Even on the day of the game Coach Gica held a separate practice for us goalies, and as the two of us walked along toward the sports complex so early that morning, Janika, who was even more scared than I was, stopped all of a sudden while we were still outside in front of the complex, pressed a hand to his belly, then he started retching and puked, if I hadn't got a hold of him he might have fainted, and he said that only now, on seeing the entrance to the Ironworks sports complex, did he remember that he dreamed last night about Coach Gica, about Coach Gica smashing apart his ankles, and as he said this I handed Janika my canteen so he could rinse his mouth, and he said that in his dream Coach Gica took such a hard swipe at his ankle with that iron pipe that even Coach Gica was all in tears, even now he could recall the old guy's beet-red, glistening face, and Janika said he didn't care one bit, he was going home, he wasn't coming to the practice because he couldn't take it anymore, and that I should go along too, I shouldn't stay here all by myself, he didn't even care if the team was left without a goalie. "Soccer is only a game," he said, "it's not worth this much." He wiped his mouth, gave me back my canteen, and he said, "Let's go, let's get out of here before Coach Gica sees us."
"Okay," I said, "let's go," and right then I remembered that I had woken up last night too, I had heard a big, thundering bang, that's what woke me up, but then I just lay there all quiet, and for a long time I couldn't get back to sleep, so I now said to Janika, "All right, let's go," but then, right when I was thinking about my dream, we heard this rumbling sound, but it wasn't at all like in my dream, it was much quieter, and I knew exactly what it was, it was nothing but two trucks approaching the sports complex really fast. From a distance you could tell they were painted green, their canopies were camouflage patterned, we just stood there watching them come toward us, and then the drivers hit the brakes and stopped right in front of us, a soldier got out and came over and asked what we were up to here, and Janika was so scared he couldn't get a word out, so I explained, "We've come for practice, we're certified players for Red Hammer's junior team, Janika is the goalie and I'm the backup," but the soldier didn't even pay us any attention. "All right then," he said, "but what are you standing around here for, get going," and so we went into the locker room, but before we did we could see the soldiers unpacking all sorts of big instruments and devices from their trucks.
Coach Gica was there already, slicing and chewing away at his morning slab of roast bacon, he didn't say a thing but only showed us his watch and three fingers, and we knew this meant we were three minutes late and that we'd have to run fifteen extra laps at the end of practice, but I said, "We couldn't help it, we were late on account of the soldiers," and then Coach Gica asked, "On account of what soldiers?" and he told me not to lie or he'd slap me around so good I'd slide on my snot to the goalpost. But I said I wasn't lying, he'd see for himself if he didn't believe the soldiers were here, they must've come to observe the practice so they'd know what to count on, to see how ready we were to take on Breakthrough. Coach Gica then put away his knife and wrapped up the remaining bacon, and he stood up and said, "All right, get dressed," and he told us not to waste any more time or else he'd knock our brains out, then he went out and slammed the locker room door behind him.
We dressed in silence, not daring to say a word, scared that Coach Gica was listening in, he liked to know what was said about him behind his back. Janika was white as a ghost when we finally went out, and Coach Gica was there waiting for us by the edge of the field, he was talking with one of the officers, and as soon as he saw us he gave a wave of his hand. The pylons were already set up, and the two pairs of leaded shin-guards were out there too, they were made of leather but could be filled with lead tubes to make them heavier, Coach Gica had had these made too. Anyway, we got them on and then we began running the obstacle course, and after a while Coach Gica left the officer, came over, and began making us jump up and down. At one point Coach Gica hit Janika on the leg with his stick because Janika wasn't fast enough, and Janika fell and hit himself and his nose started bleeding, but Coach Gica didn't let him stop, he had to keep jumping up and down.
Meanwhile the soldiers were there the whole time, the officer was just looking at his men as they walked around the field in strange-looking clothes, pushing around machines full of wires and tubes, their hands also held all sorts of devices with wires and antennas. Just what they were doing was beyond me, maybe they wanted to broadcast the game on the radio, I'd never heard of such a thing, the machines were buzzing and rattling really loud, but we couldn't really pay attention, no, we had to keep running and jumping and diving.
The drills with the ball were the hardest, you had to dive for the ball blindfolded to get a feel for the direction, at one point I fell on the goalpost and Coach Gica kicked the ball right into my gut and I started heaving. Since Janika was always jumping in the wrong direction, I won the diving contest, by then Janika was pure white, he knew what this meant, it meant that today I would be the first one to give a kickoff, because Coach Gica had us practice kickoffs by setting up eleven balls in a row, one of the goalies had to stand ten feet away while the other goalie ran up to each ball and tried to kick it onto the other's head, and you weren't allowed to jump clear of the ball, no, you had to catch it, clutch it, or deflect it, and if we didn't kick it hard enough then Coach Gica took our place kicking off. So you really had to kick, and the one to kick first was better off because by the time the other goalie had his turn he was so beat that he couldn't really kick hard. The fourth ball I kicked sent Janika's nose bleeding again, I didn't want to kick the ball hard but there wasn't any choice, I had to run up to the ball from four steps away, and the balls always let out this huge snap, and by the end of my turn Janika didn't even reach out his hands anymore, he simply jumped right out in front of the ball and fell to the ground together with the ball. The grass was all bloody in one spot, he could hardly get to his feet, it was obvious he wouldn't be able to kick, he was all worn out. Coach Gica came over to him, he was holding a towel and he handed it to Janika, and he said, "All right, wipe your face, for once we're taking a break, get yourselves into the locker room because that comrade over there, the officer, wants a word with you two in private."