You'll Be in My Heart

Chapter Eight: Spain vs the Netherlands

"Whose idea was the kit?" Adriana asked shocked staring at her cousin, she crossed her arms knowing that this wasn't going to go well; she couldn't believe that the Barcelona players were wearing white, surely that was bad luck or something. 

Xavi shrugged his shoulders and smiled at his cousin, he hadn't seen much of her since the tournament had kicked off and he had been super busy with training; he was looking forward to retiring even if no one knew his plans. 

"I have no idea," Xavi replied wrapping his arms around Adriana and kissing her cheek, he was a little concerned about this match and he hoped that the team would do well. 

Xavi had no idea what would happen if they did badly for this world cup; he doubted anyone would forget it since they were the defending champions even if they did have an aging squad. 

"Good luck," Adriana whispered hugging her cousin back, she wanted her team to do well and she knew how much it meant for them if they could win this again. 

Xavi patted Adriana on the back, he gently pulled away from her before peeking over at Iker who was getting into his zone; he smiled knowing that his friend could use some support. 

"I think Iker needs a hug," Xavi mused pushing Adriana towards his best friend, he knew that if he wanted them to get their acts together then he couldn't leave this to chance. 

Adriana would be much better off with Iker and Xavi wasn't going to let this go, it wasn't over until it was over and she still have eleven months to go before she made the biggest mistake of her life and married Marco. 

Adriana rolled her eyes and left her cousin behind, she walked over to Iker and brushed some hair from her face; she was beginning to think that Xavi was trying to set her up with Iker again like he had done last time. 

"Good luck," Adriana said making Iker jump, he blinked surprised and turned to face the brunette that had managed to sneak up on him; he smiled at her, knowing that she didn't have to come and speak to him. 

Adriana wrapped her arms around Iker and hugged him, she kissed his cheek knowing that he had so much pressure on his shoulders; no matter what happened, she was going to be proud of him. 

"Gracias," Iker murmured pulling back from Adriana and smiling at her, he had a terrible feeling about this match and he hoped that he was wrong; they hadn't been doing well recently and hoped the entire team wasn't about to fall apart. 

Adriana shook her head, she had to find her seat and she knew that Vicente didn't want her distracting his players; she didn't blame him since he had a lot on his plate right now with everything. 

"I'll see you after the match," Adriana said smiling at Iker, she slowly started to walk away and she wondered how everything was going to feel when the match was over. 

Iker watched Adriana walk away and took a deep breath, his heart was pounding in his chest and he knew that he couldn't get distracted right now; he had a match to focus on and he didn't want to lose focus right now. 

Xavi chuckled walking past his best friend, he could see the smile that Iker had for Adriana and he was sure that it wouldn't take much to make his friend realise just how much he liked her. 

Adriana was a wonderful woman and the next nine months were going to be important if Xavi was going to get her away from Marco; he had a horrible feeling about the doctor and he didn't want to see his cousin hurt. 

"Come on guys," Sergio called walking into place and clapping, they could do this as long as they stuck together; they all just hoped that the match wasn't going to be as hard as the last one.

***

Adriana ran her fingers through her hair as she watched the match, she couldn't believe that this was happening and she wondered where the team that she knew and loved had gone because this couldn't be them. 

Adriana grumbled to herself as she watched the match, she couldn't believe that this was happening and she didn't know if they could come back from any of this; she closed her blue eyes and prayed that they could turn all of it around before it was too late. 

Spain was currently losing to the Netherlands and it wasn't just by a little, Adriana didn't know what had gotten into the team that had won the Euros only two years earlier; this wasn't them and it hurt to watch. 

Adriana checked how long was left to play before she got to her feet, they were losing five-one and she doubted that was going to change in the last ten minutes. 

Adriana walked away from her seat and headed up into the stadium, there was no point hanging around and she wanted to get back to the hotel fast without having to deal with the angry fans that were bound to be waiting for the team. 

Peeking back at the match, Adriana made a mental note to send Xavi a text message to know that she had gone back to the hotel; she was sure that he would understand especially since there was a chance that she was pregnant right now with Iker's baby. 

Adriana paused as she heard her mobile beep, she pulled it out of her pocket and smiled at the sight of her best friend's name; she hadn't spoken to Kate Ramos in ages and she missed her since she had been so busy recently. 

Adriana snorted in amusement at Kate's text and smiled, she made her way out of the Arena Fonte Nova not wanting to hang around; she quickly sent back a message to her friend before she text Xavi letting him know that she had left. 

Adriana took a deep breath as she went, she had a feeling that the hotel was going to be miserable for the next few days after that awful loss to the Netherlands.

***

Iker slammed his locker shut as he finished getting ready after the match, he couldn't believe how badly he had let the team down and they had been humiliated; he didn't know what had happened but they had fallen apart. 

The entire room was silent as they prepared to head back to the hotel, no one wanted to say anything and they were all stunned at how badly the match had gone. 

Iker dropped down onto the bench and allowed his head to drop into his hands, he couldn't believe how badly he had let everyone down and he wished that there was something that he could do to fix this. 

Spain would play Chile in five days and they needed to win that match or they were out of the tournament, they needed to be the team that had won two Euros and the last world cup again not this one that hadn't even played like a team. 

"I'm sorry," Iker said making everyone turn to look at him, they all knew how their captain felt when the team did badly; it blamed himself and it wasn't his fault, he was only human just as they were.

Iker fisted at his hair, he wondered for a moment if the press were right about him being out of form; he could have done better for his country and his team-mats. 

"This isn't your fault Iker... we all had a bad game," Andres Iniesta murmured shaking his head, he knew people would be looking for a scape goat and they would blame Iker for what had happened but he wasn't the entire team and he couldn't be expected to do everything. 

Iker didn't say anything, he wished that there was some way to make up for the horrible mess that he had made and he needed to make this right to his team.