Chapter 763: Chapter 762 Full Effort Together
"Ladies and gentlemen, you’re watching the 2004 European Championship final between Portugal and France live. Both teams are entering overtime with a score of 2-2."
"France has already used all their substitutions, and now, Portugal has used up theirs as well, with Quaresma replacing Figo and Rui Costa coming on for Viana."
"The French team’s attack is fierce."
"France is continuously battling for the ball in midfield."
"Zidane is in splendid form, repeatedly controlling the ball, helping France stabilize possession."
In the first ten minutes of extra time, the most mentioned name by the commentator was Zidane.
His performance was simply dazzling.
Even more brilliant than during regular time.
On the sidelines, Trigella watched Zidane’s live data with some excitement, "As expected, Zidane is starting! Hang in there, it’ll be soon, really soon now!"
As the world’s number one in a position that demands the highest football intelligence, Zidane had a very sharp mind.
Such a player can control the entire game, let alone himself?
He knew precisely how many minutes he could contribute to the team.
He knew exactly how long he could maintain his peak performance.
In most overtimes, there are two scenarios: either no one scores, or one side scores a lot.
The former is when the midfield engines of both sides are "out of battery."
The latter is when one side’s key player runs out of battery.
What?
Always charged?
Play at a high standard for one hundred and twenty minutes in a midfield core role?
Even Zidane, ten years younger, and the current Deng Kai couldn’t manage that.
After all, the European Championship final is not just one game; there are six matches before it, with an average interval of every two or three days, imposing a substantial match load.
And this follows right after the previous season.
League, Champions League, domestic cups, and so on, with less than a month to prepare for the European Championship... the real rest time is unknown if there’s even half a month.
In theory, a core player can play the full one hundred and twenty minutes.
But in reality, they can’t.
Zidane’s current surge proves only one thing.
He knows he’s about to run out of steam.
He’s about to gamble.
To completely unleash his energy within a short period and then hand over the game to his teammates.
This is something he likely emphasized with the other players.
So in the first ten minutes of the extra time, the overall activity of the French team rose even higher.
Everyone was coordinating with Zidane.
In the ninety-ninth minute, which was the ninth minute of France’s high-speed operation,
Zidane, in the midfield, pulled off a Marseille Turn, evading Deng Kai who had charged from the side in an attempt to intercept.
Zidane began to advance.
Deng Kai pursued Zidane from behind.
As he was about to catch up, Zidane suddenly passed the ball.
Ribery, who made an off-the-ball cut from the right, received the ball smoothly, and after a few dribbling movements, slipped the football to Vieira running down the right flank.
Don’t be fooled by Vieira being a defensive midfielder, and despite his hulking size suggesting a purely defensive player.
But in fact, Vieira was a classic box-to-box player, with strong offensive attributes.
His abilities to make forward runs, shoot from distance, and cross were all excellent; it was just a matter of whether he chose to use them or not.
After passing the ball, Ribery continued to push forward, hoping to get a glancing header at the near post.
However, Costinha directly blocked Ribery’s path and knocked him over.
The referee held the whistle in his mouth but signaled with his hand to play on because of the advantage.
Vieirinha on the flank saw everything and changed his crossing target on the fly.
Bang!
Vieirinha swung in a cross.
Wiltord overran it.
Henry was a little off in his horizontal distance from where the football was going to land.
But it didn’t matter.
A bald head plunged into the bottom of the frame.
Then he leapt towards the football, heading it with a fishlike dive!
Whoosh!
The football broke through Barthez’s ten fingers.
"GOAL!"
"The decider! France takes a three-to-two lead over Portugal!"
"Zidane scores a brace!"
"Zidane! The invincible Zidane! The greatest star in the history of the French team!"
"Deng Kai took from him the titles of the world’s number one and the best midfielder, but now, he’s poised to take the Delaunay Trophy from Deng Kai’s hands!"
"The Gallic Roosters have pierced through the Army of Five Shields!"
"Zidane has dealt Portugal the fatal blow!"
After the goal, the French players celebrated wildly.
But Zidane, the scorer, remained quite calm; to the outside world, this was the aura of a king.
Even though he had almost touched the European Championship Trophy, even though Zidane was the biggest contributor to France’s victory, even though he brought an end to the match, he barely bothered to celebrate!
Because he had won every trophy there was to win.
He was accustomed to winning championships!
But the truth was... Zidane couldn’t afford to waste a single drop of energy.
Nine minutes of fierce attack, the goal was of immense significance to Zidane.
Because once ten minutes passed, if France hadn’t scored, they would completely shrink their defense, abandon the attack, and drag the match into a penalty shootout, leaving it to fate.
If it went over ten minutes, Zidane wouldn’t have the energy to support France’s offensive, let alone help the team scrape through.
Every bit of his energy was carefully allocated; really, there was no surplus left for celebration.
"Next, we just need to focus on defense, we must concentrate on defense." Zidane hurriedly confirmed with everyone while they were all gathered, the French team would now switch entirely from offense to defense.
On the Portuguese side, Deng Kai and Trigella also made a gesture to their teammates.
All the teammates nodded in agreement.
...
The 100th minute, Portugal kicked off the ball.
Just thirty seconds later, Deco sent a through ball down the left flank with a huge lead.
Deng Kai made a hundred-meter sprint down the wing.
Although in the end he couldn’t catch up with the football due to Thuram’s interference, Thuram showed clear signs of retching after completing his run.
He was nearly run to the point of vomiting.
The 103rd minute.
Deng Kai once again brought the ball down the flank, bursting past Thuram.
Thuram kept parrying but grew increasingly erratic, eventually being completely outmaneuvered by Deng Kai.
Deng Kai cut inside with the ball.
Bang!
Ribery, who had joined the defense, slide-tackled to disrupt the rolling football.
Afterward, Ribery settled down in the French half and no longer ventured to the Portuguese half.
The 104th minute.
Costinha passed to Deng Kai who was asking for the ball at the midfield line.
Ribery rushed over to harass him.
However, Deng Kai flicked the ball back with the outside of his left foot, then spun around to the right side.
A backheel pass while turning his back on the player!
Ribery immediately tried to pull on Deng Kai.
But Deng Kai was nearly twice his size, making it impossible for Ribery to hold on.
By the time Ribery had turned around, he was already half a body behind Deng Kai.
In the following distance, Deng Kai accelerated after touching the ball, widening the gap with Ribery further and further.
