Go for the Goal! Read Free Page A

After that, Evan just passed to his buddy Victor, the other United forward—even when Josh was open.
    Later, the United backline fell apart. Both Aidan and Demetrius moved to cover the same player. That left a Phantom forward wide open. In an instant, his team got him the ball and he blasted it into the United net.
    Goal! The United was behind 1–0.
    “C’mon, guys,” Evan barked. “Don’t bunch up. Play your position.”
    Aidan and Demetrius glared at each other.
    “That was your guy!” Demetrius shouted.
    “I thought you had him!” Aidan shouted back.
    “Come on, guys, forget it,” Josh said, clapping his hands. “Let’s get it back.”
    The United couldn’t get it back. They spent the rest of the game chasing the ball and trying to get their offense in gear. The Phantoms added another goal late in the second half to finish the scoring … and the United.
    The United lost, 2–0.
    Coach Hodges didn’t say much after the game. She just shook her head. “You guys play like you’ve never seen each other before. This is a
team
sport. You better start getting your act together or get used to losing!”
    Josh knew Coach Hodges was right, but that didn’t make it easy to hear.
    The players quickly gathered their stuff and went to check the large board showing the scores of the first games. Josh got there first.
    “Who do we play in the second round?” Aidan asked.

    “The Vipers,” Josh answered. “We’re in the losers bracket.”
    “Maybe they’ll be easier to beat.”
    “I guess we’ll find out.”
    But the second game was almost an exact replay of the first. The United players weren’t clicking. There was no teamwork. No passing. No communication.
    The United lost 2–0. Again.
    After the game, Coach Hodges tried to keep the team’s spirits up. “Good hustle. But we have to tighten up the defense and play more like a team.”
    Josh looked at the team’s tired, discouraged faces. The coach wasn’t lifting their spirits. Or Josh’s either.
    “Let’s all meet in the lobby of the hotel,” Coach Hodges suggested, “and go to dinner together as a team.”
    “Sorry,” someone said. “We can’t make it.”
    Other parents at the edge of the team circle chimed in. Everybody, it seemed, had other plans.
    “We have some friends in the area. We’re going to eat with them.”
    “What time is the game tomorrow?”
    Coach Hodges threw up her hands. “All right, then. Everybody is on his own for dinner tonight,” she said. “Just make sure you’re in bed by ten o’clock. We have an early game tomorrow.”
    The United players and parents scattered. Josh and Aidan walked together toward Josh’s father.
    “Who are we playing tomorrow?” Aidan asked.
    “I think we play the Thunder,” Josh said.
    “Are they any good?”
    “Probably not,” Josh said. “They’re in the super-losers bracket—just like us.”

Chapter 5
    Y ou look tired,” Josh said to Aidan. The two boys were sitting in the hotel’s breakfast room, eating cereal.
    “I didn’t sleep great last night,” Aidan admitted.
    “Why not?”
    “It was so noisy. I don’t know how you slept through it,” Aidan said. “The bell on the elevator door kept going off. And somebody was getting ice from the ice machine every ten minutes. He must have been building an igloo in his room or something.”
    The boys laughed. Mr. Bradshaw sat down with his plate piled high. “Nothing I like better than a big country breakfast,” he declared. “You boys ready to play?”
    “Yeah.”
    “I guess so.”
    Mr. Bradshaw looked around the breakfast room. “Where’s the rest of the team?” he asked. “I’ve hardly seen anyone.”
    Josh shrugged. “I don’t know. We’re pretty early. I guess we’ll see them at the field.”
    The soccer pitch was quiet as the teams warmed up in the early morning chill. The dew was still on the grass, sparkling in the sunlight. The players’ parents sat scattered in the stands, sipping coffee from