As promised yesterday, I am going to be working on some short stories related to the Olympics as they area officially starting today with the opening ceremonies. As you no doubt have already guessed the first piece I am working on relates to soccer. All of the characters are completely fictional and I tried to base the soccer on how the actual Olympic tournament will operate. If I got anything factually wrong, it was not intentional. I did not put the entire story up here so you'll have to check back for the conclusion and see if Alexi and Karim have what it takes to get their team to the gold medal game. |
Game two had not been much better. Karim had managed two shots on goal once he entered the game in the seventy third minute, but neither had resulted in a score. The teams from South America always had lots of speed and skill and it was all his team could do to keep up with them. Karim’s best friend Alexi had been awarded a penalty kick as they entered the second half stoppage time and curled the ball just under the crossbar of the goal, giving the team their first victory of the tournament and all but knocking one of the favorites out of contention.
They became the darlings of the tournament after that match. Every media outlet wanted to do interviews with Alexi. Karim was happy that Alexi finally got to use the English he had been practicing for the last two years. Suddenly, everyone was on their side when they faced one of the European powerhouses in the last game in their “Group of Death.” Karim and his mates didn’t need to win the game in order to advance, but wanted to at least draw the match in order to prove that they were not to be taken lightly. They battled to a draw of three goals each with Alexi assisting Karim on the game tying goal in the eighty second minute of play.