Chapter One: The Last Light

Xu looked up. Silver threaded her cropped hair, but her eyes were sharp as an unhammered nail. “We’re last in the league. Twenty-nine goals conceded in six matches. Tomorrow we face the Blue Whales. They have three former internationals.” “Which means trading attacks with them is suicide.” Jianxia turned the laptop and opened the last six match recordings. “Your average possession lasts two point seven passes. Within four seconds of losing the ball, there’s a seventy-one percent chance every Falcon will look toward it. The Whales love attacking the weak side on the fourth second.” Xiaoman leaned over. “What does two point seven mean?” “That the moment you receive the ball, you want it to become someone else’s problem.”