Chapter Three: The Cheapest Point

In the sixty-second minute, A-He entered wearing number forty-seven. The announcer could find no biography. His first touch ended with him on the ground. His second went out of play. Crown's supporters laughed. On his third, he waited at the edge of the fullback's vision. From outside his own box, Luo suddenly passed not to A-He but into empty grass. “Tide line!” A-He accelerated along a route hidden by three turning heads. He reached the ball and cut it back rather than shooting. Lanhaven's aging striker hit the post. The groan from Tideground nearly lifted the roof. At eighty-eight minutes, Crown began wasting time. Gu removed his last conventional defender and ordered Vaughan toward halfway. “What formation is this?” his assistant asked.