Secret

[33]

It's currently the 27th of July and we're in the locker room ready to play against Australia.

On the 21st we played against Sweden. Despite Vlatko wanting me to replace Alyssa, I wasn't playing, even though I should have been slotted at number one. AD played instead and we lost 3-0. On the plus side, I got to see Mags and we had a catch-up.

Then I didn't play on the 24th against New Zealand but we won 6-1 and that's all that mattered to me.

Once everyone was ready Vlatko came into the room to go through the line-up. He started from the strikers and made his way down the list.

"And lastly Hernández you're in goal". He said lifting the weight off my chest, He then smirked before throwing something at me. I caught it and was shocked. "We need your voice from the back Captain".

"Wait what about Megan"?

"Sam. We are all in agreement". Megan said stepping in front of me and grabbing the armband before sliding it up my arm. "You deserve this more than any of us. Hell, you worked harder than any of us to be here. You literally recovered from a crash that should have kept you out. But it didn't. We need your voice and your vision to lead us and give us some of that strength that you have". I smiled and pulled Megan into a hug. "Thank you".

"Nope. Thank you Sam".

Now here I am in the tunnel at the front of the line determined to captain my team. The Australian team lined up next to us a few seconds later and I turned to see Sam next to me. She smiled before pulling me in for a hug. "Fancy seeing you here Sammy K".

"Same to you Hernández. Captain looks good on you".

"Just for this match. I think Mags would rather die than let me have her role".

"You're probably right. Good luck".

"Good luck to you too".

We then headed out of the tunnel and the fans cheered even louder than I thought was possible.

After the national anthems and the team photos were over, I headed to the refs for the coin toss.

I was talking to the ref when Sam jogged over to us. We shook hands and she pulled me into another hug. "I'm proud of you Roomie".

"Thanks, Roomie". We pulled away from our hug and the Ref told us how the coin flip would work. Sam got to pick so she chose heads. It landed on heads and she decided to take kick-off. The ref then looked at me. "Which goal do you want to attack"?

"We'll attack to the left". I told her, pointing to the left goal.

"Alright, so we're going to switch sides". Sam and I nodded, then shook the three referees' hands before heading back to our teams.

"They have kick-off and we're attacking to the left". I told them in the team huddle.

"What's your wise words captain"? Alex asked.

I took a deep breath before glancing up at the crowd. "They came all this way here to support us so we better give them a good show. The standings show that all we need is a tie to advance. That's all I'm asking for". I tell them and they look at me confused. "There's a lot of pressure on us right now so just focus on a tie. Everything else doesn't matter. If we get a win then that's awesome. If we lose it doesn't matter because we still made it here. Just focus on the tie". I tell them before looking at Kelley. "Go on".

"Oosa on three"!

"1,2,3"!

"Oosa-Oosa-Oosa-ah"!

(Commentators in Italics)