Gomez’s Composure, Edwards’ Scream and Gala’s Goal

By Ben Knight Onward!

The eyes have it
In the end, I decided to take Friday evening off. I cooked up a steak, cracked open a cold beer, and settled in comfortably in the fan-cooled living room of Onward!’s palatial East York estate.

With all preconception and argument set aside, I watched Toronto FC lose 5-1 to Spanish giants Real Madrid. And, through my eyes, here is what I think I saw … through theirs.

Emmanuel Gomez: Eighteen years old, and Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema and Raul are bearing down on you. That’s one of the finest strike forces in human history.

You’re still trying to get used to this new place called Toronto, thousands of real miles and millions of cultural ones from your distant home in Gambia. And now you’ve got to deal with this.

You’ll go crazy if you watch Ronaldo’s feet. Those step-overs are a blur. There’s no possible way to read them. And he’s not there anyway. He’s already gone, streaking goalward with blinding confidence – and pace. Trying to read the others won’t do you much good either. There’s too many of them, and they’re just too good.

So forget about them. Watch the ball. Even at the feet of the Galacticos, it’s still just a ball. Just like back at home. Just like any game you’ve ever played. When you see it coming just that way, and you put your foot just there, the ball stops. The ball is yours. Then, just keep your head, and get it going the other direction.

And no, of course it’s not that simple. But that’s what Gomez mostly did. He ignored the bravado, and played the ball. As cool and composed as the greatness all around him. So what if he couldn’t equal their talent? He held his purpose, and won a couple of well-earned possessions. And he didn’t throw them away, either.

Keep your dismissive talk of this just being a pre-season scrimmage for the soccer gods from Spain. This kid hung in there – by keeping his eye on the ball.

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