Chapter 61: Thriving in Favorable Conditions
July 4th, 2001, Youth World Cup Semifinals, Brazil vs Egypt.
In the group stage, Egypt was in Group A. They beat Finland 2-1, tied Jamaica 0-0, and then lost badly 7-1 to Argentina. But after that, they defeated the United States 2-0 in the round of 16 and beat the Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinals.
In their five games so far, Egypt scored 7 goals and allowed 9 goals against them. This showed their defense had some weaknesses, but also that they could score goals. If you don't count the one-sided loss to the very good Argentina team, Egypt's defense was actually quite strong against the other teams. And they scored in almost every match.
This Egyptian team was clearly better than their results made it seem. Brazil could not take them lightly. Coach Costanio prepared very carefully for this game, and his Brazilian players were not underestimating their Egyptian opponents.
However, the Egyptians felt disrespected by Brazil's starting lineup of players.
Kaka, Brazil's star player, did not start the game. The Egyptians saw this as Brazil not respecting them enough.
Even Brazilian fans were worried at first that Kaka might be injured, until they saw him relaxed on the bench.
The TV commentator said: "Egypt's lineup is mostly the same as their game against Netherlands. But Brazil has made some changes - their captain Kaka and third top goalscorer Robert are on the bench to start. We don't know if coach Costanio left them out because they were tired or to keep them fresh for later games. But many viewers are disappointed Kaka is not starting."
Miguel An, a famous scout in Europe, was also disappointed Kaka didn't start. His skill was finding new talented young players. Players he discovered at Valencia had helped them reach two straight Champions League finals, so he was very confident in judging young talent.
Kaka was definitely one of the most promising young players Miguel had seen in years. The media hyped up many rising stars at this Youth World Cup, but for top scouts like Miguel, only a few were truly special talents worth watching closely.
Star players like Saviola, already signed by Barcelona, and Adriano, with a deal at Inter Milan, were already at big clubs. But incredibly, Kaka was still just at his local club Sao Paulo - no big club had signed him yet. Miguel had permission ready - if Kaka led Brazil to the final, he would try his hardest to get Kaka signed by Barcelona.
Many other big clubs like Manchester United, Arsenal and Juventus also wanted to sign Kaka based on this tournament. Yet in the biggest game of his young career so far, Kaka started on the bench - very frustrating!
Without Kaka, Maicon was Brazil's captain and Costa played as the attacking midfielder. Adriano and Oliveira were the two strikers.
Egypt started the game very defensively. Brazil was a huge challenge. They learned from Ghana's quarterfinal approach - defend very hard and counter-attack, try to get the game to extra time and a golden goal chance.
A perfect plan - except one problem when trying to do it.
Maicon, Brazil's captain for this game, caused them issues. Inspired by scoring a goal in the last game or feeling more motivated as captain, Maicon was always involved in both defense and attack.
Early on he won the ball and made a strong run upfield - doing the perfect modern job of both defending and attacking from the fullback position. Shortly after, he played a great long pass to find Adriano, though Adriano's cross for Oliveira then went too high and caused panic in Egypt's defense.
This set the pattern for the rest of the half - one team attacking and the other team defending very hard.
Kaka didn't know much about Egyptian football except for the Pyramids and player Salah. But Egypt's semifinals run proved their quality. In the first half-hour, they blocked 7-8 Brazilian attacks while still creating a couple decent scoring chances themselves.
Overall Brazil still had most of the play though. The coaching tactics were even, so individual player quality would decide the winner.
First it was captain Maicon providing some threat, though he couldn't score. Then Adriano started causing all kinds of problems for Egypt's defense.
But first, a word on Oliveira, the Brazilian-born striker who played for Portugal. His smart movement and runs off the ball were excellent, pulling Egypt's defense out of position and creating space for Adriano to operate in.
Adriano played almost as a second striker, dropping deeper like prime Ronaldo to get on the ball rather than just waiting in the box for chances. This allowed him to utilize his amazing dribbling ability.
Whereas Ronaldo loved dribbling past multiple defenders before shooting, Adriano specialized in taking his chances from long range.
In the 33rd minute, Baptista flicked on a header to Costa, who controlled it, did a Marseille turn to spin away from his marker, and slipped in Adriano running towards goal.
Egypt used a defensive 4-5-1 formation, with two holding midfielders specifically told to stop Adriano from getting anywhere near their penalty box.
But this is the difference between an elite talent and an average player. Average players get shut down when opponents gameplan is all about stopping their strengths. But the best players still make things happen despite constantly being man-marked and nullified by defenses.
Though Adriano only scored around a dozen league goals in his best season, he was Inter Milan's top scorer that year ahead of their many world-class strikers - showing his ability. When in top form, special talents like Adriano are ruthless no matter what the gameplan is to try and stop them.
(end of chapter)