by Bali Rai
Contents
Cover
About the Book
Title Page
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
About the Author
Also by Bali Rai
Copyright
About the Book
‘RUSHTON REDS FOR THE CUP!’
Abs is a striker – but can he put the ball in the back of the net when Rushton Reds meet Langton Blues in a Cup quarter-final match?
He and his team-mates – Dal, Jason and Chris – all want to win the trophy.
But Langton are in their way . . .
Chapter 1
Thursday
‘CABBAGE-FACED GLORY HUNTER!’
Dal, who is one of my best mates, shook his head at me. I grinned and took the ball from him.
‘Come on, Abs,’ he replied. ‘You can come up with better than that!’
We both play for a team called Rushton Reds and Thursday nights are training nights. Dal goes to the same school as me, along with two other lads, Jason and Chris. They play for the Reds too and they were standing next to us as we practised keep-ups. Dal is about my height with short brown hair and he’s really stocky. He thinks he’s the best at keep-ups too!
‘How many did you just manage?’ I asked him.
‘Twenty,’ he told me.
I picked up the ball and then let it drop towards my right foot. As it dropped I stopped it from hitting the ground by juggling it with my foot. I counted up to ten and then Chris shouted something and I lost concentration.
‘CHRIS!’ I yelled.
‘See?’ said Dal, laughing at me. ‘Rubbish!’
As I tried again some of the other players came over to us. The thing is . . . well, Rushton Reds aren’t like a normal football team. Instead of just boys playing, we have girls too. When they first started playing with us, I didn’t like it. But now I think they’re great. We call them the Barbies for a laugh. And they call us the Smellies . . . Now two of them, Lily and Parvy, stood and watched my second attempt to beat Dal’s keep-up score. I’d managed fifteen when Lily started to giggle. I lost concentration again and the ball hit my shin and flew off.
‘LILY!’
‘I’m sorry,’ she told me. ‘It’s just that you pull really funny faces when you concentrate . . .’
I looked at Dal to see if he thought I looked funny too. He smiled at me.
‘You do look a bit funny,’ he said.
‘No, I don’t,’ I replied.
‘Yes, you do . . .’ added Parvy.
For a split second I got a bit annoyed, but then I just smiled.
‘Go and play with your hair, Barbie,’ I said.
‘OK, REDS!’ shouted one of our three coaches, Ian. ‘Time for a practice game . . .’
I went and got the ball and returned to stand with my friends. Our chief coach is called Steve and he’s just come out of hospital so we were working today with Ian and our third coach, Wendy, who used to run the girls team only. She’s American. She came over and sorted the squad out into two teams.
‘We’re doing things a little differently, y’all,’ she told us. ‘Because we have a Cup game on Saturday, we’re going to work on defensive and attacking drills today . . .’
‘Yay!’ shouted Lily, who likes nothing better than playing up front. And I’ve got to admit it, she’s really good too.
‘I bet I can score more goals than you!’ I told her.
‘In your dreams, Smelly!’ she replied.
Wendy handed out the vests – red for the attackers and blue for the defenders. I got a red one because I play as a striker, and Lily and Chris got red ones too. Dal, Parvy and Jason were on the blue team, with the rest of the squad split evenly. We had a new girl with us too, Olivia. She was the twin sister of one of the lads in the team. He’s called Corky. Olivia was playing in attack with my team.
‘Have you played much before?’ I asked her as Wendy gave the defenders instructions.
Olivia nodded. ‘I used to play for a team, too, but they broke up,’ she told me.
‘As a striker?’ I added.
‘Yeah – I love scoring goals!’ she said.
I nodded in agreement. I loved scoring goals too. Lots and lots of goals!
‘Lily’s good,’ I told her. ‘And Chris.’
‘I like Lily’s boots,’ replied Olivia. ‘They’re really bright!’
She was right. Lily’s boots were orange with green stripes on them. Lily noticed that we were looking at them and she came straight over.
‘They’re nice, aren’t they?’ she said to us.
Me and Olivia nodded.
‘I call them my glory boots,’ Lily went on. ‘They’re going to bring me lots of luck!’
I gave her a funny look. ‘How do you know that?’ I asked.
‘Because I’m a soccer ninja,’ she replied before winking at Olivia.
I’d heard the girls talking about soccer ninjas before, but I had no idea what they meant. I asked Lily.
‘Oh, it’s nothing for you to worry about,’ she said to me, sounding a lot like my mum when she doesn’t want me to ask questions about stuff.
‘Tell me!’ I pleaded.
Lily shook her head. ‘Can’t,’ she told me. ‘It’s rule ten of the soccer ninja code. Anyone who tells the Secrets of the Way to the wrong person loses the skills . . .’
Olivia started giggling.
‘Do you know what it means?’ I asked her.
‘Yeah!’ she replied. ‘It’s a girl thing . . .’
‘Oh, keep it then!’ I told them, pretending to get upset. But I wasn’t really upset at all. They were just messing about.
Wendy blew on her whistle and we took up our positions.
After the practice, me, Chris, Jason and Dal walked home together. We live in the same area and it was a really warm evening so we didn’t mind walking. Jason was talking about how well Chelsea FC were doing in the Premier League and I was teasing him. I support Man United and my team are better than his!
‘Your team is pants,’ I told him.
‘No, they’re not!’ complained Jason.
‘We’ll see,’ I replied. ‘We’re playing you soon so we’ll find out who the best team are . . .’ I said.
Dal and Chris groaned at the same time.
‘What’s up with you two?’ I asked them.
‘How many times do we have to tell you?’ replied Dal. ‘There is only one team – Liverpool!’
‘Rubbish!’ Jason said. ‘Rubbish, rubbish, rubbish!’
I had taken my own ball to training and it was in a plastic bag in my hand. As I walked along, I was kicking the bag. We walked around a corner onto Ethel Road and in front of us were two lads, Gurinder and Ant, who used to play for our team. Both of them had left to join another team: Langton Blues – the team we were playing in our Cup-tie on Saturday! I wondered whether to say hello but decided that I didn’t want to.
As we approached them, Ant smirked at us. ‘Here come the girls!’ he called out.
‘Get lost!’ replied Chris.
Dal told us to ignore them, but then Gurinder started having a go at us too.
‘We’re going to beat you on Saturday,’ he said.
I looked at him and shook my head. ‘You haven’t got a chance,’ I told him. ‘The only reason you left was because the girls are better than you are.’ Gurinder played in goal, so I went on: ‘And Gem’s a much stronger keeper.’
‘No!’ complained Gurinder.
‘We’re the best team in the league,’ Ant added.
‘Which league?’ I asked. ‘The Stup
id League?’
‘Come on, Abs!’ Jason said to me. ‘Let’s justgo . . .’
‘Yeah,’ said Ant, taunting us, ‘you run away like little girls . . .’
I wanted to reply, but I didn’t. Instead me and my friends left Ant and Gurinder where they were. When they were out of earshot, I turned to my friends.
‘We have to beat them on Saturday,’ I said.
‘We will,’ said Chris determinedly.
When I got in I went straight up to my room. I sat down at my desk and thought about the Cup game against Langton Blues. It was the quarter-finals. We were only two games away from the final. And, no matter what, I was going to do my best to score against the Blues on Saturday and shut Gurinder and Ant up!
Chapter 2
Saturday
OUR JUNIOR CUP game was being played at our home ground and my older brother Mo – who had given me a lift – stayed to watch. We got there early and I went to speak to Wendy about our third coach, Steve. He’d been really poorly and I wanted to know how he was.
‘He’s a lot better,’ Wendy told me.
‘Will he be back soon?’ I asked.
‘No,’ she said, looking quite sad. ‘He’s not going to be back for a while.’
I nodded and said that I wanted to go and see him.
‘No problem,’ she replied. ‘We’ll organize something next week.’
Behind Wendy, a man with a small camera was filming a woman talking about the game. The man and woman were called Hayley and John and they had been following the Reds for a few weeks. They were friends of Wendy’s who were making a documentary about our team. I said hello to them when they had finished filming.
‘Are you excited about playing in the Cup?’ Hayley asked me.
I looked at John. He was filming me now. I was being interviewed!
‘Yes,’ I replied to Hayley with a smile.
‘Do you think the Reds can win?’
‘No problem,’ I said, wanting to sound as confident as possible.
‘And what sort of impact can the girls have today?’ Hayley continued. ‘Langton are a good side. Can the girls help you to win?’
I nodded. ‘I think that the girls are as good as any of the Langton players,’ I replied. ‘And some of them are better!’
Hayley beamed at me. ‘Thanks, Abs!’ she said.
‘’S OK,’ I replied.
When I got back to my brother he was talking to Dal’s dad. I looked for Dal but couldn’t see him anywhere. Instead, I saw Chris and Jason and I joined them as they walked into the changing rooms.
‘I can’t wait for the game to start,’ said Jason.
‘Neither can I,’ I replied.
‘Do you think Ant and Gurinder will be playing?’ asked Chris.
‘I hope so,’ I said. ‘That way it’ll be even better when we stuff them.’
But I wasn’t too sure that we would beat them. Langton Blues were one of the three top teams. We had only managed a 2–2 draw with them in the league – and I’d missed a penalty! It was going to be a tough game.
Out on the pitch, the whole squad got together for the team talk. Ian told us to focus on our own game.
‘Forget what they’re doing,’ he told us. ‘Play the game on the floor . . .’
‘Pass and move!’ urged Wendy.
‘And try and keep tight in defence. I want to see everyone helping to defend and that includes the strikers!’
I looked at Chris who grinned.
‘Now get out there and show them how much better you’ve become!’ added Wendy.
We started the game with Leon, Dal, Steven – our captain – and Parvy in defence. Jason was in the midfield with Byron and Lily and Corky were the wingers. I was up front with Chris. We had five substitutes but none of them were goalkeepers. The only keeper in the squad since Gurinder had left was Gem so she went in goal.
Langton Blues were waiting for us as we took up our positions. I looked for Ant, but he wasn’t on the pitch. Gurinder was playing though. He was standing on his goal line, rubbing his hands together.
‘Let’s put these girls out of the Cup!’ I heard him yell.
As I started to shout something back, I saw Ian on the touchline put his finger up to his lips. He was telling me to shut up so I did. Two more of Langton’s players, Beggsy and Luke, were standing near me. They had both played against us in our last game and I was desperate to show them that we were much better now.
‘Oh, look!’ said Luke. ‘It’s the Bratz team.’
He had a piggy-looking nose and freckles and his hair looked like it had been stuck on with glue. In the last game Dal had told him that he looked like SpongeBob. Beggsy, who was their captain, started laughing at Luke’s comment, but in our last game it had been Lily who had been the best player and she was a girl! I told them so.
‘She won’t be the best player this time,’ replied Beggsy, looking really smarmy.
‘We’ll see,’ I told him as the ref sounded the whistle.
We started the game slowly and there were no chances at all for the first ten minutes of the first half. Every time we got the ball we tried to pass it around but the Langton players were doing all they could to stop us. And whenever they got the ball, all they did was try and lump it forward to their strikers. But Dal and Steven won the ball every time and pretty soon I started to get frustrated. I’d hardly touched the ball at all.
Suddenly the ball broke free in the centre of the pitch. I saw Byron run to get it and then pass it quickly to Lily. She had a defender close to her but he was too slow. She took the ball, skipped past him and headed down the left wing.
I turned and ran into a space in the box, taking two defenders with me. Lily looked up and curled in a cross. It sailed past me and the defenders and landed at Chris’s feet. Chris controlled it well but didn’t shoot. Instead he saw Gurinder running out of his goal to reach him. Chris twisted left and then right and then passed the ball into a space.
I turned my marker and stuck my foot out. The ball flicked up and looked like it was heading into the goal. I spun round to celebrate, but I was too early. The ball had hit the post!
Gurinder gathered it and threw it out. Then he called me some rude names. I ignored him and sprinted back to my position.
Five minutes later we made another attack. This time it was Corky and Parvy who created the chance. Corky passed to Parvy who passed it back to him. Then she ran down the right of the pitch and found a space. Corky saw her run and put the ball in front of her. She ran onto it, passed her defender and then squared to Lily. I went to Lily’s left and Chris ran to her right. All she had to do was slip the ball to either one of us and we’d be through on goal.
But she didn’t do that. Instead Lily held the ball and when a defender came to meet her, she put the ball through his legs and then smashed it towards the goal. I watched as Gurinder stretched to turn the ball away. But he couldn’t reach it. The ball rifled into the back of the net.
1–0!
The Langton players groaned and their captain, Beggsy, started shouting at Gurinder. Suddenly they were all arguing.
‘I can’t believe you let a girl score!’ moaned Luke, the one with the freckles.
‘Yeah!’ I shouted. ‘A girl!’
Gurinder told me to get lost and soon the game had restarted. Langton went on the attack straight away, with Beggsy and Luke trying their best to set up a goal. But we defended really well and Langton couldn’t get near our goal.
Eventually – just before half time – the ball broke to Jason and he pushed it forward to Lily. She stepped inside her marker this time and passed the ball to me. I looked up and saw that Gurinder was off his goal line. I thought about shooting but decided that it would be better to pass to Chris who was shouting for the ball.
I turned, ready to kick it to him when I felt my legs go from underneath me. It was Luke!
Chapter 3
‘FOUL!’ I HEARD Lily shout as I cried out in pain.
But the
referee didn’t stop the game or give us a free kick. Instead he let Langton come away with the ball and very quickly Beggsy was running towards our goal. I sprang to my feet and tried to sprint back but my right leg really hurt. I managed to go about five metres before I fell to the ground. A shooting pain worked its way from my right foot up into my shin and knee. It was horrible!
As I sat down and rubbed my leg, I saw the ball being passed to Luke. He took two touches to control it and then ran into our box. Steven came towards him, but just as he was going to make his tackle, he slipped. Luke was free, one on one with Gem. He lashed at the ball and it skidded across the surface. Gem managed to get her left hand to it but it wasn’t enough. Luke turned away to celebrate the equalizer.
It was 1–1.
‘NO!!!!!!!’ shouted Byron and Jason together.
‘That’s not fair,’ complained Steven. ‘Abs was fouled!’ He was our captain and it was up to him to make the protest.
The referee waved him away, looked at his watch, then put his whistle to his lips and blew for half time. I stood up and hobbled from the pitch. Ian and Wendy were waiting for me.
‘Are you OK?’ asked Ian.
I nodded. ‘It’s just a bit sore,’ I said. ‘I’ll be OK, honest.’
But I wasn’t OK. I thought that the pain would go away only it didn’t. But I really didn’t want to be substituted. I wanted to play!
‘Are you sure, Abs?’ asked Wendy, as John walked over with his camera.
I nodded again. Suddenly another pain shot up my leg and I winced. I needed to sit down, but if I did Wendy would know that I was hurt. I thought about how much I wanted to play and score against the Blues. How I wanted the glory of putting my team into the next round of the Cup – the semi-finals.
But then I realized that if I played with an injury I wouldn’t be able to play my best game. And that would put the team in trouble. I wanted to play on, but that would have been plain selfish. And I didn’t want to let my team down.
‘Actually, Wendy,’ I said, ‘I don’t think I can play on . . .’
Ian told me to sit and went to get his bucket of water and sponge. When he got back he soaked the sponge and then held it against my injured leg. My brother, who had been talking to Jason’s mum, saw what was happening and came running over.