She had no idea how much time had passed when Dave said, “I have to go, it’s getting late.”
Tina was sorry to leave, but she stood up and said, “Well, see you” to the group, who waved and said their own good-byes.
“Hey, Teen,” said Zoe. “You want to meet for lunch tomorrow? We go to the deli near school. Bring Meg with you!”
“Sounds great,” Tina said. And it did sound great.
Riding home, Tina suddenly laughed.
“What’s so funny?” Dave asked.
Tina shook her head. “Oh, nothing, really. It’s just … I feel good, that’s all.”
“Me too,” Dave replied. “That was fun. Hey, let’s go again soon, okay?”
“Okay!” Tina agreed happily.
The two parted at their driveways. When Tina entered her kitchen, delicious food smells hit her nostrils. She suddenly realized that although she’d been in the Food Court at the mall, she hadn’t eaten a thing. Now she was starving!
At dinner, Mrs. Esparza asked, “How long until your first game? It must be soon.”
Tina said, “Two days. You’ll all be there, right?”
“Right!” Mr. Esparza said. “Have you thought about what color you’ll wear? It’s your choice, isn’t it? Since you’re a goalkeeper.”
“I was thinking red,” Tina said, reaching for another biscuit. “Red is cool.”
Sammy said, “Why do goaltenders—”
“Goalkeepers,” corrected his father.
“How come goalkeepers wear different uniforms from everyone else?”
“So everyone can tell us apart from other players,” Tina explained. “’Keepers always wear different colors.”
Mr. Esparza gave his daughter a warm smile. “We’ll get you a red outfit tomorrow. I feel good that you’re a keeper. I’d like to have been a keeper myself.”
“Daddy!” Tina exclaimed. “You always say you wish you’d been a center.”
Her father shrugged. “I’d like to have been a great scorer and a star keeper.”
Mrs. Esparza said, “Your father doesn’t always make sense when he talks about futbol. We’ll all be there for your game. Just don’t expect me to understand what’s going on.”
“I’ll be there, even though soccer is lame compared to baseball,” said Sammy.
“How can my son say that?” asked Mr. Esparza, giving Sammy a mock scowl. “Maybe when you get older you’ll be more sensible.”
Mrs. Esparza laughed. “It didn’t happen with you, dear.”
At practice the next day—the day before the first game—Tina saw Meg, Zoe, and other girls with Cindy, who was demonstrating a new move.
“Start with the ball on your right foot,” Cindy said as Zoe tried it. “Then step over the ball with that foot … that’s it! Now shift your weight so the ball’s under your left foot … good! Then use the outside of your left foot to dribble … you got it!”
Tina nudged Meg. “What’s happening?”
Meg turned. “Oh, hi. Cindy’s showing people a ‘scissor move.’ She says it’s a great way to fake out a defender.”
“Does it work?” Tina asked.
Meg looked exasperated. “Not for me. Zoe can do it, but when I tried, I tripped. Maybe if I try it in a game, the defender will laugh so hard that I’ll get by her, and it’ll work that way.”
Tina giggled. “But it’s good that Cindy’s trying to help. She’s turning over a new leaf.”
“Maybe,” Meg said. “Want to ask her? Here she comes.”
Cindy was approaching, but before they could talk, Danielle called the team together.
“Okay, there’s a lot to do today. Let’s do some drills. Pepper will work with Tina and Andrea, and I’ll work with the rest of you.”
Pepper had the goalkeepers throw each other shots to catch or block, especially ones that the other had to dive or jump to reach. They worked on kicks and throws. Tina’s throwing was more accurate than before—but the ball didn’t travel any farther.
Danielle then divided the team into squads to work on corner kicks, direct and indirect free kicks, and penalty kicks. Tina and Andrea were goalkeepers for this part of the practice. Tina really enjoyed defending against direct penalty kicks, which are awarded to a team when an opponent commits an especially serious foul. In a direct penalty kick, it’s one player against the goalkeeper. Tina found that it was a challenge she enjoyed, in a practice situation at least. How she’d feel in a game, especially if the game were on the line, she’d find out later.
During a break, Tina asked Cindy, “Where’s your mom? Is she coming today?”
Cindy shook her head. “No, she isn’t. I asked her not to come to practices anymore.”
“Really?” Tina was impressed. It couldn’t have been easy for Cindy to do that.
“Uh-huh,” Cindy said. “We made a deal. She’ll come to games, but only to cheer. She can’t tell me what I did wrong. Danielle’s my coach. My moms my mom.”
The girls exchanged a smile.
Danielle split the team into squads. Zoe’s mother was back to serve as a second referee and help Pepper, who was the lead ref.
“This is our last scrimmage before the real thing,” said Danielle. “We’ll make it as real as possible. Pepper will even hand out yellow and red cards—if anyone commits a serious foul. If you get a red card, you’ll have to leave, and your squad will continue shorthanded.”
When some of the players looked confused, Danielle explained. “Referees give players who commit serious fouls, such as unsportsmanlike conduct, yellow cards. Refs carry the cards with them, and when such a foul happens, they flash them near the player who made the foul. Yellow cards warn the player to behave. If the player then commits another serious foul, or a very serious foul, such as fighting, he or she gets a red card. Then the player has to leave the game and can’t return. The player’s team must finish the game with one less player than the opposition.”
Tina had Meg on her squad, on defense, and Zoe as a midfielder. Cindy was on the other squad at center.
When play started, Cindy and the other forwards on her squad moved the ball toward Tina’s goal. Meg tried to mark Cindy, who got around her with a dazzling fake, maybe the scissor move that Cindy had shown Zoe. Tina came out to cut down Cindy’s shooting angle, but Cindy didn’t shoot; she passed to the right wing. Zoe darted in and made a sliding tackle, skidding on the grass and poking the ball to Meg, who dribbled it away from the goal. She passed to Zoe, and the action moved away from Tina, who relaxed a little.
At the other end, Tina saw Andrea grab the ball off the ground, cradle it in her arms, and make a strong overhand throw to a defensive back. Neither squad could make a real attack for a few minutes, until Cindy picked off a pass and brought the ball back toward Tina. Tina braced herself for a possible shot. As Cindy and her squadmates moved closer, Tina shouted to Meg to move away from the cage. Cindy passed to her left wing, who returned the pass to Cindy. From forty feet away, Cindy fired a shot like a bullet on a line that would put it just over Tina’s head. Tina shifted toward the speeding ball and caught it with her hands in the W-catch that Pepper had taught her.
Looking downfield, Tina decided that a long kick might be intercepted. She rolled the ball toward Meg, but an opponent got the ball first and tried a quick shot. Lunging, Tina punched the ball out-of-bounds, setting up a corner kick. As the other team got into position, Tina took a few deep breaths and turned toward the kicker. The corner kick went to Cindy. Cindy headed it across the goalmouth to the other forward, who hit a perfect volley—kicking the ball before it hit the ground—toward the corner of the goal. Tina fell forward and smothered the ball with her body, just before it crossed the goal line.
Tina saw Zoe open at midfield and kicked to her. Zoe passed to a squadmate, and seconds later, the girl kicked the ball into the cage. Andrea sprawled out, unable to reach it.
When the scrimmage ended, Tina’s squad had just the one goal, but their opponents had none. Tina ha
d blocked half a dozen shots and felt good about how she’d played.
As the team grouped around the coaches, several players sat on the ground while others bent over, hands on their knees, catching their breath. Tina’s ribs felt a little achy from when she’d fallen on the ball, but she knew it was nothing to worry about.
“Very good, everyone!” Danielle said. “I think you should be proud of how you played today. We’re as ready as we can be for tomorrow’s game. I like the way you all gave yourselves plenty of space on offense—you didn’t bunch together the way you’ve sometimes done in the past. And you were unselfish, you thought and worked together. Tomorrow, of course, I’ll be bringing in substitutes whenever play is stopped for substitutions to be made. Nobody is going to play as long at a single stretch as you’ve been doing in these scrimmages. So don’t worry about tiring yourselves out, and be ready to play with everything you have.
“Please be here no less than forty-five minutes before the game is due to start. Get plenty of sleep tonight and be sure to eat well tonight and tomorrow. You’re going to need all the energy you can store up. Thanks, and see you tomorrow!”
As the girls gathered their equipment together and left, Meg came up to Tina. “Want to get something to eat at the mall?”
“No,” said Tina. “I think I just want to go home. I don’t think I’m up for the mall today.”
Meg frowned. “Are you worried about meeting a bunch of kids? Because we won’t hang out with them, if you don’t want to.”
“It’s not that,” said Tina. “I’m just nervous about tomorrow.”
Meg nodded. “Oh. Well, sure, I can understand that. I’ll ride home with you, then.”
There was almost no conversation as the two friends rode toward Tina’s house. Tina was thinking about what the coach had said.
Get plenty of sleep.
Tina would get to bed early, that was certain.
She just didn’t know whether she’d be able to sleep.
11
Bright sunshine woke Tina the next morning. Her first thought was: It's Saturday, there’s no school. Then she saw her new red pants and jersey hanging from her closet door and remembered: Today was game day.
For a moment, Tina looked at the new goalkeeper’s outfit. She had slept well, despite her worries the day before, and she felt fine. There was a light tap on her bedroom door.
“Sweetie?” her mother called softly. “Are you up yet?”
“Yes, Mom,” Tina got out of bed.
“Okay, then, come down for breakfast.”
“Great!” Tina realized she was starving. “Mom? Can I make myself bacon and eggs?”
“Sure,” said Mrs. Esparza.
A few minutes later, Tina sat at the table, where Sammy was already gobbling a stack of pancakes, and picked up her juice.
“Good morning,” she said.
“Morning, princess.” Her father pushed away his plate and poured himself more coffee. “Did you sleep well? You got plenty of rest?”
Tina nodded and drained the juice glass. “Uhhuh. I feel really good.”
“Hey, Teen, I made a sign to hold up at your game today,” Sammy said. “Want to see?”
Without waiting for a reply, Sammy raced to his room. He came back holding a big piece of poster paper. It said “WILDCATS ARE THE BEST” in giant blue letters. Underneath was a drawing of an animal with huge teeth.
“That’s neat, Sammy,” Tina said. “Uh, is that a wildcat?”
“Yeah!” said her brother. “I made his teeth really sharp!”
Mrs. Esparza sat down with her plate and coffee cup. “We’ll be cheering for you, sweetie. But your father will have to explain to me what’s happening.”
Mr. Esparza snorted. “She knows the game better than she pretends.” Then his face turned serious. “I’m proud of you, Tina. I know you’ll do your best and play well. The great players of Argentina will be proud of you too.”
“The most important thing,” Tina said, “is knowing that my family will be there cheering for me. That’s what matters.”
The doorbell rang, and Sammy jumped up. “I’ll get it!”
Mrs. Esparza smiled as she watched him race to the front door. “Your brother may say that soccer isn’t as good as baseball, but he’s as excited as the rest of us.”
“I know,” Tina replied, as Sammy came back, with Dave behind him.
“Hi,” Dave said, “I hope it isn’t too early to visit.”
“Not at all,” said Mr. Esparza. “Want something to eat?”
“No, I’m okay,” Dave said. “I just want to wish Tina good luck. I’ll be at the game.”
“Great!” Tina said, beaming.
“We can take you with us, if you like,” offered Mrs. Esparza. “Tina has to be there early, so she’s going with Meg.”
“Thanks, I’d like that,” Dave said. ’Well, I better go, see you later.”
Tina said, “I’ll walk you out.”
“That’s okay,” said Dave.
Tina stood up. “No, I want to.”
They went outside. Tina closed the front door and leaned against it. “How’s your new team working out?”
“Really good, so far,” Dave said, sitting on the front porch rail. ‘The coach is cool, and I like the guys. I’ve made new friends. But you were the first friend I made here.”
“I’m glad I’m your friend,” said Tina. “I guess things are going well for both of us.”
Dave asked, “Want to go to the mall for a victory celebration after the game today?”
Tina laughed. “Whoa! I don’t know for sure that we’ll have a victory to celebrate. Also, there’ll be a team thing after the game. But if you want to come to that, that would be cool.”
“Sure.” Dave stood up. “Well, good luck, then. Go, Wildcats!”
“See you later,” said Tina.
She finished her breakfast and went to her room to put on her goalkeeper gear. Once it was on, she studied herself in the mirror. She liked the way the red outfit looked on her. Then she remembered how the thought of looking different from her teammates, of standing out in any way, had been frightening to her. It hadn’t been long ago, but now it seemed like ancient history.
Tina went downstairs and found the rest of the family still at the table. “I think I’ll go over to Meg’s and maybe do some stretching or something. I’m feeling a little nervous.”
She hugged each member of her family. “See you later.”
“We’ll be there,” said her father.
“You always are,” said Tina, and she left for Meg’s house.
12
As Mrs. Janis drove Meg and Tina to the soccer field, Meg was unusually quiet. She was wearing her blue-and-gold Wildcat uniform, and other than telling Tina that the red goalkeeper outfit looked good, she had nothing much to say. Tina, who was beginning to feel more and more nervous, realized that Meg was feeling the same thing.
The girls arrived at the field, which was freshly painted with lines, at the same time as a few other Wildcats. They saw Zoe talking with teammates and waved to them. Cindy got out of a car a moment later and ran over, while her mother watched from the car window. Danielle and Pepper stood a short distance away, going over some things on Danielle’s clipboard.
As the Wildcats put on shin guards, checked shoes and laces, and chatted, a bus pulled up. The Rockets filed out, wearing green and white. Danielle and Pepper greeted the Rocket coaches, and they talked for a few minutes. The officials—two women and a man, in black jerseys—joined the coaches. The first spectators drifted into the bleachers, and Tina spotted her family with Dave.
After the officials’ conference broke up, Danielle called the team together.
“Hello, everyone! We’ve got a perfect day for soccer, so I hope we’re all rested and ready. Just a few reminders: We’ll play two thirty-five-minute halves. In the middle of each half, there will be a time-out for substitutions. Everyone will get to play
“I think you
’re prepared for this game, and I know you’ll give it your best effort. As long as you do that—play as a team, play hard, and follow the rules—then you’ll be winners, no matter what the final score is. Pepper and I are proud of you. You already know who the starters are, so … go get ’em and good luck!”
There was a huddle of green and white at the far end of the field as the Rocket coaches gave last-minute instructions. Then, suddenly, it was game time. There was a sizable crowd in the stands, with rooters for both teams. The referee called the team captains to the center of the field for the coin toss. Winning the toss meant the team could either choose which goal they’d defend for the first half or whether they’d have possession of the ball to begin the game. Cindy came out for the Wildcats, who won the toss and elected to take the ball. That meant that the Rockets would have the ball to begin the second half. Both teams took their positions, and the referee put the ball down in front of Cindy and raised her arm. When she dropped it and blew her whistle, the game had begun.
Cindy kicked the ball back to Zoe, the Wildcats’ best offensive midfielder, and the forwards moved into Rocket territory. At first, the Wildcats seemed to have an advantage, and the ball stayed mostly at the Rocket end of the field. Cindy managed to get off a hard shot, but the Rocket keeper grabbed it and sent the ball downfield with a long kick. Tina came alive, but the Rockets were unable to organize a real offensive threat. A Rocket forward did head the ball toward Tina at one point, but a Wildcat defensive player stopped it and started the ball back in the other direction. Tina never got to touch the ball in the first several minutes of play.
Cindy was playing very well, Tina thought, intercepting a few passes, preventing the Rockets from mounting any scoring threats, and keeping their defenders off balance with quick feet and deceptive moves.
But suddenly, a shout from the Rocket fans alerted Tina that some green-and-white jerseys were heading her way. The Wildcat defense struggled to get back into position. A Rocket midfielder had stolen the ball after a lazy pass, and the Wildcats had been caught off guard.
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