Expect The Unexpected

Chapter 18

"Do you guys want to go to the cafe down the street?" Morgan asks Alex and I.

"Yeah I need to get out of this hotel." I tell her with a laugh. 

Since Cheney retired Morgan Brian started joining Alex on our pregame coffee runs. Every once and a while someone else joins us but during the Olympics, it has mostly been Alex, Morgan and I. 

"How do you think this will go down today?" Alex asks the 2 of us.

"It's not going to be easy. Australia has give their opponents a run for their money this tournament." I state.

"Agreed. We have to be on our A game." Morgan replies. 

"If we win we play Sweden in the finals." Alex says nervously. An opponent no one really expected.

"We'll be fine." I reassure them. "We'll get it together."

I don't think we thought Arod's and Syd's pregnancies, Cheney's retirement and Pinoe's injury would affect us as much as it did. Yes we had some great call ups but we had some struggles in the beginning. We're finally getting into our grove now but a few of us are scared it's too late to make an impact.

"Pia's gonna want to win." Alex states. 

"And we don't?" Morgan asks as we take a sip of her coffee. 

"She's got a point Lex. We're favored to win this."

"I know, I'm just scared.We have a lot riding on this and I really don't want to fail." She replies as Mallory Pugh and Emily Sonnett come into the cafe. 

After Mal and Em order their coffee, they look for a table to sit at. I give Morgan a nod and she waves them over. 

"Hey guys!" Mal says as she sits next to me on the couch. "I didn't know you guys were here."

"We found it when we were walking yesterday and wanted to check it out." Alex tells them. 

"The coffee is really good. It reminds me of my favorite cafe in DC." I say with a soft smile. 

"When does Flynn come home?" Emily asks me.

"About 4 days after we come back."

"Ahhh that's so exciting!" Mallory says genuinely happy for me. "Do you have his room done and everything?"

"Yeah we do. It's adorable. I'm in love with it." I say looking on my phone for a picture.

"Omg it's so cute!" Mal tells me.

"Aww Riley it's perfect!" Emily says. 

"How old is he?" Mall asks.

"A little over 1."

"Is Kyle bringing him to the victory tour game in DC?" Alex questions.

"We're not sure. It all depends on how he's adjusting."

"That makes sense."

"So when are you and Serv going to have kids?" Mall asks innocently as she goes to sip her ice coffee. The 4 of us laugh and Mal looks at us confused.

"Whenever it happens. We're not really planning for any time." Alex says, Mal nods her head as she sips her coffee.

"We should probably head back before someone notices us." Morgans tells us as she stands up. The rest of us follow suit and we walk out the door towards our hotel. 

****

The bus ride is quiet as Tobin and I sit with our headphones on. The rest of the team is doing the same mostly, however some are looking out the windows while others are sleeping. 

I pull out my phone to answer a text from Kyle and favorite a few tweets from fans saying they'll be at the games. I smile at their creative signs, sending my favorites to Bridget and Keegan. The Spirit tags me in a tweet with a picture of the girls supporting Ali, Crystal and I. I retweet that and reply a blushing emoji as we pull up to the stadium. 

Tobin gives me a look and we do our handshake before we stand up from our seats. The coaches are the first ones off the bus and we follow into the locker room. In the locker room, the jerseys are already set up with spandex, socks, and our cleats. On the white board the starting lineup is written in neat handwriting. We knew who was starting before we arrived though.

Hope Solo- 1

Meghan Klingenberg- 7 Julie Johnston- 16 Beck Saurebrunn- 4 Ali Krieger- 11

Tobin Heath- 17 Lindsey Horan- 15 Carli Lloyd- 10 Morgan Brian- 14

Alex Morgan- 13 Riley Taylor- 5

I get dressed and walk out with my team for warm ups. The crowd cheers as we walk out of the tunnel. We are definitely the fan favorite since there is mostly red, white and blue waving around. 

After warm ups we head back into the locker room for a final talk and to put on our jerseys. The subs and coaches head out to the field leaving the starters alone in the locker room for a few minutes.

"Let's focus. If we make a mistake, let's shake it off." Carli tells us. 

"We can do this if we set our mind to it." Hope says. 

"USA on 3." I reply.

"1"

"2"

"3"

"USA" We all cheer and walk out the door for lineups and anthems. 

****

There's less than a 1 minute on storage time. If someone doesn't score during this we'll be going to a period of overtime. 

Ali is able to get the ball away from an Australian player and passes it to Carli in the middle of the field, wide open. Carli dribbles up the field and is able to get by multiple Australians. 

15 seconds left. 

She passes me the ball outside of the 18. I nutmeg my defender and leave her in the dust. The Australian defense is a mess trying to cover their tracks. I take this opening and take a shot with my right foot to the bottom left hand corner. 

The keeper isn't able to get a hand on it and it goes right where I wanted it to: the back of the net. 

The crowd erupts into cheers. I run to Carli and she catches me as I jump. The ref blows her whistle signaling the end of the game and the team runs to the rest of us celebrating. 

"We're going to the finals!" Mal says to me as she gives me a hug.

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Ahhh it's so good to be back! I've missed it!

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