30 Day Angst Challenge

Seventeen: Getting Sidelined

Pre-warning - this one is very long

He'd done it. I was so proud of him. Trent would be representing England at the Euros. The tournament had been postponed for a year due to the coronavirus pandemic. Last year, Trent would've breezed his way into the team. Maybe into the starting XI. But this year was a different story. Trent hadn't had the best season, being left out of the England squad for the March international fixtures. However, he'd come back stronger and worked his hardest and had earned his place in the team.

Today would be a warmup game against Austria, getting the team prepared for the summer ahead. The game would be played at the Riverside stadium, Middlesbrough's home stadium, a place a significance for Trent as it was where he'd made his Premier League debut. I was sat in the player's lounge with Rebecca, Jordan Henderson's wife.

"The line up's just come out." She told me.

I had a quick look at the line up; Trent was in. I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face. Rebecca gave me a nudge.

"It's so good to see him back in the team after being left out last time." Rebecca said.

"Yeah. I'm so proud of him." I smiled.

"Me too." Rebecca agreed.

The time leading up to the game passed quickly, and soon enough Rebecca and I were finding our seats outside. Not a lot happened during the fast half. We went in for half time drawing 0-0.

The second half was when everything happened. Bukayo Saka scored in the 56th minute to make it 1-0 to England. And then things turned pretty drab again. As a team, we weren't playing very well. Jack Grealish was having a great game, and, even though I'm pretty biased in saying this, so was Trent. I just hoped he was proving himself to Gareth, and he'd be forced to start Trent at the Euros.

Going into the final minutes of the game, we were clinging on. Austria were fighting, and to be honest, we were being outplayed. And that was when it happened. At first, it looked like a normal clearance. But then disaster struck. The ball was already on its way up the field when Trent went down, a pained expression on his face as he clutched his thigh.

This was instantly bad. Trent isn't one for going down full stop. When he does, it's either because he genuinely couldn't stop himself because he was being challenged, or because he was hurt. There was no one else around Trent when he went to the ground; he was hurt.

"No." I murmured, seriously hoping and praying for the best.

Rebecca was craning her neck to get a better view of the situation. If Trent had got up straight away I wouldn't have panicked. He got up slowly, after some consolation from Conor Coady, and for a brief moment I breathed a sigh of relief. That was, until I noticed Trent giving a signal to the manager, his fingers circling around each other. That only meant one thing – he wanted to be subbed.

"No." I repeated, burying my head in my hands as my eyes filled with tears.

"Maybe he wants to come off as a precaution. To make sure things don't get worse." Rebecca suggested.

Trent was trying to run off his injury, however whatever Trent was doing didn't seem to be working – he looked defeated. And yet, he made his way back onto the pitch. For the second time, I breathed a sigh of relief. The referee blew his whistle and made his way in Trent's direction, showing him a yellow card.

"Wait what!" I cried.

"That's ridiculous." Rebecca scoffed.

I agreed – who gives a man a yellow card for walking onto the pitch?