Chapter 72: Even Finals Can Have Great Games

Baptista was so moved that he almost cried tears of joy. Who would have believed this was the first time Kaka had assisted him?

Adriano had only known Kaka for less than a month, yet Kaka had already helped Adriano become the second-highest goal scorer in the World Youth Championship tournament. Meanwhile, Baptista had been Kaka's teammate since the beginning of his professional career, but he had to wait until this game to finally experience the magic of Kaka's brilliant passing and playmaking abilities.

It was truly too difficult to believe...

Argentina's players looked panicked. Although it was not obvious from the outside, Kaka could sense their unease. They increased their attacking speed, but their urgency was different from Brazil's. Their haste showed a sense of desperation and anxiety.

Kaka could easily read their psychological state. It was like "The exam time is almost over, and I haven't written the essay yet. What should I do? I'm in a rush..."

The essay topic was: 'How to Score Goals While Preventing the Opponent from Scoring'. The word count requirement was three goals... No, 800 words.

Argentina had only written the title, while Brazil's essay was already halfway done, with enough content to start linking different parts together. And the one connecting those parts was, of course, Kaka.

Of course, their essay topics were different, and Brazil's was much easier: 'Pressing the Advantage Against a Struggling Opponent'.

After receiving a long goal kick from the goalkeeper Rubinho, Kaka carried the football forward from the middle of the pitch. Just as everyone expected another solo dribbling display from him, he suddenly played a long pass wide towards the right sideline. 

Maicon had already made a darting forward run, deftly controlling Kaka's long pass.

Argentina played with a back three defensively and five midfielders, meaning that when their midfield was beaten, the flanks were virtually unguarded. 

Instead of crossing or dribbling inside, Maicon passed the ball to the edge of the penalty area on the right side. Adriano had taken up a position there and managed to control the ball under pressure from defenders.

Robert started making runs to create space, and Maicon also advanced towards the goal, but Argentina had five players inside the penalty area, leaving no clear shooting chances. The defender Romagnoli was also closely marking Adriano, denying him any opportunities to shoot.

Reluctantly, Adriano played the ball back to Kaka. 

Kaka charged forward dribbling into the penalty area. With so many bodies around him, his dribbling skills were not very effective, but his years of street football had honed his close control abilities. His feet constantly touched and caressed the ball, allowing him to shield it from the Argentine players' attempts to dispossess him, albeit awkwardly.

Of course, this tight control was not a sustainable long-term solution, as the Argentines were only being tentative inside their own penalty area. Once more defenders arrived to double team him, Kaka's control would inevitably be lost.

With no way forward to shoot, Kaka flicked the ball back with his heel pass to Adriano behind him.

Facing the incoming ball, Adriano set himself up for a thunderous left-footed strike on goal.

The Argentine defenders immediately turned sideways and raised their arms to protect their faces, but they didn't jump to try to block the shot, wary of Adriano deceiving them with a feint.

And Adriano did feint, but not a shot-and-dribble feint. Instead, Adriano delicately chipped and lifted the ball over the defenders towards Robert's position inside the box. 

Robert failed to anticipate the deft pass, having been deceived by Adriano's feint and expecting more of a rebound to pounce on.

Only when the ball was about to sail past did Robert belatedly leap, barely grazing it with his head but failing to generate a shot on target towards the goal. 

The goalkeeper Backus swiftly pounced on the loose ball, clutching it before charging out of the penalty area and finally clearing the danger upfield.

On the left flank, the Argentine player Rodriguez controlled the cleared ball with the inside of his right foot, quickly advancing forward on the counter attack. 

His left was Brazil's right defensive side, where their right-back was Maicon currently caught upfield inside Argentina's penalty area.

The double-edged risk of an attacking full-back once again backfired on Brazil, leaving them exposed defensively.

"While Brazil laments the missed scoring chance, Argentina has quickly countered. Rodriguez beats Leo the defender, he's very rapid, Baptista arrives to try to cover, but Rodriguez doesn't pass, dribbling past him skillfully! Baptista is beaten! Brazil are in serious defensive trouble!"

After the lengthy counter attacking run, Rodriguez's pace finally dropped slightly, allowing him to slide the ball into Brazil's penalty area for a teammate. 

Saviola burst through the defense like an arrow, staying ahead of the defender Angelo to reach the ball first and deftly chip it over the onrushing goalkeeper Rubinho and into the net for a goal.

From the initial clearance by Lukes to Saviola's brilliant finish, it took less than half a minute, with the goalkeeper, midfielders, and forwards for Argentina seamlessly linking up in a devastatingly simple counter attacking move.

The entire stadium erupted in cheers as soon as Rodriguez carried the ball forward, reaching a crescendo when Saviola scored the goal.

Kaka thought the entire stadium might actually collapse from the noise and vibrations of the crowd's roars.

"A sublime finish! Saviola has his brace with two goals! Argentina has utilized a rapid counter-attack to reduce the deficit to 2-3 trailing Brazil! They only committed two players to breach Brazil's entire defense! With injury time still to be added, there's nearly twenty more minutes remaining, and the final outcome is still quite uncertain."

Despite scoring twice, Saviola's expression remained grave as he swiftly retrieved the ball from the net and jogged back to the center circle for the restart. 

The World Youth Championship's biggest star player, Argentina's hope, Barcelona's future signing – these great accolades were both an honor and a huge burden, all demanding that he win this crucial match.

Conventionally, there are no truly great, entertaining games in tournament finals, for the defensive reasons everyone knows. But with five goals already scored between the teams and more seemingly inevitable to come, that old adage clearly no longer applied to this match.

Argentina's confidence and determination soared sky-high with Saviola's crucial goal to get back into the game, while the talented but young Brazilian players were equally fired up and motivated to re-extend their lead.

In the 73rd minute, the Brazil coach Costonio substituted the ineffective striker Robert, bringing on the dangerous attacker Oliveira in his place.

The Argentine coach Pekerman breathed a silent sigh of relief tinged with apprehension. Bringing on an extra attacking player signaled Brazil's intent to push hard for more goals, increasing Argentina's own flickering hopes of being able to equalize. However, the introduction of the talented and dangerous Oliveira left Pekerman unable to fully relax just yet.

Upon entering the game, Oliveira didn't immediately join the front line of attackers but first relayed the coach's strategic instructions to his new teammates on the field.

"Kaka, the coach wants you and Adriano to swap positions more often by drifting wider to the flanks. We'll attack down the wings and sidelines more, avoiding playing too directly through the crowded middle."

Before Kaka could respond, Argentina had quickly taken a throw-in, launching a new attack into Brazil's defensive half.

Kaka hurriedly tracked back to help defend the counter. 

While Costonio didn't want Brazil to consistently attack through the central middle areas, Argentina placed great emphasis on controlling and clogging up that crucial zone of the pitch.

Kaka's defensive positioning and reading of the game was excellent, and his anticipation and agility allowed him to dispossess the dangerous Saviola of the ball.

"Kaka!" Costa called out from the open flank, remarkably unmarked by any Argentine defenders. 

Kaka quickly played a pass out wide to the unmarked Costa before Saviola could attempt to win back possession.

(end of chapter)