The Last Chance

Hayes looked at his stopwatch, expressionless. "Still alive. Next drill." The first hesitant comments appeared online. "He can take some punishment?" "Honestly, running like that on that knee is kind of brutal." "Relax. It's just fitness." The next drill was nine-on-nine attack versus defense. Hayes put Mason with the reserve group against the starters led by Brooks. It was almost cruel. The starters had the strongest midfield, the fastest wings, and the most reliable defenders in the U.S. squad. Mason's side was mostly made of players living on the edge of the provisional list. Three minutes after kickoff, the reserves could barely cross midfield.