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| 24 hours with Ivo Galinha |
Ivo Galinha is 18 years old. He's a forward, and said by many to have a bright future in Hegglia FC. He has so far maintained a decent form during the season, which has led to many appearances for his team. Before yesterday's match against Lokomotiv Leka he has appeared in 8 matches, but so far never played more than 60 minutes.
Yesterday the day started as usual for Ivo, as he got up from bed, made him selves breakfast and later went down to Staupslia, Hegglia FCs home ground, to prepare for the match. He joined the other players for the pre-match briefing, and the strategy talk held by the manager. Ivo soon learned he would, like many times before, start the match from the bench. Manager Karius had chosen a 3-5-2 formation, with Corbeanca and Hägerby as forwards in the starting 11. Usually this means his only chance of playing would be to replace Hägerby sometime during the second half. Manager Karius has rotated the players quite a bit this season, so he thought it would be likely.
During the warm up, Ivo took it slow. He was going to save his energy for the second half. Warming up during the half-time break should be enough, he thought.
The match was about to start, and Ivo found his place on the bench.
After only 6 minutes Lokomotiv Leka scored. A crosser found Victor Draper, and he put the ball behind Sergio Romero. Romero was selected goalkeeper today, as the manager considered it a good chance for the youngster to gain experience without risking to lose points. Manager Karius was a bit frustrated. An early goal this soon? Maybe he even thought he should have picked Gréagóir Hayes to be on the safe side? He was relieved when he realized the referee disallowed the goal. He had seen a handball.
Ivo was relieved as well. Knowing that his chances to get playing time reduce if the team struggles.
After 12 minutes, Tin Zver had a breakaway. He safely put the ball in the net, and Hegglia could celebrate their goal. Ivo knew his chances had increased, so he was not only thrilled about his team, but also for his own interest.
After 21 minutes, Matteus Hägerby picked up a yellow card. Ivo knew he would most likely replace Mattias in the second half, if the conditions were right. A yellow card is helping my chances, he thought.
Hegglia FC kept on pressuring Lokomotiv Leka, and had created another 2 chances to score, when in the 27th minute Ivo's situation was about to change.
Sergio Romero twisted his ankle and had to be substituted. Manager Karius took a quick look at the bench. No Gréagóir Hayes! No all-round players! Just a bunch of inexperienced, beardless 17-19-year-olds with low skilled even if played in their right position. Crap!
"Ivo", said the manager, "Get some gloves on!". Ivo was taken by surprise. "But I've never.", he started, but was quickly replied by the manager "Good luck! We're counting on you!".
As Ivo slowly jogged towards the goal, he felt like Uriah the Hittite. Placed in a position spelled disaster. One single error can result in a goal and give rise to major criticism. He knew that being a goalkeeper is a major challenge requiring special talent combined with extraordinary athletic ability and an unruffled psyche. He was not close to the description.
63 minutes to go of ordinary time!
The first half ended without a single shot fired at Ivo. He was too stressed to get anything from the half-time talks held by the manager.
Second half started with manager Karius doing 2 substitutions. Just 2 minutes into the match, Luis Tiago of Lokomotiv Leka had a powerful shot on goal. Ivo froze. Couldn't move at all. Manager Karius though to him selves: "Now. This is it. We're losing this!"
It hit the crossbar!
In the next minutes to come, Hegglia FC was playing well in front of Ivo, and created more chances. In the 62nd minute Tin Zver scored his second goal of the match, as he put the ball behind Leka's goalkeeper from a shot in the penalty area. 2 minutes before full time, Toto Salvio scored with a lob header. 3-0!
As the referee sounded the final whistle, no one was happier than Ivo Galinha! "A clean sheet! Maybe I was made for this!". After celebrating with his teammates he went home an had a good night sleep.
The next morning he opened the morning papers and found he been rated 1 for his performances yesterday: "There he stood, stiff as a poker, unwilling to give an inch."
Oh well.
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