Chapter 41: The Beast Midfielder + The Beast Striker

June 18th, 2001 - Cordoba, Argentina - U-20 World Cup Group B: Brazil vs Germany. 

The young players shivered in the cold wind and rain of an unexpected cold front that had arrived. Despite it being June, the temperatures in Cordoba and Mendoza had dropped into the single digits Celsius. While Rio de Janeiro basked in sunshine, Cordoba was gripped by a biting, wintry chill - a stark reminder of nature's power.

But the players' hearts felt even colder than the weather. The 1,500 spectators at the opening ceremony had merely been a polite gesture from the local hosts. For this important Group B clash between football giants Brazil and Germany, the attendance didn't even reach 1,000 people.

The stands were nearly empty, with only a small cluster of young fans occupying a few seats near the pitch. Even a local youth club match might have attracted more spectators.

Costonerio, one of the Brazilian staff, exclaimed in disbelief, "Is this really Argentina? The country that won the World Cup and produced the legendary Maradona? How dare they call themselves the kingdom of football with such poor attendance? There can't even be 500 people here!"

Another staff member replied, "Probably close to that number. I heard that even for matches involving the Argentine national team, only around 10,000 tickets were sold. We have the lowest attendance so far, with only about 300 tickets sold. The organizers have been giving away 200,000 free tickets, but it doesn't seem to be helping much."

Costonerio shook his head, trying to refocus on the upcoming match.

Brazilian football is often considered one of the country's greatest exports and sources of national pride, alongside things like Japanese cinema, Mexican tequila, and American basketball. Whenever the Brazilian national team plays, they are expected to compete for the title.

While cautious, Costonerio felt confident rather than overly pressured. With talented players like the fit Kaka, Adriano, and Maikon on his side, it was hard not to be optimistic.

In the players' tunnel, Kaka, wearing the captain's armband, led his team out onto the pitch to face scrutiny from the German players. He didn't recognize any of the German players at first glance. The future stars like Lahm and Podolski who would later represent Germany were still in their clubs' youth systems at this point. This current German U-20 team seemed to comprise mostly relatively unknown young talents from domestic clubs. 

Kaka couldn't identify any of them by name or reputation based on their youthful, unfamiliar faces. But regardless of who they were, Brazil would have to defeat them first.

As the teams entered the field, scattered applause came from the sparse crowd. Despite the low attendance, the scouts and journalists from around the world gave the 22 young players a sense that this was an important test.

Kaka won the coin toss against the German captain and opted to kick off first. 

While Kaka's captaincy drew a lot of attention, the player under the most scrutiny was striker Adriano. At 1.84m (6ft) and 79kg (174lbs), this 19-year-old had the powerful physique of a grown man. He had trained at Flamengo since a young age, and in 1999 was a key player when Brazil's U-17 team won the World Cup in that age group. At just 18 in 2000, he had become a regular starter for the talented Flamengo first team. His impressive performances caught the eye of Brazil's senior national team coach Leao, who called him up four times, including World Cup qualifiers against Colombia and Paraguay.

So Adriano was one of the few on the pitch with major international experience already under his belt. As one of Brazil's rare powerful striker talents, he had often scored crucial headers and long-range goals for Flamengo in domestic games. This rising star was undoubtedly the next great Brazilian striker that fans eagerly anticipated to follow in the footsteps of aging legends like Romario and Rivaldo.

However, the famous Barcelona scout Ángel Bossio had his eyes more keenly trained on Kaka that day. According to Bossio's records, this was actually Kaka's first appearance for Brazil's U-20 team, with only junior titles like the Rio-Sao Paulo Youth Tournament and Campeonato Baiano on his modest resume so far. But Barcelona's extensive scouting network in South America had compiled a comprehensive understanding of Kaka's talents and potential since his debut. 

While interested in Kaka, Barcelona had already decided to sign Saviola and make five or six other signings that season. Kaka was not a raw young talent they could simply buy for the youth team, train for a few years, and then promote. He was already a highly-coveted senior midfielder who Sao Paulo would surely demand a huge fee for.

Of course, Bossio had never seen Kaka play in person before. So while his mission was to discover new talents, his main focus would be evaluating if Kaka truly lived up to the hype as a world-class genius in the same mold as Ronaldo or Rivaldo. If so, Barcelona's transfer plans might need an overhaul. 

Both teams lined up in the classic 4-4-2 formation. Oliveira did not start, with Adriano partnering Roberto from Botafogo up front. As expected, Kaka and Baptista took the attacking and defensive midfield roles, while Leo and Costa from Gremio operated on the wings. The four defenders were Angelo, Anderson, Derlacena, and Maikon.

Roberto kicked off, passing back to Adriano who immediately made a powerful run forward. Two German strikers quickly closed down Kaka, so he laid it back to Baptista.

When everyone expected a simple switch of play or back pass, Baptista surprisingly surged forward himself, almost bulldozing through a defender as he kicked a lofted long ball into the German half. 

The audacious long pass caught not just the Germans but even Kaka by surprise. However, Baptista's pass was no random act.

As the German defenders and midfielders scrambled to intercept the ball, the powerhouse Adriano charged like an unstoppable truck, flicking it through two players' legs. He then rounded a defender and explosive accelerated onto the loose ball in just a few strides. 

The smattering of spectators who had been disengaged gasped in astonishment. Even the seasoned scouts and journalists scrambled to take notes on this unexpected burst of genius, struggling to process what they had just witnessed.

A bulldozing midfielder and a turbo-charged striker - their rugged power and physicality seemed a stark contrast to the slick, stylish "Samba football" normally associated with Brazil.

(end of chapter)