Chapter Three: Number Ten for the Bottom Club

Sami had no time to think. He returned the ball by habit, repeating the pattern from the trial. Lin slipped it toward the penalty spot, and Abou remembered the instruction: do not chase the near post. Abou shot. The ball struck the post and went in. One-one. For the first time, the little stand truly erupted. [Time remaining: forty-one seconds.] Montreuil rushed the restart. Lin read the backward pass in an opponent's eyes and intercepted it. His legs were no quicker than before, but he had begun running before everyone else. [Twenty-seven seconds.] Number six lunged from the side. Lin rolled the ball under his sole, and pain stabbed the old knee. He released it to the left back, the delivery driver. “Head up! Far post!”