Like lightning

you strike

fast and free

legs zoom

down field

eyes fixed

on the checkered ball

on the goal

ten yards to go

can’t nobody stop you

can’t nobody cop you …

Nobody can stop Nick Hall—he’s a star on the soccer team, cruising in school and getting ready to ask out the girl of his dreams. But then a bombshell announcement shatters his world.

Follow Nick’s next moves in this electric and heartfelt novel-in-verse by Kwame Alexander that bends and breaks as it captures all the thrills and setbacks, action and emotion, of a World Cup match!