Training Hub

Chapter 13

Viv rolled around in her bed. She barely had any sleep the previous night but she had to get up since it was the only time she was gonna have to Facetime Lisa in the next couple of days. The week went by really quickly. Some days they played football with the locals on the streets and donated footballs and football boots to the local kids in poor areas who often played with their bare feet. But most days they trained to try to gain the most from having been together for such a short time. She carefully tried not to wake up her roommate as she changed out of her pyjamas for sweats and a t-shirt. She brushed her teeth before walking down to the lounge room where she made herself a coffee and searched up the timezones for the triple time. After she triple-checked she called Lisa who picked up on the second ring. 

"Hey, Lisa. How was your day?"

Caitlin waited until it was seven in the morning to knock on Lia's door. She had been up since 6:30 packing her bag but she didn't want to accidentally wake up either Magda or Lia. Magda opened the door to both of them packing their suitcases for their flight to Japan. Lia's smile widened as her eyes spied Caitlin at the door. "Happy game day!"

Caitlin stood with her arms out waiting for a hug when Lia stopped her walk to her. "No, you're the rivals today."

"What? Come on just one hug," Caitlin pleaded, doing her best puppy eyes expression. Lia's heart swelled at the sight of Caitlin's azure eyes and loopy grin. It gave her no choice but to give in. 

"Fine, but I'm not telling you anything."

Lia wrapped her arms around Caitlin embracing her warmth. Caitlin whispered in Lia's ears a few seconds later. "Please just one hint."

Lia responded with a short kiss on her lips and a prompt "No," afterwards before going back to pack her luggage. 

The players split into their separate teams on the bus ride to the Maracanã stadium. Erin was buzzing to be back playing in front of a crowd. They walked off the bus through a dimly lit corridor towards the back door. In the changing rooms, they had their jerseys with their names and numbers neatly organised onto the seats. She changed into her training shirt which was purple decorated with darker purple lightning bolts all over. As they walked out through the tunnel to warm up, she heard the faint cheers of the crowd. She was beaming by time they had arrived on the pitch and saw the number of people there. The stadium was way off full but there was way more people than she expected. Women's football was finally reaching somewhere. 

Her smile grew even wider. It wasn't that long ago when women were fighting for equal pay and before that no more than a few thousands of people watching their games. Once her team had finished their warmups, they returned to the change room where she slipped on her 22 jersey with 'Cutbert' printed in white letters at the back of her purple jersey. It was designed like the galaxy and if she was being honest looked way better than she thought it would. 

Music blasted through the team's speaker managed by none other than Leah. Mapi stared at the grey linen ground imagining the game in her head. It helped her with the nerves. She drew the ball soaring in the air as she pelted into the goal from the half way line. She watched the room in silence observing her fellow teammates. The goalie was talking to Lucy as she tied her boots on, the redhead and the tall American were chatting away about one of their Man City teammates and the two Aussies and the Scot were laughing at some joke the striker made. Mapi pulled on her captain armband around her right arm. They were playing 30-minute halves for player welfare. 

Rachel stared at the white shirt with light grey patches along the side. It wasn't bad but she envied the purple team's jerseys. They were standing in a single line in the tunnel anticipating the time they had to walk out onto the pitch. The white team had Jose and Emma as their coaches with a 4-5-1 formation and Alyssa in goal. Millie, O'Hara, Sonnett and herself in the defence. Wälti, Kristie, Jordan, Engen and Oberdorf in the midfield and Harder up top. 

From what she assumed, purple was playing a 4-3-3. Endler in goals, Mapi, Leah, Eriksson and Lucy in the defence. Cutherbert, Sam Mewis and Roord in the midfield and Kerr, Foord and Miedema as the attackers. 

Mapi took in a deep breath as the whistle blew. It was a white kick-off and immediately Oberdorf passed the ball to Mewis, the latter one who delivered a long ball towards Harder. It was served on a platter and floated over all the defenders' heads. Harder sprinted behind one of the defenders and jumped up for a header.  Luckily for Mapi, she missed the goal. She cursed herself for not being able to guess that Harder was going to tuck in behind. She took in a deep breath as Endler passed the ball to Leah who quickly passed it to Eriksson on the left. The Swedish defender switched the ball to Lucy on the right side after being pressed by Nobbs. Bronze drived the ball up the right wing, cutting in and passing it to Roord who drove the ball towards Cuthbert. Seeing Foord free, Erin sent a through ball to her but O'Hara was onto her. Foord dribbled past and shot the ball up going for goal causing Naeher to make a save. 

By halftime, white was winning by one nil scored from a magnificent goal by Kristie Mewis who shot it from outside the 18-yard line. Walking into their change rooms, she knew what she had to say. After Pep and Sarina were done talking, the purple team made a huddle. 

"Good job team. Listen, we need to focus on pressing the players more quickly. Shut down their space. Deny, delay and block. Get in front of them. Their strongest is their midfield. We attack on their wings. We can do this, we got this. We are playing excellent. It is just the small margins that we need to push through and break.  Let's go team."

The team laid their palms into the middle and screamed "Purple!" as they flung their arms into the air.