In the round of 16 I scored a goal in our 2-0 win over Spain and Julie got the other goal. We faced France in the quarter finals and beat them 4-2. I got a goal and assisted one of Alex's two goals and Lindsey got a goal off of a corner to put the game to rest. Our semi final game against England was difficult, but we won 3-2 with goals from Pinoe, Alex, and Christen. I had one of the assists as did Mal and Kelley.

Today is the World Cup Final against Germany.

Right now we are on the bus on the way to the stadium. The bus is quiet and everyone is in their own little world. Once we get to the stadium everyone files out of the bus and heads to the locker room. I set my stuff down and grab a ball and go out and do my seal walk.

After I did my seal walk, made my headband, and the team warmed up I went into the locker room and something in my locker looked off.

"Why is this in here?" I mumble then look at the team who are all looking at me. "Uh Alex I think they put this in the wrong locker." I hold the captains armband out to her.

"Nope it's right where it belongs" She says and I look at her in a confused manner.

"I don't understand." I say and Carli comes over with the team sheet and hands it to me.

"What's this?"

"Check your name Cairo." Carli says so I do and I see the captain symbol.

"This has to be a mistake."

"Nope. The team came together and selected you as captain today."

"Oh...Thanks." I say then change into my kit.

Carli and Jill do the pregame speeches then the starters go to the tunnel and the subs head to the bench.

When we get into the tunnel Lindsey and I face each other and cup each others faces. I then kiss Lindsey on the forehead and say, "I love you." Lindsey smiles then kisses my forehead and says, "I love you." Which makes me smile. We then tightly hug each other for around 10 seconds then I go to the front of the line.

As I'm walking up there I notice all the German players looking at me, but I don't pay them no mind. I just stand at the front and look straight ahead then grab the hand of the little kid who I'm taking out onto the field and walk out when told to.

Both anthems seemed to go on for forever and when they finally end both teams shake hands then Marozsán and I do the coin toss and they win the coin toss select to kick off first. I go tell the team then we get into positions.

The whistle blows and Germany kicks off the first half and for the first 40 minutes we get pummeled and are lucky to still be at 0-0. In the 43rd minute a German player receives a pass and dribbles at me. She's trying to bait me into fouling her so I stay a back from her a little. When she goes to shoot I raise my foot out to block it which unfortunately was the wrong thing to do. The ball was going to go well wide, but I didn't have enough time to move my foot and the ball hit my foot and redirected into the net for an own goal.

"FUCK" I yell then punt the ball when it gets close to me.

Once we kick off the whistle is blown so everyone walks to the locker rooms and as I get to our sideline Carli grabs me.

"Cairo do you want to talk or me?" Carli asks.

"I mean I'll just yell so whatever you wanna do." I say and Carli motions for Jill to come over.

"Yes?" Jill says.

"We got the halftime speech." Carli says.

"You got it."

Carli and I walk into the locker room and as the team files into the locker room I sit in my locker and drink water. Once everyone except the coaching staff is in the room Carli closes the door and does her constructive speech then walks to her locker and nods so I stand up and get where everyone can see me.

"What the fuck was that?" I start off and everyone looks at me shocked. "What are we doing? Are we trying to get second place?"

I guess the team isn't use to me being angry since everyone is looking at me still shocked.

"This isn't the fucking SheBelieves Cup, or the Tournament of Nations, or some fucking friendly against Panama. This is the fucking World Cup Final. And yeah I fucked up and I'm the reason we're losing, but we have 45 minutes to win this thing and I know you've got my back like I've got yours...Get your head out of your ass or get Jill to sub you out because I'm not fucking losing." I say then walk out of the locker room and head back to the field.

The team follow me out a minute later and soon after that we kick off and I guess the halftime talk work because the second half is a complete opposite of the first half. We never let our foot off the gas and pepper the German goal with shots, but nothing goes in. In the 89th minute Kelley bombed forward with the ball and once she got to the endline she crossed the ball into the box, but nobody was there to get on the end of it. The ball bounces to me so I hit on the volley with my laces and watch the ball as it sails into the upper 90 making it 1-1

After it goes in I notice I'm closest to the bench so I run over and jump on Christen. Christen goes to say something, but is cut off by everyone jumping on us. The full time whistle is blown two minutes later signaling we have 30 more minutes to win this thing.

"Well Cairo thank's for saving our asses." Jill says then does her speech.

Once the speech is over we get one last drink of water and then get onto the field a minute before Germany restarts the game.

3 minutes into extra time Pinoe is running to catch up to the ball, but she pulls up then sits on the ground and grabs her calf and the ref stops the game.

"Hey what's wrong?" I ask when I get to Pinoe.

"Something is wrong with my calf." She says while trying to stretch it.

"Okay well the trainers are here." I look over at Jill and she motions for me to come over to her so I run over.

"What's wrong? We can't here what the trainers are saying." Jill says and holds up the walkie talkie.

"Pinoe says somethings wrong with her calf." I say then turn around and look at the trainers. "Looks like she needs a sub."

Jill looks up and sees Dawn signal for a sub. "What do you think forward or midfielder?"

"Put Christen in." I say then see Pinoe coming to the sideline.

"CHRISTEN." Jill yells to get Christen's attention. "YOU'RE IN."

Christen nods then takes her bib off and gets ready to come on for Pinoe and we get on with the game.

In the 115th minute the score is 2-1 because, somehow, one of the Germans just scored. After the game restarted we attacked the Germans hard. They never got a pass off. With two minutes left of extra time Tobin got the ball 40 yards out and I saw some space so I ran towards it.

"TOBS TOBS TOBS" I yell.

Tobin looks up and passes me the ball and I run towards the ball and right before I catch up to it, about 30 yards from goal, I get taken down and the whistle blows while the referee signals for a free kick. I can hear the bench screaming for joy. I get given the ball so I place it and then step back 3 steps and stand with Tobin as we watch the ref do her thing to get the wall in place.

"Should I go for it?" I ask Tobin.

"Fuck it." She says.

The whistle blows so I take a deep breath then run up and smash my foot into the ball.

The ball knuckles in the air and the German keeper just watches as the ball goes into the upper 90 making it 2-2.

When the ball hits the net I turn around and sprint over to the bench and jump on Ash and we fall to the ground and everybody else dives on top of us.

"DID YOU REALLY JUST DO THAT?" Ash yells.

"CAIRO I LOVE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW." Kelley shouts.

"WHAT THE FUCK CAIRO" Kling yells.

Once we stop celebrating Germany kicks off then the whistle blows meaning we are headed to penalties.

"Well Cairo thanks for saving our asses...again." Jill says. "Okay so penalties. Here's who I want taking the five. Alex, Carli, Tobin, Christen, and Cairo in that order."

The whistle blows signaling the captains to come call to the coin toss so I go over there with Marozsán.

"Germany call it in the air." The ref says and flips the coin.

"HEADS." Marozsán shouts.

"It is tails. USA what would you like to do?"The ref says.

"We want to go second." I say and Marozsán points to the side with more German fans as the side we will be shooting on. We shake hands and I walk back over to the girls and I get met by Carli half way.

"We won the toss and we are going second." I say.

"I guess where shooting towards their fans?" She asks.

"Yeah."

"Okay well you have the armband so you talk to the girls." I nod as we get into the huddle. I link arms with Alex and Carli. I look around at all the players and all the coaching staff and everyone is looking at me before I start talking.

"Alright we are going second and are shooting towards their fans. Now girls.....FUCK. THEM. Are they better than us?"

"NO" The team yell

"Who was training at 6 am?"

"WE WERE."

"Who sacrificed their blood, sweat, and tears to be here?

"WE DID"

"WHO'S GOING TO GET THE FOURTH FUCKING STAR?"

"WE ARE"

"HANDS IN" I say and everyone puts their hands in. "USA ON 3 1...2...3"

"USA" The team shouts and the ladies on the bench walk back over to stand behind the touch line. Alyssa walks toward the goal and talks with the ref and the other goalie so the rest of the outfield players and I go stand at the halfway line and wrap our arms around each other. I'm in between Lindsey and Christen.

The first German player makes the long walk up to the penalty spot where she takes the ball and places it on the spot then does her routine before waiting. When the whistle blows the German player hits it into the right corner and Alyssa goes the right way, but there is too much pace on the ball so it goes in. Next up is Alex who easily scores her as do Carli and Tobin. Unfortunately thought the Germans haven't missed either.

Now it is Christen's turn. She takes a deep breath before walking to the penalty spot and doing her routine. Christen takes a deep breath and waits for the whistle to blow. When it does blow she does her run up then side-foots it into the bottom right corner as the keeper goes left. Needless to say everyone was happy. As Christen is walking back she has a smile on her face and I look over at Tobin and we both have smiles on our faces.

It's now 4-4 on penalties.

Marozsán makes the walk up to the penalty spot and gets given the ball. She sets the ball down and backs up and waits for the whistle then takes her shot.

HOLY SHIT.

SHE MISSED.

ALYSSA SAVED IT.

As Marozsán walks back to the halfway line I take a deep breath then kiss Lindsey's head and start my walk to the penalty spot and everything hits me.

I'm playing in a World Cup

I'm playing in a World Cup final.

I have a chance to win the World Cup.

When I get to the 18 yard box I am given the ball. I place the ball down on the spot then stand at the top of the box and wait.

The keeper is trying to stall. She should've done her homework. Stalling has never worked on me. While the keeper is stalling I stare straight at the ball and wait for the whistle.

After what feels like an hour the whistle blows so I take a deep breath then run up to the ball and put my laces through it.

The ball goes right.

The keeper goes right.

HOLY SHIT IT WENT IN.

When the ball hits the net I do a double take to check that it's actually in the net then take off toward Alyssa.

"ALYSSA" I yell then jump into her arms. "WE DID IT."

"FUCK YEAH WE DID." She yells then the team get to us and jump on us.

"Guys." Alyssa breathes out from the bottom of the pile.

"Can't breathe." I say.

Everyone gets off and I roll off of Alyssa then I'm helped up. As everyone goes and celebrates with their family I grab the ball from the net and take it into the locker room and put it in my bag then head back to the field. Everyone is still with their families so I just stand around while the podium is being constructed.

Suddenly I'm turned around and I come face to face with my beautiful girlfriend. Lindsey wraps her arms around my neck and my arms go around her waist. She then goes to say something, but I cut her off by kissing her.

"Sorry...I just really needed that." I say when air becomes an issue and Lindsey giggles.

"Ya know you're kinda hot when your angry." Lindsey says.

"And your hot all day everyday."

"Cairo." Lindsey says and blushes then puts her head on my shoulder.

"I love you." I say and kiss Lindsey's head.

"I love you too." Lindsey says into my shirt.

"Hey lovebirds we're starting." Mal says and Lindsey and I walk over and join the team.

"With 7 goals the golden boot goes to Cairo." The announcer says.

"Holy shit." I say then I'm pushed forward onto the podium and receive the golden boot trophy and take pictures then walk off the podium.

"And with 7 goals and 4 assists the golden ball goes to Cairo."The announcer says.

"What the fuck?" I say then look at everyone.

"GO" Kling says and pushes me forward toward the podium.

Once I get on the podium I receive the golden ball trophy and people take pictures of me with the person who gave it to me then of just me alone with the trophy. Once that's done I get off the podium and line up to clap for Germany, which I find ironic because if that was me I wouldn't want the team that just beat me to clap for me.

As Germany is going up to receive their medals I talk to Carli. "When do I go up?"

"Since you are captain today you'll go up last and they'll hand you the trophy."

"Oh."

Germany finishes getting their medals and now it's our turn. The girls and the coaching staff go ahead of me then when everyone is in line I get at the back of the line and follow everyone on to the podium. After I've got my medal I'm handed the trophy then I walk to the front of the group. Once there the girls count down from three then we lift the trophy as confetti blasts around us.

After we get off the podium everyone takes pictures with the trophy for a while then we head to the locker room. When we walk into our changing room every locker is covered with a plastic sheet and there is a tub of chilled champagne.

After I see the tub I walk over to Christen.

"Want to go wait in the tunnel with me?" I whisper to her.

"Why?" She asks.

"That's champagne." I say and point to the tub.

"Let's go." Christen says then we both turn around and look at the team.

"Alright you girls have fun." I say and start walking out of the room with Christen.

"Where are you two going?" Mal asks.

I point to the tub of champagne.

"I'm 8 years sober and Christen is a year and 8 months sober so we're going to let you girls have your fun, but we aren't jeopardizing our sobriety." I say.

"We know that." Carli says then walks over and grabs a bottle from the tub and walks toward Christen and I. "Which is why we got non-alcoholic champagne instead."

"Oh." I say and put on a fake smile not even Lindsey can see through.

My smile is fake because like usual I hate being the reason people can't fully have fun.

Everyone on the team then grabs a bottle and starts spraying and celebrating. For the next hour everyone is taking pictures with the trophy and dancing around the locker room. During our celebration I was given the golden boot trophy and the golden ball trophy and everyone wanted a picture with the golden ball so I did that for a while. After we got done taking pictures one of the assistant coaches came over and took my trophies for safe keeping.

After we ran out of fake champagne we took the plastic of our lockers and started changing. I was the first one to finish changing so I took my stuff to the bus then got on the bus and sat down and exhaled for what felt like the first time today. I'm pulled out of my thoughts by receiving a kiss on my cheek.

"You okay?" Lindsey asks.

"Yeah...I need to thank you." I say.

"For what baby?"

"I wouldn't be here without you. There was so many days I wanted to quit and not play anymore so thank you for always believing in me even when I don't believe in myself."

"I'll always believe in you."

"I love you Lindsey."

"I love you too Cairo."

Lindsey kisses me softly then lays her head on my shoulder and both of us nap the whole way back to the hotel.