Chapter 196: Toyota Cup (7)
The tired São Paulo people did not want to play extra time. AC Milan, who also have league assignments, don't want to play extra time either.
After 75 minutes of time, both sides invariably intensified their attacks.
The difference is that AC Milan was dispatched by Pirlo, and the speed suddenly increased, and the tempo suddenly accelerated; The players in São Paulo still seem to be a little ignorant and unified, and some of the players' physical fitness has dropped significantly, resulting in the three lines being a little open.
Rojas knew he had to make a substitution. But who will it be replaced? And who to send on the field? Now these main forces on the field are irreplaceable for the time being.
Once Ricardo and Ricardinho were replaced, Sao Paulo's attack had to stop.
With Fabiano, Sao Paulo's ability to take chances in front of goal will be reduced.
Replacing Rico, Antonio and Ferreira doesn't seem to have much impact on the team because they are not star players in the first place. But there are no players on the bench who can replace them.
But we have to make substitutions, and we can't let the tired 11 guys cope with the whole game on the field. The appearance of a few new forces is helpful to the team after all, even if the technique is poor and the consciousness is poor, but the physical energy is abundant, and it can put a lot of pressure on the opponent.
After thinking about it for a long time, Rojas finally made up his mind.
Leonardo replaces Rico and drops back to play as a right wing-back.
Youngster Elton replaces Marco. Antonio, playing in the midfield position, specializes in harassing and forcing Pirlo. Ricardinho dropped back to reduce the pressure on his defence and continued to be in charge of midfield play-up.
Youngster Tardelli replaces Luiz. Fabiano, on the left wing, plays in his unfamiliar left winger position.
Ricardo goes to the front and acts as an arrow.
It was the best Rojas could think of.
But after this substitution, São Paulo did not show much improvement.
Both Tardelli and Elton are inexperienced and it will be difficult for them to play against experienced world-class players such as Gattuso, Andrea Pirlo and Cafu.
Despite their physical strength and impact, they kicked like headless flies.
Although Ricardinho retreated, avoiding Gattuso's strangulation, there was still Seedorf. Seedorf is also very experienced defensively, and he has been unremarkable in this game, but he has made a huge contribution to AC Milan in terms of midfield organization, defense and attack.
Last season, there were many media outlets who believed that AC Milan's exchange of left-back Koko for Seedorf was the best deal AC Milan had made in the past 10 years, as it completed the final piece of the puzzle for AC Milan's title.
It was the addition of Seedorf that made AC Milan's midfield complete and finally won the Champions League.
Ricardinho is a very good player, but in the previous confrontations with Gattuso and Pirlo, and now against Seedorf, he is completely underwhelmed.
With 83 minutes played, AC Milan completed a couple of dangerous attacks, while Sao Paulo's attacks did but mostly did not create a real threat.
Rojas stood on the sidelines and yelled, telling the newcomers Tardelli and Elton to step up the front court pressing, and snatched the ball and handed it to Ricardo.
The midfield was poorly organised and the defence was porous, and it wasn't a problem with one player, it was a problem with the whole team.
Rojas had nothing else to think of, at this time, he could only choose one person to trust trust, hoping that this person could turn into a hero and kill the game with his own strength.
It's like two boxers fighting each other in the ring, one of them has an absolute advantage, and the other is beaten to the ground.
At this time, the latter only has one chance, and can only release his killer weapon, and if he succeeds, he will turn the tables, and if he fails, he will lose the game.
He can only use his most pressing kung fu and the most trustworthy tricks.
And the man Rojas chose to believe was Ricardo.
In the 84th minute, Tardelli's forward pressing allowed Cafu to make a mistake and kick the ball off the touchline. Tardelli immediately threw the ball in front of the court and handed it to Elton. Elton tried to find Ricardo after getting the ball, but seeing that Ricardo was being marked very badly, he had to pass back to Ricardinho.
But at this time, Ricardo had already used the running position to run out of space, Ricardinho immediately went straight, and after Ricardo got the ball, he had no extra power to dribble and break through, and chose to shoot on the spot. His powerful shot from 17 yards out was saved by Dida to create a corner.
A corner kick was taken, Maldini headed it clear, and AC Milan launched a counter-attack. The ball raced through midfield and into front of the Sao Paulo penalty area, where Pirlo slotted a right-footed overhead ball and the ball found Shevchenko accurately. Shevchenko leaned on Julio with her body. Santos, unhurriedly stopping the ball with his chest, turned and volleyed with his right foot from 7 yards out of goal, Cheney misjudged the direction, but he was in mid-air with divine help and blocked the ball with his free legs.
In the 86th minute, Ricardinho withdrew to the position of the midfielder and found Ricardo with a precise long pass, who barely sprinted a few steps to shake off Gattuso, but was then brought down from behind by the catching Gattuso. Gattuso already had a yellow card on his side, and this time Ivanov's men showed mercy and did not show him a second yellow card.
Ricardo took the free-kick himself, and the ball grazed the crossbar and flew off the line.
One minute later, AC Milan had a chance to kill the game when Ferreira kicked Seedorf in front of the box and Ivanov gave AC Milan a free-kick in front.
Andrea Pirlo curled a low free-kick to the front post, where Inzaghi scrambled to score the ball.
At that moment, Rojas almost collapsed, but fortunately, the linesman raised the flag to signal that Inzaghi was offside, and referee Ivanov declared the goal invalid.
AC Milan protested around Ivanov for a long time, but Ivanov did not change the decision and the game continued.
Soon the 90 minutes of regular time had run out, and the fourth official raised the electronic card with three minutes of stoppage time.
Both sides slowed down, and only a few players who had just come on the pitch were able to run and sprint quickly.
In the 91st minute, Ricardinho found Ricardo with a long pass, and Ricardo turned in an "L" shape to find a little space in front of Maldini, and then did not entangle with Maldini too much, and directly knocked the ball across the middle. Elton raised his leg to tackle, but he was a beat slow and the ball was kicked first by Pancaro and destroyed. Leonardo rushed up and fired a shot at goal, but the ball hit the side-netting hard.
AC Milan took the goal kick and under pressure from Sao Paulo, they played a little messily and handed the ball to Pancarlo's side, who kicked Leonardo as he prepared to play a long ball up front.
The youngster Elton quickly controlled the second drop and, following Rojas's instructions, quickly played the ball and found Ricardo.