Tuesday was game day. The Panthers were at home taking on the Birch Valley Buffaloes. The sun was shining, and a cool breeze was blowing down from the mountains and gently across the soccer field. It was a perfect day for soccer. Even Justin’s presence on the team couldn’t spoil that for Kamal.

He did a few standing stretches on the field as the Buffaloes prepared for the kickoff. Kamal looked to the stands. A group of girls he recognized from Ridgeview were taking their seats in the bleachers. Kamal didn’t remember seeing them at a game before. Then he thought about Justin and shook his head. They must be here to see him.

“Let’s go, everyone!” Kamal shouted, trying to get his mind off Justin and back on the game where it belonged.

“Play hard!” yelled Coach Hayes from the sidelines. “Start strong!”

Justin was standing next to Coach Hayes. Even with his quick improvement over the past couple of days, there was no way Coach Hayes was going to put him in the lineup. He had no clue how to position himself on the field, how to play team defense, or how to fit into the Panthers’ offense. That meant game days were going to give Kamal a much-needed break from Justin.

The Buffaloes were a good team but not great. Kamal remembered beating them the previous year, 3–2. They were a good matchup for the Panthers. A team they needed to take seriously, but a team they could beat. The Panthers could hopefully defeat the Buffaloes and then begin their march to a conference title.

After controlling the ball for the first minute or so, the Buffaloes turned it over at midfield. Rodrigo pounced on it and cleared the ball back to the Panthers’ defense. Kamal began jogging slowly along the near sideline toward the Buffaloes goal. His teammates behind him passed the ball back and forth, moving bit by bit up the field.

Rodrigo raised his hand in the middle of the field. He had gotten free from his defender, and a Panthers teammate saw him and hit him with a clean pass.

As several defenders converged on Rodrigo, Kamal saw his chance. He sprinted toward the left corner of the box, a spot that had been left open by a Buffaloes defender who had moved up to play Rodrigo. “Open!” he shouted.

Rodrigo spotted him and quickly passed him the ball. “Go!” shouted Kamal the instant Rodrigo had kicked the ball.

Rodrigo cleared himself from the defense and bolted into the box. Kamal kicked it right back to him, leading his friend toward the goal. The timing was perfect. Rodrigo got to the ball and immediately fired a shot. It looked like a sure goal, but the Buffaloes goalie made a stellar play on the ball, diving to his left and getting just enough of his fingertips on it to send it wide and across the end line.

So close! Kamal put his hands to his head. Rodrigo looked back at him and applauded the assist attempt. Kamal gave him a thumbs-up. “Great run!” he shouted.

“Nice feed!” yelled Rodrigo.

Rodrigo’s near miss turned out to be the best shot the Panthers got in the first half. After lots of back and forth with no further scoring opportunities for either team, the game was scoreless at halftime.

Things didn’t change much in the second half. The Panthers’ goalie had to turn away a couple nice shot attempts by the Buffaloes, but Kamal, Rodrigo, and his teammates just couldn’t break the Buffaloes’ defense. They were a wall, preventing the Panthers from getting anywhere near their goal.

With just a few minutes to go, Kamal received a pass and began to make a run along the near sideline. A Buffaloes player rushed over and slid, tackling the ball out of bounds. As Kamal went to retrieve it for a throw-in, he heard the referee’s whistle. “Sub!” shouted the ref.

Kamal looked to the bench. He had to blink a few times to make sure he was really seeing what he thought he was seeing. Standing next to Coach Hayes and ready to come into the game was Justin. The referee waved him in and Justin ran onto the field to take the place of a teammate. The girls in the stands stood up and cheered. Kamal couldn’t believe it.

Justin clearly wasn’t ready to play in a game. He looked around nervously—he didn’t even know where to go. “Take the middle!” Rodrigo shouted, pointing to a spot near the middle circle.

Kamal waited for Justin to get into position before throwing the ball to a teammate in the backfield. His teammate secured the ball then kicked it wide to a teammate on the right. Kamal jogged toward the Buffaloes’ goal.

The Panthers passed the ball back and forth, moving slowly up the field. With only moments left in the game, Kamal knew this might be their final opportunity to end the scoreless deadlock.

Finally, the ball came back to him. Kamal collected it and glanced up. His defender was giving him some space. Kamal surveyed the players and saw that Rodrigo and Justin were both moving slowly in the middle of the field toward the box.

Kamal made up his mind. It was now or never. He took one last look at his defender and made his move. Kamal blasted past him to the left, just barely avoiding the defender’s tackle. Then he was free. He dribbled forward, moving fast and doing his best to keep the ball close to his feet.

Another defender raced over. Kamal put on the brakes, shifted his body right, then went left and turned up the sideline. The defender couldn’t stay with him. Kamal burst toward the corner of the box. That’s when he spotted Rodrigo on the move. He was open for a crossing pass.

Kamal acted on instinct. He pulled his leg back and fired the ball across the box toward the advancing Rodrigo. Kamal watched and waited. He hoped the pass would go where he intended.

Rodrigo moved toward the ball. But just as he was about to strike it, another Panthers player appeared out of nowhere. It was Justin. He was moving fast into the box. Justin got to the ball and rocketed a kick with his right foot. The goalie never even moved. The kick was a scorcher, fast and strong and aimed at the corner of the goal. The ball sailed past the goalie and into the net.

Justin flung his arms in the air. Rodrigo embraced him. The rest of the Panthers ran over to celebrate with them. Coach Hayes was high-fiving players on the sidelines. The girls who had come to watch Justin were jumping up and down in the bleachers.

Kamal jogged into the mob of players. Some of his teammates high-fived him and congratulated him for his assist. Kamal kept his eye on Justin, who was soaking up the glory of his goal. Kamal wondered if Justin would come over and acknowledge the pass that made his score possible. Is Justin capable of sharing the spotlight? Kamal thought. Can he give someone else credit for his success? Kamal waited, but Justin didn’t approach him. After hugs and high fives with the rest of the team, Justin simply fell back to his spot on the field for the kickoff. Kamal sighed and did the same.

A minute later, the game was over. The Panthers had finally secured their first win of the season. After an on-field celebration and a postgame victory talk from Coach Hayes, the players retreated to the locker room. The noise level was high as the team enjoyed the win. Kamal kept to himself as he changed.

Rodrigo walked over. “Hey, Kamal.”

“Hey.” Kamal looked up from his spot on a bench.

“Have you said anything to Justin yet?” he asked. They both looked across the locker room. Justin was talking with several players. They were laughing, enjoying their victory.

“No,” said Kamal.

“You haven’t congratulated him for his goal?” asked Rodrigo.

Kamal scoffed. “He was in the right place at the right time. Anyone could have scored that goal.” Kamal began unlacing his cleats. “Besides, he never even thanked me for the pass. When he thanks me for setting him up for any easy shot, then I’ll congratulate him.”

“Are you serious?”

“Why not?” asked Kamal.

“Maybe he doesn’t know that’s what players do in soccer,” said Rodrigo. “Maybe he doesn’t know you’re supposed to thank the guy who assisted you on your goal.”

“He’s an athlete,” said Kamal. “He knows. He just wants to take all the credit.”

“Man, I don’t know about you sometimes,” said Rodrigo. “You need to grow up. Quit worrying about being the Big Dog and all that macho stuff with Justin. Why don’t you just be the bigger man and go over there and congratulate him?”

“Him first,” said Kamal.

“You guys are something else.” Rodrigo shook his head and walked away.

Kamal put his head down and finished unlacing his cleats.