by Theo Walcott
‘We still had to win the match,’ Mr Wilson said. ‘My goal was genius!’
Jamaica defeated Australia next, and then they were in the semifinal. ‘Who are we playing next?’ asked Lou. ‘If we can win, maybe we can go on to win the World Cup.’
‘It’s Iceland,’ TJ said. ‘Jamie’s team.’
‘Matt’s team, you mean. We’ve got to win, TJ, you hear me? I’ll never hear the end of it if we lose.’
‘All right,’ said TJ. ‘Calm down. It’s only a game, Lou. I mean, it’s not even real football.’
‘Don’t be stupid, TJ,’ Lou told him, with a grim look on her face. ‘We simply have to win.’
The cones that had marked out the small pitches had been removed and the teams were going to play the semifinals on the bigger pitch they normally used. TJ was surprised to see that the two inspectors were still there, talking to the excited crowd of mums and dads and grandparents and friends.
‘OK,’ said Marshall, who was refereeing the game. ‘We’re playing five minutes each way. No extra time. Just penalties if it’s a draw.’
‘Hey, Jamie?’ said TJ. ‘What are you doing?’
‘What does it look like?’ Jamie said. ‘I’m going in goal. I’m too full to move.’
‘World Cup Final, here we come,’ said Mr Wilson, as he kicked off to TJ. ‘They’ve lost their defender. We’ll beat them easily.’
But little Max had other ideas. He nicked the ball from TJ’s dad’s feet and passed to Matt. Lou charged at him, and Matt took a step back, raising his arms in the air.
‘Thanks, Matt,’ said Lou, kicking the ball forward towards TJ. ‘Go on, TJ. Shoot!’
TJ looked up. It was weird. Jamie seemed to fill the goal. TJ had never realized before how long his arms and legs were, and they were only small goals. He made up his mind, and blasted the ball.
Jamie reached out both hands and grabbed it. Then a grin split his face. ‘You never thought I’d do that, did you?’ he said, and he threw the ball out to Matt. Lou barged straight into him, knocking him to one side.
‘Ref!’ yelled Matt. ‘It’s not fair.’
Marshall grinned. ‘Nothing in it,’ he said. ‘It was a fifty-fifty ball. Play on.’
Lou pulled a face at Matt and passed the ball to her dad.
‘Hey, now you’ll see something,’ Mr Wilson said. ‘I’ll show you my famous move!’
The Jamaica team all groaned. Mrs Wilson, the Jamaica goalie, covered her eyes. Mr Wilson had his back to Jamie’s dad. He pulled the ball backwards between his legs, turned – and fell over the ball. Jamie’s dad hit a pass to little Max, who controlled it neatly and shot past Mrs Wilson.
‘One nil to Iceland and half time,’ Marshall said. ‘Nice move, Roy,’ he said to Mr Wilson. ‘Shame it didn’t come off!’
Matt was doing a little celebration dance. He stopped quickly when Lou punched him. Luckily the ref didn’t see.
In the second half, Jamaica attacked all the time. It was easy to attack, because Matt didn’t dare to tackle Lou, but it was impossible to score, because Jamie stopped every one of Jamaica’s shots.
‘He is just brilliant!’ said Tulsi to Rafi. ‘He didn’t have to move and he stopped everything. Even TJ’s hardest shots. Just think – if he wasn’t full of food . . .’
‘Hey!’ said Rafi. ‘Why did we never think of that before? It’s exactly what we need. A goalie who stops everything!’
‘But he’ll never do it,’ Tulsi said. ‘Why would he want to?’
‘Maybe because everyone thinks he’s fantastic,’ said Rafi, as Iceland celebrated victory over Jamaica. Jamie’s team had a lot of supporters and they were all congratulating him.
‘I tried,’ said TJ to his sister, as they walked off the pitch. ‘I really did.’
Iceland went on to defeat India in the final. The match was 0–0 after extra time, and Iceland won 2–0 on penalties. Not even Tulsi could score past Jamie. There was no doubt at all who was the man of the match.
When Jamie went up to receive the trophy, Marshall shook him by the hand.
‘A star is born!’ he said.
CHAPTER 10
‘DAD RECKONS IF he gets fit enough from his runs, he might join a football team himself,’ TJ said one night, the week after the World Cup. Jamie, Rob and TJ were waiting at TJ’s house while his dad changed into his running kit.
‘I don’t think that move of his would work even if he was fit,’ said Rob.
TJ laughed. ‘Probably not,’ he said. ‘But he did do it once – we’ve got video evidence – so maybe he’ll do it again one day.’
‘How’s the diet going, Jamie?’ asked TJ’s mum.
‘Good,’ said Jamie. ‘Mum’s got loads of new recipes from the World Cup day. We’ve had something different every night this week.’
‘But not too much, I hope. Didn’t you overdo it a bit before the World Cup?’
‘I won’t do that again,’ Jamie said with a grin. ‘And anyway, we’ve been having lots of salads. I don’t think you can actually get fat from eating too much salad, can you?’
‘I doubt it,’ Mrs Wilson said with a smile.
Jamie laughed. ‘Well, I’m not going to,’ he said, with a determined look on his face.
‘And how about you, Rob?’ Mrs Wilson asked. ‘Does all this running mean you’re going to give up collecting the statistics?’
‘I’m doing that too,’ Rob said earnestly, holding up a small plastic object. ‘This is a pedometer. It counts how far we run. And I’ve got my stopwatch too.’
‘We’d better get started then,’ laughed Mr Wilson, coming into the room in a brand-new tracksuit and trainers. ‘No time to waste.’
They parked at the Sports Centre and jogged off along the trail.
‘You’re not out of breath,’ TJ said to Jamie, when they’d run nearly a kilometre.
‘No,’ agreed Jamie. ‘Do you think Mr Wood will put me back in the team now?’ There was an uncomfortable silence, as they jogged on. ‘Well?’ said Jamie. ‘I did all right at training last night, didn’t I?’
‘So did everyone else,’ Rob said finally.
‘And Mr Wood’s already selected the squad for the match against Wasps. I expect you’ll have to wait. Probably being a goalie is your best chance.’
‘What, like TJ was? It’s a rubbish job, isn’t it, TJ? You couldn’t wait to stop doing it.’
‘It wasn’t that bad,’ said TJ.
‘But you were good in the World Cup, Jamie,’ Rob insisted.
‘That was just for fun. And to stop my stomach from exploding.’
‘I’m only saying,’ said Rob, as they arrived back at the car park. He looked at his pedometer. ‘That was three point one kilometres,’ he said. ‘It took twenty-one minutes. It’s a big improvement. We should probably have a complete training schedule planned out. I’ll do it if you like.’
‘There’s no point in all this,’ muttered Jamie. ‘Not if I can’t get in the team.’
‘You are going to come to the match on Sunday though, aren’t you?’ TJ said. ‘To support us? Rob’s coming and he isn’t playing either.’
‘I don’t know,’ Jamie said. ‘I haven’t decided yet.’
*
On Sunday morning a large white minibus was waiting for them at the school. Mr Wood and Miss Berry were standing outside the gate, and TJ was surprised to see Mr Burrows waiting there with them. ‘I thought I’d come along and give you a little support,’ he said. ‘When I watched you beat Hillside, well, it was jolly exciting. I rather enjoyed it.’
The Wasps ground was in a small town about six miles out into the countryside. They drove through a housing estate and parked in a narrow road that was full of cars. Small boys and girls were getting out of the cars in their football boots and making their way through a wooden gate.
‘It’s huge!’ exclaimed Rafi, as they made their way through the gate onto the playing field. There were three small pitches marked out nearby, and beyond a line of trees th
ey saw more pitches, where games had already begun. Mr Wood led the way to a low brick clubhouse and into their dressing room.
‘Find a peg and hang your things up,’ he said. ‘Girls, there’s a room for you next door. Miss Berry will show you. Then we’ll go and find our pitch.’
Only Tulsi wasn’t nervous. ‘I play here every year,’ she said. ‘It’s the biggest youth soccer club in the area. They have lots and lots of teams, and most of them are good.’
‘Why has Mr Wood brought us here?’ said Leila. ‘I mean, why couldn’t we start by playing a team that wasn’t very good?’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Rob. ‘Mr Wood knows what he’s doing.’
‘OK,’ said Mr Wood. ‘We’re on the end pitch. I’ll show you. And don’t look so worried. It’ll be fun.’
They walked past two other games where very small kids were playing. ‘They look like Jamie’s brother,’ TJ said, and then wished he hadn’t, because it made them all think about Jamie. TJ really missed him. It didn’t seem the same without him.
They reached their pitch and the Wasps team were warming up at the far end in their orange and black striped shirts. The Parkview shirts were blue and black, and very old. Cameron’s dad had mended them for their match against Hillside, but some of the mending was coming undone. Also, there were only six shirts and one goalie top.
‘It’s a shame that the new kit hasn’t arrived yet,’ Mr Wood said. ‘If I bring on a sub, you’ll just have to change over. Now, let’s get warmed up.’
As they went through their routines, TJ couldn’t help glancing at the Wasps team. They were all boys. Mr Wood had explained that Sunday League teams weren’t usually mixed.
‘It won’t matter,’ he said, looking at Tulsi and Leila. ‘Just remember who was the fittest person on the beep test.’
But even so, the Wasps team looked big and strong. They were hitting the ball to each other very hard, and controlling it effortlessly.
‘Just remember what I’ve taught you,’ Mr Wood said. ‘Rafi, I’d like you to be captain for this game. You can beat them, Parkview! I’m sure of it.’
CHAPTER 11
‘IT’S NOT RIGHT without Jamie,’ TJ said to Tulsi, as he stood over the ball waiting to kick off. Rafi had won the toss.
‘I know,’ Tulsi said. ‘It feels as if we haven’t got enough players.’ She glanced back at the rest of their team. Rafi and Rodrigo were in midfield, and Tommy and Leila in defence, with Danny waiting in goal. Their subs, Ariyan and Cameron, were at the side, warming up in case they had to come on. ‘Remember how Jamie tackled Krissy Barton in our first match?’
TJ smiled. Krissy was the best striker Hillside had, but Jamie had been too strong for her.
‘Come on, Parkside,’ called Rafi, doing his captain’s job. ‘Good luck, Leila.’
‘Yeah, good luck, Leila,’ they all said. The referee waved to his two assistants, looked at his watch, and blew the whistle. Leila smiled nervously. TJ touched the ball to Tulsi, and she played it back to Rodrigo. Instantly a Wasp was buzzing around Rodrigo, trying to hurry him into a mistake, but Rodrigo managed to stay calm. He controlled the ball and played it to Rafi, who hit it across the field to Tommy.
TJ ran back towards Tommy, trying to make space, but the Wasps player who was marking him was right behind him. He could almost feel his breath on his neck. As Tommy played the ball to him, he heard Tulsi shouting for it, and out of the corner of his eye he saw her making a darting run forward. Tommy had hit the ball hard and true.
TJ acted instinctively. Instead of controlling it and looking for a pass, he let it flick off the outside of his heel, so that it flew past one side of the defender towards Tulsi, as he spun to run the other side.
If it had worked, it would have been brilliant.
But it failed.
As TJ ran down the wing, hoping that Tulsi would play the ball back into his path, he saw the tall, black-haired defender who was marking her step forward and intercept his pass. And now both TJ and Tulsi were out of position. TJ heard his marker laugh, as he raced away from him to join in the Wasps attack. He knew that it was his job to follow him back, but the Wasps player had ten metres start on him and even TJ wasn’t that fast. The ball was out on the Wasps left wing now, and there was nothing Leila could do to stop the Wasps winger from crossing it. The player TJ should have been marking stepped forward and smashed the ball into the net.
‘What did you do that for?’ demanded Danny, as he handed TJ the ball. ‘You just gave it away. And you should have got back.’
‘I know. I’m sorry. Don’t worry, Leila. There was nothing you could do.’
‘Hey, TJ,’ said Rafi. ‘It was OK. It was a great idea.’
But TJ shook his head. He knew it had been a bad decision. Mr Wood had told them they would have to be patient and defend well, and he’d gone and done something really stupid.
‘Come on, lad,’ called a voice from the touchline. ‘Get your head up. There’s a long way to go yet.’
TJ turned and saw Mr Coggins, the caretaker, standing with Mr Burrows. Janice the dinner lady was there too, and quite a few mums and dads had made the journey. He hadn’t expected them all to be here. They must have arrived while the team were warming up.
‘You can do it, Parkview,’ yelled Janice.
This time Tulsi passed the ball back to Rafi. When Rafi saw the Wasps captain bearing down on him, he forgot all his training and started to run with the ball. He took it past Rodrigo, then saw another Wasps player coming towards him, and did a fancy turn before dribbling off in the opposite direction. There were Wasps players all around him now.
‘Clear it, Rafi,’ yelled Tommy, but Rafi had run out of space. A Wasps player blocked the ball with his foot and Rafi went tumbling over.
With three crisp passes the Wasps had the ball on the edge of the penalty area, and there was nothing Danny could do to stop them scoring. It was 2–0 to Wasps and they had only been playing for two minutes.
‘You’re all rubbish,’ Danny said angrily, as he chucked the ball to Tommy. ‘If I didn’t have to be in goal I’d show you how to tackle.’
‘All you had to do was pass it,’ Tulsi said to Rafi.
‘Yeah, I know,’ Rafi said. ‘I just panicked. I couldn’t help it.’
‘There’s no point arguing,’ said TJ. ‘We just have to play better, that’s all.’
‘Go on, then,’ Tulsi replied, tapping the ball to him. ‘You show us.’
TJ passed to Rodrigo, who played it neatly out wide to Leila. ‘That’s better, Parkview!’ called Mr Wood. ‘Keep passing it! Don’t let them rush you.’
Leila hit a neat pass to TJ and he looked around quickly, trying to find someone to give the ball to. It was no good. The only clear space he could see was back to Danny in goal.
‘Here, Danny,’ he yelled, and hit the pass towards him.
Too late, TJ saw the Wasps captain. He had anticipated TJ’s pass and he was racing after the ball.
Danny saw the danger, but TJ knew that there was no way he could reach the ball before the Wasps player did. It was like watching a car crash. Danny was desperate. He leaped towards the Wasps captain, feet first, and the Wasps player crashed to the ground like a fallen tree.
There was a moment’s silence, followed by yells of anger from the Wasps supporters.
The Wasps captain was lying on the ground, groaning, and the Wasps trainer ran onto the pitch.
‘I hardly touched him,’ Danny said.
‘I don’t very often have to do this,’ the ref said. ‘Not with kids your age. You never had any intention of going for the ball, young man. Everyone here could see that. So I’ve no choice but to send you off.’ He pulled the red card from his pocket, and showed it to Danny.
‘Do what you like,’ muttered Danny, as he walked off the pitch.
‘I’m sorry, Danny,’ TJ said, as he walked past him. ‘It was a bad pass.’
Danny didn’t even look at him. ‘I don’t care about this stupid tea
m anyway,’ he said. ‘I hope you lose.’
CHAPTER 12
MR WOOD WATCHED Danny walk towards the dressing room, then he said something to Miss Berry and she went after Danny. Mr Wood turned back to the Wasps coach. ‘I’m sorry about that, Brian,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what got into the lad.’
The coach was kneeling beside the Wasps captain, spraying something on his leg. ‘Give us a few moments, will you?’ he said.
Mr Wood called the Parkview squad together. ‘We need a new goalkeeper,’ he said. ‘Who’s it going to be?’
They all looked at each other. None of them wanted to go in goal. ‘How about you, TJ? You’re the only one who’s done it before.’
TJ knew it was the only sensible solution, but he still felt sick. Everything was going wrong. He was just reaching out to take the gloves from Mr Wood when Tulsi said, ‘Look. There’s Jamie.’
Jamie was standing on the far side of the pitch with his dad and his little brothers, Max and Cody.
‘Jamie could go in goal,’ Rafi said. ‘He’s really good.’
‘He was good in the World Cup, you mean,’ said Tommy. ‘That doesn’t mean he’d be good in a proper match.’
‘Jamie isn’t even in the squad,’ Mr Wood said. ‘And he’s not fit. And he probably hasn’t got any kit.’
‘Actually,’ said Rob, ‘Jamie ran three point one kilometres in just over twenty minutes last week. So he’s much fitter than he was a few weeks ago. And he’s wearing a tracksuit and trainers.’
‘Are you serious, Rob?’ Mr Wood said. ‘I know Jamie’s looking fitter, but you really think he could play in goal?’
Rob nodded.
‘And you all agree?’
They all did.
‘Well, you go and ask him if he’ll do it, Rob,’ Mr Wood said. ‘And, Cameron, go and get the goalkeeper’s shirt from Danny. Be quick. I’ll ask the Wasps coach if he minds an unorthodox substitution. After what just happened he might not like the idea.’
Rob returned with Jamie. ‘Well?’ Mr Wood asked him. ‘Will you do it, Jamie? The Wasps don’t mind.’