Road To Rio- USWNT

Oh Colombians

   I picked up the crossword from the seat in front of me.
"Alex, you wanna help me with this?" I ask.
"Sure." She says as I hear the Taylor Swift through her headphones as she takes them off.
The cross word read: an actor in the hunger games that was known for bread
"Oh that's Peeta right?" Alex says.
"Yeah, what's his real name isn't it Josh or Jake?" I ask.
"Josh Hutcherson." HAO says from the seat behind us. "I know my actors."
I laugh. "Thanks Heather."

                The bus ride to the stadium was only a few minutes away, so we were there before I could relax. We had watched the Colombians play at a meeting and reviewed their play. Colombia was going to be physical. For some reason, they didn't like our team. We received hate over time, but that just made us train harder to crush them. When we arrived, there were some fans welcoming us as the bus strolled slowly to the back of the stadium. We got out and walked into the locker rooms like we usually do. It was nice to have a later game on a weekday once in a while. During tournaments and big games on the weekend it's hectic but today we could maybe meet some fans after the game. The last game we had was Germany and we beat them 2-1, making us the winners of the She Believes cup. That was a fun tournament. It's challenging but I'm glad we came on top.
The sound of Beyonce started to come from the speakers in the locker room.
"Go Crystal." Ash and Kelley said and laughed.
It was kind of Crystals warm up to dance before the game. It got us all in a good mood too.
We walked onto the pitch. The field was nice, it wasn't turf. The team is trying not to play on turf for the whole year. I laced up my mercurials and started to juggle. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a poster made for me. It said: Tobin, will you sign my cleats?
I went to the girl holding them.
"Hey we're twins." I said and smiled. I loved having young girls watch us because I was in their place once.
"Ya! Tobin you inspire me and you're living my dream." She said.
She had my jersey and my boots.
"Will you sign my gear quick?" She asked with a huge smile.
"Of course."
"Can we have a picture too?"
"Maybe after the game!" I said jogging back to my teammates.
We warmed up and practiced before it was time to go into the locker rooms. I took off my training shirt and put on the new kit. They jersey was white with blue sleeves. The pants were white also, with my lucky number 17 on them. They jersey read Heath and had my number in blue. Looking on the reflection from the locker in front of me, it didn't look half bad. But, I missed the other one still.
"Alright. Lineup. 4-4-2. Back line: Solo. Kling. JJ. Becky. Kelley." Jill read.
I subtlety looked up at Krieger who was fighting for the right back position with Kelley. She stared at Jill unfazed. I knew she was upset because she usually starts.
Mids. Tobin. Carli. Kling. Moe. I was happy with that.
Forwards. Alex. Dunn. I pated Alex on the back. Press had her head down, but she would probably go in in the second half.

We walked out from the lockers and heard the crowd roar. The American Outlaws were next to the tunnel. They sang. Drummed. Roared.
"I believe that we will win. I believe that we will win." Was chanted around us as we lined up to walk on the pitch.
The camera crew signaled us to walk forward. The walk out song played as we revealed our selves to the crowd. Red white and blue all around.
"Oh say can you see..." We sang the sped up anthem, in front of the crowd. I heard there would be over 19,000 people watching just from the stadium. They stood up singing the song with us.
The anthem was kind of relaxing to me. All my nerves would go away when we all sang in unison. I felt safe, calm and ready to kick some ass.

"Alright! Let's start off strong, and have strong passes. Create opportunities and be smart. You girls got this." Jill said on the sidelines.
"On three." Carli one of our captains said. "One..two..three."
"USA." The team shouted.
The game was on.

I looked up at the sun. I prayed before every game before the kick off. When I closed my eyes and put my finger up for those 5 seconds, I felt safe. This is where I was meant to be. On the pitch with the United States Women's National Soccer Team.
We had a chance right at kick off. Alex to Kling. Then Kling to JJ. JJ kicked it up field all the way to me. I found Dunn and she had a beautiful shot but the Colombian goalie saved it. Then in the 10th minute there was a nasty foul. A Colombian player came up to Alex while she was dribbling up field. She slid her legs so hard onto Alex's body. Alex was rolling on the ground.
"Really? What was that for?" I got in the players face.
Moe held me back. I was about to do something to this player. I watched the replay above me. She swiped Alex so hard. It should be a red card.
"Ref." I shouted. The ref pulled up a yellow to the Colombian player.
"No way. That's a red." We all demanded.
I helped Alex up, and she was grabbing her knee.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"I don't know." Alex said clenching her teeth. I want to stay in.
"If you hurt..."
"Im fine." Alex said as she limped back to her position.

By halftime we were up by 2-0. Dunn had an awesome volley from my chip into the box. Then, we had a PK from another nasty tackle in the box. Carli had slotted it in no problem. But, something still didn't feel right.