Chapter 115
The score remained at 1:1 until the end of the first half.
When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, Kaka walked quickly towards Cristiano. His teammates didn't have time to call him back. They watched helplessly as a man in blue clothes mixed into the crowd of red people.
"Cris!" Kaka shouted, Cristiano immediately stopped, turned around and saw Kaka coming towards him, he quickly walked towards him.
Ronaldo watched their golden boy blend in with the Portuguese without hesitation. He walked past Cafu and wondered: "Is Kaka too clingy to his friends?"
Cafu coughed lightly and said, "No, it's probably because he knocked Cristiano down during the game just now. I saw that kid was in pain, so it must be because of this."
Ronaldo nodded when he heard this: "Is that so... Isn't this normal? I don't think his friends will worry about it."
"It's Kaka after all." Kafu cleared his throat and decided to change the subject as soon as possible, otherwise he would not be able to hold it back.
Figo saw the young man from the Brazilian team jogging towards Cristiano. His eyelids twitched, and he walked slowly with Deco behind the two men.
He stared at the Brazilian with a sharp gaze and his hand naturally rested on the lower middle part of Cristiano's waist, and even rubbed it twice with a little force.
Deco gasped in his ear: "What are you doing..."
As soon as Deco finished speaking, he saw their captain with a stern face, quickly walked to Cristiano, put his hand on Cristiano's shoulder, and ruffled the boy's curly hair: "Nice kick, kid."
Cristiano was originally chatting quietly with Kaka. Hearing this, he turned to Figo, narrowed his eyes, and hugged the captain who had given him the assist: "Thank you, Luis!"
Figo smiled, and he squeezed Kaka's position very naturally, and put his arms around Cristiano's shoulders and face. With a little force, the boy's face was squeezed and deformed into a wrinkled shape, but he was still obediently held in the arms, smiling with his eyes curved good-naturedly.
Just like a little German Shepherd who is always cheerful.
Figo chuckled, quickly let go, and patted Chris on the face: "The coach is waiting for us in the locker room."
Cristiano nodded and agreed immediately, then turned to Kaka and said, "I'm fine, it doesn't hurt anymore, let's talk about it when we get back, play well in the second half?"
After he said that, he held Kaka's hand, rubbed Kaka's palm with his fingers, and then quickly let go.
"Let's talk about it when we get back"? Figo's eyelids twitched. He would not allow it, no matter who advanced in the end.
He pinched Cristiano's neck, silently urging Cristiano.
Kaka watched Cristiano being taken away by Figo. He walked behind his lover and kept smiling in response to Figo's slightly warning look.
"I really hate that kid's smile." Carvalho saw all of this. After returning to the locker room, he took advantage of Cristiano's shower and complained in a low voice, "It feels like no matter what I do, I am hitting cotton."
Deco rolled his eyes: "He seems to be very sure that Cristiano is his. Seriously, Cristiano is still young."
Figo pursed his lips. He didn't like the Brazilian boy either. How old was Cristiano? There is almost nothing else in his world except football! Haven't seen much yet. But he also knew very well that Kaka's confidence was entirely due to the fact that their boy gave him enough security and trust.
This confidence comes from Cristiano. What else can he say?
In the locker room during the half-time break, Scolari readjusted the tactics and moved Cristiano to the center position.
Brazil coach Pereira encouraged his players in the locker room, emphasizing that they must always follow the core team's policy -
They have to play as a team and not focus on who scores the goal.
Perreira's eyes vaguely swept over Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu and Adriano.
This Brazilian team does have the most luxurious lineup in history. Every single person in the team is a top star in the club. But because of this, putting these top stars in a team has become a problem.
Perreira watched with frustration as the locker room was filled with a faint atmosphere of awkwardness and silence. This Brazilian team had never tasted defeat, nor did they think they would fail, but he smelled danger on the sidelines.
Portugal's golden generation is like a real Five Shield Army. Does Portugal lack star power? not necessarily.
This Portugal team has the starting lineup of Porto who won the Champions League two years ago, the golden captain Figo who has perfect control over the right field, the super midfielder Deco who has been unbeaten for more than ten consecutive games as the core of the club's offense and defense, and Carvalho who has an absolute leadership position in the defense line...
And there is their Ronaldo, the young and still growing Premier League top scorer who can score goals from almost every position, like a natural goal-scoring machine.
The Portuguese team has no shortage of stars, but they are overshadowed by legendary players like Ronaldo and Ronaldinho from Brazil.
But this Portugal team has tacit and smooth cooperation, perfectly integrating into the team. The little stars gathered together are enough to be like a shining spear.
Pereira looked at his players and reiterated it solemnly and sternly once again.
The second half of the game begins.
The stadium was filled with the sound of the national anthem, and Portuguese fans held high the red and green five-shield national flag and waved it vigorously at the entrance of the player tunnel.
Cristiano walked past the fans, bumped fists with those waving national flags, and raised his arms with a grin.
"The second half of the match between Portugal and Brazil begins! The two sides exchanged goal positions. We can see that Portugal has made a slight adjustment in its formation. Cristiano Ronaldo, who was originally in the midfield, now presses more forward to form a threatening attack!"
In the broadcast room, Clive spoke.
"In the first half, Ronaldo of Brazil and Portugal each scored a valid goal. I wonder if there will be a breakthrough in the second half... Opportunity!!" Clive just finished speaking, and the next second his partner Robert shouted in surprise -
"Goal! Kaka! Kaka suddenly turned and shot outside the penalty area! It was a flash of inspiration! Ricardo failed to save the shot!"
Clive took a breath and said, "Oh my God, less than three minutes into the second half, Kaka broke the score! Brazil overtook Portugal and led 2-1!!"
Carvalho and Miguel neglected Kaka and thought that the opponent would pass the ball to Ronaldinho, but they didn't expect that this sudden shot rolled directly into the goal.
This goal seemed to immediately boost the morale of the Brazilian team. The offensive speed on the field suddenly increased, and the Brazilian team launched the strong attack that they are best at.
The ball under Ronaldinho's feet was like an elf, flying with beautiful shadows and dancing a passionate samba on the football field.
He passed several people and broke into the penalty area. As he was about to shoot, Portugal's defender Miguel tried to block the shot with his foot.
"Ronaldinho fell to the ground! The referee called a foul in the penalty area! Penalty--!"
There were less than ten minutes left before Brazil scored its last goal. Miguel, Figo, Carvalho and others surrounded the referee and tried to prove that it was not a foul, but Ronaldo still stood on the penalty spot.
The referee blew the whistle and gestured towards the penalty area.
"Ronaldo scored easily from the penalty spot! In the last penalty shootout against England, goalkeeper Ricardo, who had saved England's penalties many times, failed to make the same heroic saves as in the previous game. Brazil won another goal! In just ten minutes, Brazil was 3-1! Portugal was completely at a disadvantage!"
"This is the strength that five-star Brazil should display!!" Robert was so excited that he almost lay down on the table.
A two-goal lead almost sealed the victory!
Kaka couldn't help but look towards Cristiano, and saw that the Portuguese team was extremely depressed, especially Miguel who almost lay on the ground in frustration. Everyone knew how small the possibility was for them to make up the two-goal score in the second half.
Not only did they have to stop the opponent's offensive, they also had to launch counterattacks and score goals. They were even facing Brazil, the five-time World Cup winner.
Cristiano covered his face with his hands, and Figo hugged him tightly. The golden generation of Portugal stood there in silence, as if they had already seen the end.
"Two goals in ten minutes completely destroyed Portugal's morale. Deco, Carvalho, Figo... this was Portugal's golden generation, it was their twilight battle, is this their last stage?" Clive said regretfully.
"Cristiano Ronaldo's eyes are red. This is his national team captain and the last game for the veterans, but it is his first World Cup. It is also very likely that this is the first time that the young Portuguese tastes the taste of failure in a World Cup."
"We don't give them much time to lament the pain, the game continues! Portugal must fight back in a decent way to have the hope of staying on the World Cup stage longer!"
Cristiano hugged Figo tightly. He felt Figo's touch of wetness on his neck. His heart ached for a moment. He immediately grabbed Figo's shoulders and said, "Luis, we are the best. You have to believe in us."
He held Figo's face with both hands, pressed it tightly against his forehead, and said quickly: "We still have time, even if there is only one minute left, we can equalize the score, I believe it!"
Figo looked into Cristiano's eyes unexpectedly, and felt a sense of enlightenment, as if he saw a Cristiano who was older, with sharper features, more mature, and had a power that made people want to be convinced unconsciously.
"Cristiano, you..." Figo spoke subconsciously. He raised his hand and touched the boy's face subconsciously. When he felt the sweat and heat in his palm, he came back to his senses. In front of him was still the curly-haired kid with red eyes and a little baby fat.
"Luis?" Cristiano tilted his head to wipe off the sweat on his forehead and looked at Figo, "Luis!"
"Yes, yes, Cristiano." Figo came back to his senses, he took a deep breath and patted Cristiano's face, "This is just another tough battle, we can do it."
As he spoke, he strode towards his teammates around him and greeted them loudly.
Portugal, trailing by two goals, launched a crazy counterattack!
Deco received the pass from his teammate in the middle and passed it to Cristiano, who fired a powerful shot directly from outside the penalty area!
"Cristiano shot directly! The ball was caught by Brazilian goalkeeper Dida and almost slipped out of his hands! Dida reacted quickly and immediately hugged the ball!"
Cristiano couldn't help but clench his fist. It was just a little bit, just a little bit.
But a quick counterattack shot opportunity gave Portugal a glimmer of hope.
"Portugal's counterattack is coming! It seems that Portugal has not given up!"
"Figo got the ball and shot from the right! It was blocked by Cafu and went out of the baseline!"
Portugal was like a trapped beast. Its frantic counterattack put a strain on Brazil's defense. Cafu, Carlos and others tightened their defense.
Deco ran quickly on the field, pulling the ball's trajectory, and he sent the ball to Cristiano's feet.
Cristiano strode towards the Brazilian penalty area with the ball. The defenders had already double-teamed him. Seeing this, he immediately looked up to find Figo's position and made a high pass to the right side of the goal!
"Figo rushed into the penalty area! He jumped up to grab the ball! Figo collided with the opponent's defensive player!" Clive exclaimed.
The blow was not light. Figo sat on the field, covering his head. Cristiano quickly trotted over and checked Figo nervously: "Luis, how are you?"
The team doctor came up and squeezed Cristiano out of the way. He could only stand outside the crowd, clasping his hands together and praying that Figo's condition was not too bad.
Kaka walked over and looked at Figo, then he came to Cristiano, silently held Cristiano's wrist, and comforted his lover.
Cristiano met Kaka's gaze, took a deep breath, nodded slightly, and before he could say anything, he saw Scolari making a substitution gesture.
He suddenly opened his eyes wide, Simao came on as a substitute, replacing Figo.
He immediately turned his head to look at Figo, and saw that Figo showed a hint of helpless compromise.
"Come here, kid." Figo met Cristiano's gaze, pursed his lips and waved to Cristiano.
Cristiano walked quickly to Figo with a tense face, and leaned down: "Luis."
Under the gaze of 70,000 fans at the Allianz Arena, Figo took off the captain's armband on his arm.
He looked at Cristiano, raised his hand slightly to indicate the armband on his hand, and said softly: "Do you understand what this means, Cristiano?"
Cristiano was slightly stunned, then stopped stiffly in place.
He looked at Figo.
Figo lowered his eyes, smoothed the captain's armband carefully, and put it on the young No. 17's arm. He said in a deep voice: "I'll give it to you temporarily. Lead Portugal forward, Cristiano, I trust you."
Cristiano clenched his fists tightly and felt his eyes quickly getting hot.
He took a deep breath and rested his head on Figo's shoulder. After two seconds, he raised his head. He resisted the urge to get hot and wet in his eyes and nodded in a hoarse voice: "Luis, I won't let you down."
The commentator in the broadcast room also exclaimed in surprise: "Scolari replaced the captain of Portugal! The one who came on was the young player Simao!"
"Figo put his captain's armband on Cristiano Ronaldo's arm! According to Portugal's usual custom, the captain's succession is usually determined according to the number of national team games attended, but obviously Portugal has already decided on the next captain's successor!" Clive said.
His partner Robert nodded: "Although Cristiano Ronaldo is only 21 years old and is already a big star on the court, he is still very, very young. Needless to say, such a heavy responsibility is stressful for Cristiano at this age. This may not necessarily be a good thing."
Clive had to agree.
Figo walked off the sidelines, high-fived Simao and sat on the bench. Scolari handed him a glass of water.
"You gave the captaincy to Cristiano, it's too early for him." Scola whispered.
Figo took the cup of water and shook his head slightly: "No, I think the time has come."
He looked at the field and saw Simao touching the ball as soon as he came on the field, and then he quickly passed the ball to Cristiano.
Cristiano, wearing the captain's armband, seemed to have suddenly changed at that moment.
Figo couldn't help but lean forward slightly and clench his palms. He seemed to see the figure of a strange, older Cristiano again, overlapping with the young boy on the field.
He couldn't help feeling a little bitter, both for themselves, who had to leave the football stage, and for Cristiano. He knew very well how Cristiano would lead the future of Portugal alone.
"Run, Cristiano, run faster...let them not be able to catch up with you, my child..." Figo wrapped his left hand around his clenched fist, put it to his mouth, and murmured like a prayer, his eyes closely following the figure on the field.
After receiving the pass from Simao, Cristiano immediately accelerated and launched a quick counterattack. He ran quickly from his own half to the opponent's frontcourt!
"Cristiano Ronaldo ran across half the field and accelerated! Kaka caught up with him! Oh my God, these two guys can really run!" Clive shouted, "Kaka, Cafu and Carlos formed a three-man team! Cristiano rushed to the Brazilian team's goal alone!"
Cristiano looked extremely calm and was not at all flustered by the three people who quickly closed in on him.
He suddenly stopped and avoided the fastest running Kaka and Carlos, then turned around and beautifully passed Cafu!
"Cristiano created a gap for himself! Cafu was caught off guard and passed!" Clive's voice gradually rose involuntarily, "Cristiano didn't pause and shot directly with his right foot outside the penalty area!"
"GOAL!!! The ball went straight into the far corner of the net!!! Cristiano!! It's Cristiano again!!"
"Cristiano Ronaldo scores another point for Portugal!! Double in this game!!!"
Cristiano picked up the ball without celebrating, but rushed directly to the midfield to kick the ball, seizing every minute of the game.
Scolari and other staff and players on the bench cheered excitedly for this goal. There were still twenty minutes left in the game and they still had time!
Scolari made another substitution, replacing a full-back with a center forward Postiga, and Portugal continued to counterattack strongly.
"Portugal gets a corner kick!"
Deco took the corner kick and passed the ball to the center of the penalty area. Cristiano stared at the ball and jumped high, then was pulled to the ground!
Pauleta, Nuno and others immediately raised their hands to signal the referee, but the referee was unmoved and did not seem to think it was a defensive foul.
"Looking at the replay, Carlos' hand was indeed on Cristiano's shoulder. This is a controversial goal! But obviously at this critical moment, the referee will not easily make a penalty decision."
Robert said as he watched the replay on the big screen that he could clearly see that Carlos' hand was indeed on his shoulder.
Scolari and other Portuguese staff on the field were extremely angry, but no matter what, the referee's decision could not be shaken.
"Cristiano got the ball on the wing! The game has entered the last three minutes of regular time! Including injury time, Portugal may only have ten minutes left at most..." The commentator was halfway through his words when he saw something suddenly happen on the field!
"Hiss! Cristiano dribbled the ball from the wing, but was tackled by Carlos! The referee showed Carlos a yellow card!"
"The referee awarded a free kick! This is a pretty good position!!" Clive said, staring at the big screen, "Sure enough, Cristiano Ronaldo took the free kick!"
Cristiano stood at the penalty spot drawn by the referee. He took a deep breath and tilted his head to look at the bench. Figo was looking at him from afar.
He retracted his gaze and turned towards the goal, and the whistle blew!
Take one step, two steps back as if measuring the distance, and then run! The moment the supporting foot finally stepped on the grass, the ball was vibrated and bounced slightly off the grass!
“Cristiano hits the ball directly from the free kick… GOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL——!!”
Cristiano kicked the ball with his right foot with great force! It fell directly in front of the door with almost no rotation in the air! Dida lost his grip on the ball and it went into the net! !
"Cristiano Ronaldo!! A free kick!!! Cristiano again!!! He equalized the score for Portugal again!!! Hat trick!!! God has descended!!!"
Clive's voice was so excited that it changed into a tone. He shouted loudly: "Again and again and again! Same man! Same old story!"
"At the critical moment! It was still Cristiano! It was still Cristiano! He brought the miracle of equalizing in adversity!! This scenario happened to Cristiano again and again!! He is the miracle in adversity itself!!"
Almost the entire stadium exploded with noise because of this goal!
Dida couldn't help but turn his head to look at the ball lying quietly in the net. The power was so great that it was impossible to block it.
The entire Brazilian team almost fell into deathly silence. In just 45 minutes of the second half, they experienced a huge gap from heaven to hell, and it was all caused by Ronaldo from Portugal.
Kaka looked at Cristiano, whose eyelids were red and wet, and his lover lowered his head and roared as if to vent his anger, but did not run wildly to celebrate. Instead, he greeted his teammates, who jumped onto his back one after another like a stack of people.
The game was dragged into overtime, during which both teams fought hard against each other, and neither team was able to score a goal in the 30 minutes.
"Penalty shootout! Portugal and Brazil finally came to a penalty shootout to decide life and death!!"
"The first player to take the penalty is under a lot of pressure! If he misses the ball, the whole team will probably collapse..."
As captain, Cristiano was the first to take the penalty kick.
He looked towards the goal with a determined gaze, took a run-up, and shot. The black-white-elf shot the ball into the net along the goal line like a hot knife through butter!
"A penalty kick with a tricky angle!! Very high quality!! Portugal scores a goal!"
Brazil's first penalty taker was Ronaldo, who also scored the point for the Brazilian team.
Then there are Simao and Kaka.
Kaka stood in front of the penalty area. He looked at Ricardo calmly. The Portuguese goalkeeper was on high alert. Kaka slightly arched his back, took a run-up, and shot!
Ricardo was completely fooled and dived in the opposite direction, and the ball crashed into the net!
"Both teams have had no problems with penalty kicks in the first four rounds so far!" said commentator Robert. "The pressure is on until the end! Whoever misses a penalty at the crucial moment will be guilty of this game... Uh! Brazil! Ricardo saved the penalty!!"
"Portugal's goalkeeper Ricardo!! Once again!!! He guarded the Portuguese goal like a legend!!! Incredible!!!"
"Portugal vs. Brazil, penalty shootout!! We won the final victory 5-4!! We got a hard-earned one-way ticket to the World Cup final!!"
"Congratulations to Portugal!! Cristiano Ronaldo also completed his first hat trick in his first World Cup finals! He was like a god descending from heaven, saving Portugal from the brink of the cliff! He dragged Portugal to the final penalty shootout!!"
Figo and Scolari rushed into the field desperately, picked up Cristiano and pressed him completely into their chests.
"You did it! Cristiano! You did it!!"
“We’re in the finals!!!”
"Oh my god this is unbelievable, am I dreaming?! I hope I never wake up!!"
"Chris! Celebrate! It's a milestone!!"
Cristiano was hugged tightly by his teammates with red eyes, but he did not celebrate or cheer ostentatiously. He looked towards Kaka and saw the Brazilian main players falling to the ground exhausted, and no one said a word.
It was not until Cristiano's teammates were celebrating excitedly and were willing to let him go that he walked over to Kaka. He leaned over and gave his lover a hug, pursed his lips and whispered: "This is a very good competitive game."
Kaka took a deep breath, put his hands together, hugged Cris tightly, buried his head in Cristiano's shoulder, and said after a while: "Yes Cris, I enjoy it. Congratulations."
Cristiano gently squeezed Kaka's neck. He saw Cafu and the others slowly get up from the ground and walk over. He loosened his arms and whispered, "I should return you to your teammates."
"See you after this?" He looked at Kaka.
Only after seeing Kaka nod at him did Cristiano walk towards the player tunnel with confidence.
The two sides of the passage were already crowded with reporters who couldn't wait to interview him. The reporters thrust the microphones in front of Cristiano:
"Cristiano! You brought Portugal to the final! What do you want to say!?"
"You will be a hero for Portugal! Cristiano! Listen, the fans in the stadium are singing your name!!"
"Cristiano, you won the game! Why didn't you celebrate like you did before? Aren't you happy?"
Cristiano stopped, looked at the reporter who asked the question, and answered: "No, of course I am happy. But my friend is sad, how can I celebrate like that?"②
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