Soccer 'Cats #5 Read online

  “C’mon Jason,” Dale said, throwing an arm around his friend. “Let’s go home.”

  Jason was too amazed to do anything but tag along with Dale. He had never seen his friend so steamed before!

  “Gee, thanks, Dale,” he said when they were off the field and walking by the playground.

  Dale grinned at him. “Aww, it was nothing. But I sure would like to wipe that smug look off of Stookie Norris’s face. Wouldn’t it be great if you somehow turned into a good goalie by the game? That’d show him.”

  Jason walked along in silence for a moment. Then he stopped Dale. “Maybe—maybe, if you helped me, I could turn into a good goalie. Or at least, not a bad one.”

  “But where would we start?” Dale asked. “No offense, Jason, but you need help with everything.”

  “I know,” Jason agreed glumly. “And there’s so much to know, it’s kind of overwhelming.” He suddenly remembered the two kids he’d seen practicing baseball slides and rebounds. They’d looked a little silly to him at the time, but now Jason realized they were doing just what he should be doing—practicing the same thing over and over, one thing at a time.

  He tugged at Dale’s arm. “C’mon,” he said. “We’ve got work to do!”

  Chapter 7

  Minutes later, Dale and Jason were in Jason’s backyard. Jason had set out two chairs to act as the goal. A garden hose stretched on the ground between them represented the goal line. He had brought out the library book, too, and was reading through it.

  “Okay,” he said, closing the book. “First things first. There are three parts of the body I have to train—my hands, my eyes, and my feet. Hands for catching, eyes for watching the ball, feet for moving to and behind the ball.”

  “So how do we train those body parts?”

  “I crouch down and hold my hands in a W like this.” He demonstrated the catching position.

  Dale nodded. “I’ve seen Bucky do that.”

  “You toss me some easy throws,” Jason continued. “I catch them.”

  Dale picked up the ball. “Let’s get started.”

  For the next ten minutes, Dale lobbed some soft tosses to Jason. Jason caught them easily. He signaled for Dale to start throwing harder. Dale did.

  Jason caught some of them, but some he fumbled.

  “Check your hand position,” Dale advised. “I think it was wrong on that last catch.”

  After another fifteen minutes, Jason was doing better. “Let’s move on to the next thing,” he called to Dale. “You throw it next to me instead of right to me, and I try to get behind it.”

  “Are you going to dive for them?” Dale asked.

  Jason shook his head. “Not yet. The book says it’s a good idea to first learn to move my feet to get behind the ball.”

  On Dale’s first throw, Jason tripped over the garden hose and fell flat on his face. Dale burst out laughing. Jason gave his friend a hurt look.

  “Sorry,” Dale said, still chuckling. “But I’m so used to laughing at you that it’s hard to stop, even when I know you’re being serious.”

  Jason toed the ball back to Dale. “I guess it’s my own fault for being such a clown all the time,” he admitted, not looking up. “I must really make people mad when I don’t take the Soccer ’Cats seriously.”

  Dale dribbled up to him. “Maybe sometimes,” he said. “But you know what? No one else on the team makes us laugh like you do. And soccer is supposed to be fun.”

  Jason broke into a lopsided grin. “Think that’s what Stookie thinks?”

  Dale returned his grin. “Does Stookie think at all? I wonder sometimes. He sure doesn’t seem to think before he speaks.”

  Jason laughed. “Well, let’s make him think twice about the things he said to me today. C’mon, let’s take a break. My feet want to take me into the kitchen so my hands can wrap themselves around a sandwich.”

  “What are your eyes going to do?”

  “They’re going to watch you make my sandwich, of course!”

  Cracking up, the boys raced into the house.

  Chapter 8

  During lunch, Dale and Jason looked through the soccer book together.

  “Now I’ll be able to coach you better,” Dale said as he closed the book to finish his sandwich.

  “Okay, Coach, what’s our next move?” Jason said.

  Dale gave him a stern look and pointed to the lunch dishes. “Clean up this mess. Then back to work!”

  And work is just what they did, that afternoon and for the next two days.

  Jason tried hard to improve. He took it one step at a time, working to master one skill before moving on to the next.

  Dale was a good coach. When a hard kick rolled between Jason’s legs, Dale reminded him to keep his feet together.

  Once, he pointed out that Jason seemed to be too close to the garden hose.

  “Didn’t the book say to be sure to stay farther in front of the goal line? You know, so that you have room to take a step back if you need to, and so the ref knows for sure the ball was caught out of the goal?”

  Jason nodded and moved forward a few paces.

  By Wednesday afternoon, Jason felt ready to try some harder saves.

  “Try kicking one up to the corner,” he called to Dale. Dale did.

  Jason jumped high and to the left, arms outstretched. He missed the ball by a foot.

  “Rats,” he said, discouraged.

  “Hey, it’s only your first try,” Dale reminded him. “It took you three days of practice just to get good at easy saves. It’s going to take more practice to get good at harder ones.”

  Jason sighed. “I know. It’s just that there’s hardly any time left before the game!” He sat down on one of the goal chairs. “And there’s something else, too. I’m okay when it’s just you and me. But what if I choke during a game, when I’m being swarmed?”

  Dale sat on the other chair. “Good point. We should get more guys to help you work on that.”

  “When? There’s only one day left before the game with the Panthers!”

  “So we use that day as best we can.” Dale stood up. “You call half the Soccer ’Cats tonight, and I’ll call half. Tell them to meet at the field first thing tomorrow.”

  “What if they don’t want to?”

  Dale smiled. “Then tell them they have a choice. They can have a decent goalie on the field against the Panthers—or they can have the Master of Disaster!”

  Chapter 9

  The Soccer ’Cats all agreed to show up. Jason went to bed smiling.

  But the next morning, his smile vanished as he heard the worst sound in the world: rain.

  The soccer field is probably one big, giant mud puddle, Jason thought as he poked at his cereal. So much for today’s practice.

  He emptied his bowl into the sink and headed to the living room to watch TV. He was flicking through the channels when the doorbell rang. It was Dale, smiling out from under the hood of a raincoat. He was carrying a soccer ball.

  “Put on your rattiest pair of sneakers and an old sweatshirt and shorts,” he said. “The team’s waiting for you.”

  Too astonished to protest, Jason did as he was told. Five minutes later, he was at the soccer field with the rest of the ’Cats. They were all wearing their most worn-out clothes and sneakers—and were dripping wet from head to toe.

  Jason started laughing. “Am I in the right place? I’m looking for the Soccer ’Cats—not the Drowned Rats!”

  As everyone laughed, Stookie Norris suddenly picked up a ball and fired it at Jason. Jason caught it cleanly and held it tight against his chest, just as the book had instructed. Stookie raised his eyebrows.

  “Not bad,” he said. “Maybe tomorrow’s game won’t be such a disaster, after all.”

  “Let’s split into defense and offense,” Bundy suggested, “and give Jason a taste of what that game might be like.”

  “It’ll taste like victory!” Dale cheered. He pumped his fist in the air with such enthusiasm tha
t he lost his balance and fell face first into the mud.

  “Bet it’ll be better than what you just got a taste of,” Jason drawled. Everyone laughed, then headed for the field.

  Lou, Stookie, and Dale took up offensive positions on the midfield line. Amanda, Dewey, and Bundy backed them up. Playing defense with Jason were Lisa, Ted, Alan Minter, and Edith “Eddie” Sweeny.

  “All set, Jason?” Bundy called.

  “Let ’er rip!” came Jason’s reply.

  Stookie placed the ball on the ground, then toed it to Lou. Lou took off for the goal. Lisa and Ted double-teamed him and tried to steal the ball. But Lou passed back to Dewey, who passed it to Dale.

  Dale dribbled a few feet, dodged around Alan, then booted the ball as hard as he could toward the goal.

  Jason was ready. He uncoiled from his crouch, hands held in the W position, and stopped the ball cold.

  “Whoa!” exclaimed Eddie. “Nice save!”

  Jason grinned and lobbed the ball back to the forward line.

  This time, Lou started the play by kicking the ball back to Bundy. Bundy immediately returned it to Lou, who dribbled furiously down the sideline. Ted and Lisa were on him again, but Lisa slipped and fell in the mud. Lou barreled on toward the goal.

  Jason shifted from foot to foot, hands ready. Lou unleashed a powerful shot aimed at the left side of the goal. Jason moved sideways and got his body behind the ball. He didn’t catch it, but he did deflect it so that it bounced harmlessly away.

  Bundy scooped it up. “Two for two,” he said. “Good job.” He tossed the ball back to the forward line.

  The practice continued. Jason saved about half the shots on goal. He was covered with mud, but he didn’t care. His hard work was paying off!

  “Bucky better be careful,” Lisa commented after a blocked shot, “or he’ll be out of a job.”

  “Oh, really? Who’s taking my job?”

  Jason whirled around. There behind the net stood Bucky.

  Chapter 10

  Hey, look who’s here!” Lisa yelled.

  “We thought you were on vacation,” Bundy said as the rest of the Soccer ’Cats gathered around.

  “My mom got called back on business, so we had to come home,” Bucky answered. He looked at his mud-covered teammates and shook his head. “Sure am glad I missed this practice.”

  “Jason’s been learning how to play goalie,” Dale said. “He’s getting pretty good, too.”

  “But now that you’re back,” Stookie cried, “we won’t need him! Look out, Panthers, here we come!”

  Bucky grinned and all the Soccer ’Cats cheered—all, that is, except Jason and Dale. Dale tried to put an arm around Jason, but Jason shrugged him off. He walked off the field and headed for home.

  Who needs ’em? he thought as he slogged through the rain. All they care about is winning.

  A car horn beeped and startled him out of his dark thoughts. He looked up to see Coach Bradley leaning out of a car window.

  “I thought that was you, Jason,” the coach said. “C’mon, I’ll give you a lift home.”

  Jason got in the car, buckled his seat belt, and slumped down in the seat.

  “How’d you get so muddy?” the coach asked.

  Jason hesitated. If he told the truth, the coach would surely figure out that he’d lied to him about knowing how to play goalkeeper. He was pretty sure the coach didn’t like liars.

  But what would it matter? Now that Bucky was back, Jason would be riding the pine, anyway. So he told the coach how he’d been practicing his goalkeeping skills to get ready for the game against the Panthers.

  Coach Bradley looked astonished. “In the rain?” he said, eyebrows raised. “Why?”

  “I didn’t want to let the team down,” Jason answered. “But hey, Bucky’s back, so I guess you won’t have to change the starting lineup, after all. What a relief.”

  The coach looked sideways at Jason. “No, I guess I won’t.” He pulled into Jason’s driveway and put the car into park. “See you tomorrow, Jason.”

  Jason ducked out of the car before the coach could see his tears.

  Jason almost didn’t go to the game the next day. He didn’t want to see how happy everyone was to have Bucky back. But Dale showed up at his house fifteen minutes before the game and convinced him to go.

  “And bring your goalie shirt,” Dale added.

  “Oh, good idea,” Jason said sarcastically. “It’ll make a nice cushion to sit on while I’m on the bench. Or if it rains, I can use it for an umbrella. Or how about a hat if it’s too sunny?”

  “Just bring it,” Dale insisted.

  The first people Jason saw when they reached the field were Coach Bradley and Bucky. Coach Bradley was patting Bucky on the back and smiling broadly.

  “Bet he’s feeling lucky to have his goalie, Bucky,” Jason said with a half-laugh, half-snort. “Get me. I’m a poet and don’t know it.” Dale shook his head.

  Coach Bradley called for attention. “Let’s get ready for warm-ups. But first, here’s the starting lineup.” As he read the roster, Jason listened with half an ear. It was the same as usual—Lou, Stookie, and Jerry at forward, Amanda, Dewey, and Bundy at halfback, Ted, Lisa, Alan, and Brant at fullback. Then he heard something that made him sit up. “And because he’s worked so hard all week, I’m starting Jason in the goal.”

  As the rest of the Soccer ’Cats cheered, Jason sat stock-still, dumbfounded.

  “Hey, he’s finally quiet, for once in his life!” Dale said with a laugh.

  Stookie joined in. “We better hope he finds his tongue soon—after all, isn’t that his tried-and-true method for goalkeeping?”

  Jason popped a piece of gum in his mouth and grinned. “Nah, that was someone else’s method—a guy I like to call the Master of Disaster! But he’s going to sit on the bench this game while I show him how real goalkeepers do their thing!”

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  SOCCER ’CATS

  #5

  Master of Disaster

  Matt Christopher

  Illustrated by Daniel Vasconcellos

  Jason Shearer is better known for his wisecracks than his goalkeeping abilities. But that had better change fast because the Soccer ’Cats starting goalie is going on vacation, and Jason’s taking his place! Will Jason be able to learn all there is to know about goalkeeping before the game against the always tough Panthers?

  Matt Christopher is the bestselling name behind more than 100 sports-themed books for young readers. For a list of books in the Soccer ’Cats series, please refer to the last page of this book.

  #1: The Captain Contest

  #2: Operation Baby-Sitter

  #3: Secret Weapon

  #4: Hat Trick

  #5: Master of Disaster

  #6: Heads Up!

  #7: All Keyed Up

  #8: You Lucky Dog

  #9: Switch Play!

  #10: Kick It!

  #11: Making the Save

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Welcome

  Dedication

  Soccer ’Cats Team Roster

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

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  Soccer ’Cats

  Copyright

  Copyright

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Text copyright © 2001 by Catherine M. Christopher

  Illustrations copyright © 2001 by Daniel Vasconcellos

  Cover © 2001 Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  All rights reserved. In accordan
ce with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is unlawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.

  Little, Brown and Company

  Hachette Book Group

  1290 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10104

  lb-kids.com

  Little, Brown and Company is a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The Little, Brown name and logo are trademarks of Hachette Book Group, Inc.

  The publisher is not responsible for websites (or their content) that are not owned by the publisher.

  Matt Christopher® is a registered trademark of Matt Christopher Royalties, Inc.

  First ebook edition: December 2014

  ISBN 978-0-316-38275-5

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