My Champion

Chapter 6

Sophia's POV

The next evening rolled around quickly, and I was excited for England to take on the USA. The game would be held at the Mestalla stadium, which was a 45 minute flight away from Barcelona.

"We have to win this one tonight." Phoebe said, as the plane took off.

"Definitely, it'll guarantee us a spot in the round of 16 if we win." I agreed.

"Last time we played the USA was in that Wayne Rooney friendly right? And we won didn't we?" Phoebe asked. The game had taken place before Mason had been called up to the England squad.

"Yep...we won 3-0. Trent was one of the goal scorers." I replied.

"Oh yeah! His first England goal." Phoebe remembered.

"Yep." I nodded.

Soon enough, we were landing in Valencia and taking the coach down to the stadium. The atmosphere was electric, with both England and USA fans cheering and singing.

We left the coach and headed into the family lounge inside the stadium. There was still an hour until kick-off, so Phoebe and I found somewhere to sit and got ourselves some drinks.

"The line-up's just come out Pheebs." I told my friend.

"Ooh, who's in?" She asked.

"It's the same as the first game - Jordan in goal, Kyle, Harry, John and Ben in the back line, Kalvin, Declan and Mason in the midfield and Bukayo, Harry and Raz up front." I responded.

"So, still no Hendo or Trent?" Phoebe asked.

"Nope." I shook my head.

I desperately wanted to see my brother play at the World Cup. However, it already looked Gareth had his starting XI settled.

"Maybe in the next one." Phoebe said.

Soon enough, the two of us were heading out to our seats to watch the game. The match started, and from the word go England were dominating possession. They were creating some good chances, but the final touch was missing.

That was until the 28th minute, when John Stones opened the scoring after heading in from a corner taken by Ben Chilwell. England were 1-0 up. Bukayo Saka scored his first goal of the tournament after being set up by Harry Kane to make it 2-0 before the break.

After half time, England continued to be on the front foot. At the hour mark, Gareth Southgate made some changes. Trent came on to replace Kyle, Jord came onto replace Declan, and Jack Grealish came on to replace Raheem.

Jack Grealish made an almost instant impact as he provided the ball for Harry Kane to score England's third goal. Trent almost scored one from long range in the dying minutes of the game, if not for a fantastic save by the USA goalkeeper.

The game ended 3-0 – England had officially qualified for the round of 16.

Phoebe and I headed back into the lounge to wait for our brothers to join us to celebrate. It wasn't long before the players were entering the lounge, and Mason and Jordan were joining us.

"Congrats guys." I smiled.

"Thanks." Jordan replied.

"Into the round of 16 we go – we can get top of the group if we win the next game too." I said.

"That's what we're aiming for. The next game's a huge one." Mason said.

"Oh shit, I almost forgot." Phoebe gasped.

"Scotland." I said.

"It's gonna be a good game." Jordan said.

"I swear to god Trent had better start that one – we missed out on the Trent verus Robbo battle at the Euros and I'm not missing out again." I joked.

"You're not wrong to be fair, that'll be a good battle." Mason said.

"Definitely." Jord agreed.

"Right, I'm gonna go get a drink." Mason said.

"I'll go with you, I need one as well." Phoebe told her brother. So the two of them headed to the bar to get drinks.

"Jord, can I ask something?" I asked my brother.

"Of course." Jordan nodded.

"Why doesn't Trent start?" I questioned. Jordan looked pensive for a moment.

"There's so much talent in our squad. Kyle's been representing England for just about the same amount of time as me, which you'll know is quite a while. So Gareth knows he's reliable." Jord explained.

"But he gave Mason a chance. And Declan, and Bukayo." I pointed out.

"But players in those positions retired." Jordan said.

"True I guess. I just wonder...why can't Trent get a chance?" I sighed.

"He will Soph, he will. He's got so many years ahead of him. You and I are both inclined to say he's the best right back in the world and should play every minute of every game he's involved in. But the gaffer knows what he's doing. Trent's time will come." Jordan told me.

"You're right." I nodded. Mason and Phoebe returned from the bar with their drinks.

"How long til the coach leaves for the airport?" Mason asked Jord.

"About 10 minutes mate." Jord replied.

"I probably ought to down this pretty quickly then." Mason said, chugging his glass of water.

Since our coach to the airport left at the same time as the boys, Phoebe drank her drink pretty quickly too before all four of us headed out to get on the coaches.

Not long later, we were leaving the stadium and making our way to the airport to take the short flight back to Barcelona.

We landed back in Barcelona at about 11pm, and were back at out hotel by 11:30.Phoebe and I headed straight up to our room to go to bed after a long day. We had a busy week to come, with the Scotland game only a few days away.

I settled down in bed, and fell asleep almost straight away.

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Firstly, I hope everyone who celebrates had an amazing Christmas, and also Happy New Year!! I'm really sorry it's been so long since I updated. My laptop broke and it's been getting repaired - I couldn't really do much at first considering it broke on Christmas Eve and no where was open Christmas Day, throw in all the Bank Holidays and I only got it back yesterday. I couldn't write anything because anything I've written is stored on the laptop.

Thank you for reading! I'll be back soon with the next chapter :)

El x