One Sunday afternoon in September my soccer team had their weekly game against a team in Tarrytown. When we arrived our coach told us they were the best team in the league. We got really nervous, but I told my team that we were better than our opponents. We went to warm up. We knew it was going to be tough but without substitutes we thought it would be impossible. The whole team almost threw in the towel (quit). I shouldn’t have doubted myself and my team. We were just as good and better.
We went out there and played. We were known for being a second half team. They scored 2 goals, the score was now 2-0. We went up the field and I went in between two of their players where I was tripped and received a penalty. My whole team was counting on me to get on the board before halftime. I scored, we were all relieved. I told my team to keep trying and not give up. I had faith that we could win, but now we had to do it.
Ten minutes later half time arrived and we were all exhausted. We had sweat running down our face, our hearts were pumping, and our feet were hurting. It felt like we had already played the whole game and more. It was also extremely hot so the referee gave us extra time to rest. None of us had the energy to play the next half. We didn’t think that there was even a point to playing this half. The other team had substitutes so they were better rested than us. They were probably fine to play the half. And to be honest we were all jealous that they had subs.
Fifteen minutes later we went out there and tried our best to come back. We were up the field when we got another penalty and scored. Now that it was tied we had enough motivation to keep going, but we still had to score to win. We were doing our best, but we were getting tired. Whenever we got the ball we tried to go up field, but we couldn’t.
When we did finally get the ball, we shot up the field like a rocket. It was a 5 on 2. I knew we could score here and now. I was passed the ball and then I took the shot, it was as if everything was in slow motion. It went in. We were so happy and tired.
The game still went on. We tried to just keep possession and pass the ball. We went up the field every now and then, but then we heard the whistle blow, and we knew we did it! We had won!
We were so happy afterward I knew we could do it. I believed in our team. Everyone realized that we were better than we thought we were. Although, I still wished we were the best team in the league. Just then our coach told us that we were second and now that we beat them we were first! We all got ice cream to celebrate. After the ice cream we went home happy and really tired. Later I told all my friends about the soccer game and I felt good.