>>5476876A referee blew the whistle the second after they went two-nil up against us. Their substitutions running out onto the field as they carried and threw their striker up into the air in elation that they finally made it to nationals. Confetti and yelling aloud across the entire pitch. To you though, it was all white noise.
Your brain finally caught up to what was happening. To the missed shot of your fellow striker and the literal minute it took them to slam home a goal into our own net. Logically, it was the right move. Football is not a game you can play by yourself. There are 11 players on the field, and he was right open beside you, the keeper didn’t even acknowledge his existence. That’s just how focused he was on YOU.
Yet, he didn’t score. A golden opportunity. And he didn’t score.
You had lined up with your teammates, the others around you tearing up with their heads in their hands as they processed what had just happened not so long ago. You though? You just stood in silence, staring at the grass beneath you as you tried to follow back on that feeling of the ball between your feet. You had a golden opportunity yourself.
So why didn’t you take it? You couldn’t answer it, the answer locked behind shock and turmoil.
As soon as you got back to the changing rooms, you slung a towel over your head as sweat dripped off you in buckets. All this work for not one single goal, nor an assist? You were pathetic. Could you even count yourself as a striker? Not with that performance.
Similarly, as you were inside your own head, the striker who missed sat next to you, head in their hands as they sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity.
