Chapter Three: The Cheapest Point

Lanhaven arranged a seemingly suicidal low back three, conceding the right channel while closing the return pass. In the sixth minute Samuel broke forward. Luo retreated without turning, like a harbor master commanding the tide. “Shift left! Close the gate!” On Samuel's second turn, the ball escaped half a meter. The wingback tackled cleanly, and Tideground roared for the first time. No poor team executes a perfect plan. In the twenty-third minute, a Lanhaven defender missed his clearance and Crown shot from close range. Vaughan spilled his first save. The crowd gasped as the ball crossed to the far side, but he sprang from the grass with astonishing speed and palmed the rebound over the bar. 【Second reaction: awakening, forty-one percent.】