“Remember — possession is everything. Keep the ball. Love the ball. If you lose it, pressure quickly and get it back a.s.a.p.”
The StrikerZ cheered again and kicked off the second half.
The StrikerZ raised their game just like Coach M wanted, and revved up to super-attack mode. EZ, Lukas and Danny put on an amazing dribbling, passing and shooting demonstration. The Sydney D had a hard time containing them, and the StrikerZ started to get quality shots.
The Red’s stopper was keeping the score 0 – 0, but Chad began to criticize his teammates.
At the seventy minute mark, Maddie lobbed a lead pass to Lukas on the right. He controlled the ball and zoomed past a defender. As he blazed in on goal, another defender raced to cut him off.
EZ spotted space in the box and ran toward it. “Luke!” Lukas saw him and made a back-heeled pass. EZ smoked the ball with the instep of his right foot. BLAST! It screamed for the top corner, but the acrobatic keeper deflected it over the bar! “Oh, wow!” EZ said, as he shook his head in disbelief. “Nice save!” The keeper smiled.
“Can you believe it?” exclaimed Lukas. Danny was shaking his head and kicking the ground.
CORNER! Milan went to take it. EZ gestured for his teammates to invade the box.
“C’mon, guys!” he hollered.
Coach Monika yelled for Logan and Mario to get the message. They gunned toward the box, and Milan booted the corner. Logan and Mario timed the corner perfectly, and by the time the ball landed in the centre of the box, the Reds were overrun. The defenders didn’t know who to cover!
The ball pinballed off a couple of bodies and rolled slowly toward the penalty spot. When EZ spotted the sphere, it was just sitting there, begging to be kicked into the goal. But a strong defender was pulling on his shirt, and Lukas was blocked off by two more Reds players.
Just as Sydney was about to clear it — SMASH! — Danny rifled a shot into the roof of the goal! The netting bulged from the force of the smash. The keeper could only watch it rocket past him. GOOAAL! 1-0 StrikerZ!
A giant ROAR went up from the New Waterford fans and the players. Danny soared like an eagle, eyes closed, arms and hands extended wide. He slid on his knees toward the right corner flag.
Euphoria swept over EZ and the team. “Danny!” they screamed, as they chased him, caught him and mobbed him.
EZ felt like they had just won the World Cup! They all hugged Danny and ruffled his hair. EZ was slapping five and knocking fists with everyone. “Way to go, StrikerZ! Keep it up!”
As the New Waterford fans clapped and hollered, EZ saw his dad patting Frank on the back.
“Way to go, Danny!” yelled Frank, with his arms raised. After the goal celebration, the StrikerZ rushed back to their side as the parents and fans cheered loudly.
Coach Monika joyfully pumped her fist as she hollered to the team, “Stay focused and alert!” She subbed Sandra in for Mario.
The remainder of the game was like the first half: very tight and hard tackles. Tommy, Zach and the back line did a great job of racing to loose balls and booting them out of bounds.
However, as time was running out, the Reds finally broke through. A few great passes sent Chad in all alone on Bandit. Zach closed fast from behind, but as he tackled him, their feet got tangled, and they both tumbled to the ground. The referee blew his whistle and pointed to the penalty spot. Zach got a yellow card. PENALTY KICK!
No! And of course it had to be Chad. As Chad walked out of the box, EZ came in. They glared at each other for a split second.
Most everyone cleared the penalty area, but EZ stood beside Bandit. “Remember what Coach M told you. Leave extra space to your right, and then go that way.”
“But what if that’s what the shooter thinks?” asked Bandit. EZ thought for a quick second.
“What Coach said was for game play, not for penalties . . . go with your gut!” EZ left the box. Bandit crouched on his line. Chad stood in the penalty arc to take a long run at the ball. Bandit gave him extra space on his right. TWEET!
“C’mon, Bandit!” EZ hollered.
Chad ran in and smoked a rising shot to Bandit's left. Bandit had been leaning as though he was going to dive to his right — but didn’t. The ball scorched toward the top corner. Bandit took two lightning-quick steps to his left and dove with all his might. The ball deflected off his out-stretched fingers and CLANGED the post. It zoomed straight back toward the players, but Zach got to it first and booted the ball into orbit ― far out of bounds! Bandit crashed into the goal post and netting. A great roar went up from the team and fans.
The whole StrikerZ team swarmed in — freaking out — toward Bandit!
Chad cried out, “No!” and sank to his knees, holding and shaking his head.
As EZ raced past Chad, he yelled, “Check out the scoreboard, Chad!
TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! GAME OVER!
EZ couldn’t believe it! They had done it! They had defeated the Cape Breton Champions! StrikerZ 1-0! Bandit can really do it!
The players hugged each other and fell to the ground. Coach Monika happily joined them. The fans went wild! After a few minutes, the StrikerZ composed themselves and shook hands with Sydney. As EZ approached Chad, Chad lowered his arm — refusing to shake hands or high-five.
“Whatever,” EZ said, and slapped high-fives with the rest of the players. The parents and fans hugged and slapped five with the players and Coach Monika as they came off the field.
After the team packed their gear, Eileen shouted, “Let’s celebrate with KFC!”
“Yes!” exclaimed EZ, as he pumped his right fist. “That would be perfect!” Lukas and Danny agreed and knocked fists. Man, what a golden day!
CHAPTER 10
Pizza Party
The team bus stopped beside the field, and once again everyone was talking about the construction project.
Lukas and Zach leaned back in their seats and turned around. Lukas, with his hand covering his mouth, whispered to EZ and Danny, “Scouting trip. Pass it on.” EZ and Danny spread the news to their nearest friends. The StrikerZ giggled and whispered as everyone left the bus and said good-bye.
Danny was ecstatic that his dad had come to the game. It had given him extra confidence. Father and son walked down Hudson Street together. It was surreal to see the new truck parked in the driveway. Danny’s dad tapped it on the way by. “Yup, it’s real,” he said, and he and Danny laughed.
When they got home, Danny’s dad made a pot of coffee, and Danny lay down on the couch. He was exhausted and fell asleep. He awoke an hour later, and the house was quiet. The smell of coffee filled the air. He got up and searched for his dad.
Danny found him in the spare room, sitting at a table covered with carving tools and wood chips. His dad examined a big chunk of wood.
“What are you making, Dad?” asked Danny, as he rubbed his eyes.
“I think there’s an eagle in this piece, Danny. I'm going to bring him out.” Frank put down the stock of wood and gazed at him. Danny hugged his dad, who smelled of coffee.
Danny yawned, “I'm going to bed, Dad. I’m so tired.”
“You should be tired. You played a great game, Danny! I’m very proud of you. That was a gigantic goal that you scored for your team!”
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Danny . . . I’m sorry for not being there for you lately. I need to take better care of you, and myself. You’re going to have to help me get off the bottle. Maybe I’ll take one of those A.A. courses, or something. I’m sorry, Son. I’m going to try my best to be there for you.”
Danny hugged his dad again. “I’ll help you, Dad,” he whispered.
“Oh, yeah,” his dad said, “I just remembered. Colin phoned. There’s a pizza party at Mario's tomorrow. Antonio's pizza!”
“Yay!” exclaimed Danny. “Great. Good night, Dad.”
“Good night, Danny.”
***
The next day at 12:30 the pizza party was on! EZ was stoked
. Mario’s dad, Antonio, was famous in the hood for being a great pizza maker. He had owned his own pizzeria at one time, but it had gone out of business. Families in the hood still ordered pizzas from him, though, so he still made a little 'dough' on the side.
The guests crowded the Mancini’s small duplex. The ladies sat in the living room, and the men prepared the food in the kitchen. EZ’s dad brought some pop and juice, and other parents supplied chips and snacks. The StrikerZ hung out in the backyard, yakking and waiting for pizza.
The adults present were Fred and Eileen, Colin, Monika, Frank, Lukas’s mom Kirsten, Jacques and Stephanie, Sandra's grandmother Eva, Antonio and his girlfriend Francesca, Jose’s mom Luiza, and Zach’s mom Valerie.
EZ smelled the aroma of pizza and his stomach growled. “So . . . what choice of pizza are we going to get, Super-Mario?” he asked, gleefully rubbing his hands together.
“Yeah, what kinds?” echoed Lukas.
“Pepperoni, my fave,” replied Mario, “and Three Cheeses and Hawaiian.”
“Three Cheeses!” yelled Lukas.
“Hawaiian!” hollered out Maddie and Milan as they slapped five.
“Pepperoni!” cried out Jose.
“Fred and Eileen brought ice cream cake from DQ!” exclaimed Sandra.
“Ice cream cake! Oh, wow, that’s so totally cool!” said EZ. “What a victory party!”
“StrikerZ! StrikerZ! StrikerZ!” Lukas began to chant, and the whole team joined him.
“We just beat the Cape Breton Champs!” hollered Jose.
“Yay!” cried Maddie. “Maybe we can be Nova Scotia Champs!”
“I hope so, because I want to play in Europe,” said EZ.
“So do I!” hollered Lukas.
“Me too!” shouted Milan.
“Guys, if we want to play in Europe, we’re going to have to be the best players in Canada,” EZ continued. “I want to win the Christmas Cup and the Provincials. That would be a great start for our first year! Then, we’ll have to make videos of ourselves and send them to clubs in Europe — and hope that someone notices us. Kids in Europe and South America are already being scouted at our age.”
“Come and get it, guys and gals!” yelled EZ’s dad at the back door. A big cheer went up from all the kids. “I suppose you better form a line — ladies first.”
“Sweet!” teased Maddie, as she and Sandra ran to the front of the line. “Hey!” hollered the guys, as they raced with each other to be next.
For the next fifteen minutes, the kids wolfed down their food and raved about Antonio’s pizza. “Mario, your dad makes the best pizza in the world!” yelled Lukas. Everyone agreed.
Monika appeared in the back yard and gathered the gang together. “Guess what I just found out, team?”
“What?” asked the StrikerZ.
“It’s Fred’s birthday tomorrow,” she whispered. “Let’s get a big piece of cake and find a birthday candle and sing Happy Birthday to him.”
“Yeah!” shouted the kids. “Shhh,” hushed Monika, with her finger on her mouth.
Lukas whispered, “We’ve got some birthday candles at home. I’ll go find one!” He dashed home and returned five minutes later with a small blue birthday candle and matches. He gave them to Monika, who then encouraged Sandra to go in and get a big piece of cake. When they were all ready, Monika asked EZ to go in and get Fred.
EZ opened the screen door. “Fred, could you help us, please?” He darted back out. Fred, with the men following, came out to see what was up.
As Fred walked down the steps into the back yard, Maddie stood with the lit candle in the mini birthday cake, and the whole team huddled around her in a semi-circle. Everyone started to sing Happy Birthday to Fred, including the women who now appeared from the side of the house.
Fred looked surprised and had a giant smile on his face. They all sang Happy Birthday twice. Fred gazed at each of the singing kids and adults and started to chuckle. Everyone wished him happy birthday with hugs and kisses and handshakes.
EZ shook his big hand, and Fred looked him in the eye. “Thank you, EZ. I really appreciate it.”For StrikerZ photos and info:
https://www.thestrikerz.com/
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