Chapter 181: Hungry to Win
November 19th, 2010
The morning after was quiet, but it carried a different weight.
Thomas stood alone at the edge of the pitch, hands in his jacket pockets, watching the dew dry in the morning sun.
Inside the locker room, the players arrived.
No one was late.
No one dragged their feet.
There was a new energy subtle, but unmistakable.
There was less talk, and more focus.
The kind of silence that meant they were thinking, planning, readying themselves.
Niels stood by the sideline, his scarf hanging loose, breath rising in small clouds.
In his old life before he woke up in this new life, he'd always watched football, played FIFA, studied tactics.
He knew the game, just not from the inside.
Now he was here, part of it, and he wasn't going to let it slip.
The silence after his speech yesterday still hung in his mind.
There was no time for doubting.
Not anymore.
The team didn't need comfort, they needed the right direction.
