" .... You were asked to take rest and recover, but now you're here in your kit and ready to play?? Is this situation a joke to you?? You don't believe in your teammates, do you? Is that why you're here because you don't have faith in them?" the coach was heated for the very first time. None of them had ever seen her this frustrated, and it was the captain out of all the people."
"I'm here because i have faith in my team, I'm here because I know my team doesn't have faith in themselves right now and I'll provide them rhe faith by being present here. I'm sure they agree with me, they'd rather want me to be sitting here than not being here at all am I not right guys? It's the first time you're playing without me.... not anymore because I'm still here."
"Coach I think we all agree with Amy, we want her presence at least if not on the pitch we want it off the field. We want her to watch us win this for her, this is an opportunity to prove we have improved as a team."
After listening to the team's request, the coach calmed down and realized that this would be the first match the team plays without Amy, which would impact their mindset. "Well, I guess you're right Amy, but I hope you've thought through about this in your mind and made this decision to be here."
"Thank you coach, please don't think that I am here to disrespect the decision you made for me. I can't think of anything else other than my team, I am sure they're going to win that's why I'm here to see them triumph."
Referees requested the captains to come up to them, as the outcome of the toss would decide who would start the match. "Heads or tails?" Sally, the captain for Inkford just for this match, chose tails and won the toss, " Captain of Inkford do you want to start the game or choose the side where you'd like to start from?" Sally chose to start the game. She headed back to the bench to tell the result about the toss. The coach was happy with the decision of starting the kick-off.
Before the game started, the two universities were asked to shake their hands with each other, but the coach seemed to have a long talk with Faith University's coach. "It seems to look like my plan worked, of course, the plan of eliminating one of your team's players. It just so happened to be your most important player of them all. Fortunately for us, I know everything about your team and how vulnerable the group was before she arrived at your University. Let's have a good game; all the best to you."
"What do you mean by your plan worked, don't tell me you set up to injure one of our players. Why would you want to go to this extent to cheat? Either way Inkford is united than ever and today you'll see why!"
"You know exactly what i mean, we've been out of favour this whole year with so many injures. So I think it is only fair now isnt it? You get to go through what we did."
Faith University had planned to send their local rivals to injure one of Inkford's players. But, unfortunately, it was Amy who ended up injured on the set up by Faith University.
As the game was just about to begin, the coaches had time to say their last inspirational words to their team. "No holding back, no matter what. Their team's coach just stated something to me that you'd hate to hear, she said that she planned on injuring one of our players, and the whole friendly match was a set-up. Instead of regrets, I want everyone to enter this game with vengeance in their heart—no sinking in, not now and not under these circumstances. They have disrespected the beauty of the game. Go out there and restore it for me, for you and all our hard work throughout this year. There is no future, it's only now."
The Inkford University team was highly motivated thanks to her coach's inspirational speech, " Thank you coach, we promise you we'll not let you down."
Just as the game started ironically, Inkford had immediately let their coach down within just 10 minutes of the game. As they received a red card for a very violent foul on one of the Faith Universities players, the coach regretted letting them know about Faith's plan during their friendly match. Instead, they approached the game way too aggressively upon learning that they hurt their captain indirectly. As a result, Inkford had to play the remainder of eighty minutes with just ten players in their team with putting them at an enormous disadvantage. Thirty minutes had passed, and Infkord conceded a goal just five minutes before halftime. Everything seemed to be going according to Faith University's plans and downhill for Inkford. As the halftime whistle blew, the team gathered back upon the bench to rest and discuss tactics with their respective teams.
"We're so sorry, coach, we let you down. We did the opposite of whatever you told us to do, we are sorry." the whole team's morale had dropped as everything went against them today.
"It's not your fault, it's my fault. I probably should have never told you about what Faith University had planned and harmed Amy in the first place, right before the biggest game of your lives."
"Where has the motivation disappeared, guys?" Amy's voice was heard from a distance as she was all kitted up with her shoes and stockings.
"Coach, they planned to eliminate me before the game but did they anticipate whether I'll be back and playing? I say put me in. There is no way I'm seeing my team suffer without me on the field at the moment i dont care what happens to me, even if i get injured my team can play the Victorian Cup without me. We'll leave the rest for another day."