IMAGINE. (wsl)

𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘄𝗮𝗹𝗹 - 𝗺.𝗮𝗿𝗻𝗼𝗹𝗱 ❁

𝖶𝖠𝖱𝖭𝖨𝖭𝖦𝖲: 𝗇𝗈𝗇𝖾

⍟  𝗅𝖾𝗍𝗌 𝗉𝗋𝖾𝗍𝖾𝗇𝖽 𝗍𝗁𝖾𝗒 𝗐𝗂𝗇 𝖺𝗀𝖺𝗂𝗇𝗌𝗍 𝖾𝗇𝗀𝗅𝖺𝗇𝖽 !

tony stood in front of us, giving his pre-game speech in an attempt to hype us up for the next 90 minutes. i had zoned out, someone cheering me on was never the way for me to get into the game. i had always been the sort to get angry and play my heart out. in my trance my eyes had trained themselves on mackenzie, or macca, as the team nicknamed her. she was intensely listening to tony's speech, her being the complete opposite to me in almost ever way.

she must've felt my eyes on her and turned her head just slightly and glanced at me with a small smile. i return the favour and grin over at her before tuning into what tony was saying. "...we can do this girls, finals here we come!" he finishes with a shout and sam steps up to head off our chant. "tillies on three. one, two, three, TILLIES!" we all shout the last word and break apart with a cheer.

i was insanely nervous but i knew i could do it. the girls started dispersing around the changing room, most just completing their pre-game rituals if they haven't already. i only had one, and me and mac did it together. before we did, i went around the room, hugging the girls and wishing them good luck, we could do it. then i got to mackenzie. she pulled me in for a bear hug and i melted into her. "i love you so much. you can do this." she grinned down at me from her 5"10' stature.

"i love you. we just gotta get you angry." i laughed, it was true though. once i was angry at a match, there was no stopping me. mac pulled out her phone and had the list of things ready to read out to me, things we accumulated just to piss me off. she read them out, one by one, giving me time to let them sink in and i could feel the rage bubbling in the pit of stomach. "you good?" i just nodded. "feel like i could kill something." i grinned up at her and her smile faltered for a second, that's how i knew it worked.

tony clapped his hands, grabbing our attention. "alright girls, time to get out there." we moved into the tunnel, each of us holding a child mascots hands. lining up next to the english players and seeing them look smug was like adding wood to a fire, it just made me burn even more. we finally got given the go ahead to walk out and i focused on walking out.

——
the whistle was finally blown after we sung the anthems for both countries and took a knee. i jumped in my place, remembering what mac had told me earlier. england had first possession and they were running towards us, full speed. i was immediately in there, looking to steal the ball back from millie bright. she managed to spin away from me but i still took off after her, she was fast i'd give her that but this was a warmup for me.

the ball was mid-pass to rachel daly when i kicked away and took off with it. weaving in and out of the opposing players, everyone tried to get it off of me but they couldn't. i kicked it to sam who pulled a header and i took possession again. i was closing in on the goal and mary earps who looked like she was ready for me. we'll see. i went in for the kick but made it look like it was going one way then kicked the other, sending mary the opposite direction to where i had kicked. the crowd went wild, and i ran back into my teammates who were cheering like crazy.

australia was 1-0 and it had only just been five minutes. we reset and england had possession again, taking off towards us again. i tried to get in there but it was alessia russo with the ball and she had always been the one player that knew my tricks, after i had a 2 year stint at arsenal with her. and she could match my speed. we stayed neck and neck with each other, getting closer and closer to mac and our goal. i made one last ditch attempt to get the ball away but alessia was too close and she booted it straight towards mackenzie. i sucked in a breath in anticipation and watched, almost in slow motion, as the ball went hurling towards mac and... she caught it!

mackenzie caught the ball, landing roughly on the grass but getting up just as quickly, yelling a 'come on!' as if to ask if that was all they had. i just ran to hug my girlfriend and then got back on the pitch. we played the rest of the first half, with neither side scoring another goal and went to half time, australia still 1-0 to england.

——
"keep it going! we only have one last chunk left and we're in the finals, further than we've ever been before!" tony was almost giddy with excitement at how we were going. half time break was almost up and we all fist bumped each other, getting ready to head back out. i was getting jumpy, waiting to get on the field again and finally we could. i was the first out there, followed by sam, and we got into position.

whistle blew and we were off, we had the ball first this time. sam kicked it to me and i quickly passed it on to hayley, she ran down the wing but was surrounded by england players. she kicked it out the side to me and i gave it back to sam who took off with the ball. there were only two players in front of her; millie bright and lauren james. neither of the two girls could stop the ball from flying past them and into the net behind mary. sam had scored our second goal.

we all ran towards her, the crowd went wild behind us. i checked the time displayed on the screens, reading 20:00 in bold numbers. holy shit, it's been 25 minutes already? it seemed unreal but i had to quickly focus back on the game. england started in possession, and it seemed this time they were more aggressive, trying anything and everything to score a goal. but every time they got near the goal, it was steph defending, or if it got past her then mac saved the ball. i was so proud of her, she was absolutely crushing it out here.

we kept going, the score still 2-0 to us after sam's miracle goal in the 67th minute. the timer blinked 90:00 but it wasn't over yet, we still had to play injury time, 5 minutes of it. as much as i wanted a 3-0 score for us, and tried my hardest to get through england's defence, it wasn't happening in five minutes. the ref called the game over and we were over the moon. we'd won the semi final match against england and we were into the finals.

i ran around the pitch, crashing into my teammates who were just as happy and excited. mac had come up the field to celebrate with us and i made a beeline for her, getting to her before alanna does. "mackenzie arnold, you brick wall! i love you so much!" she burst out laughing at my words, picking me up and swinging me around. once she put me down the rest of the team swarmed her, all of them praising her masterful goalkeeping abilities.

i calmed down from my high, and looked over to see the england players dejected, in particular lucy. she was a friend, i had played with her when i moved from arsenal to lyon, but then west ham picked me up and i moved back to the wsl. i just sat next to her on the field, one arm around her and head on her shoulder. "next year luce, next year." she sniffed, and that broke my heart. i don't think i'd ever seen her cry except for losing a match that had meant everything to her. she thanked me, insisting i go back and celebrate with my team.

i jogged back over to them and joined in the victory lap around the pitch. macca had taken her gloves off so i grabbed her hand and she liked to see me. "you're our saviour, mac. couldn't have down it without you." she grinned back down at me. "i'm a brick wall, right?" her words referenced mine before. "my brick wall."