T.J. and the Winning Goal

by Theo Walcott

  Contents

  Cover

  About the Book

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Who is Parkview’s Star Striker?

  A Note from Theo

  About the Author

  Also by Theo Walcott

  Copyright

  About the Book

  The Parkview team is off to compete in the Regional Championship Tournament, but their striker is in trouble.

  The team is improving all the time, but Tulsi, once the star, is getting left behind.

  When she’s dropped from both the school team and her Sunday League team, she even talks about giving up football.

  Can TJ and his friends help Tulsi change her ways and win her place back in the team?

  For fun, games, competitions and more, visit: www.theowalcottbooks.co.uk

  FOR SEBASTIAN AND AURORA

  SQUAD SHEET

  TJ: A skilful forward with an outstanding turn of speed. He has an incredibly powerful shot, and he’s good in the air too.

  Tulsi: A strong, powerful striker. When she has the ball at her feet all she thinks about is scoring!

  Rodrigo: He’s from Portugal and he doesn’t speak much English, but he’s a wizard with a football in midfield or defence.

  Rafi: A midfielder who never stops running and tackling. His mazy runs are legendary and he always brings a ball to school!

  Leila: An excellent tackler and a natural holding midfielder.

  Tommy: When he’s not skateboarding he’s a fearsome tackler in Parkview’s defence.

  Jamie: Big, strong, fit – and the team’s keeper. He’ll stop anything heading towards him!

  Danny: He’s not popular, but he’s a terrific defender and Parkview can’t do without him.

  Ariyan: He can play anywhere and do a good job for the team. A really useful squad member.

  Rob: He can read the game and set up clever moves from the midfield. But can he control his nerves when he’s out on the pitch?

  Ebony: She has pace and a killer instinct for scoring goals. She’s fighting hard for a first-team place as a striker.

  CHAPTER 1

  ‘YOU CAME!’ SAID Tulsi. ‘That’s great! Now you’ll really see something.’

  ‘Like what?’ asked TJ, smiling.

  ‘Like me scoring goals,’ replied Tulsi. ‘That’s what I do. I’m off to get changed. I’ll see you in a bit.’

  Tulsi Patel was the striker in Parkview School’s football team. But long before Parkview School even had a team, Tulsi had been playing for Canby Road Girls in the Sunday League. She’d been trying to get her friends from Parkview to come and watch her play on a Sunday morning for ages.

  Now, at last, they were here.

  TJ was a speedy forward with a lethal shot who had only arrived at Parkview School at the beginning of the year. His friend Jamie, the spiky-haired, cheerful giant standing beside him, was the team’s goalkeeper. Scouts from Wanderers, the nearby Premier League club, had spotted TJ and Jamie playing for the school team, and now they both attended a Player Development Centre in the local Sports Centre every week. Their friends, Rafi and Rob, had come with them today. They all watched as Tulsi walked off to the dressing rooms in a low brick clubhouse at the side of the playing field.

  ‘What do you think?’ asked Jamie. ‘Will she play the same way she always does?’

  ‘Are you kidding?’ laughed Rafi, bouncing the football that he carried everywhere. ‘Tulsi’s always been the same, and I’ve been playing football with her since she was four years old.’

  ‘He’s right,’ agreed Rob. ‘I remember her when we were in the Reception class. She used to stand by the goal and scream at everyone to give her the ball.’

  ‘And I suppose you wrote that down,’ Jamie said, laughing.

  ‘No,’ replied Rob, who loved filling notebooks with statistics. ‘But I did a picture. I brought it with me. I knew you’d want to see.’

  He pulled a notebook from his pocket. On the cover it said: TULSI MATCH STATS.

  ‘Hey,’ said Rafi. ‘Have you got one of those for all of us?’

  Rob nodded sheepishly. ‘Information is important,’ he told them. ‘After all, one day someone might want to write the history of Parkview football team. Look, here’s Tulsi.’

  He opened the notebook to reveal a crumpled, yellowing drawing of a face with wild, staring eyes and a mass of brown hair. Rob’s friends laughed. ‘That’s exactly what she used to be like,’ said Jamie.

  ‘Why is her face blue?’ asked TJ.

  ‘I was only four,’ replied Rob with a grin.

  ‘What are you all looking at?’ demanded Tulsi, running up to them in her training top and tracksuit bottoms.

  ‘Nothing,’ said Rob, snapping the notebook shut.

  ‘Hey, wait a minute. That’s my name on there. Let me see!’

  She grabbed the book from Rob and opened it. ‘That’s you,’ said Jamie, as Tulsi stared at the screaming, blue-faced child. ‘You haven’t changed much, have you?’

  ‘Ha ha,’ said Tulsi, shoving Jamie away. ‘You should have been looking at my stats. Look at all these goals I’ve scored. You’d better get ready to add some more, Rob. We’re on that pitch over there. Kick off in ten minutes. We’re playing Norton Girls. If we beat them we’ll go top of the league.’

  Tulsi ran off. The Canby Road playing field was on the edge of town. It was huge, and there seemed to be hundreds of people playing football, from the tiniest little kids on small pitches near the dressing rooms to full-scale grown-up matches on the pitches far away, near where the trees and fields of the countryside began.

  ‘Over there,’ said TJ, pointing, and they headed for the pitch where the two teams of girls were warming up. Both teams had brought plenty of supporters and they were grouped behind the tape on one side of the pitch. ‘There’s Tulsi’s mum,’ said Jamie. ‘Hello, Mrs Patel.’

  ‘Nice to see you boys,’ said Mrs Patel. ‘Would you like to share my umbrella?’

  TJ realized that a drizzly rain had started to fall. ‘It’s OK, Mrs Patel,’ said Rob. ‘I’ve brought one.’ He unfurled an enormous multi-coloured golf umbrella. ‘Well?’ he said, when he saw his friends staring at him. ‘I don’t want my notebook to get wet, do I?’

  ‘Very sensible,’ laughed Mrs Patel. ‘Let’s hope it’s an exciting match. I think they’re about to start. COME ON, CANBY ROAD!’ she yelled, in an enormous voice that made them all jump. Tulsi looked over at them and grinned, as Norton kicked off.

  ‘Not bad,’ commented Rob after a few minutes. Canby Road were working hard and passing the ball well, but neither team had managed a shot on goal yet. ‘The girl with the curly red hair is good,’ Rob added appreciatively. ‘She must be Kira Jones, the captain. Tulsi told me about her. She hasn’t lost the ball once so far. Look at that!’

  The red-haired girl was running Canby Road’s midfield, and now she turned cleverly away from the player who was marking her. Suddenly she had some space, and she had her head up, looking for a pass. Tulsi yelled for the ball. ‘Don’t do it,’ muttered Rob to himself. ‘There are too many defender
s.’

  TJ glanced at Rob, then back at the pitch. The midfielder had reached the same conclusion as Rob, and played the ball out to the wing. The Canby Road attack finally fizzled out. Then TJ and Rob saw Tulsi complaining to Kira Jones, who turned away.

  ‘I don’t know why she won’t pass to Tulsi,’ said Mrs Patel, when a few more minutes had passed and the end of the first half was approaching. ‘They used to pass to her all the time.’

  ‘It’s because she’s always marked very tightly,’ Rob said. ‘Tulsi’s been playing in this league for two years now. All the teams know what she does and they’ve worked out how to stop her. Look!’

  A Canby Road player had finally played the ball to Tulsi, who was standing close to the edge of the Norton penalty area, just as she always did. She controlled the ball and turned to run past the defender who was marking her. ‘Go on, Tulsi!’ yelled TJ. The others were shouting too, and Tulsi’s mum was shouting louder than any of them. Tulsi beat the defender and pulled back her foot to shoot. But a second defender was there, blocking the shot and bringing the ball away to start another Norton attack.

  The Canby Road supporters groaned. When the whistle blew for half time, neither team had scored, and Tulsi walked off the pitch shaking her head in disgust.

  CHAPTER 2

  ‘WHAT ARE YOU doing?’ TJ asked Rob, who was scribbling busily in his notebook.

  ‘I’m just mapping out Tulsi’s runs,’ replied Rob. ‘It’s not as hard as you’d think, because most of the time she just waits on the edge of the area. Look.’

  Rob’s diagram was like a small, spiky ball. There were one or two little spikes where she’d run to either corner of the area, or back a little way towards the centre circle. TJ laughed. ‘It’s like the one you did the first time we played a match,’ he said.

  ‘You’re right,’ said Rob. ‘And in every other match.’

  He flipped through the pages and TJ saw that all the diagrams were the same. ‘But Tulsi’s a really good player,’ said TJ. ‘And she scores goals.’

  ‘Not as many as last season,’ Rob told him, shaking his head. ‘Last season she got fifteen. She was top scorer in this league. But she’s only scored four so far this season. The other teams have worked out how to defend against Tulsi. They get someone to mark her, and they make sure someone’s there to cover if she beats them.’

  ‘Maybe you should tell Tulsi all that,’ said Mrs Patel, leaning over to look in Rob’s book.

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Rob replied. ‘I tried once, but it didn’t do any good.’

  ‘I’ll tell her myself,’ Mrs Patel said. ‘After all, the Wanderers manager listens to you, Rob, so I think Tulsi should pay attention.’

  Rob was embarrassed. It was true that the Wanderers manager had taken his advice once, but he hated people talking about it. ‘No, please, Mrs Patel. It won’t do any good. Honestly.’

  Mrs Patel shook her head. Then she smiled. ‘Maybe she’ll score this half,’ she said. ‘That’s what we need.’

  Not long after the kick off, Tulsi’s chance arrived. Two of the Norton players collided with each other in the centre circle and the ball ran free to Kira Jones. She sprinted forward. In front of her, Tulsi had her back to goal with a defender right behind her as usual. The midfielder hit a sharp pass to Tulsi’s feet and carried on running into the penalty area, screaming for a return pass.

  Tulsi ignored her. She back-heeled the ball, deceiving her marker, and turned to take a left-foot shot. But once again a second defender was waiting. She blocked Tulsi’s shot and played a swift pass into midfield. The Norton players streamed forward and scored a perfect breakaway goal.

  ‘Bad luck, Tulsi,’ called Mrs Patel. ‘Better luck next time! Come on, Canby!’

  Rob just shook his head. ‘That was a brilliant run that Kira Jones made,’ he said. ‘She was taking advantage of how they put that extra defender on Tulsi. Tulsi should have passed. If she had then it would be one–nil to Canby.’

  ‘I think Kira Jones agrees with you,’ said Jamie. ‘Look at her face!’

  The Canby Road captain was walking back into her own half. She didn’t even glance at Tulsi. And before Canby Road could kick off again, TJ saw their coach waving from the touchline.

  ‘Oh no,’ said Rob. ‘She’s taking Tulsi off.’

  Tulsi glanced towards the touchline, and quickly looked away again. Then the coach called her name, and she couldn’t pretend any longer. She walked very slowly off the pitch, her head down. A small girl with a blonde pony tail ran on to replace her. They saw Tulsi speak angrily to the coach and then walk off towards the changing rooms. ‘I’d better go and make sure she’s all right,’ said Mrs Patel anxiously. ‘Thank you for coming, boys.’

  ‘This is horrible,’ said Jamie. ‘I wish we weren’t here.’

  ‘I think it’s going to get worse,’ Rob said. ‘This new girl is pretty good.’

  The blonde girl was a very different player from Tulsi. From the moment she arrived on the pitch she began to make energetic darting runs – into the corners, back towards the centre circle, and from side to side along the line of defenders. Kira Jones won the ball in midfield and instantly hit a pass towards the corner flag. The new girl was after it in a flash. She caught up with the ball and laid it back to Kira, then sprinted towards the goal. Kira played the ball into her path, but instead of shooting she pulled it back unselfishly across the goal and one of her team-mates smashed it into the net.

  ‘That was a proper team goal,’ said Rob, making a note of all the passes. ‘It’s almost as if Canby have an extra player now.’

  ‘Here they come again,’ said Rafi, who had stopped messing around with his ball and was watching the game intently. ‘This is pretty good.’

  Canby Road tore the Norton team to pieces. They scored three quick goals and ran out 4–1 winners. ‘How is Tulsi going to get back in the team?’ said TJ. ‘They were a lot better without her.’

  ‘It’s not that simple,’ said Rob. ‘Tulsi’s right about one thing. She’s very good at scoring goals. That other girl didn’t score once. Tulsi could easily be as good as her. Better. She just has to listen to what Mr Wood says. It’s not as if he hasn’t told her. It’s not as if we haven’t told her.’

  They walked back towards the changing rooms and saw Mrs Patel emerging with Tulsi beside her. They walked to the car and Tulsi didn’t look back.

  ‘Hey, Tulsi,’ TJ called after her. ‘Tough luck. I bet the next time you’ll get a hat-trick.’

  The car doors slammed. TJ looked helplessly at his friends. They’d all seen the tears on Tulsi’s face. They waved half-heartedly as the Patels’ car drew away.

  CHAPTER 3

  ON MONDAY MORNING Tulsi was still in a terrible mood. ‘She shouldn’t have taken me off,’ she said. ‘If they passed to me more then I’d score more goals. It’s obvious.’

  ‘Right,’ said TJ. ‘It was a shame. Still, at least your team won. You’re top of the league.’

  ‘I suppose. But now Carla Stamp has got my place. Everyone says she played really well.’

  ‘That’s true,’ agreed Rob, and Tulsi’s face fell. ‘But she didn’t score any goals,’ Rob continued. ‘And that’s what you’re good at.’

  ‘Hey, thanks, Rob,’ said Tulsi, brightening up a little.

  ‘You lot,’ Jamie interrupted. ‘The bell’s gone. We don’t want to annoy Mr Wood. He’ll be picking the team soon for the Regional Tournament.’

  Parkview School had recently won their District Tournament, and that meant they would soon be travelling to play against the best teams from all over their part of England. None of them wanted to miss out on that. So they ran to class.

  ‘Settle down, everyone,’ Mr Wood said as his pupils filed in. ‘We have two special visitors today. You’ll probably remember them.’

  Mr Wood always dressed smartly in the classroom, but today he was wearing a dark-grey suit that looked new and a white shirt that seemed to shine with a light of its own. Then TJ
saw the visitors and his heart sank. The inspectors were back, Mr Turvey and Mr Grayson. He couldn’t see why Mr Wood should be pleased. The last time the inspectors had been here they had made all the teachers miserable, especially Mr Burrows, the head. But then TJ realized that the inspectors were smiling – even Mr Grayson, who TJ had never seen smile before.

  ‘We’ve come to give you good news,’ Mr Turvey said. ‘It’s been absolutely remarkable the way this school has improved in such a short time, and we’ve written a report that says so. I don’t know how you’ve managed to get all this painting and decorating done—’

  ‘It was our mums and dads,’ Jamie interrupted, putting his hand up.

  ‘And grandmas and grandpas,’ added Rafi.

  ‘Everyone helped,’ said TJ.

  ‘Indeed,’ said Mr Grayson. ‘Everything has changed. We’ve seen the tremendous project work on food and football – and the school’s outstanding achievements in sport. I believe you have four football teams now, Mr Wood?’

  Mr Wood smiled. ‘That was Mr Burrows’ idea,’ he told them. ‘The school has gone a little crazy about football.’

  ‘Well,’ said Mr Turvey, ‘you are all about to win an award for being the region’s most improved school. You deserve it. And jolly good luck in the regional football tournament too.’

  ‘Hmmm,’ said Mr Wood when the inspectors had left. ‘Don’t let all that praise go to your heads. We’re going to need more than luck to win the tournament. You remember how hard the last one was. We have to be really fit. So this afternoon in Games we’re going to do the beep test again. We’ll see if your fitness has improved since the last time.’

  TJ glanced round at Tulsi. She had a big smile on her face. The last time they’d done a beep test, on a school visit to the Wanderers training ground, Tulsi had been the fittest person in the whole of Year Six.

  ‘Do you think you’re going to win again?’ asked TJ at lunch time.

  ‘Sure,’ said Tulsi. ‘I’m just as fit as I was then.’

  ‘Well, I’m going to try and beat you,’ laughed TJ. ‘All the extra training I’ve been doing must have helped a bit.’