Chapter Three: A Goal Made by Seven

For four days, Cape City had practiced one thing: build from goalkeeper Zhou Yan, involve at least seven players, and carry the ball into attack. The first condition had demanded twelve passes. This was harsher. They needed three such attacks and a first-half goal. Gu took little part in contact training. His knee had swollen badly after the last match, and the doctor recommended two weeks of rest. He sat beside the pitch moving magnets on a tactics board. “Seven touches doesn't mean everyone taps the ball once,” he told them. “That would be arithmetic for the system. A real attack begins when the first man knows where the seventh is going.”