Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Unforgettable Game


Antonio Ruiz
English 1A
25 September 2012
Essay 1
Unforgettable Game
            It all began with a three day drive to Mexico to what would become one of the best memories I have from when I was a kid.  While I was in Mexico, one of the things I did just about every weekend was go over to my cousin’s house to watch our favorite soccer team play on television.  We would always think about how cool it would be to be able to go to one of their games.   Both of our parents knew the routine which was every weekend my dad would take me to my cousin’s house in Morelia to watch the soccer game and my dad would get to hang out with his brother.  The playoffs were coming up and our team had made it in, my cousin and I got more into the game.
            During playoffs the teams playing against each other would play twice.  They would play once during the week and another time in the weekend.  Now my dad would drive me to my cousin’s house twice a week to watch both games.  Two weeks passed and my favorite team had made it to the championship.  The first game was going to be held in Morelia which is where my cousin lives.  My cousin and I begged my dad for the longest time to take us to the game.  No matter how much we begged my dad and uncle they wouldn’t answer us.  The day of the game came, we were hoping we would get a surprise and go to the soccer game.  The game got closer and closer to start but we still had no surprise.  After a while my cousin and I figured that we weren’t going to go to the game so we got bummed out.
            Although we didn’t get to go to the game we still watched it live on t.v.  Our team started dominating the game since the get go.  In the first half Morelia was winning with a score of one to zero.  My cousin and I could not be happier at the moment.  We knew that if Morelia kept on playing like they were they were going to win the game for sure.  The second half started and just like the first half Morelia was in control of the game.  At the end of the game Morelia won by of score of three to one.  We knew Morelia was going to become champions for the first time in their history but we also didn’t want to get too confident because we knew that there was still one more game to play and the other team could still come back and win.
            My cousin and I could not wait for the weekend because of the final game.  The game was on a Sunday afternoon.  All my cousin and I talked about was how we couldn’t wait to see the game that Sunday.  It was Saturday night and we were excited that the game was so close.  When we least expected it my dad and uncle walked in the door holding a white envelope.  I didn’t think anything of the envelope until my dad gave it to me with a big smile on his face.  I asked him what it was and all he said was “open it.”  When I opened it I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.  I looked like a cartoon on t.v. because I felt like my jaw had dropped to the ground.  They were tickets for all of my family and my cousin’s family to go watch the final game of the championship.  That night I couldn’t fall asleep because I was so excited to go to the game the next day.  After a long night of tossing and turning I was able to fall asleep.
            We woke up the next morning and I couldn’t wait for the game to start.  Just thinking that I was going to be there made my heart pump faster.  We were finally leaving it was a two hour drive to the game so we left a couple hours earlier just in case we got lost.  When we got to the stadium all we saw was jerseys of the other team.  My family and I knew we were going to be the some of the only people routing for the visiting team.  Right as we got out of the car the fans of the other team were staring at us like if we were criminals. My family and I didn’t care because we knew our team was winning and we had faith it was going to stay that way. Since my favorite team, Morelia had won the first game with a score of three to one the opposing team had to win by three to win the championship or by two to go into extra time.
            The game started and both sides were playing very good.  After about fifteen or twenty minutes the home team scored a goal.  The home team’s fans went crazy, my cousin and I got a little bummed but we knew that the other team still had to score two more goals to win the championship. The home team was dominating the game, so my cousin and I were worried thinking they were going to catch up and take the championship.  With about ten minutes left in the first half the home team scored another goal. The look on my face was blank like if I had just seen a ghost.  I was now more nervous than ever for my team.  I thought they were forty-five minutes from losing the final.  The second half began and it was just as intense as the first half.  The home team came out attacking but this time Morelia was doing a much better job of defending. They even had some counter attacks were they were close to scoring. They rest of the game was going back and forth. I was praying that Morelia would score one more goal that would give them the win and the championship for the first time in the team’s history. The referee blew the whistle to call the end of the second half.
            Since the score from the first game and the score from the final game were tied they two teams had to go to overtime.  The first half of the overtime started and both teams were playing at the top of their game.  They had my family and me at the tip of our seats.  Both teams had opportunities to score but the goalies weren’t letting anything get by them.  By the end of both the half’s of over time the score was still tied.  It was time for the two teams to go to a best of five penalty shootout.  There was no one in the stadium sitting down, everyone was standing waiting to see what would happen.  The home team was the first to shoot.  The player stared at the goalie taking his time to shoot which made everyone more anxious.  He finally took the shot and the goalie blocked it.  Everyone in the stadium was quiet except for my family and me.  It was Morelia’s turn to shoot their penalty.  The player shot it but the goalie blocked the shot.  Both teams made their next penalties.  The home team’s top scorer came up to take his shot.  As he took the shot Morelia’s goalie dove in the same direction and blocked the shot.  My cousin and I jumped up with such excitement.  Now all Morelia had to do was score their next two goals and block one more penalty and they would be crowned champions.  Then next person to shoot the penalty for Morelia came up.  He took his time to decide in which side he was going to kick the ball.  He took the shot it hit the post and went outside.  Both teams made their fourth penalty shot which brought it down to the last shot.  The home team was up to take their last shot.  The player shot the ball and the goalie dove in the same direction and blocked it.  I remember him standing up very fast with his hands together looking up and praying they would make the next shot.  My family and I were waiting for them to score to start cheering.  The final player to shoot a penalty came up.  He paused before shooting and had a stare down with the home team’s goalie.  He ran and took the shot the goalie dove in the same direction but missed the ball by inches.  Once my family and I saw that the ball went in we automatically hugged each other and started to cheer like crazy.  Most of the stadium was quiet but we didn’t care we were cheering for our team.  Morelia was also cheering like crazy in the field.  They had made history by winning the team’s first ever first division championship.  The celebration of Morelia wasn’t very long they went in the locker room after about ten minutes because they didn’t have many fans there.
            The next day there was a parade and celebration at Morelia’s home stadium.  Since my cousin live in Morelia we all decided to go to celebrate some more.  Till this day I have still never seen a bigger celebration like the one at Morelia’s home stadium.  It was packed to its full capacity.   Fans were going crazy when the team came out and raised the championship trophy in the air.
            Although I was pretty young when this happened I still remember it like it was yesterday.  By far it has been one of those events I will remember for the rest of my life.  I got to see my favorite soccer team play for the first time in my life and what a better way to see them than them win their very first championship.

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