"Astrid it's snowing." Kelley says as all the girls wait in the warm locker room.

"I can see that Kelley." I say as I zip up my heavy jacket. "I know you all really don't wanna be training in this weather, but this is our last training session before we play Norway so if you all give me two hours of good training then I will buy everyone coffee, hot chocolate, or any other hot drink you can think of."

The team nod then everyone heads onto the pitch and the team start getting loose.

"Random question, but can you catch the ball with one hand?" Kelley questions as I strap up my keeper gloves.

"Mhmm." I say.

"Well I wanna see that." Alex says.

"TOBIN." Kelley shouts then my wife looks up from across the field. "KICK THE BALL TO ASTRID."

Tobin shrugs then she boots the ball across the field. I watch the ball fly in the air then, as it gets to me, I catch it with one hand.

"Easy." I say then I drop the ball and volley it back to Tobin.

"Can you do it with out the glove?" Christen questions.

"Yep." I say then take off my right glove.

"TOBIN AGAIN." Lindsey shouts then Tobin boots the ball back towards me.

Once again I easily catch the ball with my gloveless hand then I drop the ball and volley it back to my wife.

"Told you." I say.

"How?" Kelley questions as my wife, along with everyone else, jogs over to us.

"Have you seen how big Astrids hands are?" Alana asks.

"How big are they?" Kelley questions and holds her hand up so I do the same.

"Your middle finger only reaches the first knuckle on her middle finger." Mal says.

"Seriously how big are your hands?" Christen asks.

"I believe their 9 and a half inches long and 10 inches wide." I say.

"Lucky Tobin." Ash says causing Tobin to blushes.

"LET'S GET STARTED LADIES." Dawn yells.

Bless you Dawn.

Dawn leads the team through their warm ups then the position groups get together so I head to the forwards first and watch their drills.

"How much will you give me if I hit Kelley?" I question as the next drill is being set up.

"Twenty bucks." Christen says.

"Hell I'll cook your favorite meal for you." Tobin says then I grab a hand full off snow and pack it into a ball.

I look for my sister and see her back turned to me so I throw the snowball at her. The forwards and I watch as the snowball hits my twin in the back. Kelley turns around and looks for who threw it and I would have got away with it, but the forwards all point at me.

"Snitches." I mumble.

"How could you?" Kelley dramatically says. "My own flesh and blood."

"Dork." I say.

"Snow ball fight?" Mal questions and looks at me with the rest of the team.

"Ah fuck it you guys have earned some fun." I say then I throw a snowball at Ash.

"SNOW BALL FIGHT." Kelley yells.

"Oh it is on Astrid." Ash says with an evil look in her eye.

Well this should be fun.

- - - - -

"Do you have the lineup?" An official asks.

I take the line up out of my jacket and check it over.

After I'm certain the line up is correct I hand it to the official then I walk into the locker room.

"It's started snowing ladies so do with that information as you will." I say then I see everyone looking at me. "What?"

I look around the room and I see my wife subtly pointing towards her jersey.

"Ahh I see you've noticed none of your names are on the jerseys." I say and look around the room.

Everyone just stares at me.

"Well after that shambolic qualifying tournament you need to earn the right to have your name on the back of the jersey. Some of you need to learn that if you play for the crest then the fans will remember your name. So until I feel you ladies have earned that right we will just have numbers on our backs."

A couple of the girls look at me in a shocked manner and I assume it's because they didn't expect I'd do something like this.

Eventually everyone puts their jersey's on so we do our last minute team talk then everyone heads to where their suppose to be. When I get to the bench I button up my wool trench coat then I put on my warm gloves, scarf and beanie right before the anthems start.

"Fucking hell it's cold." Ali mumbles. "Is your suit warm?"

"Very warm." I say as the first half kicks off.

The first half goes pretty well and we score two un-noteworthy goals through the run of play. Moe scores our first goal off a rebound of Alex's shot then Tobin scores our second after leaving a few Norwegians for dead.

At halftime I basically just let the girls warm up while tweaking a few tactical things. Once halftime I head back to the bench and sit down in my seat.

The coaching staff seating arrangement is Ali closest to the fourth official, myself, Ash, Becky, Carli, Dawn, then the AT's. I think the main reason Ali sit's where she sits is to stop me if I get angry with the refs.

"I wonder what the Norwegians think of her." Ash says and gestures to Ada Hegerberg who, along with her sister, is back playing for the national team.

"I don't know." Becky says

"Caroline says it took them time to trust her again, but now they know she's all in so they're cool." I say.

"Caroline?" Carli questions.

"Caroline Graham Hansen." I say. "We were teammates at Wolfsburg."

"Ah." Carli says as the second half kicks off.

The second half turns out a lot like the first half with us adding one more goal from Lynn right before the game ends.

Once the game ends I hug my coaching staff before I walk over and shake hands with the Norwegian coach. I then head onto the field and shake hands with the refs then I find one of my players.

"Alana." I say as I approach the centre back. "Tell everyone we'll do our team huddle in the locker room where it's warm."

"Got it." Alana says.

Two of us split up and I head towards the warm locker room.

"ASTRID." Someone behind me yells.

After hearing the yell I turn around and see my former teammate running at me.

"Hey Caroline." I say and hug the Norwegian. "How are you?"

"Pretty good." The brunette says. "How's being the manager of the US women's national team?"

"Stressful, but I enjoy it."

"Woulda been less stressful if you let us win."

"Ha ha." I say and shake my head at the Norwegian.

I hug Caroline one last time then we split up and I walk into the locker room with the team.

"Alright everyone." I say as the girls and I huddle in the locker room. "Great win tonight ladies. Now pack everything up and let's head to Italy."