T.J. and the Winning Goal (3 page)

‘Absolutely fantastic,’ said Mr Wood. ‘I haven’t checked the scores properly yet, but I’m pretty sure that every single one of you has improved.’

‘I haven’t,’ muttered Tulsi.

‘But you have,’ Mr Wood told her. ‘It’s just that everyone else has too. Now let’s get the footballs out and practise some skills.’

C
HAPTER
4

‘CHEER UP,’ JAMIE
said to Tulsi, as they walked over to the playing field. ‘It’s not as bad as it seems. You heard what Mr Wood said. We’re
all
much fitter. And we’ll need to be for the tournament.’

‘But I
liked
being the fittest person in the school,’ replied Tulsi. ‘I thought I still was.’

‘Come on,’ said Jamie. ‘We can be partners. You’re definitely better at ball control than me. You can help me.’

‘It’s a good thing we’ve got Jamie,’ TJ said to Rob, as they picked up a ball and went to work in one of the ten-metre squares
marked
out on the field. ‘If anyone can make Tulsi feel better it’s him.’

Rob nodded in agreement. ‘We’d better start,’ he said. ‘What did Mr Wood tell us to do?’

‘Left foot then right foot,’ TJ replied. ‘Pass and control. Then pass, control and move.’

They had only been working for a couple of minutes when Rob stopped. He put his foot on the ball and pointed at the playground. ‘Who’s that?’ he asked.

TJ looked where Rob was pointing. The head teacher, Mr Burrows, was walking towards them with a young man and a taller bald one who had an enormous camera slung around his neck. Mr Wood stopped the session and called everyone together.

‘As you know,’ Mr Burrows said, ‘the inspectors have produced a truly excellent
report
on our school. When I told our local paper about it they were very keen to do a feature on us. And about all of you. This is Mr, er . . .’

‘Call me Dan,’ said the young man, whipping a notebook from his pocket.

‘Just like yours,’ TJ whispered to Rob.

‘You can keep on with what you were doing,’ Dan said. ‘Barry here’ll come round and take some snaps.’

‘Off you go, everyone,’ Mr Burrows urged them. ‘Our training is second to none,’ TJ heard him saying to the reporter. ‘Our Mr Wood is a magnificent coach . . .’

TJ and Rob went back to work. They carried on as if it was just a normal Games lesson, though it wasn’t easy to concentrate, as the photographer circled around them and the flash from the camera dazzled them. ‘That’ll do,’ Mr Wood said finally. ‘You’ve worked hard this afternoon. Let’s
have
some fun to finish off. Five-a-side. I’ll pick the teams.’

TJ found himself in a team with Rafi, Tommy, Cameron and Leila. ‘I’ll go in goal,’ Leila volunteered. ‘I’d like to try. I’ve never done it before.’

‘We’ll swap if you let one in,’ TJ said, as they put on green training bibs. The other team were in red, and they had Jamie in goal, Tulsi up front and Rob in midfield.

‘This is going to be tough,’ Rafi said.

‘Not if you mark Tulsi properly,’ TJ replied. ‘Rob told me what to do, so it’ll serve him right if they lose. Cameron, you mark her. Tommy, you just have to be ready if she goes past Cameron. You don’t need to worry about whoever you were marking, because when Tulsi’s in on goal she only thinks about one thing – scoring.’

The others nodded. ‘It might just work,’ Cameron said.

The Greens kicked off with TJ playing on his own up front. He gave the ball to Rafi who set off on a mazy dribble and then back-heeled it to Leila. Leila played the ball quickly to TJ’s feet and he slipped past Rob with a lightning burst of speed.
Rob might be able to keep going longer
, thought TJ,
but I bet I’ll always beat him over twenty metres
.

He considered shooting, but then he looked up and saw Jamie. He was perfectly positioned in front of his goal, so TJ pulled the ball back for Rafi who was racing towards the penalty area at top speed. It would have been perfect if Rafi hadn’t tripped over the ball. He tumbled head over heels two or three times and the ball trickled harmlessly forward to a very relieved Jamie, who grinned. ‘Close!’ he said, laughing, as Rafi jumped to his feet. ‘You’re supposed to kick it, not fall over it!’

Before Rafi could think of a clever reply, Jamie had rolled the ball to Ariyan and Rafi had to chase back hard. But he couldn’t catch Ariyan in time and Ariyan gave the ball to Rob who instantly snapped a pass to Tulsi. She turned and came face to face with Cameron. Cameron hesitated as Tulsi took the ball towards him, and Tulsi took her chance, jumping neatly over his outstretched foot.

‘Yes!’ cried Rob, sprinting into space down the right wing. But Tulsi ignored him. She could see the goal and she was going to shoot. She was a striker, after all! She took one final touch – and Tommy whipped the ball away from her. She was already committed to the shot, but her foot connected with empty air and she landed flat on her back with a thump that knocked all the breath out of her – just as the camera flashed.

When the game finished, the photographer was waiting at the edge of the pitch. ‘I’ll need some names,’ he said. ‘We have to make sure everyone knows who you are. Your teachers will check with your mums and dads if it’s OK for you to have your pictures in the paper.’

‘Please,’ said Tulsi. ‘You won’t use that picture you took of me, will you? When I fell over.’

‘Of course not, love,’ replied the photographer. ‘I thought you were going to score a brilliant goal. There’s bound to be a better one than that. Now, tell me how to spell your name . . .’

C
HAPTER
5

LATER THAT WEEK
Mr Wood announced the squad for a friendly match against their old rivals, Hillside School. ‘At least I’m in the team,’ Tulsi said gloomily. ‘I was beginning to think I wouldn’t be.’

‘Don’t worry so much,’ Jamie told her. ‘You know you’re our star striker.’

‘Well, I don’t feel like one,’ Tulsi replied.

The friendly match was being played on Friday afternoon at Parkview. Mr Coggins, the caretaker, was hard at work all Friday morning preparing the pitch and marking out the white lines. At lunch time TJ was
surprised
to see Mr Wood walk out onto the playground. TJ and his friends were kicking Rafi’s ball around as usual.

‘Tulsi,’ Mr Wood said. ‘Have you got a few minutes?’

‘OK,’ she said. ‘What’s it about?’

But Mr Wood didn’t reply, and when Tulsi returned she didn’t want to talk.

‘What did he want?’ asked Jamie.

‘Nothing.’

‘Come on, Tulsi,’ Rafi said. ‘He wouldn’t have called you inside for nothing, would he?’

‘Let’s have a penalty competition,’ Tulsi said, grabbing the ball from Rafi. ‘I feel like kicking something really hard. Who’s going in goal?’

‘Not me,’ said Rafi. ‘Not if you’re in that kind of mood.’

‘I’m not scared,’ laughed Jamie. ‘It’ll be good practice for this afternoon.’

He stood in front of the goalposts painted on the wall and saved every one of Tulsi’s first four shots. Each shot was harder than the one before, and with every save Tulsi’s face darkened. She ran up and hit her fifth penalty and the ball flew up and over the wall into the garden beyond. They all stared after it. There was a thud as the ball hit a wall, and then a loud clattering and the outraged miaow of a cat.

Tulsi put her hands to her head. They waited for angry shouts from the garden, but none came. ‘It’ll be OK,’ Jamie said. ‘They must be out. They’ll just chuck it back later.’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Tulsi said. ‘You heard the noise. I bet something’s broken and now I’m going to be in trouble. You know I am.’

Tulsi walked away. ‘What’s up with her?’ said Rafi. ‘It’s my ball she’s lost. I’m the one who should be complaining.’

‘Tulsi’s fed up, that’s all,’ said TJ. ‘I don’t
know
what Mr Wood said to her, but it definitely put her in a bad mood.’

At two o’clock TJ looked out of the classroom window and saw the Hillside minibus arriving. Since Mr Wood had started the school team at the beginning of the year they had played against Hillside more than any other team, and because Hillside was the nearest school to Parkview they often met the kids from Hillside for kickarounds in the park. One of their players, Deng, went to the same Player Development Centre as TJ and Jamie. It was funny, thought TJ, but the Hillside players almost felt like friends now. At least until the match began.

As they got changed TJ couldn’t help thinking that it was a shame Danny wasn’t in the squad. He hadn’t been coming to training lately, so it wasn’t surprising that Mr Wood hadn’t picked him. Tommy and
Rodrigo
were both excellent defenders, especially when they had won the ball and were attacking, but if you needed someone to mark an opposition player out of the game then Danny was the best. If they were going to do well in the Regional Tournament they were going to need all their best players.

‘Come on, TJ,’ called Jamie from the door. TJ looked up and realized that everyone had gone. ‘What were you doing?’ asked Jamie, as they walked outside.

‘Thinking,’ said TJ. ‘About Danny. I know you don’t like him much, but I still think he’s our best defender. I don’t know why he stopped coming to training.’

‘There’s no point worrying about that now,’ Jamie told him, breaking into a run. ‘Come on, Mr Wood’s waiting.’

As they warmed up TJ checked out the Hillside team and was relieved to see that
none
of their players were new. He remembered how Deng had arrived at Hillside in the middle of the previous term, turning Hillside from a good side into a formidable one with his lightning speed and wonderful touch. But then Parkview had discovered their own midfield genius in Rob, and that had made all the difference in the Cup Final. He was sure they could beat Hillside today, but they’d need to be at their best.

‘OK,’ said Mr Wood. ‘We’ll start with Tommy and Rodrigo in defence. Then Rafi and Rob in midfield and TJ and Tulsi up front. Jamie in goal. You all know your jobs so show me what you can do. Oh, and by the way, Rob, I’ve found someone to keep track of the match stats for you. Here he comes now.’

They all looked round and there was Mr Coggins. ‘Mr Wood’s given me a list,’ he told
them
. ‘I’ll record goal attempts, passes, assists, corners, goal kicks . . .’