punched the air in front of him.’
‘See?’ said Mr Wood. ‘Rodrigo understands. TJ knocked over a head teacher from twenty-five metres! We’re three–nil down and we have to change something. OK, everyone? OK, TJ?’
TJ nodded. He peeled off the gloves and handed them to Danny.
‘Go on, Danny,’ Mr Wood said. ‘It’s for the team.’
‘It’s for TJ, more like,’ grumbled Danny as he pulled the gloves on. ‘You’d better be good,’ he said to TJ.
They walked out onto the pitch. TJ’s legs felt like jelly.
‘He’s your goalie,’ Krissy said to Tulsi. ‘Are you desperate, or what?’
‘You’ll see,’ Tulsi said.
‘Hey, TJ, you’re on the pitch!’ TJ looked round and saw his whole family standing on the touchline close by. ‘And about time too,’ said Joey. ‘You show them, little brother!’
TJ didn’t feel as if he was going to show anyone anything, except, maybe, how bad he was. He watched as Hillside kicked off and the ball zipped around the pitch from player to player. The little bunch of Hillside supporters began to shout ‘Olé’ with every pass, and TJ began to think he wasn’t even going to touch the ball.
The barrel-shaped Kelvin was raising his foot to shoot when Tommy darted in and stole the ball. Tommy passed to Jamie who took a wild swing at it and watched in amazement as it flew straight to Tulsi. She called out, ‘Here, TJ,’ and slid a pass towards him.
TJ froze. He had the ball at his feet but he didn’t know what to do. He heard shouts from behind him.
‘Get rid of it, TJ!’
‘Pass it, TJ!’
Then one voice rose above the others. ‘Remember Dexter! You know what he did.’
Suddenly TJ’s mind was clear. He played the ball back to Rodrigo, wrong-footing the player who was sliding in to tackle him, and he raced away down the touchline. He just had to hope that Rodrigo was watching and knew what to do. Too late, the defender realized where TJ was going and turned to chase him, but TJ was fast. And there was the ball! Rodrigo had spotted his run and chipped it into the space behind the defenders. It bounced once and sat up perfectly for TJ to volley, left-footed, past the goalkeeper.
TJ couldn’t believe he had done it. He’d scored! And it had been brilliant! He hardly heard the crowd cheering at first. He turned and there was Rodrigo.
‘Bam!’ Rodrigo grinned, punching the air with his fist.
‘Thanks, Rodrigo,’ TJ said. ‘Excellent pass!’ Then he turned to look at the spectators. All the Parkview supporters were going mad, but TJ just had one thing on his mind. Who had shouted?
The dinner ladies were waving their pom-poms again, and TJ saw his family jumping around and cheering, and then finally he spotted the tall figure in the black beanie, standing a little behind the others and giving him a thumbs-up sign. It was Marshall Jones – in disguise! It wasn’t much of a disguise, but no one seemed to have recognized him yet.
Hillside kicked off, and now TJ could sense that they weren’t quite so confident.
Every time Kelvin got the ball he looked around nervously for Tommy, and most of the time Tommy was there, scrapping away and winning the tackles. Meanwhile, Jamie seemed to have got the measure of Krissy, and when she tried to go past him it was like watching someone running into a brick wall. TJ almost felt sorry for her.
The game was much more even now, but Slim still somehow managed to keep winning the ball back, no matter how hard Rafi and Rodrigo chased around after him. TJ could see that they needed help. When Jamie made yet another tackle on Krissy and the ball rebounded towards Slim, TJ raced back, controlled the ball on his thigh, hooked it over Slim’s head and then nipped round him to touch the ball into Rodrigo’s path. Rodrigo gave it back to him, and TJ was away, running at the last defender.
There was no need for tricks. He knew he was faster than the defender so he simply pushed the ball to one side and ran after it. The goalkeeper had come out to the edge of his penalty area, spreading himself as wide as he could. TJ passed the ball, right-footed, between his legs and into the empty net.
The Hillside players were hanging their heads. The big defender TJ had just skinned was bent double, gasping for breath.
‘We can do it,’ TJ said to Tulsi, as they waited for Hillside to restart the game. ‘Look at them! They’ve had it.’
He realized that Tulsi was staring at him.
‘You said you’d never played before,’ she accused him.
‘I haven’t. Only messing around in the garden and that time in the park, kickarounds in the playground. I never played a match in my life.’
‘You must have done. No one could—’
‘Look out,’ yelled Rafi. ‘They’ve kicked off.’
Slim had the ball at his feet, and he definitely hadn’t given up. He dodged past Rodrigo and sidestepped a clumsy challenge from Jamie, then unleashed a shot at Danny’s goal. Slim was already celebrating when Danny dived full-length and the ball thudded into his body. He stood up holding it and looking a little surprised, but not as surprised as Slim.
‘Give it to Tommy,’ TJ yelled. Danny
’s throw found Tommy wide on the wing. He raced down the pitch with the ball at his feet. He was flying towards the dead-ball line, and defenders were sprinting to cut him off.
‘Idiot!’ said Tulsi. ‘He’s gone too far.
But TJ knew exactly what Tommy was going to do, and he was already sprinting, flat-out, towards the penalty spot. At the very last moment, just as the ball was about to run out of play, Tommy wrapped his foot around it and produced a perfect cross. TJ flung himself into the air. He kept his eyes wide open and fixed on the ball as he headed it down . . . and into the net.
The scores were level, and TJ had scored a perfect hat-trick – one with his right foot, one with his left foot and one, amazingly, with his head!
‘You’re a star, TJ!’ yelled his sister from the touchline.
‘Jolly well done, TJ,’ called Mr Burrows. He had taken off his tie and was waving it in the air.
As they jogged back into their own half, Mrs Singh was talking to her team. ‘That boy is their key player,’ she was saying. ‘You have to mark him more tightly. Off you go. I’m expecting you to win, Hillside.’
TJ watched as Krissy said something to Kelvin. They both looked his way, and Kelvin nodded. They obviously had a plan, and TJ didn’t have to wait long to find out what the plan was.
The very next time he received the ball, he heard thudding footsteps behind him and suddenly he was flying through the air. He hit the ground with a thump that knocked the wind out of him, and when he stood up his leg didn’t seem to be working properly.
CHAPTER 20
‘IT’S A DEAD leg,’ Mr Wood said. ‘And it was a very nasty tackle,’ he added to Mrs Singh.
‘It was clumsy,’ Mrs Singh said. ‘But I’m sure Kelvin didn’t mean to commit a foul.’
‘I hope not,’ Mr Wood said. ‘This is supposed to be a friendly game. How does it feel now, TJ?’