It was nine o’clock on a saturday morning. The weather was cold, wet and muddy on MHMFC oval. The bad weather did not matter to Eden, or to his fellow team mates. All that mattered, was to come out victorious, and escape defeat to the leaders of the league table. Luiz, the centre back and tremendous captain of the team, was pale, his bushy hair was flat, and his nerves were shaking all over the place. This win, would be a great success of the season, it would guarantee fifteen boys a spot in the finals. They deserved to be there, the team had been strong through sickness and injury, through thick and thin, through ups and downs. Eden saw the uncertainty in his teams face, their eyes were focussed on the floor rather than the pitch. The coach was running late as usual, and it seemed that this time Luiz was not getting up to make the before game motivational speech, instead he sat there scratching his boofy head. On the other side of the field, moving in sequence behind a young man with a whistle and a ball, were the opponents. Each of them were individually bigger than Luiz and his team. They were fit, obedient and consistent, the perfect team. Eden took his glance away from the other boys, to see a black SUV pull up in the car park, late as usual. The MHMFC under fifteens coach came rushing from the car, his adidas tracksuit and nike cap made it obvious to the boys that their coach had finally arrived. The team murmured amongst each other, none of them were ready. Eden broke the silence. “It’s about time he showed up, it’s only the most important match of our season” Giggles went around the team. “Our jersey is green, our coach’s jersey is adidas and nike” Laughter poured out, the first sign of optimism in a while. “Boys, it’s good to see you laughing!” The coach stormed through, clearly late but no one said a word about it. “Now we haven’t got much time, but lets get through a warm up before you have to head out” The team stood up, Luiz lead the way followed by Eden, Peter, John, Matty, Anthony, Neil and Cristiano. The rest of the team were already out of the door, training in the thought that the coach wouldn’t show up. “Boys huddle up, quickly” The coach drew the team into one circle around him, arms locked around each other. “This game means allot, if we win we will make it to the finals. If we lose, then it doesn’t matter. I haven’t been the best coach and I’m sorry, but you all have individually proven to me that you have already won. So after these lunges, lets go out there and win, not for me, but for you” The all so energetic boys departed from the circle into rows of lunges and stretches. It’s like the boss dropped a bomb of enthusiasm above the huddled team, because the team just turned from having doubts, to having a positive attitude. It was clear among each one of them, that the opposition team is not going to have a clear walk in the park.

“Whoooot” The referee blew on his whistle an extra two decibels louder than usual. He was a rather short old man, bald on top with a grey bush below connecting from ear to ear. He stored his whistle in his black shirt pocket, his whole attire was full black with the occasional white stripes around his socks and shorts. He wore glasses, this would be an interesting game. The opposition team was already lined up in proper form, MHMFC were huddled in a circle again, just outside the field. After a spirit filled chant the players gathered in a straight line facing their opponents, to address the referee and to harshly wish each other a good game. The coin flipped to heads, MHMFC were to kick off. Eden carried the ball to the centre of the field, before waiting for the referee’s whistle and passing the ball to his forward teammate.

It was a long and hard first half, with many fouls, bad tackles, and minimal goal scoring opportunities for both teams. Luiz received a yellow card for miss-kicking the ball and hitting a small dark skinned boy in the ankle. Altogether it was an angry game, but a good game. No ball could leave the middle of the field, until Eden chased the ball down the left wing passed two defenders. His long black hair floating in the wind. His thin body enabled him that extra pace and flexibility that enabled him to dribble past defenders as if they were training cones. Eden ran at the keeper with a friend by his side. Luiz ran alongside Eden waiting for his pass around the keeper to score an open and certain goal. “Eden! Quick, pass!” Luiz called for the ball, but he did not receive it. Eden’s greedy side took over and he went for goal too early, the keeper easily caught the ball and delivered it back the other way. “Whoot Whoot” Half-time was called by the referee, no goals had been scored yet.

“What are you doing Eden?” Luiz was angry, the team could have been one goal up if Eden made the pass. “Bro, I thought I could have scored” Eden replied as if it was not a big deal. Luiz just got angrier. “Well you didn’t, and now you ruined our chances of winning” Sad faces looked up at Eden, and he stared away. “Whoot” It was time for the second half. The opposition kicked off this time. Eden and Luiz were both off their game. The ball remained in their half most of the time, but luckily no shots were let in. Peter was on his game and the closest any ball got to the goal was off the post. The second half was much dirtier, the referee dropped his glasses and when Eden dived down, he awarded the free kick to the other team. Hate was playing the game against Anger, it was just really messy. In the dying minutes of the second half, Luiz was in control of the ball. He passed the ball through a defender so that Eden could run onto it. Eden ran with the ball glued to his foot. He passed three defenders and four teammates before looking for a teammate to receive a goal scoring pass. It was Luiz who came to Eden’s right side, but before he could yell “Pass!”, the ball was already travelling from Eden’s left foot across the keeper to him for an open and easy goal. Luiz scored the goal that would surely win the game, thanks to Eden’s magical pass. Everyone was cheering and the boys were all jumping onto each other in one big pile. MHMFC went on to win the game, one goal to nothing. This was the greatest game Eden had ever played. The game to win his team the grand final, and though Eden did not score, he was a key part to the team and to the goal that came from his magical pass. Eden could finally say, that he had reached his life long goal.

You were probably born on a high way, cos that's were most accident happen.