Harbinger Of Glory

The referee raised the whistle, and a moment later, one sharp blast pierced the afternoon as Son rolled the ball backwards.

The match was underway.

Van de Ven took the first pass before returning it to Vicario in one motion.

The goalkeeper looked up only briefly, and by then, Tottenham had already begun pushing their shape up the pitch.

White shirts spread wide, midfielders drifted into new pockets, and as Wigan shuffled across to match them, a passing lane appeared through the middle.

Vicario found it immediately.

”Tottenham building,” the commentator said.

”And they’re doing it with short passes despite the shape always suggesting they might go long. A deliberate ploy to draw Wigan’s press forward and then playing through it.”

Sarr received the pass and moved it on first time before Max Power could get close enough to engage.

Power lunged, but the ball slipped cleanly between his legs and rolled into James Maddison’s path.

After that, the Tottenham midfielder didn’t even hurry.

He opened his body, took it in stride and lifted his head, already scanning the movement unfolding ahead of him.

”Here’s Maddison...” the commentator said, his voice rising as Maddison looked to have already made his choice.

He threaded the ball wide to Dejan Kulusevski, who wasted no time driving directly at Joe Bennet.

It was the matchup Tottenham had wanted from the opening whistle.

Kulusevski attacked at full speed, forcing Bennet backwards before dropping his shoulder sharply, but it seemed it was going to be tougher than that as Bennet stayed with him for the first movement.

Then Kulusevski nudged the ball past him, burst around the outside and suddenly had half a yard to himself and behind him, the away end rose as one.

”Kulusevski’s away here!” the commentator roared as the Swedish winger, without breaking stride, whipped a dangerous cross toward the near post.

Joe Bennet did enough to get to Kulusevski, shoving the Swede in the process, but the ball had already left his foot by that time.

It bent viciously through the six-yard area, where Wigan bodies tensed, looking to get the ball clear as immediately and quickly as it was arriving, but that keen concentration made them lack awareness of their surroundings.

Almost like a blur, Son Heung-min arrived exactly when the ball did.

Years of instinct and repetition had brought him there at precisely the right moment and without a second thought, he glanced his header across goal, aiming for the far corner.

”IT’S SONNNNN!” the commentary bellowed, and his reaction was valid as the ball zoomed towards goal, but almost instantly, Ben Amos reacted brilliantly.

The Wigan shotstopper threw himself across his line and got both gloves to the ball to push the ball away, but the save only carried the ball back into the heart of the penalty area.

”Still alive!” the commentator shouted, but a second later, it wasn’t anymore as a Tottenham shirt appeared.

”Richarlison!”

The Brazilian was first to it and, seeing that, Whatmough launched himself across in desperation, but Richarlison calmly cushioned the rebound with his first touch, dragging it just beyond the defender’s sprawling challenge.

With another touch, he took the ball clear off Whatmough, and when he saw his opening, he struck the ball low and hard sending it almost spiralling as it bent across Amos’s second effort at another save.

The goalkeeper threw himself after it again, fingertips stretching...

...but this time there was nothing he could do.

The ball skipped inside the far post before nestling into the corner, rippling the net, and in turn, the away end rippled too, exploding into celebration as the Tottenham players all turned towards the goal scorer.

”GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLL,” they roared as they followed Richarlison, who was already sprinting toward the corner flag before the ball had even settled.

He dropped into a long knee slide across the turf before jumping right back to his feet and punching both fists toward the travelling supporters.

”RICHARLISON!” the commentator roared again as the latter’s teammates caught up!

”LIFE, early in this game. Tottenham Hotspur strike inside two minutes, and what a devastating opening it has been!”

The Spurs players surrounded their scorer as the travelling fans celebrated wildly behind the goal.

Almost immediately, the broadcast camera cut away from the celebrations and found Leo Calderon sitting quietly on the Wigan bench, zipped into his navy puffer jacket and the co-commentator couldn’t help himself.

”That’s not an accidental camera angle,” he said with a quiet chuckle.

”Everyone watching knows who isn’t on the pitch.”

The cameras moved again and this time they settled on Shaun Dawson.

The Wigan manager hadn’t moved.

His arms remained folded as his eyes drifted across the pitch but a moment later he turned away.

There was frustration there, certainly, but there was something else too.

,Changes.

He was already looking at what had just happened and was thinking of what they could do to get back at their opponents.

”Exactly the start Tottenham wanted,” the lead commentator said as the noise settled into a steady murmur.

”Fast possession, quick combinations and ruthless execution. Wigan have barely touched the ball, and they’re already chasing the game.”

”It’s the warning we spoke about before kick-off,” the co-commentator replied.

”Kulusevski isolated Bennet one against one, Maddison found him early, and Richarlison showed tremendous composure after Amos made the initial save.”

He paused briefly after that before continuing.

”Now comes the real test for Wigan. They’ve spent all season playing with confidence. Today they’ll have to show they can play with adversity too.”

Tottenham eventually broke away from their celebrations and jogged back into their own half, a goal to the good with barely two minutes played.

Jake walked into the goalmouth, collected the ball from the back of the net and carried it silently toward the centre circle.

He placed it carefully on the spot and then he looked up.

There was an awful lot of football left to play but it was never a good feeling to be a goal down, especially not that early in the game!