[Football] Crown of Thorns

2008. 5, 12

On this day, a world-shocking natural disaster occurred in the ancient East. At that moment, people felt that life was extremely fragile, and human beings were helpless in the face of natural disasters.

At the same time, in faraway Europe, in Porto, Portugal, in a place called Iberia which is seven hours away from the east, people don't know about the disaster happening on the other side of the world, and they don't pay attention. Stories from other countries, people here are just living their own leisurely life, enjoying the natural beauty they love and football fanaticism.

Porto, a port city facing the Atlantic Ocean in the north of Portugal, is the second largest city in Portugal.

It has beautiful scenery, comfortable climate, and a long history. The most famous thing in the world is their rich Porto wine, which is why it is called the wine capital of Portugal.

People here love their football as much as they love wine and wine.

Whenever the Porto city derby starts, it is the beginning of their frenzy.

Except for the locals, when asked about the impression of foreigners on Porto, many people will mention a famous local football club, Porto Football Club, which is one of the top three in the Portuguese League with Sporting Lisbon and Benfiben. The club is a football club with a broad fan base and appeal in Portugal.

However, in the city of Porto, there is actually a football club in the Portuguese First Division, which is Boavista FC. Sports Club, this club was founded in 1903. They not only have a football club, but also have various sports including volleyball, chess, gymnastics, cycling and indoor football. It is the second largest sports club in Porto,

Fans who love him affectionately call the Boavista club Panteras (Black Panther), which is also the symbol on the Boavista flag.

There is also a statue of a black panther outside the club, which is sometimes placed near the club shop and fans bar to show its affection.

Of course, these introductions are not the main point. The focus of this day is the last game of Boavista FC in the 2007-2008 season. In this game, all Boavista fans wore Their traditional black and white checkered jerseys stood sadly in and out of their home stadium, Bessa Stadium, waiting for the last moment.

The Boavista club, which once broke through the top three of the Portuguese Super League to encircle the league championship, has performed poorly this season. The league ranking has been dropped again and again.

The fans who love this club can only look at their club's fate of relegation with sadness.

In the Bessa Stadium, which can seat 3 people, except for the fans of the visiting team Sporting Lisbon today, all the home fans have sad expressions.

Outside the stadium, fans without tickets held their flags and watched as the visiting team's bus drove into the team.

The scene that seemed to be dead still made the players of the visiting team not only sigh with emotion.

In the locker room of the home team in the stadium, coach Jaime Pacheco folded his arms and looked at his players without saying a word.

His two assistants, who are nicknamed "Black and White Shuangsha" by the outside world, silently distributed information to the players. In fact, any information is useless at this time, but what can they do in this environment? !

Everyone knows that after this game, the meritorious coach of the Boavista club will be dismissed.

The sounds from outside and the singing of the fans reminded them all the time that they were relegated.

"Kadim," Pacheco called out, and he called his black assistant coach, but after calling out, Pacheco paused again, staring at the players in the locker room, These players were selected one by one by him and carefully cultivated. However, it was these players who gave him a blow to the head, so that his meritorious coach could only go away with this disgraceful relegation result.

At this moment, the coach who has always been known for his sternness no longer wanted to say anything. He looked at his disciples like this, shook his head, turned and left the locker room.

"This is the last game, no matter what, I hope you..."

Another white assistant, a man named Luis Diaw, sighed. He and black assistant Kadim Faye were both former players of this club and were coached by Pacheco. They experienced Boavi The Star Club broke through the most glorious period of the Portuguese Super League's top three monopoly, and followed the coach after retiring to watch the team fall from the high light to the bottom.

In the end, Dio didn't know what else to say, so he shook his head and sighed, then walked out with his partner.

There was silence in the locker room. Some players sat quietly, some bowed their heads in silence, some changed their jerseys to play, but took them off and on again. Except for the members who had already announced their starting roster, the others The players have left the locker room and sat on the bench.

Porto in May is the dry season, with little precipitation and low average temperature. People usually wear a coat when they go out.

In the stadium, most of the fans only wore a thin jersey, watching the players coming out in the cold air.

The players wore their home jerseys and walked on their own home ground. The expressions on their faces were determined, which added to the atmosphere of the scene.

In European football, Boavista Club has always been known as a "weird jersey club". The home jersey like a chessboard often makes people cast weird eyes. Today, facing the cruel fate of relegation, they can only wait for the arrival of death.

Boavista's opponent in the city derby is Porto, and today's visiting team Sporting Lisbon is also a strong enemy in front of them.

Although they have been relegated, this last game has to be played.

Because of the team's relegation, in order to prevent problems in the game, the local police are on standby, and riot police wearing shields can be seen everywhere inside and outside the stadium.

On the court, the players sitting on the bench looked at the teammates who shook hands with each other. Several players who had good relations with each other whispered, while many players who were on the edge of the team were expressionless or drooping. Turning his head or looking left and right, it seems that he has no intention of watching the game at all.

Today the captain of the home team is their No. 10 Couto, and the original No. 4 Paulo Turra is absent due to injury.

Pacheco stood on the sidelines with his arms folded, and his mood at the moment could not be seen on his usual face.

Dio walked over to him, "Jaime."

Pacheco didn't turn his head. After a few seconds, he looked sideways at his assistant, "Louis, am I wrong?"

Dio was silent for a second and then shook his head, "It's not wrong to be strict."

Pacheco lowered his arms and put his hands in his suit pockets, "My thinking is probably out of date!"

He also knows that his too strict management methods are gradually not accepted by young players in today's football, but what to do if they are not strict, the current players will be punished by various outsiders after they have achieved a little bit. The temptation of chasing the stick, talented players are everywhere, but how many can really withstand the wind and waves and kick out.

As a former national footballer of the Portuguese national team, he is also an iron-fisted coach with quite good results. Now, he can only watch the players play distracted football, and the performance drops again and again, making his beloved team Downgrading, this kind of comparison will inevitably make him a little confused. Is he really not keeping up with the times?

"Jaime."

Dior frowned, but really didn't know how to answer the coach's question.

Maybe Pacheco didn't expect him to answer his own question. He sighed and looked at the game that had already started on the court, "The players don't care about it. No matter how strict they are, it's useless. Those who have to go still have to go. "

At this time, there was a burst of exclamation in the stands of the stadium, and the players of the Sporting Lisbon team were breaking through the home team's defense with the ball.

The Boavista team's starting goalkeeper today is No. 12 William (William).

Their defender No. 2 Oscar (RuiOscar) collided with the opponent, the football flew through the air, drew an arc, scraped the goalpost and crashed into the goal.

In the 11th minute of the first half, the Athletic team led [-]-[-].

"The news of Rikatu's transfer is confirmed!"

Pacheco's palms hidden in his pockets had already clenched into fists, and he asked with the same expression on his face.

Ricatu is the main goalkeeper of their team, and it is rumored that he has already found his next home and is ready to transfer.

Dior smiled wryly, "The team's performance is not good, he..."

"Forget it, don't talk about that."

Ricatu was not allowed to start today. In fact, everyone knows the reason. What is the use of him saying this now.

I am about to leave, can I still manage the transfer of players?

Pacheco took a deep breath and shook his head with a wry smile.

The substitute goalkeeper has always been like a decoration, with very few opportunities to play, while the third goalkeeper has almost no chance at all.So William's performance today is pretty good, at least he is still working hard to block left and right, but his strength is just that.

The game on the field was obviously easier for the opponent, and the home team's striker couldn't even get the ball, let alone attack power.

"Substitute for the second half!"

Pacheco thought for a while and said to Dio.

Dio was taken aback, "Substitution?"

"Well, it's already like this, why don't you let the youth go up and try!"

The main players are not active, so it's better to let the young people in the team try, anyway, they will be relegated no matter whether they win or lose, and it doesn't matter what the outcome of the kick is.

The fans in the stands also looked weak, their own players were not up to date, what else could they do.

This year, I watched the rival Porto Club win the league championship, but my own players were relegated.

Therefore, when the time passed and the team started to make substitutions in the second half, many fans were lazy to watch and listen again, and they just watched everything on the field blankly.

However, some fans still paid a little attention to the new player who was replaced, because they had never seen this player who was replaced.

The young player's face is excited and somewhat disturbed, and the fourth official is checking his sneakers.

Behind the jersey with black and white grid, the big number 93 made many people stunned.

"The team still has this number?"

A young male fan was stunned and turned his head to look at his friends.

"Well, let me think about it," the older fan frowned, "I know there is a player in the team wearing the No. 99 jersey, what is his name?" He raised his head and thought, "By the way, he It's Fary Faye, number 93," he thought for a while, then bent down and patted a middle-aged man in the front row, "Hey, do you know who that number 93 is?"

The middle-aged fans in the front row turned their heads, "I have a little impression, it should be a young man who was promoted from the B team, but he hasn't played this season."

"Youth training?"

"should be."

Hearing that it was a young man from their own youth training, the fans just booed him. After all, it was the first time for his family to play, so let's see the performance anyway!

"his name is……"

Someone asked casually.

The middle-aged man, who was probably a senior fan of the home team, hesitated for a moment, his brows were frowned, "It seems to be called, uh," he looked at the brown-haired boy who started running on the field, and behind him On the top of the number, the words Gama are printed, "I remembered, his name is José Francisco da Gama (José Francisco da Gama), he seems to be a kid from the Azores!"

This middle-aged man is indeed a veteran fan of the home team, and he has even paid attention to the origin of such an unknown youth player.

Hearing the admiration from the people around him, not only did he turn pale, but in the blink of an eye he sank because of the bad situation on the court.

On the court, the rookie who had just entered the rhythm of the game did not know that he was playing and made several fans discuss for a while. This young man who is just 19 years old this year has waited for a year to get such a chance to play, even though he also knows that the coach has changed. He just doesn't care about the result of the game, but the young man who wants to be famous in his heart just wants to seize this opportunity, show himself, find for himself a chance to stay in the first team, whether he wants to continue to find A chance to stay in the first division team or the team's first-line position after relegation, he needs to be smart.

However, the young man has just entered the field, and he still doesn't cooperate well with his teammates, let alone intercepting opponents... He is a midfielder, and intercepting is not his strong point.

In the 77th minute of the second half, Sporting Lisbon scored another goal, [-]-[-].

Of course, there was nothing the young Gama could do. The reality that the ball couldn't pass gave him a severe blow.

"what!!!!!!!!!!!!"

There was a scream from above the pitch, it was the voice of the home commentator.

At this time, a long pass from the home team's backcourt hit Gama directly on the back of the head.

Gama, who was hit by the football, froze for two seconds before falling heavily on the field.

The author has something to say:

PS: In fact, the reason for Boavista Football Club's relegation this year is because of match-fixing in 03-04, not because of poor results!They ranked ninth this year, but they were punished for relegation because of match-fixing before they were found out.Just borrow the background and some characters here, don't go into details.