In the first round of the Brazilian Cup semi-finals on October 29, the Portuguese faced Santos at home. Although Santos was still significantly better than them in terms of strength, with the psychological advantage established last time, the Portuguese were not afraid at all.

Opponent. And the scene this time is very similar to the original one, it is another double cycle battle.

The Santos team's formation has not changed much from last time, but the Portuguese team has undergone some changes, and its strength is only stronger than before. So when the opponent fully learned about Hiddink

This time, the starting lineup was really disrupted. During the confrontation for a period of time after the opening, they were actually passive.

In the 7th minute of the opening, Li Zhao successfully seized an opportunity and activated his skills. He broke through the double team of Guillerme and Duval, faced the goalkeeper, and hit the lower right corner of the opponent's goal with a low ball.

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1-0, the Portuguese team took the lead.

However, Li Zhao did not use the remaining opportunity to use his skill immediately. He wanted to wait until the critical moment to use it.

After all, the Santos team is still a traditional strong team, so they reacted soon after the Portuguese team took a one-goal lead and began to strengthen the defense on both sides. As a result, the Portuguese attack on the wing was not as smooth as before.

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In turn, Santos' offense also posed a great threat to the Portuguese. In the 13th minute of the game, Cicero nearly succeeded with a volley from the edge of the penalty area. Both sides invested almost the same amount of offensive firepower.

The comparison of times is also evenly matched. In this case, the test is who is more efficient. Of course, luck is equally important, but it is somewhat illusory.

Luck favored the Santos team first. In the 25th minute of the first half, Gabigol and Ribeiro completed a classic wall-hitting cooperation in the Portuguese team's midfield. The latter caught the ball and

Facing Cayo and Barta who stepped forward to block the ball, they made a decisive move. The ball hit Caio and then refracted into the net. Dyna was caught off guard and failed to prevent the goal.

1-1, Santos regained a victory.

However, just as luck is unpredictable, it will not only greet people from one side forever.

In the injury time of the first half, the Portuguese got a free kick opportunity near the arc of the center circle. Henrik's quick free kick found Harik on the right. Harik quickly broke through and made a pass from the bottom to the Santos defender.

Although he hit the ball first, he blocked the ball into his own goal due to Zhang Yuning's interference.

2-1, the Portuguese took the lead again with the opponent's own goal.

After the start of the second half, the Portuguese still maintained the style of play in the first half and launched a continuous attack with Santos.

In the 51st minute, Gabigol broke into the penalty area and pushed the ball. The ball hit the post and bounced out. Dyna flew out, but it was still a step too late and was succeeded by Cicero.

2-2, the score was evened again.

In the 56th minute, the Santos team got a free kick opportunity in an excellent position. Ribeiro's powerful volley went straight to the near corner of the goal. Dyna saved the ball purely based on his instinctive reaction.

"How are you?" Li Zhao asked with concern when he saw Dana rubbing his hands slightly.

"It's okay. This level of strength is far inferior to that of Brother Ziyi. I can handle it." Dana responded nonchalantly.

Immediately afterwards, the Portuguese team responded in kind.

In the 59th minute, Wang Ziyi's powerful volley from the outside of the Santos penalty area caused the opponent's goalkeeper to save the ball. Unfortunately, Harik's follow-up shot failed to adjust the angle and only hit the side netting.

In the 63rd minute, the Portuguese team finally seized a rare opportunity to open the opponent's door again. Wang Ziyi successfully intercepted the opponent's pass near the arc of the center circle, and then knocked the ball to Henrik beside him, and then

The reporter had already observed Li Zhao starting early and immediately transferred the ball.

Although Li Zhao's speed is not as fast as Harik's, few people can catch up with him when he starts. However, the opponent's goalkeeper is very cautious and does not attack blindly, but blocks the shooting angle as much as possible. However, he

Still unable to stop Li Zhao, the ball passed through his crotch and entered the goal.

3-2, the Portuguese team expanded the score advantage.

Although these few goals conceded behind the score are due to a lot of luck, they also reflect the problems of the Santos team's defense to a certain extent. Santos coach Romalho, who understands, also knows that there is nothing that can be done in this game, so

He began to decisively order to shrink the defense line, but this was also a hidden murderous intention.

Now that the initiative is in his own hands, there is no need to panic. However, since there is such an opportunity to occupy a favorable situation, Hiddink will not let it go. It is not his style to choose to be conservative and passive when he is in the lead. Of course,

He also pays attention to the connection between the front and backcourts, so he adopts a layer-by-layer approach to not give the opponent any chance to penetrate and counterattack.

At the last moment of the game, Li Zhao activated his skills again, but this time he failed to hit the target. Although he broke through many opponents' players, his final kick was unfortunately just a hair's breadth away, and he missed the hat trick.

Opportunity.

This also made him understand one thing. Although skills can improve his instantaneous status increase, they are not omnipotent. In the final analysis, he still has to rely on his own performance to complete everything.

On November 5, the Portuguese came to the Caldera Stadium for the second round of the semi-finals.

Although this is an away game, with the score advantage in the previous game, the Portuguese can play more calmly.

"Our only disadvantage is that we allowed the opponent two away goals last time, but this is not important. We just need to score more goals at their home court. They must have thought that we would play more conservatively.

Then we have to do the opposite." Hiddink once again emphasized his thoughts in the meeting before departure, and this time he still chose to attack the opponent at the beginning.

"Mr. Head Coach, won't this be self-defeating?" This time it was not the players who raised the question, but Su Maozhen, the assistant coach.

"Su, a great man in your country once said this: We will support whatever the enemy opposes, and we will oppose whatever the enemy supports.

By extension, it can also be understood as: Whenever the other party thinks that we will not choose to do so, we will do so. Whenever the other party thinks that we will do something, we will not do that. Moreover, if we were not afraid of them in the past, we will be even more afraid of them in the future.

I won’t be afraid anymore.” Hiddink gave a surprising but philosophical explanation.

Li Zhao was also thoughtful at this moment, and these words gave him new ideas.

This time, he was right because of his bet. The Portuguese started the attack very fiercely and seemed to be attacking the visitors. Santos coach Romalho also miscalculated again and was beaten seven times by this unconventional set of cards.

Vegetarian.

Just three minutes into the game, the Santos team lost the ball. After Li Zhao stole the ball in the opponent's backcourt, he launched a counterattack. Then he activated his skills and passed several people. At this time, he had attracted many defensive players from the opponent.

, and the goalkeeper's attention was basically focused on him. Li Zhao did not take credit and passed the ball to the unmarked Zhang Yuning. The latter did not waste the opportunity and steadily scored the ball into the empty goal.

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After that, the Portuguese offensive was still fierce. In the 28th minute, Li Zhao quickly made a pass and Wang Ziyi jumped in front of the goal and scored.

Before the end of the first half, the opponent took advantage of the Portuguese pressing too far forward to launch a surprise attack, and Cicero stubbornly pulled a goal back.

After the start of the second half, the opponent suddenly exerted force again and won a free kick in front of the Portuguese penalty area. Ribeiro made it in one fell swoop. This time he chose a more tricky angle and finally did not let the opportunity slip away again.

After being equalized, Hiddink made some changes and changed the formation to an anti-counterattack routine.

Seeing that time was running out, the Santos team still did not give up. Instead, they once again increased their attack intensity and pushed the formation up. This was their last chance.

It was at this last moment that Li Zhao received a pass from Wang Ziyi, broke through along the wing, and activated his skills at the last moment.

After first using the Marseille spin to get past the first defensive player near the baseline, Li Zhao chose to cut inside. Then he used a fake move to pass another defensive player, and finally leaked the gap after dunking. Li Zhao no longer hesitated.

, a very crisp kick to hit the goal. Although the angle was relatively small, the ball went around the goalkeeper in an arc and accurately hit the upper right corner of the goal.

It was another 3-2, and Li Zhao also used this goal to completely kill the game, leaving the Santos team unable to recover.
Chapter completed!