Chapter 73 It's your turn next!
On the evening of April 17th, at the Alvalade .
In the Portuguese Cup semi-finals, Sporting Lisbon faced Maritimo at home.
Thanks to Jardel's goal in the 38th minute of the first half, Sporting Lisbon temporarily took the lead with one to zero.
This satisfied the fans at the scene and created a good atmosphere within the team.
As soon as the whistle sounded to end the first half, Su Dong and Ronnie stood up from the bench and walked towards the court, talking and laughing.
As substitute players, they need to go to the field for warm-up and training during the half-time break.
Players from both teams walked off the field one after another, and Su Dong and Ronnie just happened to pass by them.
"Well done, Andre." Su Dong raised his right hand towards Andre Cruz from a distance.
The Brazilian center back clapped his hands vigorously, shook his head and said, "Both of Maritimo's forwards are very troublesome."
"No matter how troublesome it is, you can handle it, right?" Su Dong praised with a smile.
Andre Cruz smiled bitterly while panting. It seemed that dealing with these two central defenders was really difficult for the 33-year-old him.
Maritimo is located in Madeira, right in Ronnie’s hometown.
If the Portuguese Super League is the stepping stone for Brazilian players to enter the European league, then Maritimo is the stepping stone for Brazilian players to enter the Portuguese Super League. Among the starting eleven players in tonight's game, there are three players from Brazil, two forwards and one central defender.
In addition, there are only six Portuguese players, and the rest come from all over the world. Even among the local players, most of them are of African descent, but they hold Portuguese nationality.
Among them, the two Brazilian forwards, center forward Alan is not tall, only 1.8 meters, but he is very strong and has a long braid, which is really troublesome.
Another Brazilian striker is 29-year-old Eric Gaucho, Maritimo's top scorer this season. He is very different from Alan. He is only about 1.7 meters tall, but very flexible, has skilled footwork and is very good at seizing opportunities created by Alan.
Such a combination is very difficult to deal with, even Andre Cruz has a headache.
Su Dong looked at Cruz and couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
For professional players, every year after the age of 30 becomes worse than the previous one.
Just as Su Dong and Cruz were talking, Ronnie, who was walking in front, was hit by a Maritimo player's shoulder when he passed by the other party and fell directly to the ground.
"What are you doing?" Su Dong saw it and rushed forward immediately, pushing the Maritimo central defender away in the chest and standing in front of Ronnie.
Many people around also looked over.
"I didn't mean it." The other person had a face full of flesh and a fierce look, and it was obvious at first glance that he was not a good person.
"Oh my god!" Ronnie stood up from the ground and rushed forward.
Su Dong reacted quickly and hugged him, "Calm down."
"He did it on purpose! He did it on purpose!" Ronnie was furious.
"I know, I know." Su Dong hugged Ronnie tightly.
If he went up at this time and got into a physical fight, and the referee was not far away, Ronnie would definitely suffer.
"I really didn't mean it." The other party emphasized again.
Looking at his expression, no one would believe that he did it unintentionally.
Ronnie was not stupid either. He was just angry just now. After being pulled back by Su Dong, he quickly calmed down.
"This kid is so dirty. He almost hurt Jardel just now."
"I know." Su Dong also recognized the person.
Another Brazilian player for Maritimo, 19-year-old central defender Pepe.
It was only in recent rounds that he was able to gain a foothold in the Maritimo first team due to injuries to his teammates.
Such players often play football as if they don't care about their lives, and can even be said to use every possible means.
"Be careful." Ronnie pointed at Pepe and said gritting his teeth.
Seeing that he had calmed down, Pepe shrugged innocently and said, "We'll talk about it when you can play in the game."
With a slight sneer on his face, Pepe walked towards the player tunnel. When he passed by Su Dong, he stopped again and said, "I remember you, Chinese boy. You scored in the last two games. You performed well."
Su Dong stared at him with anger in his eyes.
Even though he knew that this was a deliberate provocation from the other party, he still couldn't help getting angry.
"Jadel will be exhausted soon, it will be your turn next, be careful!" Pepe's eyes were full of provocation.
"Enough, Pepe, stop causing trouble!" At this time, Andre Cruz also caught up from behind and pushed Pepe away.
Pepe smiled at Cruz and walked away arrogantly.
"This is his tactic, don't take it to heart," Andre Cruz reminded.
Provoking the opponent and making him lose his composure is a tactic that many defensive players will adopt.
Many times, they will even use various methods, including but not limited to humiliating the female members of the opponent's family, to stimulate and anger their opponents.
"But, Su, if you really get on the court, you have to be careful. This kid is only 19 years old. He just came to Europe and just got the opportunity. Right now he has no experience, but he is eager to show himself, so his actions are often very inappropriate." Cruz reminded.
Su Dong nodded, he could see it.
Not only Pepe, but also Sudong and Ronaldo are like this, but neither of them will take the initiative to provoke their opponents.
"This kid has very good physical fitness, fast speed, excellent jumping ability, and is very flexible and aggressive. He is very troublesome."
Seeing that he could knock Ronnie down with just one shoulder, Su Dong could guess his opponent's physical confrontation ability.
Many Brazilian players are like this. They may not look like they have much muscle, but they are actually very strong in confrontation.
At this time, Pontes suddenly appeared at the entrance of the player tunnel and waved to Su Dong from afar.
"Su, come here quickly."
Su Dong, Cruz and Ronnie were all a little surprised.
what happened?
…
…
In the home team's locker room, Jardel sat in front of the closet with a painful expression on his face. His right foot was lifted up by the team doctor and placed on a soft stool.
I saw that the outside of his right ankle was severely red and swollen.
His teammates were all looking at him and the injury on his right foot.
This is an old problem, but it has always been well controlled.
"When I was trying to grab the ball just now, that damn central defender stepped on my foot out of the blue. I felt something was wrong at that moment."
When Su Dong entered the locker room, he happened to hear Jardel talking about the reason for the recurrence of his old injury.
That center back is Pepe.
It's that guy again!
Su Dong couldn't help but feel even more annoyed.
Not only did he bump into Ronnie, he also injured Jardel. The key point is that he didn't even get a yellow card.
It’s so dirty!
"Su."
Following the shouting of head coach Boloni, everyone's attention shifted to Su Dong.
In recent rounds, there is only one center forward in Sporting Lisbon's substitute list, and that is Su Dong, and the same is true tonight.
Once Jadel is injured, Su Dong will have to take the field.
Although Su Dong has performed well in the last two rounds, everyone is still a little worried when the time comes.
After all, Su Dong is only seventeen years old.
Judging from the situation, Jardel certainly can't hold on any longer, otherwise, we may not be able to count on him for the rest of the season.
At this time, we can only put our hopes on Su Dong.
“We need to adjust our strategy a little bit in the second half, first do a good job on defense, stabilize the start, and make a transition.”
This is as it should be. After all, Su Dong was substituted in during the half-time break, and the offensive tactics still need to be adapted and run-in.
Su Dong has only played two games with the first team so far, so there is no such thing as tacit cooperation between the two teams.
"We are currently leading by one to zero. As long as we can stop the opponent's attack, they will become more and more anxious. At that time, whether we take the initiative to attack or wait for an opportunity to counterattack, we will be more comfortable."
"Andre, Phil, you have to keep a close eye on those two forwards. They almost created chances for us several times in the first half. You have to be careful," Boloni reminded.
Both center backs nodded.
The head coach shifted his gaze to Su Dong again. After staring at him for a few seconds, he encouraged him, "Su, don't be nervous or stressed. Just play like you did in the previous two games. We all believe in you."
Su Dong took a deep breath and nodded heavily.
…
…
"Dear fans, welcome back to the Alvalade Stadium."
"This is Bora TV broadcasting live for you, the Portuguese Cup semi-final, Sporting Lisbon vs. Maritimo, the second half is about to begin."
"The score between the two sides in the first half was 1-0. Thanks to Jardel's goal, Sporting Lisbon temporarily took the lead."
"But unfortunately, after scoring a goal, Jardel retired from the game at halftime due to injury. He was replaced by the 17-year-old Su Dong who has performed well recently."
"He has only started playing for Sporting Lisbon in the last two games and has scored in both games."
"But we must also note that the previous two games were against mid- to lower-level teams like Setubal and Beiramar, but tonight we are facing the Portuguese Super League powerhouse Maritimo, which is not an opponent of the same level."
"I wonder if Su Dong can complete the task given by the head coach tonight?"
"The game starts, and Maridimo kicks off first."
…
As soon as the game started, Maritimo took the lead in launching an attack.
This team set the tempo very high from the very beginning, and it was clear that they did not want Sporting Lisbon to gain a foothold.
Replacing a main center with a 17-year-old young player during the half-time break is not an easy task in such a strong match.
Maritimo's quick attack also disrupted the rhythm of Sporting Lisbon.
In the 49th minute, with the support from center forward Alan, Gaucho broke into the penalty area and scored, equalizing the score for Maritimo.
Just four minutes!
Everyone in Sporting Lisbon was shocked and even at a loss as to what to do.
What's even more terrible is that six minutes later, Alan and Gaucho cooperated again. Gaucho dribbled the ball and broke through to the end line. He made a triangle pass back, and midfielder Kennedy who came in from the back row scored another goal in one fell swoop.
reverse!
Less than ten minutes into the second half, Maritimo actually reversed the game against Sporting Lisbon!
This not only stunned the players on the field, but also the fans in the stands.
