55 3.12- Go... Go... Go... Go... Goal...!!!

Saturday, 13th May 1995

09:40 am Inazawa Futsal Stadium

The scene at the Inazawa Futsal Stadium had reached its fervorous peak of chants, cheers, drumbeats and whistles, pompom girls and mascots as the emcee announced to the wild crowd of the upcoming championship that would be starting real soon.

As the emcee announced the names of the opponent's players, the other half of the stadium cheered as familiar names were mentioned each time as if they were welcoming the warriors of a chariot race. When it was our turn, the 600+ crowd turned wild and screams of encouragements and the school name was chanted over non-stop with the accompaniment of the drumbeats.

"Asahi... Gaoka...!!! Boom... Boom... Boom... Boom... Boom...!!! "

The chants of our school name and the drumbeats and synchronised claps sounded extremely intimidating for the opponent as our school's supporters compete who makes the most noise and whose eardrums would burst first... All in the name of Sports and make the best impression for Web Novellers.

5 mins before time all 10 players entered the area and the crowds burst into cheers, claps, drumbeats and wild whistles... To us, it was as if a tiny World Cup of Japan versus England for the finals erupted in the tiny Inazawa Prefecture.

After a short warmup and juggling of balls, we all took our positions. A referee let each captain choose the side of the coin before the toss. Our team won the coin toss; with the ball at our my feet, I passed the ball to our striker when the referee blew his whistle.

The whole stadium shook with fervourous roars of mixed emotions of encouragement, anticipation and expectations as the ball was passed around the Futsal arena until I caught sight of a loose ball from the opponent's defender. I surged forward and let a tremendous volley towards the goal area...!

The ball struck the upright bar and rebounded within the goal area twice...!! The goalie fumbled and he lost his timing in catching the ball; when on the second rebound the ball crossed the goal line...!!! Everyone's eyes were on the ball and suddenly our school's supporters went into an uproar of cheers and whistles. The supporters created a very chaotic scene...!!

"Preeeetttt...!!!"

The referee blew his whistle to indicate it was a goal...!!! The scoreboard changed into 1-0 with our school's leading the way.

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It was too early to celebrate as I shouted everyone to fall back. We need to be on the defensive for the first half of twenty minutes. Several chances were created by the opponents to score but we managed to close the defensive line and turn it into an offensive. As the clock ticked close to half-time, our striker managed to nudge the ball past the goalie and made the score to 2-0.

The crowd went wild and ecstatic with the goal even after the whistle had long blown into half-time. We managed to have quite a lead and it seems positive for us to lift the Championship Trophy this year.

Each side took a 3-minute break at half-time and with a short pep talk from our coaches, we decided to mount an all-out counter-attack to widen the gap and to gain more from the remuneration package that was offered to by the President of the Sports Committee.

Throughout the next 20 minutes, neither side manages to either break the deadlock nor gain another goal when the final whistle was finally blown. We were joyous in celebrating the sweet victory while our opponents just stood there in total disbelief that they had lost their much-coveted Championship Trophy to us.

I was simply running around the whole arena when I first spotted our President of the Sports Committee and I raised my victory forefinger and smiled at her. I saw Akira within the crowd and I called her down to the arena. When she was near the sidelines after getting there with slight difficulty; I pulled her in my arms and swung her around with joy.

I was so overjoyed and in that spur of the moment, I kissed Akira full on the lips. When I finally let her go, I can somehow feel that she was fluttering away and I have to hold her down back to earth. My sweat-soaked jersey had left an imprint right in front of her blouse and had left a wet-t-shirt kind of effect that made her bra seen through it.

I quickly realised it and took off my jersey and spread it across her chest. My immediate reaction was as if I had presented my Jersey as a memento after the victorious tournament.

The emcee calmed down the spectators in the whole stadium before proceeding for the presentation of the Championship Trophy. The crowd ruptured into another uproar of ecstasy before finally calmed down when both sides of the team lined up facing the crowds with the Championship Trophy was majestically set in the middle of the two.

The runner ups went to shook hands with the FIFA Futsal officials before receiving their award certificates and as for us, we received a medal and an award certificate before we hoisted the Championship Trophy for all to view. In the honour of winning the Championship, our school anthem blared through the loudspeakers, quietened everyone down and recited after it.

The crowds then ignited their confetti when the anthem ended and another round of drumbeats, cheers and noisemakers erupted in the stadium and soon it spilt to the streets. Before we left, a large portion of the crowd stayed behind and cleaned up the whole arena.

We went back to our school in our fleet of school buses, with the reverie of joyous celebration following closely behind. It was the first time for us to earn such a victory after being an underdog for some years in the past.

Now since we have scored twice, one as an individual and one by our teammate did not concede any goals plus winning the championship I guess we are not going back empty tonight...

A promise is still a promise, so I have to fulfil my obligations to Akira. Its a prize money of ¥23,000. I hope she got a bank account so I could transfer it to her rather than passing the cash that might be a hassle for her especially security.