The Climb

105

Talia's POV

"Here T." Moe says then she hands me the line-up sheet for tonight's semi-final against Germany as we pull up to the Westfalenstadion here in Dortmund, Germany.

1-Audrey Solo
3-Emily Fox
4-Sarah Gorden
12-Tierna Davidson
9-Teagan McGrady
15-Andi Sullivan
6-Morgan Brian
5-Sam Mewis
23-Christen Press
14-Talia Martin(C)
2-Sydney Leroux

Rose, Catarina, Crystal, and Julie all got yellow cards in the last game which brought them to two a piece so they have to miss today's game.

Once at Westfalenstadion, the bus parks then everyone gets off and heads to the locker room.

When we get to the locker room everyone puts their stuff down in their respective lockers then we head outside for the pitch inspection.

After we've inspected the pitch, my teammates and I head back to the locker room.

When I get to my locker I take my AirPods out, take out my nose ring, take off my necklaces and my rings, then I put my jewelry and AirPods in my bag.

Once I'm jewelry free I put on my warm up top then I put on my game shorts.

I then sit down in my locker and put on my socks, my shin pads and my red boots.

After my boots are on I head to Christen's locker then sit down on the floor in-between her legs.

"Hey Freckles." Christen says then she starts running her fingers through my hair.

"Hi Chrissy." I say then I face forward and let Christen do her thing.

Christen runs her fingers through my hair for a little bit then she puts my hair into a pony tail just like I like it.

"Thanks." I say then I hug one of Christen's legs.

"No problem." Christen says and kisses my head then I get up, walk out of the locker room, and head onto the field with the outfield players

When I get on the pitch I run through my warm ups with the starters for a while then we head back to the locker room.

Once in the locker room I change out of the training top and change into my red jersey while the coaches do their last minute talks.

When the last minute talks end, we are told to head to the tunnel so I put on the captain's armband then head to the front of the line

Minutes later we are told to head out onto the field for the prematch stuff so I lead my team out onto the field

Once on the field we stand in line for the German anthem then myself, most of the ladies in the starting XI, and most of the ladies on the bench kneel for our anthem.

When our anthem finishes, we stand up then we shake hands with the Germans.

After we shake hands, we take a starting XI picture, I do the coin toss, then we do our huddle before we head onto the field.

Once I'm in my position I take a look around the stadium.

I don't think I've ever played a host nation in my time on any of the different levels of the national team.

I wonder what it's going to be like.

- - - - -

"Shit." I mumble as the ref blows for halftime of extra time.

After 90 minutes of regulation, we went into extra time then Dzsenifer Marozsán and Linda Dallmann scored putting us behind 2-0.

Now we only have 15 minutes to get the score level or potentially win.