Before the Opening

Mason lifted his eyes. "You didn't run where you should have." The punch never came. Hayes pushed the door open. He looked at Brooks, then at Mason, his voice cold as iron. "Good. At least you're finally telling the truth." No one dared answer. Hayes walked to the tactics board and slapped magnets onto it. "The World Cup is not a promotional film," he said. "Tonight you played seventy-two minutes of pretty soccer and eighteen minutes like eleven commercial contracts. Brooks, you think every ball should orbit you. Carter, you think everyone can read your mind." He turned and stared across the room. "Both of you are spectacularly wrong."