Free Soccer Mystery by Charles Tang Page A

just use two balls for practice,” said Henry. He, Jessie, and Soo Lee had all played soccer before. Soo Lee was a very good soccer player. She had played in Korea, where she was born. Like her cousins, Soo Lee was an orphan. Aunt Alice and Uncle Joe had adopted her.

    Soo Lee, Jessie, and Henry showed Benny and Violet how to kick. Then they showed them how to run and kick the ball to someone else to make a pass.
    “You can use every part of your body to move the ball, Soo Lee explained. “Except your arms and hands. Only goalies can use their arms and hands to catch the ball and keep it from going in the goal.”
    Soo Lee, Henry, and Jessie showed Benny and Violet how to kick the ball and keep it just in front of their feet on the ground as they ran forward. “When you move the ball forward like that,” Soo Lee explained, “it is called dribbling.”
    Then Soo Lee and Jessie put their backpacks next to each other a few feet apart. “This will be our goal,” said Soo Lee. “I’ll be the goalie. You divide into two teams and play against each other and try to score.”
    Henry and Violet were one team. Jessie and Benny were another. They kicked and passed the ball and tried to keep it away from each other and shoot it into the goal. But no one could score. Soo Lee caught every shot they kicked toward the goal.
    Then Henry stood at the goal. He caught every shot, too.
    “You’re good at the goal. And you’re tall. You would make a good goalie,” Soo Lee told him. “Maybe you should try out for that.”
    Watch sat on the sidelines and watched them play. Sometimes he barked. Then, suddenly, just as Benny got the ball and tried to kick it toward the goal, Watch ran out onto the field! He knocked the ball away from Benny. Then Watch began to push the ball with his nose.
    Everyone stopped, and when they did, Watch pushed the ball right past Henry and into the goal.
    “Yeah, Watch!” cried Soo Lee.
    “Watch is a good soccer player, too,” said Violet. She wiped her forehead with her sleeve. “Whew! I’m tired.”
    “We should stop. We don’t want to be too tired to practice tomorrow,” said Jessie.
    Everyone agreed that it was time to stop. But before they could go home, they had to chase Watch to get the soccer ball back. He was very good at keeping it away from the others.
    At last Benny caught him. “Game’s over, Watch,” he said, laughing.
    As they walked out of the park, Violet said, “Soccer is not as hard as I thought it would be.”
    “You are doing really well, Violet,” said Soo Lee. “So are you, Benny.”
    “Thank you,” said Benny. He bent down to pat Watch on the head. “But you know who the best player is? Watch!”
    “Woof!” said Watch.

CHAPTER 2
Which Team Is the Best?
    “G osh,” whispered Violet to Jessie. “Look at all these people! What if I’m not on a team with anyone I know?” Violet was a little shy, and sometimes meeting new people made her nervous.
    Jessie said, “I’m glad there are a lot of people. That means we’ll have lots of teams. We’ll make new friends, too.”
    “Maybe,” said Violet. She still felt shy. But Jessie’s words had made her feel better.
    The day for tryouts for the summer soccer league had come at last. The sun was shining, and the grass of the soccer fields next to the community center was very green. Everywhere, children of all ages were racing back and forth passing soccer balls to each other. Others were dribbling up and down the field.
    “Look,” said Benny. He pointed to a girl who was bouncing a ball on the top of her foot. As they watched, she bounced the ball higher and caught it with the top of her knee. Then she bounced it even higher and made it land on her head. She bounced the ball on her head a few times, then let it drop to the ground, where she caught it with her foot again.
    The girl smiled a little as she played with the ball. Her dark ponytail swung behind her, brushing against her golden yellow shirt.
    “Wow,”