My Cure - Mallory Pugh/USWNT (Sequel to Attached)

Chapter 39

Morgana's POV

We came out fast and hot. 

Alex had recently been injured in a game for San Diego Wave, so she was ruled out of national team camp. 

That made Vlatko throw me in one of the 3 positions he has me playing, which I was fine with. He threw me at the 9, the center forward. The striker. 

I had worked so hard to pick apart how England plays, and I explained it to the team at our meeting at the beginning of camp. 

I picked out the important players to watch, and talked to the forwards and midfielders about how to get past their defenders. I picked apart everything. 

This was Sophia's first game back with the national team after having a concussion at the Concacaf tournament. She was playing for club between then and now. She also played in September. 

The new girl, the midfielder, was pretty darn good. She's 18, so she's younger than me. She did what Trin did with skipping college and going straight to the NWSL.

Her and Ashley's quick connection i adorable. Her name is Jade. She's a midfielder. 

When the whistle blew signalling the start of the game, the adrenaline rush hit me. England. The other best team in the world. 

Sophia missed a chance in the first 5 minutes, and then England quickly scored within the first 10. 

Shit. I'm not gonna let that fly. 

As they were celebrating, I quickly gave Mal a quick plan, it wasn't very thought out but hopefully it would work. 

20 minutes, nothing. 30, nothing. Halftime came, and we were still down by 1. 

Vlatko talked to us, trying to fix our mistakes. When he was done, we still had a lot of time left. 

Immediately the girls turned to me, looking for answers. 

"What do we do, Morgana?" Asked Rose. 

"Listen to coach." I replied. 

"But what else?" Sam Coffey asked. "You always know." 

Sanchez, who was sitting in her locker, looked up at me with her big pleading eyes. To my left, Sophia was looking at the ground, and to my right, Mal had her hand on my shoulder. 

I had a whole team of girls that were counting on me, and I had no idea what to do. '

"You always know what to say. Just say it." Sanchez said. 

I took a deep breath, and came up with something. 

"What are you wearing right now, Sam?" I asked her. 

"A soccer jersey." She replied. 

"That's not just any jersey." I said. I pointed to the patch on Mal's shirt. "What's this?" 

"The crest." Replied Mal. 

"It's not just any crest, Mal. This....wearing this jersey, the red, white, and blue is an honor. The 24 of us in this room are here for a reason. It's because we are the best around. We were picked to play a game, yeah. But we're the best of the best. We were picked to represent our country, and that's an honor." I said, and took a deep breath. "Kelley, how many stars are on that shirt?" 

"4." She said. 

"So why don't we go out there and play to make it 5? Sure this is a friendly, but we don't play nice. We play for 2 reasons, and 2 reasons only. 1: To get better. Get just a little bit better every time you play. And 2: To win. We want to win. This England squad is the best team we're going to face in the next year." 

I looked around at everyone, and the majority seemed to agree with me. 

"Let's play our hearts out. Give it everything we have. And if we can't get pull ahead, that's okay. Just know you gave it your all, and that's what matters most. So let's put 100% into this, and get the win. Right, Sanchez?" 

"Aye aye, captain." She smiled. 

"You're not playing for yourself. You're playing for each other. I'm not playing for Morgana, I'm playing for Sanchez. I'm playing for Kelley. I'm playing for Mal. I'm playing for Becky. I'm playing for everyone in this room, because soccer was not meant to be played alone. It's a team sport for a reason." 

Everyone nodded. 

"Hands in, let's go." 

Everyone put their hands in. 

"As long as we play as a team, the score will fix itself." I smiled. "Let's go. Win on three. 1, 2, 3...." 

"Win!" Everyone cheered, and we ran out to the field. 

Again we came out fast and hot, but this time faster and hotter. 

It took me 5 minutes to score off an assist from Mal. But it was really a team goal.. 

Kelley had dribbled the ball up the sideline, passed it off to Rose. Rose passed it to Sophia, who crossed it to Mal. Instead of taking the shot, she was able to find me and put the perfect pass through. I finished the ball into the lower right corner of the net, putting it in an impossible spot. 

I ran over to Mal and gave her a huge hug, and the whole team had such a better vibe than the first half. We were ready to be explosive. 

We scored again, Sanchez this time, but they called it back because apparently Mal was offside, which I really don't think she was. 

Then Mal scored, but they called it back because apparently she was offside again. 

She really wasn't. 

The refs also had it out for us, calling things the wrong way and whatever. It was pretty bad. But we were still dominating. 

It's now the 80th minute, and I'm heading for the goal. 

One of England's subs had come in and for some reason she was playing on me, so I got by her a number of times. I didn't see her on the film before so she must be new. 

I was going to take a shot. I had a perfect angle at the goal, a perfect shot. 

I got slide tackled. I remember falling, pain, a brief second of darkness, and then everything sounding like I was under water. There was a throbbing pain in my hip and ankle, and I couldn't pull myself up for a few seconds. 

I heard a far away familiar voice. 

"Morgana. Morg. Morgana!" Mal was saying. I felt a hand on my back, and then I heard Sanchez, but I couldn't figure out what she was saying. 

I moved my arm a little bit to let them know I was alive, and then moved my head so I was looking at Mal. 

She put her face down so it was near mine, and she grabbed my hand.