I'm Kaka Kaka

Chapter 520 Semifinals

The Brazilian team has completed the tasks of the group stage and the quarter-finals, and is ready to leave Puerto de la Cruz and fly to Maracaibo for the next match.

The international footballers have been fighting north and south all year round, and they are used to being greeted and sent off, but this time the parting made them a little sad.

During their 18-day stay in this port city, they forged a deep friendship with their temporary neighbors.

This is a special group of neighbors. They are residents of the Los Jardines slum. They are separated from the Simon Bolivar General Sports Training Ground, where the Brazilian team conducts daily training, only by an unpaved road.

Watching the Brazilian team train through the barbed-wire wall has become part of the daily life of these residents.

The most touching thing is the children of the "neighbors". They are innocent and innocent. If someone kicks the ball out of the fence, they will rush to help retrieve the ball.

Luis Renco, the team doctor of the Brazilian national team, also had a good impression of these children. Once, at the end of training, a strong wind mixed with heavy rain suddenly hit the training ground. The temporary tent set up by the medical team was blown off by the wind, and many objects were blown down around the field by the wind. There was not enough manpower. As soon as Renco greeted them, the children came to help.

The leader of the group is 12-year-old Carlos Alberto, who not only bears the same name as Brazil's captain in 1970, but also plays well.

The relationship between Alberto Jr. and Brazilian players is also very good. Kaka not only gave him a ticket to the quarter-finals, but also sent a batch of sneakers, jerseys and footballs to these children.

If such a good material is not written into a touching essay, the reporter is not worthy of being called a reporter.

"The Times" and "São Paulo" both made relevant reports: "I cried in the auditorium before the parting. I didn't believe that Brazil could beat Chile 8-0. I was so moved!" The children of the poor had no money to buy a ticket that was 29 times higher by the scalpers. Little Alberto recounted the game process in front of his house at night like telling a story, and other children listened quietly around the campfire.

"My ideal is to become an excellent football player when I grow up. During the days I spent with the Brazil team, my determination became stronger. One day I will play like Kaka!" Alberto Jr. was sitting on a low wall with a bottle of homemade grape juice in his hand, which reminded him of Carlos Tevez when he was a child.

Whether they are Argentines, Venezuelans or Brazilians, children who dream of football are all equally simple.

Although there is no Adriano and Ronaldinho, but there is Kaka, the Samba team formed by Dunga is still an out-and-out fortune-telling boy. During their 18-day stay in Puerto de la Cruz, the city's commercial profits have achieved a 70% increase.

Although the economic growth brought about by the Copa America is universal, there is no doubt that the Brazilian team is the most lucrative.

Talek William Saber, the governor of Ansoategui State, said that although La Cruz is a famous tourist city, its popularity has not been strong, and the tourism industry even suffered losses. "During the stay, the Brazilian team helped us achieve our commercial profit growth target for one quarter. In addition to the direct consumption of the Brazilian team, the fans attracted by the Brazilian team are the main force driving consumption. The hotel industry, catering industry and tourism are the sectors that benefit the most. In addition, commercial development, TV broadcasting and other budgetary profits are also considerable."

Venezuela is a country without a football tradition, and most of its citizens support the Brazilian team, which means that samba football is the most recognized in the host country.

This can be intuitively reflected in the speculative prices of football tickets in the black market. For games involving Brazil, the ticket prices are generally speculated to be about 25 times the original price, while Argentina, which ranks second, is only 15 times the original price.

From this point, we can know why the major football associations are crazy when they hear that Kaka does not want to participate in the America's Cup.

The Brazilian team with Kaka and the Argentine team without Kaka received two different treatments. Where the Brazilian team settled down, not only the mayor, but even the governor personally greeted them, led the police force to patrol around the stadium, and performed their duties like a security captain.

In stark contrast to the fans of Puerto de la Cruz, of course, are the fans of Maracaibo.

Maracaibo is the second largest city in Venezuela, the capital of Zulia state, and a world-famous oil export port, but today, it has become the city of football, or the city of Kaka.

The whole of Maracaibo is welcoming Kaka's arrival.

In a strange city, it is not a novel experience for Kaka to see strange people cheering, crying or even crazy because of his arrival, but this kind of experience will not become numb because of the number of times, but it will make him more moved.

Even knowing that there is a place where Kaka is, I can only be a green leaf forever, but my teammates still can't help but feel all kinds of Chalemons.

In contrast, almost no one cared about Uruguay's arrival, only their own country's media and a few sports reporters came to welcome them reluctantly.

If you write about Kaka and yawn in Brazil, there will be a large number of readers. What about Uruguay?Unless Fran had a baby in place, no one would watch their news.

Although the popularity is very different, in terms of strength comparison, Brazil's advantage is not obvious. After all, they have not won five consecutive times against this neighboring country.

Before the game, Brazil national team coach Dunga expressed his concerns about the game.

"While Brazil will always be the favourite, Uruguay are in great form, they know how to play with us and we can never take it lightly."

Kaka also paid the most attention to this opponent: "Paraguay is a very strong team. They have many excellent players in their team. For example, Forlan and Recoba are strikers I admire very much. I am not worried about whether we can score goals. I am more worried about whether we can successfully contain their offense."

The biggest change in the knockout stage of this America's Cup is that if the two sides draw within 90 minutes, they will directly enter the penalty shootout instead of extra time. For this reason, both sides specially practiced penalty kicks during pre-match training.

On July 7, the competition finally started.

“这是两支球队在美洲杯历史上的第27次交锋，巴西队在前26场比赛中11胜6平9负，其中在 2004年美洲杯半决赛中巴西队依靠点球6-4战胜乌拉圭挺进决赛并且最终夺冠。

在99年巴拉圭美洲杯巴西3比0战胜乌拉圭队外，在95年乌拉圭美洲杯决赛中，东道主乌拉圭1比1战平巴西队，最终凭借互射点球5比3战胜巴西队第14次获得美洲杯。

The players have entered the player channel, let's take a look at the starters of both sides first.

Uruguay still sent the striker combination of Forlan and Recoba, behind them were Garcia, Perez, C. Rodriguez and Fucilai, the defenders were Lugano, Scottie, D. Rodriguez, and goalkeeper Carlini. "

"Brazil played in the same 4-4-2 formation.

Goalkeeper: Dhoni;
Defenders: Maicon, Juan, Lucio, Melo;
Midfielders: Gilberto Silva, Baptista, Kaka, Diego;
Forwards: Robinho, Love.

A more accurate description of Brazil's formation should be 4-2-2-2. With Chelsea's success this season, this non-mainstream lineup of double midfielders and double attacking midfielders has already entered the desks of many coaches, but it turns out that not every team can rely on this lineup to win the world. "

Kaka played against Recoba when he was in AC Milan, but the Chinese boy didn't have many opportunities to start at Inter Milan, so he was not very familiar with him, but they met in a foreign country, and the two still had a chat.

Recoba said: "You don't know how happy we were when you said you would not participate in the America's Cup at first, but unexpectedly, you came in the end."

Kaka smiled, "I don't want to, this year is really too tiring."

"Yes, you have played too many games," Recoba exclaimed, "But for the seven championships, it is worth it no matter how tired you are."

"It's hard work and luck that got us rewarded," Kaka patted him on the shoulder and ended the conversation, "Come on, I have a hunch that this game will be very difficult."

Recoba also smiled heartily, "Of course, after all, we are facing Brazil, and you are facing Uruguay."

Brazil's fan support is completely one-sided, and the game scene is almost like their home stadium.

Most people were shouting Kaka's name. Kaka was not allowed to wave to the surroundings before the national anthem. The applause and cheers of the fans erupted and then slowly returned to normal.

"The game has started. Kaka won the coin guessing and got the kick-off right."

Kaka tried a sneak attack after the opening.

He split sides immediately after receiving a pass from Robinho. Maicon stood very forward and immediately rushed to get the football.

Kaka moved forward, threw off the midfielder's close defense, and then received a pass from Maicon 50 meters away from the goal.

Zhang Gong set up an arrow and shot from a long distance.

Everyone was caught off guard by this long shot.

The opponent's defensive player did not make any interference, and the forward did not expect to make a supplementary shot. As a result, a chance to score was wasted.

The football flew to the right side of the goal, was blocked by Uruguayan goalkeeper Carlini with one hand, and fell right in front of the small penalty area.

Only then did Robinho realize he was rushing towards the football, but it was still a step too late.

Lugano made a big foot clearance.

Although he didn't score, Kaka's cloud-piercing arrow still played a shocking role. Uruguay obviously played very cautiously, even a little conservatively.

This gives Maicon more room to play.

He only missed one game, and Alves seized the opportunity to play brilliantly. Although he did not threaten Maicon's status, it still made Maicon feel nervous.

Five minutes later, Maicon pressed forward again, and Kaka passed the ball to his feet again, and then went straight into the penalty area.

Maicon got rid of Lugano's defense and made a cross from the bottom.

Kaka grabbed the first point, but the football pushed out hit Love's feet, reflecting the bottom line.

"It was another shot from Kaka and Maicon, but it was a pity that the football was blocked by his own team. Uruguay must have done a lot of work on how to defend Kaka, but judging from the first 6 minutes, their work did not have much effect."

"Kaka's style has changed a lot in this America's Cup. It is rare to see the long-distance dribbling and long-distance attacks we are familiar with. Long-range shooting and inserting to grab points are his most commonly used offensive methods in these games. The quality of the Brazilian team's offense has not declined because of this..."

Uruguay did not sit still, and quickly showed its attitude with offense.

C. Rodriguez turned into C. Ronaldo. After showing a wave of footwork on the side, he kicked the ball to Melo.

The ball bounces off the baseline and Uruguay gets a corner.

Uruguay attached great importance to this corner kick, and many defensive players rushed into the penalty area.

Recoba took the ball to the middle of the penalty area. Lugano jumped high and headed the ball. Doni didn't respond at all, but fortunately the football was a little higher and hit the crossbar and popped out of the baseline.

In the 10th minute of the game, the deadlock was finally broken.

It's still Kaka and Maicon's cooperation, but this time the two sides have changed their roles.

Kaka passes the ball and Maicon shoots.

Kaka lightly unloaded Diego's long pass transfer, and then picked the ball directly to the rib area on the right side of the penalty area.

Maicon's feet seemed to be stepping on hot wheels, and he rushed to the ball in a hurry, directly facing the ball and shooting furiously.

The football flew straight to the left of the goal.

Carlini made a save as best he could, but barely touched the ball and failed to stop it from entering the net.

1-0.

"GOAL! This is Maicon! This is the number one right back in world football today! Brazilian fans, forget about Cafu, he is already in the past tense, look at this shot, Brazil's right now belongs to him."

Maicon ran directly to Kaka and swooped over.

Kaka quickly caught him.

"Be careful, man, your injury is just right, don't get so excited."

"Oh, why can't I be excited when I score a goal with my ability?"

"Well, if you don't know how to express your excitement, I suggest you get naked."

"You're disgusting, Kaka."

"It seems a bit hazy, then you can chop a fork."

"..."

Maicon did not have Luo Ben or the splits, and the game continued, but after 2 minutes, there were still some minor accidents on the court.

One side of the headlights illuminating the field suddenly went out, and the game was interrupted.

Everyone was once again speechless about the stadium facilities in Venezuela.

The staff urgently repaired it, but 10 minutes passed and nothing happened.

The referee called the captains of both teams.

"You two, you have seen the situation, do you have any suggestions?"

Kaka said: "It seems that the impact is not very big. I suggest waiting for another 2 minutes. If it can't be repaired, just continue the game."

Lugano nodded, "I have no objection."

The referee naturally followed suit, but after waiting for another 5 minutes, the lights still did not come on.

The fans were ready to rebel, the referee quickly made a decisive decision and resumed the game.

　Not in good shape, groggy.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)