CHAPTER 14

‘I’LL GO UP front, then,’ said Tulsi.

‘Are you mad?’ said her gran. ‘It’s three against three with rush goalies. I’m not as young as I was. I can’t be running up and down all the time. No, we can’t have set positions. We have to play total football, like the famous Dutch team did in the nineteenseventies. Everyone plays everywhere. We move around and fool the opposition.’

‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, Gran. And we’d better decide who’s going in goal, because here they come.’

‘You go in,’ yelled Mrs Patel. ‘Go on! Get back!’

Tulsi sprinted back to guard the bench that was acting as their goal. She was just in time to put out a foot and stop TJ’s shot.

‘Great!’ shouted her gran, darting forward suddenly. ‘Now give it to me! Come on!’

TJ couldn’t help laughing. Mrs Patel was taking the whole thing very seriously. But when she took the ball out of the air easily with her left foot and then turned and hit an instant pass to Rob, TJ’s jaw dropped. He hadn’t expected Tulsi’s gran to be able to do something like that, even though he’d seen her make some great saves when she’d played in goal during the Parkview mini-World Cup. ‘Get to Rob,’ he called to Rafi. ‘I’ll mark Mrs Patel.’

TJ positioned himself to stop Mrs Patel passing. She looked up and saw Tulsi hanging back, guarding the goal. ‘Tulsi,’ she said. ‘You have to move, girl. Just like you would in a match. You make the run and I lay it on for you to shoot. Or you make a run so that Rafi has to leave Rob and mark you, and then I pass to Rob.’

For a moment TJ thought that Tulsi was going to lose her temper. But then she jogged forward. ‘Come on then, Gran. Give it here.’

Mrs Patel passed to Tulsi, who saw Rob sprint a few paces forward, then turn and check back, fooling Rafi for a second. Tulsi hit the ball towards him and Rob instantly played it into empty space. The space didn’t stay empty for long. Mrs Patel had continued her run after passing to Tulsi. She latched onto Rob’s pass and hit a low shot at the goal. Jamie dived and saved it.

‘You could be in our school team, Mrs Patel,’ he said with a grin, as he stood up. ‘That was a fantastic run!’

Tulsi was staring at her gran. ‘That was awesome, Gran,’ she said.

‘It was nothing,’ Mrs Patel replied. ‘You can do the same thing. I’ve seen you do it.’

‘When?’ demanded Tulsi.

‘When you were a little girl. When you used to come and stay with me. We used to play with the other children in the park and you were a natural footballer. You knew just where to move and what to do.’

‘Are you sure?’ asked Tulsi. ‘Really?’

‘Really,’ said her gran. ‘And you can still do it, I bet. All you need is a little more confidence. And forget about all this goal-hanging nonsense!’

Jamie dribbled the ball forward. He passed to TJ who was wondering whether Tulsi was going to get sulky again. She hated being called a goalhanger. But now, suddenly she began to play. She ran to TJ, trying to block his pass. TJ dragged the ball back and somehow squeezed it out to Rafi, but Mrs Patel tackled Rafi quickly and efficiently and then tapped the ball to Rob, who played a clever chip forward for Tulsi to chase.

TJ refused to let her get away from him. He gained half a metre on her. Enough to stop her shooting, but not enough to stop her taking him completely by surprise. She back-heeled the ball and Rob ran onto it and slammed a shot at Jamie’s goal. This time Jamie had no chance and the ball flashed between the two trees and ran away into the distance. ‘I told you,’ said Tulsi’s gran, exchanging high-fives with her. ‘You’re as good as anyone when you try. I bet when they open that Academy for girls you’ll be the first one through the door.’

‘Hey!’ called a voice from the park gates. ‘They’re here!’

Krissy Barton swooped down the path towards them on her bike, followed by Kelvin and Deng. ‘Great!’ she said, dumping her bike on the ground. ‘We’ll give you a game.’

‘It’s not fair sides,’ said Tulsi. ‘You’d better have my gran.’

‘And Rafi too,’ said TJ, seeing the doubtful look in Krissy’s eyes. ‘Go on. Five against four. You can’t say that’s not fair. But your goalie has to stay in goal.’

Rafi went in goal for the Hillsiders. ‘But you’d better try properly,’ Krissy warned him. ‘No letting shots in to help your mates.’

It was a very even match. Mrs Patel and Deng understood each other right from the start, playing clever passes that forced Rob, Tulsi, TJ and Jamie to tear around trying to intercept the ball. And all the time the Hillsiders were looking for a chance to catch Jamie out of his goal and hit a long-range shot.

Then Jamie tackled Kelvin and his pass found Rob. Rob turned away from Deng and both TJ and Tulsi were calling for it. Rob slid a pass to Tulsi and ran for the return. When it came, he flicked the ball on to TJ, who drilled it, first time, back to Tulsi. She could see the goal, and she could see Rafi bouncing up and down, waiting for her shot. But her head was up and she could see everything that was happening around her. TJ was making a darting run towards the goal. Rob had checked his own run and made himself some space. And there was Jamie thundering up from the back. She laid the ball sideways, right into Jamie’s path, and he slammed it into the goal.

‘Oh, very good, Tulsi!’ said her gran. ‘You see how easy it is?’

‘Hey!’ said Krissy. ‘Whose side are you on, Mrs Patel?’

‘Our side of course,’ said Mrs Patel. ‘Come on. It’s only one–nil.’

They played on until the sun began to go down behind the houses on the far side of the park. TJ thought that he had never enjoyed playing football so much. ‘Good luck in the tournament,’ Krissy said to Tulsi, as they walked out of the park together.

‘Thanks,’ replied Tulsi. ‘But I might not even be playing. I have to get back in the team first, and it’s not going to be easy.’