The Victory Boys by Jamal Orme

Author:Jamal Orme
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kube Publishing Ltd

The final whistle blew.

‘No!’ cried everyone.

‘What happened?’ said Hasan, shaking his head in bewilderment.

‘I’m sorry,’ said a smug voice, ‘I must be going deaf. Didn’t you say you would be laughing now? It’s just … I can’t hear anything.’

‘You got lucky,’ Khalid scowled at the Blaze captain. ‘But I meant I’ll be laughing at the end of the group when we go to the semis and you go home.’

‘Khalid, shut it man!’ said Saleem. ‘You need to spend less time using your mouth and more time using your brain.’

The Blaze captain chuckled and trotted off happily to celebrate his team’s unlikely draw with his mates.

Saleem saw that Khalid looked a little hurt and he remembered Imam Munieb’s advice about criticism.

‘We all need to use our brains, Khalid,’ he added. ‘Especially me. I should have put on a sub who I could have told to stay in position. That’s what went wrong out there at the end. If you’re all defending, who are we going to pass the ball up to, to break free from the pressure?’

‘If I can say something,’ said Imam Munieb to the boys as he gestured towards Saleem. ‘This man is your leader. He gives you instructions; you trust that they are the right ones. What I have seen here is very much like the Battle of Uhud. On that day the Muslims were winning when some of them decided they knew better than the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. They ignored their instructions, left their positions and tried to score the greater victory … they ended up losing.’

‘But we didn’t lose,’ said Khalid.

‘Do you feel as if you won?’ countered the Imam.

‘Two minutes gents,’ came a voice. It was the Pitch Two referee. ‘You’re on again next.’

‘What?’ protested Ibrahim. ‘Give me a chance to catch my breath! Don’t we get a break?’

‘You wanna start as sub?’ asked Saleem.

‘Er, no, I’ll be fine,’ Ibrahim quickly reassured him.

‘OK then. So listen boys,’Saleem continued, ‘hold your positions this time. Trust your teammates to do their jobs. It’s good to work hard for one another, but remember how we do that?’

‘By making space,’ said Junayd.

‘Got it, little bruv,’ replied Saleem with a smile. ‘On a football pitch that’s the best support you can give.’

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