(Leah's pov)
We had spent over a month in France and it all came down to this, our 3rd place qualifier. We had gone out to the USA in the semifinal losing 2-1.
You could feel and see that our mood had changed since that match. We weren't the happy, funny and joking team, we had become more quiet.
The whole team had received a lot of criticism during the world cup because our performances weren't the best and our high hopes were shattered after we lost the semifinals.
We were all sat on the bus on our way to the stadium in Nice, where our world cup journey first started and would end. Hopefully with a bronze.
We walked out of the bus and into the stadium changing room. We sat down with each player where their kit was hanging. "Come on girls! It's the last match, we atleast wanna come out with a bronze. I hate seeing you all like this." Lucy said breaking the silence.
"Girls Lucy's right, our mood has to change, the semis broke our hearts but it's not the end of our journey, our journey ends after this match." Steph said as we all nodded our heads.
We got changed and Phill called out the starting line up, since Millie was injured I was starting, and so was Jordan. We jogged onto the pitch and started our warm ups.
After our warm ups, we jogged back into the changing room where we all got changed into our match t-shirts and put on our shin guards.
"Okay girls, I know we wanted to make it to the final but we didn't so we've got to concentrate on today's match. I want you all to give it your 100%, get out there and fight for that 3rd place, leave it all in that pitch." Phil said before quickly going over the tactics once again.
"Lets' go!" "This is it girls!" "Give it your 100%!" A few of my teammates shouted as we walked to the entrance of the stadium.
We lined up with Steph going first, then Telford behind her and then the rest of us. I was behind Lucy and in front of Alex. My hand was shaking, I was getting very nervous to say the least.
"Hey, it's gonna be okay, just do your best." Alex told me when she saw my hand.
"Thanks Al, this is just the biggest stage and I don't want to fuck up." I told her, looking over my shoulder.
"You won't. I've seen you play, there's a reason why you're here. Everybody sees it, I just need you to see it." She told me, squeezing my shoulder.
"In three, two, one!" The official said, making us walk out from the tunnel.
We came out as the crow cheered for us. We walked onto the grass and lined up side by side, with the officials in between both teams. The swedish national anthem was played and right after the english one.
When it finished we turned 90º and walked down shaking the officials and the other team's hands before jogging over to infront of our bench to take off our sweatshirts and take a team photo.
We got in our positions and the whistle blew, meaning the match was underway.
About ten minutes into the match we were down by one, their number 9 had scored an unlucky goal for us. She shot the ball from outside the goal and it hit my leg deflecting it the opposite way telford had dived.
Another 10 minutes later, another goal came from them, this time by their number 10. There was a corner kick for us, Beth wiped the ball in for us, but nobody got to the end of it as the goalie reached out and got the ball. She quickly kicked it up the pitch as their number 10 outran Lucy and Alex and kicked it past Telford.
Luckily for us, we got a goal back after another 10 minutes, thanks to Fran. A pass behind the Sweden team by Jordan, reached the feat of Fran as she curled it into the far corner.
The first half finished 2 - 1 to the Swedish national team as we jogged back into the changing rooms. "Okay girls, I don't want the first 20 minutes of the match to ever happen again, but the change of attitude and getting a goal was great. We've got to push harder, and try and get another goal or two in at least, this is what all our work comes down to." Phil tells us.
He rambled on about what we had to do better in and tried to hype us up for the full 15 minute break before the whistle blew and we had to head out to the pitch once again.
Time ticked by and we just didn't seem to be able to score. Minute 80 came around and the ball was thrown out for a side throw-in and I heard Phil shout my name. As I turned around I saw the fourth official with my number in red and Abby beside her, meaning my match was over.
I jogged over quickly so she could get into the match and we could try and get a goal to stay in the game. I high fived her before heading towards the bench. Phil gave me a hug as I walked over and sat down beside Keira.
The final whistle blew, it was over. We had lost 2 - 1 and all the Swedissh players were celebrating together, apart from one which was comforting a few of our teammates.
I walked onto the pitch and Jordan caught my eye. She was sitting down in the middle of the pitch, near the Swedish, her face buried in her hands.
I walked over to her and sat down near her. "You did everything you could, it was just not meant to be this time." I told her, making her look up. "You gave it 100%, you really just couldn't do anything else, you can't beat yourself up over this. Because I know for a fact that if I was the one beating myself up you would stop me right away. I know it fucking sucks, but everything happens for a reason." I kept telling her as she stopped crying.
"I wanted to make my grandparents proud." She told me quietly.
"They would be so proud of you, for giving it your 100% and fighting for the whole match. They would be proud of you, just as proud as I am, or more." I told her as I brought her into a hug.
"I love you."
"I love you too, now let's go over to the rest of the girls." I told her as I saw all the girls looking over at us in a circle.
We walked over and linked our arms with the rest of the group. Phil started talking, telling us he was proud of us for coming so far and what not, one of my arms was around Jordan so I kept squeezing her shoulder so she knew I was there for her.
When Phil finished we all walked back to the changing rooms and showered and got changed in complete silence. I was the first one to finish and I could feel my anxiety going through the roof so I quickly rushed out the room and went to the bathrooms.
I walked up and down the length of the bathrooms for a bit, not being able to calm down and just stand still. "Hey are you okay?" I heard somebody with a swedish accent ask me, making me quickly turn around to face her.
I feel like she could see the distress in my face as she came over and put an arm around me and made me sit down on the ground. "Okay breath in, one, two, three, four. And hold, one, two, three, four. And now let go, one, two, three, four..." She repeated several times until my breathing was back to normal.
"Thank you." I said as I got up on my feet.
"No need to thank me Leah. I'll hopefully see you in England sooner than later." She told me, giving me a hug. "Take care of yourself." She said before leaving the bathrooms.
I took a deep breath and also walked out of the bathrooms towards our bus. As I got in, most of the girls were already sitting down so I walked over to my seat, and sat down beside Jordan.
"Where were you? I was worried." She asked me.
"I had to go to the bathroom." I told her before putting my head on her shoulder.
She smiled and gave me a kiss on my head before closing her eyes as we both drifted off to sleep. The day didn't end like we wanted it to, but at least I had her through it all.
No matter what the outcome would have been, or what the outcome actually was, I knew I would have her beside me. I could have scored two own goals and made us lose, that she wouldn't dare blame me and would just support me through it.
I knew I was gonna have her around for the rest of my life, but that exact moment made me want the rest of my life to just pass by in my mind, so I could see all the memories I would make with her.
Not gonna be posting in this story for a bit, but I'm gonna post a new story today, about this girl who moves to Ireland because of family and is trying to make it big in football, she falls for this girl who also plays football and well they've got to figure shit out together.