The alpha - Meadonk

Chapter 3

The whole week went by in the blink of an eye. We had training pretty much everyday in preparation for our champions league game on Sunday. Some days we had double session which was exhausting. We had one day off. Joe believes that having days off is more beneficial for us than anything else. I spent that day wandering around London with Viv, Lisa, Jill and Katie. I already knew three of them so it felt like old times.

I haven't spoken more than five words with Beth the whole week. I went grocery shopping by myself. When we got back from training, we drove in silence. Then we would alternate who makes dinner. We'd eat in separate rooms and go the sleep only to repeat it all over again the next day. It sucks, but I don't know how to talk to her anymore. Everytime I look at her, I see the pure fear she had in her eyes that day. I think we both just need time.

Like I said, the whole week went by so quickly that it was already game day. We arrived in the morning. We went on the field to examine it. To think all the empty seats were going to be filled with fans was thrilling. To be honest, I was stressed. I was scared.

I think all the girls could sense it in the locker room because they kept stealing glances at me every five seconds. It was like they were all waiting for me to explode. My heart was aching and I couldn't wait for it to be over.

We lined up in the tunnel, waiting for the signal to walk in and I knew it was going to be a rough game.

We walked on the field and the crowd erupted in cheers of excitement and anticipation. We all got in line before the other team came to shake our hands. I'm pretty sure some players spat in their hands before getting to me.

We took the picture before we got in position. Here we are. We can't make any mistakes. The team lost the first leg 3-4 a little while back. We have to win this with a gap of at least 2 goals. The whistle blew and everything faded away.

We had to give everything since the very first second. Chelsea was here to win. They put all their best players in and pressured us everytime we touched the ball. It was very clear that they're strategy was to keep the ball as much as possible and play it safe until they found an opening. It was frustrating because it was very hard to take the ball away from them. Their precision was perfect. They were perfect. But so were we.

We had a couple of very good opportunities, but we could never take the shot because everytime, their center backs would shut us down. Their recent signing of Pernille played with our minds a lot. We couldn't play our usual formation because one player always had to follow her like she was her shadow. Vivianne was also followed very closely by one of their defenders who blocked every pass we tried to send her way. Luckily, she isn't the only one who can score.

Once we got the ball back, we really slowed down the game to find our rhythm. I connected a lot with Noelle and Jordan to keep the ball in our possession until we found a way to get passed their defense. Viv wasn't really an option until she finally gets rid of her player. Everytime we tried to pass it to Beth or Lisa, they would be countered. Suddenly, I got an idea.

"Vermaak!" I shouted so all the girls could hear me. I could see they were unsure, but that they would trust me with it. This is a strategy we sometimes use on the national team. Naturally, the opponents focus on Viv or Lieke a lot since they're a big threat so we use them to make a diversion while we actually create the play in the midfield. The Blues spent a lot of energy on blocking our forwards so it was perfect. We make it seem like we're sending the ball to them so they can score. When they start to make their way up, the defenders are going to follow and some of the midfield too and all the attention is going to be on them. Just before they get caught up, they're going to send the ball back to us. In the confusion, we'll try to make a quick play to score or we'll send it back to another forward for them to make an attempt. It's risky. A lot of things could go wrong, but we were close to halftime and we only had one attempt on goal.