champion light

Chapter 148
Sao Paulo and Corinthians are in the same city, so the team does not have to set off for the away game a day earlier.

On the last day before the game, they were still training normally at the Brafunda training base.

But the amount of training is halved.

The training program is also mainly based on set-piece offensive and defensive routine drills.

And only practice for half a day.

After the training in the morning, the team will go to the Pacambu Stadium in the afternoon for training to adapt to the venue. At the same time, the head coaches of both sides will participate in the pre-match press conference in the press hall of the Pacambu Stadium.

Later, in the evening, the entire Sao Paulo team will stay in a hotel.Even in the same city.

It is a tradition in Brazilian football that you must concentrate before the game.

In the past, this tradition was even more exaggerated. Now it is only a one-night stay. In Brazil, clubs generally insisted that before every game—no matter how insignificant—the whole team must stay in a hotel, usually for a few days.

The rationale is that the players are not mature enough to take care of themselves and they have to be managed.

This is the "centralization" of Brazilian football, which is part of Brazilian football culture and probably the most restrictive of player freedom.That word is "gathering" in military jargon, "gathering forces together."

"There is no supervision, and the players are not mature enough to manage themselves well before the game." Even Scolari, the head coach who led Brazil to the fifth World Cup championship, is a loyal supporter of centralization. "Pre-match sex has been shown to be harmless. But our players go a little too far. At home they're normal, when they're out and about with other sex partners, they're always trying to prove they're the best lovers in the world. So they're crazy, they're exhausted, and it's getting to the point where it's affecting their game." He said "centralization" may be paternalistic, but it's for the players' own good.

After six months of hard work by the star Socrates and his comrades, the challenge was finally successful and the "centralization" was gradually abolished.

Most of the teams only concentrated on the day before the game.

But there is still a worry to this day-without the centralized system, some players lack a sense of security.

And these political campaigns that Socrates and his teammates were engaged in at that time took place among... Corinthians, Sao Paulo's current opponent.

Some people always want football and politics to be separated. As everyone knows, football, as a sport with global influence, has long been inseparable from politics. Not only politicians are using football, players themselves also use football to express their political views. "Doctor" Socrates once used football to engage in political campaigns.

For example, he once participated in the activities of the presidential election. In 1984, 30-year-old Socrates spoke at a rally attended by 150 million people.He assured the crowd that he would not play football in Italy if parliament passed constitutional amendments to re-establish free presidential elections, which are due in a few days.

But the motion was not passed in the end, and he also went to Florence.

※※※

In the afternoon, when the Sao Paulo team was warming up at the Pacambu Stadium, coach Osvaldo was waiting outside the press hall to participate in the pre-match press conference.

In the hall, the head coach of the home team, Carlos Pereira, was taking questions from the reporters.

His pre-match press conference is drawing to a close.

The door was left open so Osvaldo could hear Pereira.

"One last question," said the press officer.

A reporter was pointed and stood up: "Hello, I am a reporter from "Lance News". I would like to ask, in the first half of the Rio-Sao Paulo Championship final, Corinthians also had an advantage in the first round. Not only did they score three away goals, but they also led Sao Paulo in terms of total points. However, they still lost to Sao Paulo at home in the second round, or to be more precise, they lost to Rong and Kaka. So, Mr. Pereira, are you worried about repeating that scene? Do you have any countermeasures against this situation?"

Pereira smiled and replied: "Of course we will not trip over the same stone twice. I am not worried that such a situation will happen again, because we have very effective countermeasures. But as for what countermeasures... I can't tell you. The answer will naturally be revealed when the game comes."

After speaking, the press officer announced: "This press conference is over."

There was the sound of chairs being moved and footsteps in the room.

A few seconds later, Pereira opened the door and walked out.

When he opened the door and found Osvaldo standing outside the door, he reached out to him: "I look forward to a wonderful game."

Osvaldo shook his hand and said, "Me too."

Then Pereira let go of his hand, walked around Osvaldo and left.

And Osvaldo withdrew his gaze from him, turned and walked towards the press conference hall, where the reporters were already waiting for him.

※※※

"What's so good about adapting to the Pacambu Stadium? I play many games here every year..." In addition to training for adapting to the venue, the players will chat and so on.What's more, they are very familiar with this stadium, and warming up to adapt to the venue before the game is just going through the motions.

In Brazil, even such behaviors as warming up before the game are full of relaxed and joyful atmosphere.

It would be even better if rhythmic samba music was played on the spot.

But there are people who are not like them.

Rong Guang, Kaka and Lucas were very serious during the warm-up.

They paid so much, if they can't win the championship, what's the point?

But in order to ensure that they can win the championship, they need to make more efforts.

You can't be lazy to adapt to the venue before the game.

Rico also noticed Lucas' warm-up state.

He felt very strange.

If it was Lucas half a year ago, it would be absolutely impossible to do such a thing.

In Ricko's impression, ever since he met Lucas, Lucas has always been lazy in his eyes, as if he hadn't woken up.

Apart from women, there is nothing else that can interest him.

Lucas is notoriously unmotivated at all levels of youth teams.

He may also feel that he is not talented, so he is unwilling to put too much energy into training, and he would rather put more energy into the promising career of picking up girls.

But since returning from his holiday at Santos this summer, he looks like a different person.

Riko is curious, wondering what happened to Lucas on the beach in Santos.

But each time Lucas asked him the same question: "Do you want to succeed, Ricko? Do you think like you want to breathe?"

He was confused when asked.

So he still can't know who Lucas met and what happened on the beach in Santos, which made him change his temperament so much that he was willing to work hard in training.

And because of his hard work in training, in the past six months, he has changed from an absolute substitute to a rotation player of the youth team, and has gained more opportunities to play than before.

But despite this, he still has no way to directly shake Ricko himself and Kleber's main forward position.

The youth team players were also very surprised that the head coach chose him instead of Kleber and Rico.

But Rico knew that the head coach must have made a reasonable choice.After Lucas came to the first team, he was able to get a chance because he was really capable.

At the very least, Rico is very envious of Lucas's ability to grab points. Rico is fast and has excellent dribbling, but he is not good at shooting, so he is very embarrassed as a striker.

In terms of shooting, Lucas is much better than him.

Now that his good friend finally has the chance to play the main force in the first team, Rico is not jealous, but is happy for him from the bottom of his heart.Especially after seeing how hard he has worked so hard for the past six months...

※※※

On the TV news in the evening, live video highlights of the pre-match press conference are being played.

Just finished broadcasting the pre-match press conference of the home team Corinthians coach Pereira, and now it's the turn of the visiting team.

"Excuse me, Mr. Osvaldo. Your team was completely restricted by Corinthians in the home game. Everyone thinks that Lucas Sutton is the team's weakness. Why did you modify your tactics and adjust the starting list for this game?"

A reporter stood up and asked.

Osvaldo shook his head: "No, Lucas Sutton will continue to start. Our tactics will not be adjusted in any way. I have great confidence in my players, they are very good, and so is Lucas Sutton!"

He seemed very confident.

Everyone was surprised. When Pereira was interviewed, he hesitated about what countermeasure he would choose, as if he was afraid of being known by others and took precautions in advance.

You must know that Corinthians has already taken the lead in the two rounds of finals...

And Osvaldo announced in advance what tactics he will use in the game.

Is he really so confident?

"It's just a bluff." Everything in the picture, the studio scene appeared on the screen, and Grayson, the famous reporter of "Scoreboard", as the guest of this program, was commenting on the performance of the two head coaches at the press conference of both sides.

"The tactics of the Sao Paulo Trident have been thoroughly studied, and Lucas Sutton is their biggest weakness. There is no way to avoid this. No matter what solution Osvaldo comes up with, as long as this problem cannot be solved, it is useless. And I don't think he has any way to solve this problem in a week. So..." He shrugged, curled his lips and shook his head with a look of disdain.

"Do you think Sao Paulo will lose this game?" the host asked at this time.

Grayson shook his head: "No, I can't say they're going to lose, but at least I'm not optimistic about them winning. It can't solve the problem of Kaka and Rong's cooperation. Just relying on one Lucas Sutton is tantamount to putting all the eggs in one basket. Once the basket is overturned, the eggs will be broken. The risk is too great. I admit that Osvaldo's trident tactic is very imaginative, and it is also wonderful in theory, but the contradiction between Kaka and Rong makes this wonderful tactic only exist at the level of imagination. "

Grayson's style of being a guest on TV is the same as his style of writing articles, eloquent, long-winded, eloquent, but also well-founded, people have to nod in agreement-no matter how unhappy you are with him, you have to admit that he is right.

"I think Osvaldo just wanted to confuse Pereira. When Pereira guessed why Sao Paulo was so confident, Osvaldo's goal was achieved..."

Osvaldo turned off the TV. He didn't want to watch this Grayson spouting nonsense on TV.

He wondered how Pereira would interpret his words at the press conference.

He doesn't care either.

If Pereira really frets about his words, he's earned it.

Actually he didn't count this.

There is no conspiracy, he just wants to confront Pereira squarely.

In Brazilian football, although he also won several championships, including leading Corinthians to the first Club World Cup, which is a world championship, but compared with the World Cup championship won by Pereira, it is far behind...

He wants to beat the famous coach Pereira in a head-to-head confrontation.

And the opponent is Corinthians, he also wants to tell those arrogant "loyalty eagles" what a huge mistake it is to drive me away!
So in fact, he is very satisfied with meeting Corinthians twice in the finals of the Rio-Sao Paulo Championship and the Brazilian National Championship.

It is to beat them in a row, so that their teeth hurt when they think of their own names!
　
(End of this chapter)