[football] walk side by side

For all the fans who are paying attention to this European Cup, 2004 is the most special one in recent years.

There are many star teams that are optimistic about before the game: Zidane's French team, Beckham's British team, the Dutch team with good style, winning streak to the semi-finals, and the Czech team with Pavel Nedved.

However, no one expected that these teams that were unanimously optimistic before the game would be eliminated one after another, and the final meeting at the Stadium of Light in Lisbon would be the host Portugal, and Greece, which was considered to have entered the finals by luck before the game .

The two teams that faced each other in the opening game met again in the final finals.

This game has greatly aroused the enthusiasm of the fans of the two national teams. In the eyes of the Portuguese fans, there is no more exciting thing than winning the championship on their own land. The Portuguese team, which has overcome all obstacles, is really stumbling to win in Greece.The people of Portugal firmly believe that the ending of this final battle must be the same as that of the opening match.

Since we defeated Greece once, of course we can also defeat Greece a second time.

Amidst the anticipatory and excited shouts of the Portuguese fans, and the unyielding cheers of the Greek fans despite being suppressed, the 2004 European Cup Finals officially began.

In this game, Cyril is still not.

In fact, although Cyril had a good performance in the opening game against Greece, Scolari obviously trusted veteran players like Rui Costa more at the critical moment of the game.The opening game is different from the finals. The former can allow losses, and once the latter loses the game, it is tantamount to directly missing the championship.

Cyril sat on the bench, watching the game quietly.

sorry?Of course, this is his first time participating in such a large-scale competition as the European Cup. No player would not want to participate in the final finals, but it is a bit whimsical to expect to replace Rui Costa, although Cyril It is the MVP in this year's European Champions Cup final, but the gold content of this year's Champions League champion is not high. Compared with this MVP, Rui Costa, who has played for Portugal for many years, is obviously more suitable.

The most important thing is that Rui Costa, as the core midfielder of Portugal's golden generation, is 32 years old.

In other words, this European Cup is almost something he can participate in. It is the last national team competition. Reasonably, Scolari will choose Rui Costa instead of Cyril, who has just grown up this year.

To make such a choice, Scolari himself has to bear the pressure.

In the opening game, Cyril Slade replaced Rui Costa with a magical substitution. Once this game cannot be won, starting tomorrow, Scolari will have to face the national Portuguese The anger of the fans - the media would accuse him rhythmically of why he didn't use Cyril, that his stubbornness ruined Portugal's close champions, and so on.

But Scolari has no choice. All he can do now is to command the field well, and then secretly pray that the goddess of victory will come to the Portuguese as scheduled.

……

The game was boring.

The Portuguese fans in the stands have already started to laugh loudly at Greece as a "shrinking tortoise". The Greek fans want to refute, but they can't refute - what the Portuguese fans said is actually the truth. If you were watching this game at home, I don't know how many fans fell asleep watching it.

Cyril looked at the court, frowning.

This kind of large-scale competition is often poor, which is the beginning of breaking the situation.But from the beginning of the game to the present, Greece's defense has always been incredibly stable. Every player has carried out the order of the head coach to the extreme. Much worse.

Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted.On their own territory, and Greece defended so resolutely, Portugal had only one way to attack, but as they attacked again and again, they were resolutely blocked by Greek players time and time again. There is no psychological and morale impact, that is impossible.

The current situation is very similar to the opening day, but for Portugal, the situation is even worse.After a few games in the finals, Greece's defense seemed to be getting stronger and stronger, but at this time Portugal could not use the solution on the opening day.

In terms of the degree of tacit understanding and integration, the cooperation between Rui Costa and Deco is much worse than that of Cyril and Deco.

After two seasons of Porto's midfield partnership, the cooperation of Cyril and Deco has naturally formed a habit. When to organize an attack, when to retreat to defend, and when is the best opportunity to suddenly advance, this judgment The two can easily understand each other's meaning almost as long as they look at each other on the court, but it is difficult for Deco and Rui Costa to achieve the level of tacit understanding between the two.

In this way, if you want to deal with Greece at this time, of course you cannot use the solution on the day of the opening match.

Not only Cyril was aware of this, but also Rui Costa himself on the field.He also understands that the cooperation between him and Deco is doomed to be incomparable to the cooperation between Deco and Cyril. One of the reasons is that the training time of the national team is too short. The most important thing is that Rui Costa and Deco The position between them is actually like the Gerrard and Lampard of England in later generations, the two simply cannot coexist.

But Deco is not the only one in the Portuguese team.

If you don't call Deco, he can cooperate with other players.

Thinking of this, Rui Costa simply changed direction and tried to cooperate with Figo, Jorge Pinto and others.

but……

Cyril looked at the court with a helpless expression.This approach can indeed solve part of the problem, but in general, the connection between Rui Costa and Deco is disconnected, and it is easy to break the line of defense in Greece's quick counterattack. If this continues, Greece's goal will only be a matter of time.

Not long after this idea lingered in Cyril's mind, Greece scored.

In the 57th minute of the game, Greek player Angelos Charisteas scored!

After the ball hit the goal net, it slowly rolled out, and the crowded Stadium of Light fell into an unbelievable silence for a while. A few seconds later, the suppressed Greek fans roared excitedly!

Scolari's face was livid.

After the goal, the Greek defense shrunk even more. They didn't even fight back, and tried to maintain the 1-0 score until the end of the game.

This sudden goal made the Portuguese players feel a little bit shocked. Fortunately, most of the players who can enter the first team of the Portuguese national team are experienced players. Under the leadership of captain Figo, the players quickly recovered The spirit continued to devote itself to the onslaught.

Time passed by minute by minute.

Scolari gritted his teeth. He silently glanced at Cyril on the bench, and then at Rui Costa who was still running on the court.

How to do?

Change?Or not?

Cyril and Rui Costa, it is actually hard to say who is more suitable. The former cooperates better with Deco, but the latter cooperates better with Figo and others than Cyril.At this critical moment, a veteran like Rui Costa can stabilize the morale of the army. Sending Cyril on the field at this time is not insignificant for a player who has just grown up.

Scolari stared at the pitch, still hesitating, but at this moment, he accidentally met Rui Costa's eyes.

Perhaps aware of what Scolari was hesitating about, Rui Costa said nothing, but returned a firm look to the coach.

Scolari finally sat back in the coach's bench in silence.

In just a split second, Cyril understood the head coach's decision.

After all, Scolari still trusts Rui Costa more than himself.Cyril thought silently, he could understand Scolari's scruples, but understanding and accepting it was another matter.

He pursed his lips, but suppressed the unwillingness and sourness in his heart, and said nothing.

……

"The 2004 European Cup is over, and the champion of this European Cup is Greece! They are a team without star flavor, but it is such an ordinary eleven players that it is difficult to create a superstar team. Miracle of arrival! Congratulations Greece!"

With the end of the game, half of the stadium entered the carnival moment. Before that, no one would have thought that the final champion would be this team that was not optimistic from the beginning.

Cyril stood there blankly.

The stands behind the Portuguese bench were silent. This is a stand for Portuguese fans. Before the game, they were full of confidence and happily prepared to welcome the European Cup champion. However, at this moment, the fans who cheered for most of the game They could no longer speak.

Why is this happening?

This may be the thought that lingers in the hearts of all Portuguese.

Scolari covered his eyes in pain, and sat on the coach's bench weakly. Amid the sobs of the fans, he pulled himself together again, got up and walked to the field to comfort his players.

Cyril clenched his fist unconsciously.

He stood up from the bench and looked blankly at the Stadium of Light: Scolari who hugged Carvalho and comforted him in a low voice, Cristiano who was crying silently, Figo who looked up and closed his eyes without saying a word ...

He didn't speak, didn't know what to say, and couldn't comfort anyone else like Scolari did.

Just like when he was a child, in the face of failure on the court, Cyril just wanted to find a place to be alone for a while.

With his head down, he walked slowly and self-consciously towards the player tunnel. Along the way, the cheers of the Greek fans were almost endless, and those voices penetrated into his ears like a long and thin needle. pierced his heart.

Then at this moment, Cyril felt someone hugging him.

He raised his head in a daze: "... sir?"

Mourinho didn't say any consoling words, he didn't even look at Cyril, the head coach looked through the tunnel and onto the cheering stands.

"Cyril, you have to remember."

The elderly head coach turned his head, his eyes were terribly quiet.He told him in a low voice, word by word: "Football...is never just a game for the strong."

"Never, never."

At that time, Cyril thought that this was just a head coach, a kind of consolation for his disciple's failure.

It was not until many sleepless nights many years later that he understood the true meaning of what Mourinho told him.