There is one minute left of extra time on the clock, and the score is tied zero to zero. Diego passed John the ball into heavy pressure. There were three premiere league scouts in attendance, whose eyes were piercing the back of Diego's head. One of them had on a red Arsenal jersey, one had a blue Chelsea jersey, and one, who was much taller than the rest, had on casual clothing. This one looked oddly familiar but Diego couldn't place it. 

Three months earlier, Diego was leaving his house for practice when he saw his friends walking by. “Hey guys, where ya going?” They were going to get ice cream, and wanted to see if Diego would skip practice to go with them. “It's only a Monday night practice, you can skip it.” These thoughts echoed in the back of Diego's head, tempting Diego to follow them. “Your coach will never know. It’s not that important to you.” It was that last thought that convinced him. He knew at that moment that no matter what life threw at him and no matter what obstacles would be in his way, he would be a prefessional soccer player. It was what defined him. So, he went to practice that day, and the next. Even on the days where his team didn't have practices, he spent hours passing and shooting on the brick wall in his backyard. 

John got the ball and cruyffed it to his wing. The winger crossed the ball into John who perfectly timed his run not to be offsides. John jumped up for the header, like a younger Ronaldo, and striked the ball out of the air with full power. Diego could feel his heart beating out of his chest watching the ball soar at the net. 

 While Diego was walking to practice, he saw a man walking towards him. He was a very tall man with casual clothing. Diego kept his head down because he was distracted with fantasies of scoring in the champions league finals. He looked up again, but the man was nowhere to be found. In his head a voice so deep and scratchy it couldn't have been human said the words “Place the shot in the center of the goal.”

“So close,” the scout in the blue shirt said as John’s shot sailed over the top of the goal. BAM! The last defender slide tackled John in the goalie box. Down he went, holding his knee. Tweet Tweet! The ref held a red card high into the air for all to see. Diego got up from the ground and ran over to John who was writhing on the ground in pain. Diego helped him up, “I can’t do it,” was all John would say. As Diego helped John hobble off the field the realization hit him. The foul had happened inside the eighteen yard line, which would result in a free kick for Diegos team. When they reached the sideline Diego looked up into the stands again to see the red and blue shirt scouts with disappointed looks on their faces, but the third scout was gone. 

John stood a few steps away from the ball, with eyes like a hawk focused on the ball. In his head he was in full panic mode, stressing over where he would place his shot. “Was he going to risk an upper 90 shot, or was he going to place the ball on the ground? How hard was he willing to hit the ball? Too much power and he would send the ball flying like an airplane taking off. Too little and the goalie would have time to save it.” Before he could answer any of these questions the ref blew the whistle. It was time for Diego to take his shot. He started his run up slowly, trying with no avail to figure out where to place it. When all of a sudden he was back on the streets outside his house. He saw the same very tall man walking towards him. Faster this time like he was in a rush. “Place the shot in the center of the goal,” The same gradient unhuman voice said, “The goalie will dive early.” “Who are you?” Diego asked, freaked out by this strange predicament. “A better question is what am I,” The voice said. “I am not from this planet, and have traveled here across thousands of galaxies to help my friends at Liverpool recruit some players.” “How are you talking to me right now?” Diego asked. “I brought my time warp with me, but it only lasted about 30 seconds. You need to hurry up and take the shot.” 

With his body still in motion Diego’s mind returned to his body. Then he felt control over his muscles again, with two steps before his shot. Diego knew exactly where to place it. He had known since that fateful day when the alien had talked to him on the streets. With a calm collected mind he just had to execute his shot. Bam! Diego kicked the ball with the upper part of his cleat, sending the ball flying towards the goal. The goalie had jumped to the right corner of the goal before Diego had even hit the ball. The sound of the ball hitting the back of the net felt like all of heaven's angels singing to Diego. As he ran to his team to celebrate his goal, he spotted the tall scout once again. This time he was holding up a letter of recommendation signed by Liverpool. Diego would finally get to chase his dreams of being a professional player.