98. A Good Day

                                    

                                          

It was a cold day, cold enough for gloves to be put on by some players as they got ready for their first home game of the year, and Natalie Sjöberg's debut. 
She looks calm as she wrapped her fingers expertly, like she'd done this for Barça a million times. Her and Frido conversed in Swedish back and forth at their cubbies and Ingrid inputted some Norwegian, finding she bonded quite quickly with their new goalkeeper, even living in the same building as her and driving her into training everyday. 
Natalie wasn't quiet, she was just forever chilled and laidback, preferring to wear an amused smile while someone else made fun of themselves. She was also very serious about her job, and even in five a sides in training she was shouting at whoever her defenders were, everyone told her she acted like Alexia when it came to football. And that wasn't a bad thing. 
Speaking of, Alexia, Jana, Caro and even Sandra made their way into the changing room before going to the stands. The captain gave them all a pep talk, new year, clean slate, don't think about the rut they were in at the end of last year, and by the time she was done, everyone was motivated. 
Even Lucy and Keira who kept their argument to themselves seemed pumped, only Kaia and Mapi could see the tension between them because they knew to look for it. 
But the happy couple didn't comment on it. 
Scooting past Alexia who's probably approaching to give the debutant words of advice, Mapi makes her way over to Kaia on the attackers side of the changing room. She bends down to give her a kiss on the cheek, a ritual they do, before she massages her shoulders mindlessly. "How are you feeling?" She asks in Italian.
Kaia looks up to her while nodding, but she notices how Kiera takes a childishly wide birth around Lucy who's tying her laces. "I'm fine." 
Mapi knows what Kaia's dim about, so she squats down and takes Kaia's left hand in hers to look at, but it's obviously empty of any jewellery because they're about to play. "If they're meant to be like you said, then they'll find their way." She reassures. 
"Yeah." Kaia breaths out, intertwining their fingers to give Mapi's hand a squeeze before she stands up and forces the defender to do the same. 
"Let's just focus on the game." Mapi suggests, wanting to start this year as they mean to go on, winning with a lot of goals.  
So that's what they did, they all filed out of the room with a statement to make to the league. And Natalie wasn't fazed by the amounts of cameras on her, she expected it. 
Mapi took her place behind their new goalkeeper who's quite tall, damn Scandinavians, and even though she's their new number one, she wears the number thirteen shirt out of respect for Sandra. In turn that got her a lot of respect from her new teammates. 
Since their competition was a lower table team, when they kicked off, Mapi and Irene made a few no pressure passes back to Natalie when they had the ball in their half, not only letting the keeper get comfortable but being instructed to do so to allow Jonatan to watch her distributing, and she was excellent. 
Natalie was naturally right footed, so she liked passes down the right towards where Lucy was in the wingback position, but there's one time where Mapi's under pressure and she's forced to pass back to the keeper. 
Natalie moves the ball over to her right and looks up, aware but ignoring the player who traded chasing Mapi to close her down now. Instead of passing it along the floor to Irene, Lucy, or even Keira in midfield, she picks her pass and floats the ball deep into the oppositions half and towards their left, where Kaia is there to bring and down being backed up by Frido.