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him. It was a fifty-fifty ball – both players had an equal chance of winning it – but Danny was strong. He put his foot behind the ball and TJ went tumbling over. Danny passed to Tommy and the Reds were on the attack.

    ‘Nice tackle, Danny,’ TJ said, as he climbed to his feet and raced back to help the defence. Tommy was tearing down the wing and he crossed the ball before Rodrigo could stop him. ‘Look out, everyone!’ called Mr Potter, as the ball flew towards him. ‘I’m going to volley this.’
    TJ felt as if he was watching in slow motion as Mr Potter pulled back his foot and launched an enormous kick at the flying ball. He missed completely. His foot connected with thin air and he swung right round and fell flat on his back with a heavy thump.
    ‘Are you all right, Mr Potter?’ asked Jamie, coming out of goal and offering the teacher a hand. Mr Potter waved him away and climbed gingerly to his feet. He brushed bits of grass and mud from his face, which had gone very pale.
    ‘I bet that hurt,’ Tulsi said. ‘You’d better sit down, Mr Potter. You hit the ground really hard.’
    The other game had stopped and Miss Berry rushed over to them. ‘Tulsi’s right,’ she said, and she led Mr Potter to a bench at the side of the field. ‘You should go inside,’ she told him. ‘I can look after the children for the rest of training.’
    ‘No,’ said Mr Potter. ‘I’ll be fine. Just help me to my feet.’ He tried to stand, then winced and sat back down again very fast.
    Mr Burrows came across the field towards them. ‘A jolly good training session, Mr Potter,’ the head teacher said. Mr Potter looked slightly less sick, and even started to smile. ‘And I’ve been thinking,’ Mr Burrows continued. ‘You’re quite right, Mr Potter. We have a lot of children here who are turning into very good players and they all deserve the chance to play in a team. But there’s a simple solution, you know. We will have another team. Why, we could even have three teams . . .’
    Mr Potter had gone pale again. ‘Impossible,’ TJ heard him mutter under his breath. ‘All that work!’
    But Mr Burrows hadn’t finished. ‘We could have an Under–tens team too. The possibilities are endless! But in the semifinal of the Cup I want Parkview School to play our best team. I never want to see us lose 9–1 again. Whatever team you pick, Mr Potter, please make sure that TJ, Jamie and Tulsi are in it.’

C HAPTER 11
    THE FOLLOWING MORNING Year Six found the deputy head, Mrs Logan, waiting for them in the classroom. ‘Mr Potter will be late,’ she told them. ‘I believe he had an accident last night, and he was limping rather badly this morning so I sent him to the hospital.’
    Just before morning break, Mr Potter arrived. He had a large bandage around his right ankle and he was walking with a stick.
    ‘Just a sprain,’ he said to Mrs Logan. ‘I’ll be fine in a few days. I was demonstrating to the children how to volley a ball.’
    ‘But it went a bit wrong,’ said Rafi, and several people giggled.
    ‘Quiet!’ said Mrs Logan. ‘A sprained ankle is no joke. I hope you’re fit enough to take charge of the team for the semifinal, Mr Potter. It’s a very important match, you know.’
    TJ had difficulty stopping himself laughing. He tried not to catch Jamie’s eye. Mrs Logan had hated football until the school team had started doing well.
    ‘Ah, yes, the team,’ Mr Potter said. ‘I’ve been thinking about that. I’m going to announce the squad now. I’ll decide later who will actually start the match and the tactics and so on. The squad is Jamie, Danny, Tommy, Leila, Ariyan, Rodrigo, TJ, Rafi, Tulsi, and Rob. You seem to know such a lot about football, Rob. Perhaps you’ll show us all how it’s done.’
    He turned to Mrs Logan. ‘Will you tell Mr Burrows?’ he said, handing her the piece of paper.
    All around the room there were smiling faces – even among those who hadn’t been picked. But at