by Bali Rai
We took up our positions and faced the Evington Eagles. From the moment they saw us, the Eagles had been taunting us. One in particular – a big, burly lad called Adam who had been at our trials but gone to Evington instead – looked very threatening too. We had history with him! But we were so used to the insults that we mostly just ignored them. Instead, as I looked around at the team, I could see that everyone was really determined.
We won the coin toss and chose to kick off. I took the ball from the referee and placed it on the centre circle.
Abs joined me.
‘You OK?’ I asked him.
‘Yeah,’ he replied. ‘Let’s show these fools how to play the game properly. Especially that big lump, Adam!’
Within minutes of the start we were on the attack. Leon had won a free kick on the right and Ben went across to take it. Ian urged Steven and Jason to make their way into the box. I was standing just outside it, with an Eagles player holding onto my shirt.
‘Let go!’ I shouted.
The lad smirked at me and told me to get lost. But then he moved away, thinking that Ben would put a cross into the box. Only he didn’t. He played the ball square to Byron, who sent it on to Corky. Corky ran right at the heart of the Eagles’ defence. Just as he was about to be tackled, he passed to Abs, who let a fierce drive go. But the Eagles’ keeper saw it coming and got his hands to it.
‘Nice try,’ I told my friend.
Abs shrugged. ‘There was no one else to pass to,’ he said, as though he was ashamed of shooting.
I didn’t say anything and ran back to my position. Over on the touchline I saw Hayley interviewing Lily and I wondered what they were talking about. Then the ball sailed over my head and the Eagles were on the attack. They were a big team with lots of tall players. The ball ended up with their winger, a black-haired lad called Milorad. He played the ball into the box, but Dal won it.
I thought he would clear the ball, but he didn’t just whack it. Instead he saw that Byron was free and passed to him. Byron turned to face the Eagles’ goal and ran with the ball. Three of their players tried to get to him, but Byron is a really strong runner and he rode all of their challenges before finding Corky out on the left wing. Corky stopped the ball, looked up and saw that Byron had continued his run, into the box.
I saw my chance! I ran alongside Byron and then moved to my right. Both central defenders went towards Byron. Corky waited and then passed the ball to me. I controlled the ball with my right foot, pushing it forward and then hit it. The ball flew past their keeper.
1–0!
‘YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ I yelled, setting off to celebrate. I didn’t know what to do so I ran for the touchline and jumped on Ian, who looked really embarrassed. The rest of the team joined in until the referee told us to calm down. But we were winning against one of the top three teams in our league. There was no way we were going to stay calm!
From the restart we put the Eagles under more pressure. Byron, Abs and Corky all went close to scoring. And then Parvy ran all the way out of defence, taking the ball past three of their players – including Adam – and saw her wicked shot hit the post. We were all over them and feeling really confident. But with five minutes left in the half, the Eagles went and equalized.
It started with a rubbish pass from me, so I felt really bad about it. I was facing my own goal and instead of looking round to see who was there, I stopped concentrating. I tried to pass to Dal, who was to my left, but the ball didn’t reach him and their winger, Milorad, sneaked in and took it. He crossed for a really tall lad called Will, who smashed it home.
1–1!
Chapter 10
AT HALF-TIME IAN gathered us all together whilst Wendy handed out slices of orange. He told us that we were doing really well.
‘Move as a unit,’ he told us. ‘If you pass the ball, try and move into a space afterwards. That way you can always get the ball back. Play in little triangles like Steve showed you during our first training session together. Move up and down the pitch like that. Triangles . . .’
Corky put up his hand.
‘Yes, son?’ asked Ian.
‘My leg hurts,’ said Corky. ‘I think I twisted my knee.’
Ian looked at Wendy.
‘OK!’ she said cheerfully. ‘Corky, take a rest. Penny, get ready to go on in his place.’
Ian talked to us some more and then we gathered together in a huddle.
Wendy told us to concentrate. ‘Play as a team, y’all!’ she said. Her voice was encouraging and I forgot about the mistake I’d made for their equalizer.
‘COME ON, YOU REDS!’ shouted Byron.
‘YEAH!!!!!!!!’ we all yelled back.
The second half kicked off with another attack from the Eagles. They were bearing down on our goal and I could see that Steven and Dal were outnumbered. I sprinted back to help out but it was too late. Their strikers played a one-two with each other and Will scored again.
It was 2–1 . . .
‘COME ON!’ urged Wendy. ‘Let’s keep those heads up.’
We restarted and tried to get forward, but the Eagles had us pinned back. They were a really good team and we were getting outplayed.
But then Ian swapped Ben for Lily and things changed. Lily stayed out on the left wing, with Penny on the right. That meant that their defenders had to stay with them. This left us lots more room in the middle and we started to play again. Slowly but surely we began to get stronger. And nobody – not even Abs – was glancing over at the sidelines where the TV people were following the action.
Byron and Jason were playing out of their skins. They were beginning to run the show in midfield and the Eagles players were looking tired. Adam was puffing away like mad. He might have been big, but he certainly wasn’t fit! Jason and Corky both outran him several times and he was looking more and more fed up. Good! Shows he picked the wrong team . . .
Then Jason won the ball in the centre with a fierce tackle and played the ball out to Lily. Lily stopped it and waited for her defender to challenge for the ball. When he did, she lifted it over his leg and sprinted down the left wing. At the by-line she sent a great cross into the box.
Abs was charging in and he managed to get his toe to the ball just before the Eagles’ keeper could reach it. The ball arced over the keeper and into the net to make it 2–2!
‘GOALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!’ screamed Abs, running straight into Jason and Byron. He was really happy and when he saw Jason, he jumped on him.
Lily trotted over to me and smiled. ‘Back to normal, then?’ she asked.
‘It looks like it,’ I told her.
Parvy came over and tapped me on the shoulder. ‘It’s time,’ she told me.
‘Huh?’
‘For the sacred ninja skills,’ she explained.
I grinned. ‘Go on then,’ I said, challenging her. ‘You and the rest of the Barbies show me what you’ve got . . .’
Parvy smiled back. ‘Keep watching,’ she boasted.
Five minutes later Parvy was defending an Eagles attack. The attacker was quick and strong and he looked like he would go past her. But Parvy waited and, at just the right moment, she nicked the ball away. Another Eagles player was closer to it than she was, but she didn’t give up. She ran to the ball and then spun roundina pirouette, taking the ball away from the attacker.
I had to shake my head. I’d never seen anyone do that, ever! It was well impressive. Next, Parvy passed to Penny, who ran down the right wing with the ball. When her defender came in, she skipped past him, towards the corner of their box. She had two more defenders on her case, but she just ignored them. She moved the ball from her left foot to her right and curled in a shot.
The ball seemed to swerve in mid-air and then it clipped the underside of the crossbar. It flew off the bar, into the net.
3–2!
This time we all ran towards the scorer, but it was Abs who was first to reach her. He nearly picked her up off the grou
nd, he was so happy.
‘COME ON, YOU GIRLS!!!!!!!!!!!!’ he shouted.
Me, Dal, Jason and Byron looked at each other in amazement.
Lily joined in. ‘Did he really just say what I thought he said?’ she asked. ‘And in front of the telly people too!’
‘Yep!’ I replied, feeling really proud of Abs.
I turned to retake my position and saw Parvy beaming a smile at me.
‘Did you see it?’ she asked.
I nodded.
‘See?’ she added. ‘Never question the power of the ninja.’
I laughed. ‘Bet you can’t do it again,’ I said.
But she could. In fact she went one better. Two minutes before the end, Jason was fouled about twenty yards from goal. When the free kick was given, Parvy took the ball from Abs, who had grabbed it first. I thought Abs would complain but he didn’t.
‘Trust me,’ Parvy said to him. He nodded and said OK.
As she placed the ball, I went over to see what she would do.
‘You have to believe in the ball,’ she said mysteriously.
‘What does that mean?’ I asked.
She grinned. ‘It means that you don’t always have to look at the ball to know where it is, and where it’s going,’ she replied.
I watched in amazement as she ran towards the ball. At the last moment, instead of looking at the ball, Parvy turned her head towards me. There was no way on earth she’d be able to score like that. I watched the ball, feeling sure that it would sail over the bar or go hopelessly wide. But I was wrong. The ball whizzed and zipped and dipped its way into the top corner of the goal.
It was 4–2!
There was no way we would lose now. Third place was ours.
Parvy didn’t celebrate. Instead she turned to me. ‘Do you want to be a soccer ninja now, smelly?’ she asked.
‘That was just . . . MAGIC!’ I replied.
‘Told you!’ she added.
At the final whistle, Abs came over and put his arm round me.
‘Are we friends again?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘I’m sorry about the last few days . . . honest.’
I smiled. ‘Forget about it,’ I said.
Abs said OK, and then he walked over to Lily and the rest of the Barbies.
‘I’m sorry that I didn’t want you in the team,’ he said to them.
Dal and Jason came up and watched too.
‘He’s gone mad,’ said Jason.
‘Nah,’ replied Dal, ‘he’s nearly normal now.’
I watched as Lily thanked him.
Abs told her it was fine. ‘I thought you’d all be rubbish,’ he admitted. ‘But you lot are stars . . . proper STARS!’
We had just beaten one of the best teams in the league and gone third in the table.
And Abs had finally accepted that the Rushton Reds were a special team.
All we needed now was for Steve to get better. And to beat Langton Blues – including Gurinder and Ant – in the Cup. That was our next game, and I could hardly wait!
‘COME ON, YOU REDS!!!!’ I sang as I walked off the pitch.
About the Author
Bali Rai thinks he is a very lucky man. He gets to write all day if he wants to, or go into schools to speak to his readers about what they think of his books. He loves films, music, reading, seeing friends and watching his beloved Liverpool FC.
Bali played for his school team as a defender and loved it. He has been a lifelong football fan since he began watching Match of the Day at the age of four with his dad. He enjoys talking and arguing about Liverpool FC, and would like to be Rafa Benitez’s or Steven Gerrard’s personal servant, but if this does not happen he is happy to carry on writing for his thousands of fans.
Bali was very honoured that his short novel Dream On (about a young footballer) was chosen for the first Booked-Up list and was made available to every Year 7 school child.
Bali’s books are now in ten languages and he gets to travel all over the world to meet his readers. He hopes that he can encourage anyone to have a go at writing and to find a love of reading. He has won lots of book awards and really enjoys winning the ones that are voted for by the real readers – you!
Bali lives in his home city of Leicester . He has a lovely new wife and a football-crazy daughter.
Read every book in this action-packed football series:
STARTING ELEVEN
MISSING!
STARS!
GLORY!
SOCCER SQUAD: STARS!
AN RHCP DIGITAL EBOOK 978 1 407 05020 1
Published in Great Britain by RHCP Digital,
an imprint of Random House Children’s Publishers UK
A Random House Group Company
This ebook edition published 2014
Copyright © Bali Rai, 2008
Illustrations copyright © Mike Phillips, 2008
First Published in Great Britain
Red Fox 9781862306578 2008
The right of Bali Rai to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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