The Family

7

Talia's POV

"You ready Freckles?" Christen asks as we walk into Red Bull arena Home locker room.

Todays the final of the 2020 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship and we are playing Canada at Red Bull Arena.

"To warm the bench?" I ask.

"I don't think so." Christen says and points at the team sheet.

I walk over and read it.

18-Ashlyn Harris
5-Kelley O'Hara
7-Abby Dahlkemper
4-Becky Sauerbrunn
14-Talia Martin
8-Julie Johnston
10-Carli Lloyd (C)
9-Lindsey Horan
17-Tobin Heath
13-Alex Morgan
12-Christen Press

"WHAT!!" I yell then turn around and face everyone, but keep my eyes on Christen. "Why not Tierna, Ali, or Crystal...hell move Julie into the back line then move Lindsey to the 6 and play Moe, Rose, or Sam."

"You need to breathe." Christen says then I follow her breathing. "Good...Now we are already qualified for the Olympics so yes this game means a lot because it's USA v Canada, but our spot is already confirmed for Tokyo so chill."

"Yeah." Kelley says. "Plus you live across the river so this is a home game for you."

"Okay." I mumble and head to my locker.

When I get to my locker I change into my warm up shirt, warm up jacket, and game shorts. I then grab my signature red boots, put the right one on then the left, and lace them up before I walk out with everyone else. Once on the pitch me and rest of the starters do the warm ups while the subs warm up the keepers.

After the warm ups are done we come back into the locker room and take off our warm up tops then we put on our white jerseys.

The team listen to Jill's speech as we relax in our lockers then we head out to the tunnel and I stand in my spot in-between Alex and Tobin. Thirty seconds later I grab the hand of the girl I'm escorting out then follow Alex out of the tunnel and onto the pitch. We then line up and listen to the Canadian national anthem until it's time for our anthem.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN." The stadium PA person says. "PLEASE WELCOME 15 TIME GRAMMY WINNING RECORDING ARTISTS ALICIA KEYS."

FUCK OFF.

"She has your jersey on." Tobin whispers to me.

I look over at Alicia Keys and sure enough she has my jersey on. As I'm looking at Mrs. Keys I catch her eye and she smirks then winks at me so I wink back.

"Why did she wink at you?" Tobin asks and I look at her and shyly smile. "Munchkin."

"Oh look she's starting." I say.

Alicia sings the anthem flawlessly, obviously, then looks at me.

"Talk after the game?" Alicia mouths and I nod.

We shake hands with Canada and the refs, take the pre-match photo, then I jog to my position.

We win the coin toss so Abby stand over the ball and waits for the whistle while everyone except me and Becky wait on the halfway line to run into the Canadian half.

"Hey you remember what we worked on in training?" Becky asks.

"Yeah." I say.

"Try it." Becky says as the whistle blows.

Abby rolls the ball back to me then she takes off with the rest of the team into the Canadian half. While the ball rolls to me I look at the team and see I have one option that could result in a goal. I look down at the ball and as it gets to me I pull my left foot back then slam my foot into it. The ball flies over everyone and drops directly in Christen's path.