The Final Kick

The Final Kick

By Samuel Lees

This is it. This was everything he had dreamt of, the moment he had trained for all of his life. If Harold Lane could score this penalty kick, England would win the European Championship, their first trophy since 1966.

Harold Lane, the England captain had been a massive football fan for as long as he could remember. He lived and breathed the sport, and dreamt that one day he could lead his country to glory. For most people, this would remain a dream, but not for Harold, as he swore that he would do everything in his power to make this dream a reality. He would spend every free minute he had playing football, honing his technique. He would join different youth clubs as a child, where he would listen to the wisdom of his coaches with respect and reverence, taking in as much wisdom as he could to ensure that he would develop to be the greatest.

After he had left school, he would join the Tottenham Hotspur youth academy, where he would graduate top of the class, earning a place in the first team at just 18 years old. In the team, he would impress anyone who had ever laid their eyes on his performances; working hard, displaying courage and scoring goals for fun awarding Harold with praise from pundits and fans alike, who would in turn promise him big things in the future. However, despite Harold Lane’s outstanding performances, his team could not win a trophy, not for love or money. Every season was the same; his team would have initial success in the early stages of the season that would put them in contention for the league or the cup only for them to lose it all in the final stages, leaving them empty handed. This would award Tottenham Hotspur the unwanted reputation for being bottlers. In fact, this choking was so bad that the fans would conclude that the club were cursed with a allergy of silverware, and they would coin the term ‘Spursy’ to denote the lack of success Tottenham would have and their routinely chokes at the end of the season. Harold Lane detested this nickname of ‘Spursy’; in fact, he detested this so much he decided to leave Tottenham Hotspur for a different club.

The club Harold Lane chose in the end were the German giants, Bayern Munich, probably the most dominant team in German football and the most likely to help Harold to his first trophy in his career. However, despite Bayern Munich’s all conquering past, the suddenly changed overnight into another version of Tottenham as the Bayern team were unable to hold their nerves for the entire season, always choking it when it matters and ending each and every season with absolutely nothing. Harold could not believe his luck it was almost like he was cursed to have a brilliant career and absolutely nothing to show for it. In fact, Harold believed that he had a severe allergy of silverware and of success, as no matter what he did, he could never get his hands on a trophy.

This lack of success in the club game would also transfer itself into the international game, as despite being in an England squad that many deemed to be the ‘Golden Generation.’ However, they would always under perform with each major international tournament following the same format. England would qualify with ease, steamrollering every single opponent. They would enter the tournament as one of the favourites, a label that would seem more apparent when England would routinely be drawn into what many fans and pundits consider to be an easy group. However, they would struggle to put up a good performance, scraping through the group by the skin of their teeth against much lower ranked teams, only for them to be humiliated in the second round by a much better team who would play them off the park, sending England home in disgrace. Many people, such as Harold himself would predict the same, soul destroying routine when the European Championships of  2024 in Germany came around, a tournament which would be Harold’s final ever football competition as a player. However, when England’s first game came up against Serbia the players would surprise many people, even themselves, when they managed to put on a good performance, beating Serbia by three goals to nil. Even, more surprising was the fact that the players managed to follow up this victory against Serbia with another good performance and another good victory against Denmark, also beating them by a score of three goals to nil. Their final group game against Slovenia turned out to be even better as the players hit them for six, meaning they would finish their group top, with three wins from three games, 12 goals scored and not even a sausage conceded. All in all, things were going well, almost too well with fears arising that this is just a fluke and England would revert back to their disappointing ways in the next round. These fears were seemingly confirmed when England faced Austria in the second round, as they allowed the Austrians to waltz right through them to take a one – nil lead in the first minute. England would try to get back into the game, but they could not get through these stubborn Austrians, who seemed to have erected a force field in their defence to stop England from scoring. However, in the final five minutes, the England players managed to break down this stubborn defence, taking the two goals they needed to take the game and go into the next round against Italy in the quarter finals. Many believed that with England’s narrow win against Austria that they would not be able to do it against the reigning European champions. Yet, despite this doubt, England did manage to do it against the reigning European Champions, utterly outclassing the Italians to claim a two – nil win. This led England to the semi-finals, where they, again, managed to produce a classy display beating the French with another two – nil victory, setting up a final against the Germans in Germany.

The final, to be played at the Olympia Stadion in Berlin, was a tense affair as both sides had utterly dominated the tournament. Both sides had everything at stake. Germany had a major final in front of their own fans at their own tournament. England had the opportunity to put year of hurt to rest after 58 long years and for their captain, Harold Lane, the final opportunity to win a trophy before he would officially retired. It was due to these massive stakes, both sides would try and pressure the other one out, force them into an error, which they would use to win the match. Both England and Germany would try their best to make the other one blink, but to no avail. The 90 minutes of regulation time came and went, as did the 30 minutes of extra time, but still, after two hours of football, both England and Germany could not be separated and the final had to be decided on a penalty shootout. The first eight penalties were all scored with clinical precision. Germany’s fifth and final penalty kick would not be clinical or precise, as the player would blaze the ball over the crossbar. This meant that, if Harold Lane could score the final penalty with his final kick ever in professional football, England would win the European Championships and lift their first trophy since 1966. Could Harold do this, something he has dreamt of for all his life, something he has trained for his entire life; could he win his first ever trophy with his final kick?