They Don't Know About Us

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*Warning extremely long chapter ahead*

"Fuck" I cough as I throw up this morning's breakfast in the dressing room toilet. "You okay Ellie?" Christen asks rubbing my back soothingly. I nod as I wipe my mouth with some tissue, "Yeah just nerves". "You sure your okay to play?" Tobin asks. I nod as I flush the toilet and stand up, "Yeah I'm fine".

Well as fine as I could be when I'm moments away from playing in a World Cup final. This entire day has been nerve racking. Christen spent most of the morning trying to calm my nerves with the help of Tobin. I could barely look at food this morning but was talked into eating a small bit by Alex and Kelley who kept poking food at my mouth until I eventually ate. And all the other youngsters have been joking and messing around trying to calm my nerves ever since warm up.

I walked back into the locker room to get ready doing my last minute things. Once I have my jersey and boots on, I get Tobin to tape my wrist because my hands were shaking too much. I write my parent's and Stacy's names on the tape. Not being able to sit in my cubbie any longer I get up and move back to the bathroom and splash water on my face. I lean on the sink as I stare in the mirror and take a few deep breaths, "This is it".

"You okay Ellie?"

I look in the mirror to see Rose standing behind me. I sigh and nod, "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine". "You sure about that?" She asks putting a hand on my shoulder. I pause before shaking my head, "Honestly I don't know. What if I mess up? What if I play bad? What if my shoulder starts to hurt again?" She turns me around me around and holds my hands, "Ellie you need to breathe". I take a deep breath and nod. Rose chuckles a bit, "Ellie your going to do great. You've been amazing throughout the entire tournament. And if you mess up, you get back up and do it again".

Rose hugs me, "It's time you take your own advice. Your going to kill it out there and we're going to go out there and win our first world cup together". I hug her back tightly, "Thanks Rosie".

Before I knew it we were already lined up in the tunnel waiting for the starting eleven to go onto the field. I nod at the Dutch team, I had gotten to know most of them through Daan and Viv so we knew each other and were friendly with each other. I give a small smile to Daan and Viv knowing the minute we hit the field all bets are off the table for 90 minutes. Becky is whispering small reassurances in my ear until we get to all clear from the ref and we walk out onto the field.

We got through all the pre-match stuff standing for the National anthems, shaking hands and the team photo. We are all lined up in our positions on the field. I take a deep breath and look around at my teammates. I lock eyes with Rose who smiles and nod which I do the same back to her. I kiss my taped wrist and hold it in the air before the ref blows the whistle and look into the sky.

"This one is for you guys up there watching"

And with that the game begins.

The first few minutes is more the two teams feeling each other out although we do have a few chances but nothing comes of them. We do get a free outside the box after Rose gets clipped by Spitse who gets a yellow for the challenge. But it gets headed away. There's more back and forth with ball as each team tries to get one over the other. At one point Daan and I battle for the ball. She tries to back me off the ball but I try and hook my leg around to poke it away from her but it ends up with me falling on top of her which the ref calls a foul. Thankfully I don't get carded though.

I get a few chances inside the box but Van Veenendaal is always there. We get a good chance in a corner where I don't know whether Julie or Rose hit the ball but Van Veenendaal saved it on the line. We have a lot of chances but we can't seem to find the net. We're nearing half time when Netherlands get a break on goals. She's about to cut in towards goals when Abby sticks out her leg which sends her flying. Abby is given a yellow and she tries to shake it off but you could tell she was frustrated with herself. Thankfully nothing comes of their free though.