THE FLIGHT OF THE COIN (FLYING WITH THE COIN)

Here the( soccer) referee holds the coin in the palm of his hand, spins it with two fingers without looking at it, lifts the palm, and throws the coin in the air.

No, it’s not possible that the winners of a such hard-fought match played to the last breath could be decided by the toss of a coin, Joseph thinks. He is the captain of the Blue Devils which have fought like lions against the Red Roosters, and which deserved to win.

Instead at the end of the penalty kicks, which followed extra time, the result was still a draw.

So fate had been entrusted to the toss of a coin to decide who would be the winner.

Joseph, not even heads or tails could choose, that for this choice fate favored his opponents, who chose ( had chosen)heads. All he had to do was choose tails.

The decisive match for the C series of the football championship had been hard-fought. It had trilled the spectators who crowded the stadium, among whom the Blue Devils had many supporters and fans.

The match had started with the Red Roosters unleashed on the attack, who had already scored a goal in the fifth minute of the match. Then two of their players were injured and had to be replaced. The Blue Devils had taken the opportunity to recover and take advantage. The first half of the match ended with the Blue Devils winning 3-1.

 In the tenth minute of the second half one of the best strikers of the Blue Devil, if not the best, had been sent off because he had insulted the referee whose decision of a penalty kick for the Red Roosters( in favor of the Red Roosters) did not convince him. The Blue Devils were left with ten men on the field.

In the second half the Blue Devils, despite numerous shots on goal, were no longer able to score a goal. Instead in the thirtieth minute, the Red Roosters scored, from a corner kick. The regulation time had thus ended with a draw of three to three. Joseph remembered the disappointment in the locker room, and the discouragement of his teammates at the end of the regulation time. It was they, the Blue Devils, who deserved to win, they had played most of the match with only ten men, they didn’t even get a penalty kick, unlike their opponents, the Red Roosters. So they ( the Blue Devils) had returned to the field for the extra time determined to win, even convinced they were going to win. The extra time had been hard-fought, again with many free kicks in favor of their opponents. Despite this, the Blue Devils managed to score in the ninth and twelfth minutes of the first overtime. And both the goals had been extraordinary performances. One had been scored from midfield, with a power shot, absolutely spectacular. The other had been scored by a striker who had broken free from the tight markings of three defenders of the opposing team and his performance had also been wonderful. All the spectators in the stadium stood up to applaud those spectacular goals, while cheers, hurrahs, and songs of joy were chanted by their supporters and fans.

The first overtime ended with the Blue Devils winning by five to three. So all of them were convinced that they had already secured the victory in the match. Unfortunately, they were wrong. In the fifth minute of the second extra time the Red Roosters scored a goal from a penalty kick, and two minutes later one of the Blue Devils’ s best players had to be replaced because he was injured. The Blue Devils fought strenuously but during the second overtime, they failed to score any goal. Many of their shots went out of goal, some were parried. The extra time also ended in a draw. At that point, the ( soccer) referee proposed to resort to the toss of the coin, but neither team accepted. The Blue Devils asked to repeat the match, and the Red Roosters proposed instead to resort to penalty kicks. The referee decided to resort to penalty kicks.

Agitated, convulsive minutes followed at the end of the extra time. However, the Red Roosters faced the penalty kicks relaxed and full of optimism, while the Blue Devils were, to say the least, dejected and distressed, even though they too knew that missing a penalty kick was practically impossible, as it was quite unlikely that a goalkeeper would be able to parry a penalty. The Blue Devils managed, so to speak, to miss two penalty kicks. Their goalkeeper was even heroic, he managed to block two shots from their opponents. The result was again a draw.

Even for the choice of heads and tails fate had let the Red Roosters choose and they had chosen heads. But where was the coin flying? Why hadn’t it landed yet? Joseph looked up, the coin was no longer in the air, but where had it gone to land? When the referee threw it, the coin had described a wide parabola. Perhaps it had gone to land off of the field.

The soccer referee stood with his head down, thoughtful. Joseph looked at the captain of the Red Roosters, all smiling.  Shouts rose from the southern curve of the stadium along with whistles and hurrahs. The coin had landed on a spectator who claimed it had come up heads. Other spectators also ensured it had landed heads. The Red Roosters fans started yelling: “ We won! The Red Roosters are the winners!” In the stadium, paraphernalia happened, with clashes not only verbal but also physical. The police were called to restore order. The violent fans were removed from the stadium.

The referee decided that the coin toss had to be repeated.  This time it was the Blue Devils who had the choice and they chose heads. Again the coin was in the palm of the referee’s hand, who twirled it with two fingers before throwing it high. The coin went very up. Oh, how much Joseph wished that this time the coin would go up in the sky and disappear! How he wished the soccer field and the referee and the Red Roosters and all of them too disappear! He wanted that the coin never to land again! Because when it landed it was time for the verdict he feared.

The coin, after having risen to the top, described a semicircular parabola and fell to the ground at the feet of the referee. The coin landed showing tails. The Red Roosters were the winners.