Ben’s Little Team That Could
A tiny village team faces a mighty club in the cup. Can heart beat height?
The Teal Turtles were the smallest team in the whole village cup. Their pitch had more daisies than grass, their goalposts leaned, and their ball had a patch on it.
‘We’ve been drawn against the Giant Stompers!’ shouted Coach Percy. The team gulped. The Giant Stompers were enormous. They had matching boots, shiny shirts and their own bus.
‘We might not be big,’ said Ben, ‘but we can be clever. And we can practise.’ So every morning, before the dew had dried, the Teal Turtles trained on the daisy pitch.
They learned to pass quickly. They learned to dribble round cones, and then round each other. Theo practised shooting at a flowerpot. Each day they got a little better.
Match day came. The stadium was loud, and the Giant Stompers looked like towers. Leo the lion laughed. ‘Are you lost?’ The Teal Turtles stuck together and shouted ‘Together, together, together!’
The Giant Stompers were big, but the little team was quick. The ball zipped between them, and they couldn’t catch it. At half time, the score was 0-0, and the crowd was on its feet!
With one minute to go, Theo flicked a pass through a gap. Ben ran faster than ever before. He shot with his left foot, and the ball curled into the corner. GOAL!
The final whistle blew. The little team had done it! The villagers cheered. Leo shook Ben’s hand. ‘You are not small,’ he said. ‘You’re the biggest-hearted team I’ve ever played.’
The little lesson
Practice, teamwork and a never-give-up spirit can take you very far.
Let’s talk about it
- What does ‘underdog’ mean?
- What do you think was the team’s secret?
Finish stories to collect Ben as a sticker in your Sticker Book.
More Football stories
Enzo’s Day We Didn’t Win
Enzo’s team lost, and Enzo feels like stomping. But there’s a surprise at the end.
Ollie and the Pitch for Everyone
The big kids always use the pitch. So Ollie and friends make a team of their own.
Tomas’s Park Mystery
On Saturday morning, the goalposts have disappeared! Time for the Football Detectives.
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