Scoring a Brace

Football is a beautiful sport and I love it wholeheartedly. I might not see every football game, but I love playing the sport myself. Unfortunately, I haven't done much of that this year and that is because a lot of guys who play football with us moved out of our hostel, so the motivation just wasn't there anymore.

So I went about five months without playing football, even though I saw guys every day at the school field playing football and just having fun. It just didn't feel right playing with total strangers and that is because I don't know how rough they play and I seriously would hate giving myself an injury.

So five months went by and nothing happened until late last month when our hostel president announced that we would be having a football match with the neighbouring hostel. When I got the news, I wasn't as hyped as I thought I would be and this was because I no longer felt like playing. When you stop doing something that you love for a long time, the passion just won't remain the same anymore.

_{Photo by Abigail Keenan}

But I still went with them to the field and got selected to start with the team. But one of the effect that comes with not playing for a long time is that you lose some skills and get exhausted quick and that was exactly what happened to me. It didn't take long for me to start breathing like I just ran a marathon when we were only just ten minutes in. Luckily for all of us, this was a friendly match so some of the rules were bent to accommodate us. We were allowed to change multiple players and any player that was substituted could come back and play again.

So I took advantage of that and immediately asked someone to substitute me while I immediately went to lie down somewhere because I start seeing things like my late grandma. I remained outside until the first half was over, although I wasn't on the ground all through, I turned into a coach just like Ronaldo did in the Euro 2016 final against France. And by the time it was second half, I was fit to go play again and I did.

By this time, the score was 1:1 and I really needed to score, so I went to strike. About ten minutes (or there about) into the game, something miraculous happened, I got the ball and fired a shot even though the defenders almost broke me into two. I didn't feel the pains though as I watched the ball go into the net. I remember feeling so happy, almost like I just won the world Cup for my country.

I thought that was it but it turned out I was wrong because it didn't take long after the first goal, for me to score a brace (a second goal). I felt on top of the world as everyone ran towards me, cheering and just celebrating. I always kick myself mentally for not doing the Siuu celebration because both goals were totally worth it. Well, I got substituted again after that and that was it, the match ended 4:2 with us taking the win and I remember just smiling all the way home as everyone cheered me for scoring those two wonderful goals that helped seal the win.