2026-06-03, 09:46 AM - Word count:
Before the last match, the manager had promised the players something. No matter the result of the match, the end of the season would be the same. Not in the table, far from it, but what would come next. The final moments. The real end. This was what the Eagles always did, he had said.
And so they found themselves here. Granted a view that had eluded them for the past year. One, they could only truly savour for that very reason. Although none of them had felt like they would enjoy anything some ten hours prior, when they got up early in the morning. No teenage boy likes getting up as early as they had, but they were all residing at the academy dorm, and certain responsibilities come with privileges like that. This was one of them. Rarely had there been so many unenthusiastic faces in the canteen as when the staff did a little headcount. It wasn’t only that it was early, but also the fact that the season had ended the way it had. Who on Earth would want to get out of bed after blowing a year’s work like that?
After gathering in the canteen, the boys had been led out to the team bus for one last away trip. Except it really was more of a home trip. A home coming of sorts.
They had spent an entire year at the academy, minimum, and although much of that had been donated to near-constant travelling, it nonetheless was quite an unusual experience. Only now did the youngsters all get to see what everyone else associated with the place they would call home for only a few more nights. During the bus ride, some of the young footballers’ heads had moved from the ground to entertaining thoughts of where they might be going. Some sort of mood was building. Excitement wasn’t quite the right term, curiosity seemed a more appropriate description. The silence was broken, and although some of the boys continued to pretend that they were half or wholly asleep, their ears were picking up little whispers and low voices. They were eventually dropped off inside a fenced-off area outside of town. So, this was it, huh.
Split into small groups, the footballers were loaded onto a number of jeeps, and that could only mean one thing: they were going on a safari.
The safari had been quite the way to brighten the moods of the players. It may not have been intended as such, for the promise to grant the players the same reward for the season irrespective of the final standings had been made prior to the last matchday. Nevertheless, there was nothing like being amazed at the sight of a pack of elephants at a watering hole that could take away one’s thoughts. If there were, it would have to be the fact that the same watering hole played host to various other animals that most of the Victoria Falls Eagles-players had only ever seen on screens, or in a few cases at the zoo. Or the fact that they encountered numerous other animals, majestic, beautiful, funny, or even just surprising, throughout the hours they spent driving around the area. By the time they were having lunch on the deck of some fancy safari lodge, all they were talking about was the animals they had seen, asking whether their friends aboard other jeeps had also spotted them, or cursing at the ones they themselves had missed out on. Some made comparisons to animals from their respective home countries, and so time passed as they enjoyed their exquisite lunch, free from the dietary restrictions that normally held footballers in their tight bind.
The sun was beginning to set. Everyone was starting to gather back on land in anticipation of the sight of the sun as it would be reflected in the water a few dozen minutes from now.
After the lunch, the team had been driven to their namesake. To the actual Victoria Falls. Upon arrival, they had spent some time discovering the local surroundings, mostly heeding their guides’ warnings not to venture too far into the green areas. However beautiful they might be, the area was massive, the animals were real and wild, and there was no guarantee they would be found again were they to disappear. The typical type of instructions given by teachers to schoolkids on an outing, apart from the local twist. After a while, most of the academy prospects had gotten in the water to try and feel it. To really take it in and make it part of themselves. It was as though the longer they soaked in the water, the more of Victoria Falls would enter through their pores and mesh with their very blood, making a lasting mark on their bodies allowing them to bring with them a little of this year wherever they were to go.
Sitting down by the water, they eventually started talking about the way things had ended. About how they had been set for first when Joe fired the ball into the net three times against Atleticó Medellín, all three times off his first touch. One struck from outside the box into the top corner, another at high speed, as he overtook his teammate Nacho Kusora to slot it home flat, and another from behind the defenders after a cross meant for Kusora eluded the lot. Unfortunately, the second had been ruled out for an offside they were not too convinced existed. The same had happened to Kusora’s goal some ten minutes before time. And that was when disaster struck, and their opponents equalised from one of their very few attacks in the match, two minutes before added time, ball falling from a messy play following a corner, to a player who likely hit the strike of his youth career, ball going in off the post from very, very far out. Joe had been the man of the moment, only that moment was never to be, as the draw saw the title race going to the final match. A match that he never quite got into, and with the nerves even more apparent on the defensive side of things, the Eagles had conceded an incredible six times. Even their free-flowing attack was not enough to keep them above the pack, and with six holes in their wings, they fell from the sky. Second place was all they got, despite scoring five in the final match. Yet, no one player was to blame. It wouldn’t be fair. They had all contributed, good and bad. Their approach to football had seen them showering in goal scoring opportunities, and sometimes drowning in shots from their opponents. That had been their way. Their own way. In the end, it just so happened that it wasn’t entirely enough to get them over the finishing line.
The water was beginning to shine in the hue of the sun. The voices quieted down. Looking up, they could see shadows circling above. “The real Victoria Falls eagles,” someone cleverly remarked. This place really was quite something. “It’s quite beautiful, innit,” a certain Scotsman joined in.
“Also strange. It looks like shadows of birds,” Joe injected into their conversation.
Quiet fell over the boys. The whole area was glowing orange.
“In just a few weeks, we might be rivals, y'know." Having taken in the view for a long time, someone was finally able to speak again.
“Yeah, or the only ones who know each other in a new team,” someone else muttered.
“That’ll only happen for a couple of us, won’t it.”
“I suppose. Rivals, then.”
“From friends to rivals in just a few days.”
“And the only proof we’ll have that we ever were anything else is this moment.”
“It’s kind of strange,” finished Joe.
It sure is. Strange, but beautiful. In its own way. Just like the Eagles.
And so they found themselves here. Granted a view that had eluded them for the past year. One, they could only truly savour for that very reason. Although none of them had felt like they would enjoy anything some ten hours prior, when they got up early in the morning. No teenage boy likes getting up as early as they had, but they were all residing at the academy dorm, and certain responsibilities come with privileges like that. This was one of them. Rarely had there been so many unenthusiastic faces in the canteen as when the staff did a little headcount. It wasn’t only that it was early, but also the fact that the season had ended the way it had. Who on Earth would want to get out of bed after blowing a year’s work like that?
After gathering in the canteen, the boys had been led out to the team bus for one last away trip. Except it really was more of a home trip. A home coming of sorts.
They had spent an entire year at the academy, minimum, and although much of that had been donated to near-constant travelling, it nonetheless was quite an unusual experience. Only now did the youngsters all get to see what everyone else associated with the place they would call home for only a few more nights. During the bus ride, some of the young footballers’ heads had moved from the ground to entertaining thoughts of where they might be going. Some sort of mood was building. Excitement wasn’t quite the right term, curiosity seemed a more appropriate description. The silence was broken, and although some of the boys continued to pretend that they were half or wholly asleep, their ears were picking up little whispers and low voices. They were eventually dropped off inside a fenced-off area outside of town. So, this was it, huh.
Split into small groups, the footballers were loaded onto a number of jeeps, and that could only mean one thing: they were going on a safari.
The safari had been quite the way to brighten the moods of the players. It may not have been intended as such, for the promise to grant the players the same reward for the season irrespective of the final standings had been made prior to the last matchday. Nevertheless, there was nothing like being amazed at the sight of a pack of elephants at a watering hole that could take away one’s thoughts. If there were, it would have to be the fact that the same watering hole played host to various other animals that most of the Victoria Falls Eagles-players had only ever seen on screens, or in a few cases at the zoo. Or the fact that they encountered numerous other animals, majestic, beautiful, funny, or even just surprising, throughout the hours they spent driving around the area. By the time they were having lunch on the deck of some fancy safari lodge, all they were talking about was the animals they had seen, asking whether their friends aboard other jeeps had also spotted them, or cursing at the ones they themselves had missed out on. Some made comparisons to animals from their respective home countries, and so time passed as they enjoyed their exquisite lunch, free from the dietary restrictions that normally held footballers in their tight bind.
The sun was beginning to set. Everyone was starting to gather back on land in anticipation of the sight of the sun as it would be reflected in the water a few dozen minutes from now.
After the lunch, the team had been driven to their namesake. To the actual Victoria Falls. Upon arrival, they had spent some time discovering the local surroundings, mostly heeding their guides’ warnings not to venture too far into the green areas. However beautiful they might be, the area was massive, the animals were real and wild, and there was no guarantee they would be found again were they to disappear. The typical type of instructions given by teachers to schoolkids on an outing, apart from the local twist. After a while, most of the academy prospects had gotten in the water to try and feel it. To really take it in and make it part of themselves. It was as though the longer they soaked in the water, the more of Victoria Falls would enter through their pores and mesh with their very blood, making a lasting mark on their bodies allowing them to bring with them a little of this year wherever they were to go.
Sitting down by the water, they eventually started talking about the way things had ended. About how they had been set for first when Joe fired the ball into the net three times against Atleticó Medellín, all three times off his first touch. One struck from outside the box into the top corner, another at high speed, as he overtook his teammate Nacho Kusora to slot it home flat, and another from behind the defenders after a cross meant for Kusora eluded the lot. Unfortunately, the second had been ruled out for an offside they were not too convinced existed. The same had happened to Kusora’s goal some ten minutes before time. And that was when disaster struck, and their opponents equalised from one of their very few attacks in the match, two minutes before added time, ball falling from a messy play following a corner, to a player who likely hit the strike of his youth career, ball going in off the post from very, very far out. Joe had been the man of the moment, only that moment was never to be, as the draw saw the title race going to the final match. A match that he never quite got into, and with the nerves even more apparent on the defensive side of things, the Eagles had conceded an incredible six times. Even their free-flowing attack was not enough to keep them above the pack, and with six holes in their wings, they fell from the sky. Second place was all they got, despite scoring five in the final match. Yet, no one player was to blame. It wouldn’t be fair. They had all contributed, good and bad. Their approach to football had seen them showering in goal scoring opportunities, and sometimes drowning in shots from their opponents. That had been their way. Their own way. In the end, it just so happened that it wasn’t entirely enough to get them over the finishing line.
The water was beginning to shine in the hue of the sun. The voices quieted down. Looking up, they could see shadows circling above. “The real Victoria Falls eagles,” someone cleverly remarked. This place really was quite something. “It’s quite beautiful, innit,” a certain Scotsman joined in.
“Also strange. It looks like shadows of birds,” Joe injected into their conversation.
Quiet fell over the boys. The whole area was glowing orange.
“In just a few weeks, we might be rivals, y'know." Having taken in the view for a long time, someone was finally able to speak again.
“Yeah, or the only ones who know each other in a new team,” someone else muttered.
“That’ll only happen for a couple of us, won’t it.”
“I suppose. Rivals, then.”
“From friends to rivals in just a few days.”
“And the only proof we’ll have that we ever were anything else is this moment.”
“It’s kind of strange,” finished Joe.
It sure is. Strange, but beautiful. In its own way. Just like the Eagles.
