“Big Dreams”

Once upon a time, a kid dreamed of being in the Premier League in England. The Premier League is considered the best soccer league globally because of the teams and players. ¨Thiago what team do you want to play for,¨ asked your mom. ¨Mom, you know what team I want to play for, Chelsea FC the best team in the Premier.¨ Mom nods.

¨Son tomorrow is your birthday, Thiago what do you want for your birthday¨ asked your Dad. ¨You want to know?¨ ¨ Never mind your mom probably knows what you want for your birthday.¨ ¨You want a soccer ball right Thiago?¨ Mom asked ¨Yes Mom ¨ ¨Well now you gotta go to bed because it is 9 pm and tomorrow is Tuesday so you have school¨ ¨Ok Mom, I love you¨ I love you too honey¨

¨You gotta wake up¨ yells mom. ¨Go eat breakfast, you have school in 30 minutes¨ and then you go get the breakfast that was in the microwave¨ ¨your mom leaves because of work and now you need to walk to school.¨ ¨You don´t see the soccer ball you asked for your birthday yesterday.¨ As you start to walk you see your friend Mateo walking too. ¨Mateo why are you walking to school today usually your mom takes you to school.¨

¨She´s working now at the local restaurant¨ Suddenly when you and your friend Mateo are walking a guy comes by and asks ¨what are you guys doing.¨ You say ¨we are walking to school.¨ this hood is dangerous and that guy was wearing shorts with a white undershirt, sunglasses, and a Miami Heat hat. For some reason, that´s how the majority of gang members and drug dealers dress in Brazil, especially in this part of Rio de Janeiro. When you guys finally arrive at school you see the sky and it looks like it will rain. Everything was normal almost every week in Rio de Janeiro it rains but this time it looked different. You don´t say anything because then everyone will think you are weird. As the day goes on around 2:30, 30 minutes before you leave school you hear the rain falling. At first, it was a steady rain as it happened every week in your neighborhood. Now it is 3:00 pm and you can´t walk home because it is raining, you ask your friend Mateo if his mom can give you a ride home. ¨Sure,¨ Mateo replied. When you and Mateo wait for Mateo´s mom to arrive you see the rain getting more intense and it not look like a normal rain anymore. You hope to get home safe but you see the fear in Mateo´s face and you get more nervous. When Mateo´s mom finally arrives you run to her car. You say ¨Hi¨ with a shaky voice.

¨Hi, how are you¨ replies Mateo´s mom.You hope to arrive at your house safely but with this rain is going to be difficult. The streets are a little bit flooded and you can almost imagine a landslide happening. When you finally arrive home you see the house flooded and a part of your house had collapsed and a body next to it. At that moment Mateo and his mom already left but the only thought you had in mind was who is that? You get closer and it looks like a woman with a stain of blood and her legs fully stuck below the concrete walls. When you get close enough to see her face it looks familiar but you can´t tell who is it. Dad gets home and sees you and the collapsed part of the house but he did not see the body yet. You yell ¨Dad Dad, there´s a body here and it looks familiar can you tell who it is?¨ Your dad gets closer and sees the woman´s face he quickly shouts ¨Monica¨ Monica is your mom. Your mom had died and was in front of you and you didn´t recognize her because of the dust of the concrete walls. Your father tries to call an ambulance but the wifi is not working because of the rain. The only thought going through your head is trying to lift concrete walls but you do not have the strength to do it and is too late because she´s gone. A few days later exactly at your mother's funeral, you said to her that you would make her proud. Your dad doesn´t have a job and you need to help him out so you start to get more into soccer and taking more seriously.

A few years later you are already 16, and you playing a final between your third-division team and a professional soccer team named Santos FC. This team has one Conmebol. The Conmebol is the best soccer competition in South America it has great teams and great players such as Juan Román Riquelme, your idol. This game is really important for you because Juan Román Riquelme is watching the game in the bleachers and there are scouts for Chelsea FC. The game starts in 30 minutes and you are very nervous you want to make your dad proud. It will be a hard game because your team is not the best and the opponent team already has 1 Conmebol so most of your team is nervous. The game starts your best friend Mateo is walking with you and you see the scouts are looking at you. ¨Mateo do you see the scouts, they're looking at me¨ You said to him. Mateo said, ¨Yes, you gotta lock in so you can get a contract for a better team.¨ 17 minutes into the game the opponent team scored the first goal it is 1-0 but you remember your mom, that day at the funeral that you said that you are making her proud. So 6 minutes later you see your friend Mateo and your teammates going up and you decide to go up with them the attack is going as the coach told us to. As soon as you go up you run inside the goal area. Mateo sees you alone in the area and he passes the ball to you the pass was perfect and you score a header.

A few seconds later the scouts shout ¨Great header Thiago!¨ You are wondering how he knows your name but you say ¨Thanks¨ and keep playing. The first half is over you guys go to the locker room and the coach starts talking.

¨Good half team, great goal Thiago keep the intensity and we will win this match.¨ You call your dad and tell him how much you love him and you want to make him proud. The second half begins your team has the ball and we are just touching the ball touch pass till everyone gets a chance to get the ball and pass it back. About 18 minutes into the second half your team is attacking your teammate Andrés is going up with the ball in his feet. You see a defender approaching him and tackling him the ref gives a free kick. The free kick is about 40 yards from the net is very far but you have the confidence to take it. The ref blows the whistle and you go slowly to the ball and about 4 steps before you run and kick the ball as hard as you can you see the ball approaching the net it feels like a movie the ball going slowly into the net. The ball went in top bins like your idol Juan Román Riquelme does it. Everyone is screaming cause there are only 10 minutes left and is 2-1. Your team is winning, your team is beating a first-division team.

The match goes on and you hear another scout say ¨What a goal!¨ You only thinking about winning the game getting a contract for the Division 1 soccer team and making both your parents proud. Your team is defending pretty well and no one can go through the defenders. Until finally, the ref blows the final whistle you are crying with happiness and joy. A scout comes up to you gives you an envelope and says ¨Open it when you get home.¨ your parent are proud of you and your mom probably is too.

When finally you get home you rapidly open the envelope you read the envelope and it says ¨Congrats! You're getting a 3-year contract for Chelsea FC, you have a flight in about a week we want you to pack up your things and fly to the United Kingdom.¨ You show the envelope to your dad and he smiles because he remembers when he got you your first soccer ball and now you're becoming a professional soccer player.