The first half was the longest forty-five minutes of my life. After we started the match off, I hardly got the ball. The rare moments when I did get the ball, the defenders did not let me shoot, so I had to quickly pass it to a nearby teammate. It was a miracle that we were still tied 0-0, thanks to wonderful saves from our goalkeeper, Diego. The only chance we had of scoring was when Francisco, The other striker, caught the other team’s goalkeeper off guard and shot the ball just wide of the net. Right after that chance of goal the referee blew his whistle to signify the end of the first half. As we walked into the locker room I couldn’t help but feel ashamed of myself for not playing as well as I normally play. I wasn’t giving the performance that my coach expected, and I knew that. I thought of asking the coach if he could sub me out during half time so we could have a fresh pair of legs on the field and have better options of scoring, but knowing coach, he would never allow that. After spending all that time thinking, I felt a tap on my shoulder. “Come on, it’s show time”, said Coach. I got off of the bench in the locker room and walked back onto the field. I thought of what my mother said, took a deep breath, and walked onto the field and the second half begun.
The second half had started much more in our favor. We had more chances of scoring, but the other team had not changed their attacking style and kept on with their domination of the match. That was, until one of their players had fouled me inside of their box and the referee marked a penalty in our favor. The coach called me and told me, “Carlos, I want you to take the penalty. I know you know how to score these kinds of goals, and I need you to score one now. Lots of people are counting on you to score, and I need you to.”
I felt the pressure on me as I approached the penalty spot with the ball in me hands. I put it on the white spot in the middle of the grass and take a few steps back. As the referee blows the whistle, I run up to the ball and pause for a moment right before kicking the ball in the hoped of confusing the goalkeeper. I kick the ball with all my strength to the bottom left corner of the goal. The other team’s goalkeeper dives to the opposite direction. Before the ball entered the net it hit the post and entered the net with slowness after hitting the post. Right as the ball crossed the line all my teammates ran towards me to celebrate the goal that was just scored. With all that happiness came a price, and the price was costly.
The other team came on to us with everything they had. We tried everything we could to try and keep them from scoring, but they were too much. In the 79th minute they were running down the left side of the field and then he put in the cross to the center. An opposing player headed the ball into the right-top corner of the net and tied the whole game up.
The game was all squared, until something happened in the 89th minute. I was fouled about 35 meters from the box and we were awarded a free kick. There was a small argument about who should take it, but in the end I took.