Jordan scowled. “Don’t blame me if it all goes pear-shaped,” he said.

Nothing much changed in the second half. Hasan gave Jordan the ball. Sometimes Jordan lost it. Sometimes he kept it to himself instead of passing to Faisal. In the end, Hasan got fed up and decided to go it alone. He beat two players and powered into the Five Ways penalty area. At the last moment, he overran the ball, and a defender pushed it out for a corner. Hasan took the set-piece. Sam could see Jordan wasn’t even trying to lose his marker. He wanted Hasan and Faisal gone, and this was his way of doing it.

Faisal had other ideas. As the ball came in, he ran into the area, climbed higher than anybody else and headed the ball home. 32

“Goal!”

The players mobbed Faisal. Celtic hadn’t scored a goal like that for weeks. Even Jordan’s mate Kai joined in. Jordan just stood to one side. Then he walked off on his own.

“Come on, boys,” Jack shouted from the touchline. “We can win this.”

Suddenly, it was all Celtic. Hasan and Faisal were at the heart of everything, but with five minutes to go, Celtic were still 2–1 down. Hasan picked up the ball in midfield. Jordan was running in space.

“Here. Here!” Jordan shouted.

At last, Jordan was finally trying. He saw a chance to score. Sam knew now that Jordan didn’t play for the team, just for himself. He was a real glory-hunter. He just wanted to be the one to score the next goal. 33

“Pass it. Pass it!” Jordan yelled.

But Hasan had other ideas. He put his foot on the ball, turned and saw Faisal coming in from the left. He rolled the ball forward, and Faisal hit it on the volley. He smacked it into the net and peeled away, arms out wide like wings. Even then, he didn’t say a word, but for once he was smiling.

34Celtic had scored, but Jordan was angry. “That was a fluke,” he said. “I had the best chance.”

Sam shook his head. “Stop moaning,” he said. “We got a draw. That’s a point on the board, and it’s no thanks to you.”

Sam caught up with Hasan and Faisal.

Jordan had never been a friend. Now Sam had made him an enemy.

35

Friendship through football

FRIENDSHIP THROUGH FOOTBALL

Refugees and asylum seekers are trying to escape from war and get to safety. When they arrive in the UK, they often have very little money and some of them don’t speak English. They don’t get to choose where they live and sometimes have to move around a lot. Sometimes, they have to leave Britain and are sent back to where they came from. It can be a very lonely and scary life.