"I still don't know how we did that," Jonathan Rowe said, shaking his head as he unlaced his boots.
"For a minute there, after that bicycle kick, I thought the game was going to ask us to just forfeit out of respect."
"My penalty was a tactical masterpiece," Kenny McLean announced to the room with a deadpan expression.
"I was aiming for the keeper's weaker side, psychologically speaking. The bottom right corner is a well-known area of emotional vulnerability."
The room erupted in laughter.
The tension of the match had given way to a kind of giddy, disbelieving joy.
Ethan stood in the middle of it all, a proud, tired smile on his face. He let them laugh, let them decompress. They had earned it.
"Alright, you absolute lunatics, listen up!" he finally called out, and the room quieted down, all eyes turning to him.
"That was not a draw," he began, his voice ringing with a quiet, powerful conviction.
