[THE PITCH] To Torbjörn Nilsson, who is both my head coach and my Swedish liaison/mentor, soccer is a game of numbers. He explains the field in geometricterms. He talks of decision-making based on probabilities. In meetings he demonstrates how to break each situation down to a solvable equation. As I scribble down his lessons in my notebook, I marvelat how he sees the game. I’ve never had such a mind for math. In my understanding, soccer is not a graph nor formula nor an equation. I see the world through metaphors, in imagery, as literaryallusions. The game has and always will be a story to me … my story …

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