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The Best Game of My Life
The Best Game of My Life
Ernesto Duran
It was the last game of the season, the most important game of them all, the game against our rivals The Cobras. If we won the game we were going to the playoffs. I could say that this was the most important of them all, this could be my last game before going to college and forgetting about football forever. I knew that this could be my last chance to play, because in college everything changes and you never get to play it like when you did in high school.
I played forward and I was the best striker in the team, but the unexpected happened. We were playing our last game of the season and we were up in the scoreboard 2-1. The game was getting very intense when all of a sudden I get the ball and a chance to score. I was left alone, me against the goalkeeper. I was about to shoot when out of nowhere I got a tackle from behind directly to my supporting foot. I tried standing but I couldn’t I had to leave the game jumping on my good foot and left directly to the hospital. We won that game 3-1 and we got into playoffs, but my injury was the price to pay.
I arrived at the hospital very nervous. I had to go through some tests and x-rays and wait for the results. I felt desperate; it was only me in the waiting room in a wheelchair with a hurting ankle and a bag of ice. Suddenly a door opened and the doctor came out walking towards me. My heartbeat raised and I started to sweat as the doctor approached me.
I got the news but I didn’t know if they were good news or bad news. It was just a sprained ankle, but the doctor said it would take 2 to 3 weeks to heal. That meant that the only way I could get to play one more game was if the team reached the final.
The past two weeks were the toughest of them all. We started off at the quarterfinals. The game was not hard to watch, we won 3-1. The hard game was the semifinals; we were facing The Cobras once again. It was the toughest game and I wanted to be there, I wanted my revenge against the team that injured me. The game ended again in a win for us, 1-0.
We were at the final, the biggest game of them all and my last chance to step into the field and play, but first I needed the approval from my doctor. When I arrived at the hospital again I was very nervous, this was the moment, this was when everything got decided. The doctor got the tests back and after looking at them, he looked at me, smiled and said that I was able to play the final.
So there I was, the final, the big game, the moment I was waiting for, my last chance to play. The game was about to begin and I was only waiting for my name to be called at the starting lineup, but it wasn’t. I had done everything to heal quickly, I had done everything for my name to be called and it wasn’t, I was starting the game sitting at the bench. I was playing bench in the last game of my life and when I asked the coach why he said it was because he didn’t want to risk me.
The game started and soon we were down 1-0, I was very frustrated. Soon the second goal came 2-0 and it wasn’t even halftime. I couldn’t do anything about it. The second half started and still I had no time on the field, but at least the scoreboard changed, 2-1. Finally, my name was called for warm up. I was ready to go in and play the last 15 minutes of the game.
Three minutes into the game and my golden chance came, penalty. I was chosen to shoot it and as always, I scored the goal, 2-2. The game was about to end when our rivals scored a goal. The game ended 3-2, we lost the final, but I won. I was the happiest man on the field and no one was taking that moment away from me. I got my last chance to play, I played the final and scored the tying goal. I felt like a champion. That was not only my last game but it was the best game of my life.
