[Football] Bad Boy Batty

Let's go back half a minute.

Brazil got a corner kick opportunity, Neymar took the kick, Batistuta tried to find a defensive loophole at the back post, but under Kompany's reminder, Batistuta finally did not find a suitable opportunity, and he gestured to remind Neymar to change strategy.

Neymar chose to take a tactical corner kick in the front point, but Belgium's height advantage was very obvious. Even though Paulinho jumped hard, he still couldn't get past Fellaini.

Fellaini headed the ball out of the penalty area, but at this position, the Brazilian team missed a man!

Lukaku, who is strong and a "professional winger", retreated to get the ball, then turned around and tried to break through. Casemiro, who was supposed to defend this position, was too close to the penalty area and it was too late for him to steal the ball when he started again. Lukaku threw his arms around and ran a long distance.

Whether in the national team or the club, Batistuta hardly ever worried about defense, but today he tried his best, chasing Lukaku all the way from the Belgian goal and tackling him directly, with a ferocity no less than that of a professional defender (a skill he learned from Lucas).

But before falling to the ground, Lukaku passed the ball.

The moment he saw De Bruyne dribbling the ball, Batistuta's heart tightened, and 3 seconds later, he saw De Bruyne's long-range shot from outside the penalty area hit the goal.

[1-1! Belgium equalized the score! This is definitely the most exciting opening match of this World Cup so far. Is there any other match where a team scored a goal and took the lead in less than 10 minutes, but then the score was equalized in the 15th minute? This match was great! ]

After scoring the goal, De Bruyne ran towards the corner flagpole, where the stands were full of Belgian fans. In a very rare move, he slid on his knees to celebrate. Although he stood up less than 2 meters after sliding out, it was still a big step forward for him.

To exaggerate a little, this may be the coolest celebration De Bruyne has ever made in his career.

After sliding on his knees, the Belgian midfielder turned around and opened his arms. Through most of the field and the legs of many players walking back and forth, Batistuta, who was still sitting on the ground, inexplicably felt his gaze.

It wasn't a physical perception, he didn't feel anything on the surface of his skin, but he just knew that De Bruyne must be looking at him.

"Don't think about it. Get up." Marcelo reached out and pulled Batistuta up. He thought he was upset that he didn't tackle the ball cleanly. "It's not your responsibility to defend him."

Batty said nothing, nodded and stood up.

The infuriating thing is not that he didn't make a clean tackle, the most infuriating thing is that he tackled Lukaku, but Lukaku actually got up, patted his butt and continued to fight as if nothing had happened, even though his thigh and right foot were clearly aching.

While running back to his position waiting for Coutinho and Paulinho to kick off from the center circle, Batistuta recalled the two games between Manchester City and Manchester United last season.

Compared with the Lukaku at that time and the Lukaku today, they are like two different people.

In the 20th minute, Brazil's corner kick opportunity turned into a Belgian counterattack. Courtois threw the ball directly to Lukaku, who switched to the left this time to take the ball and advance, facing Batistuta's right side.

Batistuta immediately chased back. Having just suffered a setback at the hands of the Brazilian, he changed his mind this time. He planned to do some tricks on the wing, such as blocking the line referee's sight and pulling him a little, trying to squeeze Lukaku and the ball out of the sideline, slowing down his passing speed to give Brazil time to defend.

But things didn't seem to develop the way Batty thought.

Just as he calculated the distance and was ready to attack, Lukaku stopped abruptly and turned around to protect the ball. Batistuta gritted his teeth and prepared for a fierce physical confrontation, but -

It was a collision.

Lukaku didn't move at all, he flew out by himself.

After falling out of bounds, Batistuta rolled twice until his back hit a billboard and he stopped. He felt dizzy and confused. He knew that there was a big gap in physical fitness between him and Lukaku, but he didn't expect it to be this big.

[beep——]
The referee stopped the game.

Lukaku immediately raised his hands to prove his innocence. He shrugged his shoulders and looked innocently at the referee who was running over: "I didn't commit a foul! I didn't even touch him! He bumped into me and bounced out!"

Batty: ...

Batty understood his accented defense and felt like he had eaten a mouthful of muddy grass.

At this moment, a shadow fell, and De Bruyne rushed over as fast as he could. He stretched out his hand to pull the boy up and said, "It's useless Batistuta. Your little tricks are nothing compared to his absolute weight."

Batty: ...
Batty: (expletive)

The referee asked the linesman for his opinion and did not call a foul on Lukaku, but the ball did hit his calf and went out of bounds, so Brazil got the out-of-bounds ball.

Marcelo shouted at Batistuta twice, signaling him to pass the ball back when the ball was kicked off, and Batistuta nodded. De Bruyne was still laughing, and the boy pressed his mouth into a straight line and bumped his shoulder hard.

"Move away! We're going to kick the ball out of bounds!" Batistuta said fiercely to De Bruyne.

De Bruyne said nothing, shrugged and ran backwards back into the field, keeping an eye on his position to limit Brazil's attack.

How cute, he thought.

……

In the 26th minute, Belgium got a free kick opportunity 25 yards from the left side of the penalty area. De Bruyne took the penalty and shot directly at the goal. The angle and strength were very good. Fortunately, Alisson saved the ball in time and lifted it over the crossbar.

Five minutes later, Belgium's attack once again put Brazil in a panic. De Bruyne took the corner kick again. Kompany got the ball in the melee, but his shot from a small angle was eventually saved by Alisson.

With 4 minutes left in the first half, Brazil successfully intercepted the ball in the backcourt, Casemiro organized an attack, and Belgium's defense also missed a man. Batistuta took the ball from the right and advanced into the penalty area. Vertonghen was too slow to follow closely and passed the ball across the front of the goal. Unfortunately, Firmino failed to catch up with the ball and it went out of the goal.

In the injury time of the first half, Neymar dribbled into the penalty area.

[Fell down in the restricted area! 】

Meunier's hand clearly pushed the opponent, but just when the whole Brazilian team thought it would be a penalty, the referee waved his hand to indicate that there was no problem.

"What! He clearly pushed someone!" Batistuta waved his hands and complained loudly. He ran to the referee and said, "You have to go and see VAR. It was definitely a foul! The No. 15 pushed Neymar!"

Others also gathered around, but in the face of numerous doubts, the referee remained indifferent, and was extremely firm and confident, and refused to watch the VAR replay.

"Go back to your seats, gentlemen." The referee stretched out his hand and pushed the Brazilian players away, "Otherwise I will have to play a card."

Batistuta was indignant, and Neymar stepped forward and pulled him away. Not long after, the whistle for the end of the first half sounded, and the two sides were temporarily tied 1-1 in the first half.

……

In general, both teams' front three had their moments of brilliance, while the back line also made low-level mistakes of missing people. Including injury time, there were 48 minutes in the first half, and both teams played well for 24 minutes each.

So the score of 1-1 makes sense.

But for Brazil, this was the worst first half they had faced in this World Cup. The atmosphere in the locker room was not good. Compared with the previous games, today's game was even scary quiet. Batistuta removed his bandages and pulled out his shin guards. "This won't work," he suddenly said. "If we play like we did in the first half, we won't make any progress."

"Oh, now you're the head coach?" Alves threw a ball of paper over sarcastically.

Batistuta didn't respond. He looked around the locker room and his eyes finally fell on Coutinho.

"I'll play as attacking midfielder in the second half," he said.

Coutinho was stunned, not knowing what Batistuta was going to do.

Just then Tite walked in, so Batistuta raised his hand and said again: "Sir, I will go to the middle to organize the second half."

"That's risky, Barty," Tite replied hesitantly.

He originally wanted to say this. Coutinho is not a complete organizing player. In the first half, his handling of the ball under the pressure of the Belgian midfielder and De Bruyne was a bit sloppy. The two wingers could not provide support, and Casemiro had to help organize the ball, so there were naturally loopholes in defense.

But if they really let Batistuta switch to the center to organize the team, they are not sure. Although Batistuta played in that position for half a season in Manchester City last season and has developed some skills, he has not played in that position for a long time and has not had any systematic training in this World Cup. A rash change of position may cause chaos in the frontcourt.

"No problem, it's OK." Batty said firmly.

"So you want Coutinho to go to the right to take on Lukaku? Do you think this is appropriate?" Alves was the first to object. "That guy is like a wall. You were bounced off, let alone him."

Batistuta frowned: "Lukaku doesn't always go to the right, he specializes on the left."

"Yes, the left. Coutinho's favorite position is also the left. You want him to go to the right?" Alves waved his hand and said.

"Why not?" Batistuta and Alves argued, "You saw how he was in a mess in the first half. I am more familiar with Kevin's passing method. I can do better."

"We haven't practiced this before!" Alves raised his voice, "That would be like directly destroying the right side!"

Batty opened his eyes wide: "How could it be useless..."

'Snapped'

"Okay, stop arguing." Neymar threw his sneakers to the ground. The crisp sound of the collision instantly stopped the two people who were about to quarrel. He pursed his lips and said, "Listen to what the gentleman says."

Batistuta looked at Neymar in disbelief, as if accusing him with his eyes of not standing on his side. Neymar walked over barefoot and hugged him.

"Don't do that Batty, that won't help us win the game." He whispered, "We are soldiers and we have to listen to our commander."

After about 5 seconds, Batty fell silent.

Alves smacked his lips, showing a look of disgust at the two kids' naughty behavior.

"In the second half, we kept the same. Batistuta, you were still on the right, cutting in behind Vertonghen. He turned surprisingly slowly," said Tite. "Kompany was also a player to be exploited. Fellaini and Witsel often assisted him, so Kompany had to move forward. He was doing the work of several people, so there were always mistakes."

Batistuta kept his head down and said nothing. Neymar handed him a new bandage and Batistuta began to wrap the shin guards around himself angrily.

“-That doesn’t mean we will remain completely unchanged.” Tite suddenly changed the subject. “In the second half, De Bruyne will retreat to pass the ball. Batistuta hopes you can go to the middle to intercept in advance. At this time, Coutinho can be anywhere, on the right, on the left, or even in the front. As long as he stands in the right position, we can cut off the connection between Belgium’s front and back courts.”

Oh, this is a good tactical adjustment.

The corners of Batty's mouth were no longer tense. He wrapped the last circle of bandage, put on his socks and sneakers, and stood up and jumped a few times.

Come on Kevin, it's not often that you and I get to play against each other in a real game, he thought, let's see who is better.

……

In the second half, neither side planned to make substitutions. Belgium continued their style of play in the first half, while Brazil made targeted adjustments. It turned out that letting Batistuta go to the middle to intercept De Bruyne's pass was an extremely correct choice.

After Batistuta and Casemiro ruined his good chances for the third time, De Bruyne began to get anxious, but he couldn't find a better way to deal with it for the time being and could only reduce the number of times he got the ball.

But Belgium is not Manchester City, and there is no second core player in the team to help him share the burden. For a while, the European Red Devils were in trouble and had to go to the wing more often to find Hazard's breakthrough to launch an attack.

Finally, in the last 15 minutes of the game, Brazil's new tactical approach finally bore fruit.

Batistuta and Casemiro cooperated to intercept the ball in the Belgian backcourt and intended to pass it to De Bruyne to launch an attack. At this time, Neymar had just switched positions with Coutinho to the right. Batistuta cooperated with Neymar on the right, tore open the Belgian defense line, and then seized the opportunity to pass the ball into the penalty area!

Firmino rushed over, jumped high and headed the ball. Courtois attacked, but he was still a step too slow, and the ball brushed his gloves and flew into the net!

2-1! Brazil overtook the score!
[Beautiful! The ball went in! Firmino scored his third goal in this World Cup. Although the change in formation of the Brazilian team in the second half was not immediate, I believe many people have already predicted the result after watching the game for 3 minutes in the second half. With 20 minutes left, can Belgium make another comeback? ]

Firmino was very emotional after scoring the goal. He slid down and knelt towards the Brazilian fan area to celebrate. Behind him, Batistuta and Neymar, the two heroes who provided assists, hugged each other.

"You two bad guys, I thought you were the ones who scored the goal!" Alves pushed Batistuta and Neymar's heads and complained, "You are so clingy. Stop hugging each other. We'll have plenty of time to hug each other after the game is over!"

Neymar made a face at him and pushed Batistuta, who was about to roll his eyes at him, away from the scene.

De Bruyne stood far away, across half the field, taking in everything that had just happened. He stepped on the grass twice, with still no expression on his face.

"Don't lose heart, Kevin, we still have time." Lukaku patted De Bruyne on the shoulder, "Come on, let these Brazilians see our will!"

……

After overtaking the score, the Brazilian team was no longer as tense as before and began to advance slowly by passing the ball. The defensive players were a little lax, and at this time, even the slightest loophole could be fatal.

Just when everyone thought Brazil was going to win and advance to the semi-finals, De Bruyne took a free kick in the frontcourt, Thiago Silva lost his defensive position, and Fellaini headed the ball into the goal, beating Alves.

In the 88th minute of the second half, Belgium equalized the game!

In the injury time, the Brazilian team failed to score another goal in those 3 minutes, and the score of 2-2 remained until the end.

The game was tied in regular time and both sides entered overtime.

The outcome remains undecided.

(End of this chapter)