When the final final whistle sounded and the Sarzonian national football team secured a 3-2 victory over Carpathia and Ruthenia at Bencoolen City Stadium, Caleb Rush knew he'd made the right decision.
There were a couple of decisions that worked out far better than he had a right to hope for, in fact. The first was to chalk up the team's 5-1 loss to Polar Islandstates in the group stage finale to an aberration, a one-off disaster class.
The second was to suspend defender Bill Kelley and forward Spencer Wilson, the former for the entire match and the latter until the 106th minute of play.
"I wasn't going to let what happened in the dressing room after the Terns match go without accountability," Rush said. "After a couple of additional conversations with both men, I came to the conclusion that was the right approach." When asked why he chose the full match for Kelley and not Wilson, Rush said it was an "internal matter."
Wilson notched the eventual match winner with the third of five minutes of stoppage time coming to a close. He began a run just past the Carpathian side of the centre circle and used his speed and fresh legs against a tiring defence to knife his way into position. He fired a blistering rocket that blazed past the glove of goalkeeper Federica Antonini and into the upper right corner of the goal.
The players on the Stars bench leapt to their feet and exulted. Rush began to call out instructions to the defence in anticipation of their foes' desperation to force the penalty round that they seemed assured was arriving. He'd seen enough over the course of his career to know the match wasn't over until he heard three loud blasts of the referee's whistle. After goalkeeper John Wells punched the urgent corner kick out of the box toward defender and team captain Ken Webb and just as he was launching the ball as far as he could send it, those sweet sounds finally came.
It was the third meeting between Sarzonia and Carpathia and Ruthenia in the same World Cup cycle, and it was the second time Sarzonia tasted victory over Carpathia and Ruthenia. As the team applauded the contingent of Sarzonian supporters, Wilson caught a glimpse of a rainbow flag, then tapped the area of his face about one centimetre from his right eye and smiled.
After most of the team gathered in the dressing room after their showers, Rush looked and saw one player missing. The other players were either partly or completely dressed, but one player wasn't in the room.
"Where's Wilson?" Rush asked.
"He's showering," Kelley replied.
"Of course," Rush said, rolling his eyes for a moment. "Make sure you tell him we're playing Valentine Z in Couno in the quarterfinals. Couno Park Stadium."
"I'll let him know," Kelley said.
After the team got back to their hotel rooms, Rush was watching video of Valentine Z's victory over Drawkland. He heard a knock on his door. He walked over and opened it.
"You wanted to see me, Coach?"
"Yes, I do," Rush answered. "Come in, have a seat." He motioned with his right arm extended and his palm pointed to the desk in his hotel room. Wilson walked in slowly and slowly sat down. Rush noted Wilson's looking around and paused for a moment.
He's nervous, Rush thought. I'm rather certain I would be too. He walked over to sit in the chair across from Wilson.
"Spencer, your teammates have noticed that you wait until everyone's out of the shower to take your shower.
"Besides the fact that it causes us to arrive back at the hotel late for dinner, it seems rather inconsiderate to make us wait until you're ready."
"I have my, uh, personal reasons, which I don't feel comfortable talking about," Wilson said. Rush did his best to keep his expression even and non-judgmental, but he caught a glimpse of his reflection and realised he looked annoyed.
"I have a question," Rush said, deciding to push past his impulse to soften his approach to the question he was getting ready to blurt out, fully suspecting he knew the answer. He also realised that answering said question could only be done on an individual's own timetable. But before he could overthink his way into something embarrassing, he asked the question directly.
"Are you gay?"
Wilson closed his eyes breathed in through his nose slowly before he exhaled with a large sigh.
"I, uh," Wilson began, fully expecting his next words to be telling his manager that his personal life was none of his damn business. However, he shocked himself when the next thought, and the one that pulled his next word out of his mouth was fuck it. "Yes," Wilson said after only a few seconds that felt like a freaking eternity.
"I'm not ready to tell my business to the press or my mates," Wilson said quickly.
Rush nodded his head. He knew the players he'd been entrusted to lead. Kelley's use of a slur caught him off guard, but he knew the rest of the team would be accepting. Hell, Kitt Morgan was a transgender man who came out as non-binary. The team accepted them with no problems.
However, Rush also knew coming out was a personal journey. He couldn't force Wilson to stand in front of the team and explain that he didn't feel comfortable showering with attractive male players even though he'd never previously had a problem before.
"It's rather ironic we're leaving the gayest city in Tumbra to go face Valentine Z," Rush finally said after a conversation that soon turned lighter and funny. "Two of the highest scoring nations on the International LGBT+ Rights Index facing each other in the quarterfinals, and it's not in Bencoolen? What were the organisers thinking?"
"Hell if I know," Wilson croaked out before being overcome with laughter.
As for Valentine Z, there wasn't very much history between the two countries in football. In fact, save for a group stage match five Cups of Harmony ago which Valentine Z won 3-2, there would be no history between the countries. The two nations were rivals in basketball to a certain extent, having played each other in the previous two International Basketball Championships and also playing each other in a previous edition. But the history was scant enough where none of the players were entertaining the thought of this quarterfinals tilt being a revenge match.
"I can't speak to their team, but ours is a completely different unit," Ken Webb, the team captain for the Stars said. "We have one player [Wilson] whose older brother [midfielder Clayton Wilson] played on that team. Our goalie coach was a reserve on that team if I remember correctly. This is just a match to determine who's going to guarantee themselves two additional matches in this tournament. That's all it is."
7', A. Biaggi 
64', M. Kuchler 
