The stretcher came on a moment later as the Azteca applauded him off, which was the right thing.
Then the fourth board went up, and a number came up that made several people in the dining room sit up.
"It really is him," Nico started.
"Ochoa," Pedri said.
It was.
Guillermo Ochoa came off the bench in the thirty-first minute of the opening game of the 2026 World Cup, forty years old, pulling his gloves on as he jogged toward the goal, and the Azteca received him the way the Azteca receives its own, like a church receiving someone who had been away a long time and was finally home.
Lamine leaned forward.
"How many World Cups is that for him?"
"Six," Carvajal said.
The table sat with that for a moment.
"He was playing World Cups," Cubarsí said slowly, doing the arithmetic, "before I was born."
"Before I was born," Lamine said.
"Before Izan was born," Pedri added, glancing down the table.
Izan, who had been watching the whole thing with his chin in his hand, nodded once.
