[Football] Bad Boy Batty

Casemiro's equalizer did not make the Brazilians happy for too long. Soon the first half came to an end. Because the collision in front of the goal wasted a lot of time, the referee gave 4 minutes of injury time.

In the first minute of injury time, the French team seized an unsuccessful passing opportunity of the Brazilian team. Pogba and Augustus combined to target Coutinho, and the Barcelona star, who was already a little flustered by the ball stop, lost the ball.

This steal was successfully transformed into a counterattack. Pogba passed the ball to the front of the penalty area. Marquinhos, who made a mistake, wanted to make up for it and cleared the ball before Giroud, but the ball was not cleared too far and Augustus took the ball and passed it outside.

Mbappe took Marcelo away, Marquinhos followed Giroud, Thiago Silva did not dare to move forward rashly, so Griezmann stopped the ball and adjusted the shot in one go.

[The ball went in! Who could believe this was the final? The first half was about to end, and the French team had reversed the score! 2-1! The Brazilian team was about to get relieved. ]

Soon the referee blew the whistle to end the first half.

Brazil is currently trailing France by one goal.

The commentator is right. I don’t know what the situation is in France, but at least the atmosphere in the Brazilian locker room is a bit heavy.

Anyone would be in a bad mood if the opponent scored a goal and overtook the score in the last few minutes (of the first half).

"Why doesn't anyone help him? Someone should be in that position." Batty complained while sitting on the mat. He lifted up his jersey and roughly tore off the muscle patch on his waist.

"It's my fault. I didn't handle it well." Coutinho said in frustration. He hoped to end the topic of Batistuta with a straightforward apology. Everyone knew that he was a little explosive barrel. If he was fussy about a certain issue, then no one in the midfield would have a rest.

"No, no, that's obviously not your fault." Obviously Batty didn't want to let it go easily. He rolled up his muscles and threw them away. "Are you all idiots? Passing the ball to you in that position? We talked about this before the game. You were alone facing Kante, Pogba, and Augustus. How could you protect the ball?"

This was a harsh and terrible statement, almost implying the entire central axis and several other players involved in the defense. What's worse is that Batistuta himself knew nothing about it... or maybe he knew, but he did it on purpose, which was just adding fuel to the fire.

"I don't think that's my problem." Marquinhos was a little dissatisfied. He made a good pass, but unfortunately Coutinho didn't handle it well, which led to the ball being intercepted and counterattacked.

"Why not?" Batistuta looked over. "Your pass was standard, but the question is, why did you pass it to him when you knew there were three Frenchmen next to him?"

"Oh - good question." Marquinhos put down his socks and looked at Batistuta. "You just asked why no one went to help him, right? Then let me ask you, Batistuta, why didn't you go?"

Batistuta expressed shock: "I was on the wing, not even across the center line, and had no time to help."

"Then why didn't you cross the center line?" Marquinhos began to be aggressive, "I remember you were our right winger, right?"

"Ha! If Dani had stopped Griezmann, I wouldn't have to go back." Batistuta rolled his eyes. "Do you think I like to retreat? If your defensive players can do it well, why don't I stay in the front court? Do you think I'm right?"

The boy completely ignited the fire in the locker room with three consecutive questions.

To some extent, he was right. During the World Cup, several Brazilian frontcourt players did get together to complain about the problem that their defense line loved to attack too much and did not defend well enough.

Yet no one had ever pointed this out directly, until today, in the final, at halftime, when they were trailing 1-2.

"Don't go too far!"

"It was a nasty mistake and we all share the blame."

"What does it have to do with me?"

The locker room was in an uproar.

"Don't think you're helping by retreating to defend, Batistuta. You're even less useful than a dummy," Alves said sarcastically. "I don't even remember you doing anything. Oh no, wait, what happened the last time you retreated to defend in front of the goal? Let me think - own goal! You scored an own goal!"

When the own goal was mentioned, Batistuta stopped talking, his face turned red, and he stared at Alves with his big eyes.

It didn't hurt at all, Alves shrugged. He was used to being glared at.

"Okay, everyone, three minutes have passed, so stop arguing about the goal." Neymar stepped forward to act as a peacemaker. Although he was stripped of his captaincy more than a year ago, he has been trying to give the team more positive things.

and--

As the only person in the team who knew Batistuta's temper very well, it was necessary for him to prevent things from getting worse.

But no, after seeing him, Batty seemed to have opened up new ideas.

"Ha! Back to the original question, about the ball that was lost, even if you couldn't pass it to me, Maki, why didn't you pass it to Neymar?" the young man snapped his fingers and questioned, "Although Neymar likes to dribble forward when he gets the ball, he can at least hold on for a little longer, so that we have enough time to prepare and get into a good defensive position."

what?
Do you like to move forward when you have the ball?

Neymar felt like he was inexplicably shot by an arrow.

"Oh my God, Batistuta! You are amazing!" Alves clapped his hands exaggeratedly. "How can you insult both Neymar and Coutinho in one sentence? Teach me, please!"

"I'm looking for problems!" Batty stroked the curly hair that was in the way irritably, "If we don't deal with it, we'll lose the ball in the second half!"

"Oh, what, are you the head coach again now?"

"You just don't want to take responsibility! Dani, I didn't want to say anything to you, but when we were attacking for more than 20 minutes in the first half, why did you..."

[That’s it! ]

The door of the locker room was forced open and Tite walked in with a grim face.

He had just used precious half-time to try to complain about Augustus' handball foul, but to no avail and was met with nothing but rebuff. When he returned to the locker room, he heard someone arguing as soon as he walked to the door.

No doubt it's Batty.

Jesus, he sighed with a headache, why did you give Brazil a talented player but not give him a reasonable and good character?
Tite had an argument with his teammate, Batistuta, in the middle of the World Cup final. He cursed inwardly that if it was any other guy, he would have kicked him out of the national team!

"I'm telling the truth!" When Batty gets stubborn, he's so stubborn that even a few bulls can't pull him back.

breathe--

Think about it brightly. Without this kid, the Brazilian team might not have gone so far, Tite comforted himself.

"I know you mean well, Batistuta, but really, you're not helping. Thank you." The head coach rubbed his temple and looked around the locker room. "Don't be discouraged, everyone. Seriously, quarrel? Sure! Keep the momentum you had when you quarreled, and bring it to the court!"

After briefly mentioning the conflict in the locker room, Tite paused and turned the topic back to the game.

"In the first half, we suppressed the opponent for nearly 30 minutes. Yes, the score was 1-2 and we were behind, but so what? 3 of the 2 goals were scored by our players. What does this show?" His eyes swept across the faces of the players one by one, "It shows that there is no problem with our tactics. All you need is strength and belief! You are only this far away from scoring and winning--"

Everyone looked up at the head coach.

Tite stretched out his hand and pinched his thumb and index finger together, with the distance between them being only a few centimeters.

Yes, that's all.

……

In the second half, neither side made any substitutions or tactical adjustments, as if the halftime break did not exist. The dispute in the first half continued completely into the second half.

The game was in a stalemate. In the 70th minute, the score was still 2-1 with France in the lead.

During this period, both teams had very good opportunities but failed to seize them.

For example, in the 49th minute, Brazil's free kick tactics in the frontcourt were very beautiful, but unfortunately, Thiago Silva's follow-up shot hit the post and bounced out; for another example, in the 54th minute, Pavard volleyed and almost replicated his "Peach Blossom Falling Shadow Flying Sword" world wave in the match against Argentina.

Soon, the French team made the first substitution.

Perhaps wanting to delay the game and maintain the 2-1 score until the end, Deschamps chose to replace Giroud with Fekir.

A few minutes later, Brazil also made a substitution, but the difference was that Tite replaced Paulinho with Jesus to continue to strengthen the pressing in the frontcourt. At the same time, he asked Jesus to pass on the message, asking Batistuta and Neymar to move closer to the middle, and Firmino to step back and level with him. They wanted to gather heavy troops in the middle and fight the French team head-on.

Judging from the positioning, Pogba is the core of the French team's midfield, but he made too many passing errors and was intercepted too many times. Combining his performance in the first half and the French team's passing points and routes from the start of the second half to now, Pogba's time with the ball is gradually decreasing.

In addition to him, Kanter's coverage area is indeed large, and he has made an indispensable contribution on the defensive end, but on offense, a middleman is needed from his passing to the frontcourt response, and this middleman is Augustus.

The real midfield commander of the French team is actually Augustus.

Tite and his coaching team discovered this, so they decisively gave up focusing on pressing Pogba and turned to targeting Augustus. The first step of this tactic was to replace Jesus.

Sure enough, their tactical arrangements produced immediate results.

After strengthening the midfield, the Brazilian team broke into the French team's penalty area many times to create dangerous situations. In the 76th minute, Jesus and Batistuta cooperated to advance to the top of the penalty area again. Neymar pulled the defense line to the side to draw the attention of two defensive players. Batistuta passed the ball directly to the middle, and Firmino got rid of Umtiti and successfully made an offside.

[Single blade! ]

Firmino broke into the penalty area, and Varane chose to foul in desperation. He knocked Firmino down from behind. The referee stopped the game and then raised his hand and pointed to the penalty spot.

[Penalty! The referee awarded a penalty! In the 77th minute, Brazil had a great chance to equalize the score! This game was so exciting. I guarantee that no one would have thought that this situation would happen before. Who will take the penalty? Will it be Batistuta, who has a chance to win the Golden Boot?]

Who will take the penalty kick? This is the question Neymar is also thinking about. He came to Batistuta with the ball and asked: "Do you want it?"

"No, you go." Batistuta shook his head decisively. He glanced in the direction of the goal, his eyes filled with inexplicable emotions. Neymar only discerned some disgust in them.

"Did that own goal scare you away from scoring a goal?" Neymar joked.

"That's not the case." Batistuta glanced at the referee and pushed Neymar to take the penalty. "Don't let me kick your ass in front of the whole world. Go!"

Neymar smiled and walked towards the penalty spot with the ball.

The whistle blew, he ran up and shot!
[The ball went in! Neymar's penalty was still very stable, 2-2! Brazil tied the score again! There are still 15 minutes left before the end of regular time. If neither side can score again, the game will enter overtime. Will there be any unexpected situations? ]

Overtime is not only a test for the players, but also for the spectators watching the game. The hearts of many fans who stayed up late to watch the game almost flew out of their chests.

Time passed little by little.

The score remained at 2-2.

In the 86th minute, when all the fans were praying, the score on the field was rewritten! Lucas assisted from the left to the bottom line, dribbled past Alves and passed the ball to Mbappe, who fell to the ground and shot from 26 yards in front of the goal. The ball hit the ground in front of the goal and refracted. Alisson was caught off guard and the ball brushed his arm and went into the lower left corner.

3-2!

[Oh my god! The French team overtook the score at the last minute! Mbappe scored his fifth goal in this World Cup! He also became the second youngest player to score in the World Cup final after Pele! What an amazing achievement! ]

This was totally a stroke of luck.

If we only look at Mbappe's shot, Alisson has made all the defensive preparations, but he never expected that the ball would hit the ground and deflect into the net.

But it's too late to say anything now.

Luck is also part of strength, and sometimes even a very important part.

Yes, France scored a lucky goal.

so what?

Isn't it still a goal?

……

The game entered the final injury time.

3 minutes.

What can you do in 3 minutes? Not enough for a flirtation, a dance, lovemaking, or even a kiss.

Honestly, what's the point of Brazil's hard work throughout the game? In the end, they still lost to luck.

To be honest, they have the strength to win the championship. They have a luxurious attacking line in the frontcourt, tough guys who dare to fight hard in the midfield, and the backcourt is also made up of the main players of the giants.

To be honest, just one month of training has not allowed them to get along well with each other, but among all the 1 teams participating in the World Cup, they are considered to have cooperated well.

But in the end they still fail. Why? Because of luck.

Do not!
This is not right!
No!

This is unacceptable!
Just when everyone was feeling a little discouraged, Batistuta gritted his teeth, sprinted back to midfield and successfully stole the ball from Augustus.

If you lose because of your lack of strength, you lose, but if you lose because of luck? No, forgive him for not agreeing!

"Go up, go up!"

Neymar called on his teammates to press forward in a hoarse voice. He saw through Batistuta's intention. This was the last life-and-death struggle. If they failed, they would be fools. They had to give it a try.

Batistuta brought the ball to the right baseline, but Lucas certainly refused to let him pass and used various methods to try to disrupt the attack.

Firmino and Jesus were already in position in the middle, Neymar was at the back post, and Casemiro was guarding in front of the penalty area. After a brief glance, the bright red 93 minutes on the digital scoreboard stimulated Batistuta's retina, and he knew this was their last chance.

After realizing this, his mind gradually became empty, and everything became distant, as if everything was sucked away by the black hole.

Batistuta stopped the ball at the baseline, with Lucas behind him and the goal in front of him.

Fight.

After a quick change of direction, he stopped and pushed the ball, catching Lucas off guard. With 94 minutes and 33 seconds left, Batistuta shifted his center of gravity to his right foot, and then hit a curve ball while being parallel to the goal.

No one knew whether he wanted to pass or shoot.

Even Batty himself doesn't know.

but--

【Wonderful! Wonderful! Oh my God, who can believe this! Mbappe's record as the second youngest player to score in a World Cup final was broken in just 8 minutes! 3-3! Batistuta scored from a negative angle to pull Brazil back from the brink of death! 】

The commentator was so excited that he almost rolled off his chair. He couldn't stop his whole body from shaking. It had been many years since he had seen such a wonderful World Cup final.

[In less than 10 minutes, Mbappe and Batistuta scored wonderful goals as if they were competing with each other! From 2002 to now, there are only 4 goals in all the finals of the 6 World Cups, but today, 6 goals were scored in one go during the regular match time alone! The past 10 years belonged to Messi and Ronaldo, and the next 10 years are destined to belong to Batistuta and Mbappe! ]

The camera turned to the stands, where all the famous players of the Brazilian team appeared, including Ronaldo, Kaka, Rivaldo and others. They jumped up and cheered for Batistuta's life-saving goal, as excited as a group of children.

[beep——]
The referee blew the whistle to end the game.

The two teams tied in regular time.

The 21st World Cup final will go into overtime.

(End of this chapter)