The morale of the Samba Legion was completely shattered at this moment!
Head coach Tite looked troubled but quickly composed himself, walking to the sidelines to cheer on his players, boost their spirits, and unite them. He knew that once the players on the field had mental issues, it was all over!
This Samba Legion was by no means lacking leaders; what they lacked was someone who could step forward and firmly control the rest of the players.
It was like the status of Cao Baming in the Tang Guo team. Once there was such an absolute core leader with one superstar and many strong players, uniting the team would become relatively easy.
But to the outside world, the Samba Legion, which seemed almost invincible, also had its difficulties. Their difficulty lay in the abundance of stars in the front and midfield, with too many big names.
With so many players, any one of them could be chosen and would carry that leadership aura. Anyone could lead the team on the field. Out of necessity, the head coach had no choice but to give the captain's armband to Marquinhos to lead the team.
However, even so, this Samba Legion still lacked such strong cohesion. Every player relied on their own talent and ideas to play on the field and create opportunities.
This was their weakness!
Soon, the match gradually entered the rhythm of the Tang Guo team.
This was a scenario that no one could have predicted no matter how they speculated. The gap in strength between the Tang Guo team and the Samba Legion was evident, but in the next few minutes, the Tang Guo team had actually controlled the tempo of the game, and the Samba Legion, wanting to fight for attacking opportunities, was powerless.
Cao Baming alone stood in the midfield, in a large open space with five or six players surrounding him, yet they couldn't dispossess him. Meanwhile, his Tang Guo teammates on the wings had clearly formed a situation of outnumbering the opponent. As long as Cao Baming's pass could successfully reach the wing, opportunities could be created!
The Tang Guo team, like this, quickly gained momentum!
Head coach Li Gang, watching from the sidelines, was very excited. Although they were leading, and their opponent was the Samba Legion, seeing the players on the field playing so happily and assertively, he wasn't anxious and urged the players on the field to slow down the tempo for now.
Because the current situation made it seem like the opponent was no match for them at all!
The Tang Guo fans next to him were already extremely excited; they were even starting to celebrate in advance.
At this moment, Cao Baming continued to play on the field, but he could faintly feel a dull ache in his calf.
Previously, it was only the ankle injury that would cause sharp pain from time to time, but now it was different. This pain had spread to his calf, and even to his entire left leg.
He knew in his heart that this was a precursor to his injury worsening!
However, there were still 30 minutes left in the match, and they only had a one-goal lead. If he were to leave the field now, the possibility of being overtaken in the remaining time was still very high!
Regardless, he had to give his all to score another goal. If they could expand the lead to two goals, it would take the opponent at least two more goals to equalize, dragging the game into overtime.
At the thought of overtime, Cao Baming felt a sense of resistance. He was quite certain that given the severity of his injury, he would not be able to play the entire 30 minutes of extra time. He might be forced to leave the field midway through if he could no longer persevere.
At this point, all assumptions left him with only one path: to seize the time and score another goal in the final moments. If he could score two goals, that would be even better!
The Tang Guo team did not actively waste time. As the match reached the 70th minute, Fang Hao successfully broke through on the wing and sent in a cross. This time, it was not cleared by Danilo, the tall center-back of the Samba Legion, but landed at Wu Lei's feet!
Cao Baming stood at the edge of the penalty area, ready to receive the pass.
And this time, Wu Lei did not waste the opportunity and directly scored!
"Good goal!"
"goALLLLLLLLLLL!"
"Wu Qiuwang is awesome!!"
...
Li Gang forced himself to remain calm, displaying the cold and majestic demeanor of a coach, but in the next second, he couldn't hold back and let out a startled scream!
Tite turned around helplessly, unable to bear watching.
Ederson, the goalkeeper of the Samba Legion, clearly lacked the saving ability of Alisson. Tite regretted his earlier decision, but it was too late!
At that time, he had thought that to save the main goalkeeper Alisson for the final showdown against the Pampas Eagles or the Gallic Rooster, but now they might even lose the chance to reach the final!
Alisson, sitting on the bench, also looked very helpless. Although he had strongly objected, he was, after all, just a player and could not influence the head coach's decision.
And the most real situation on the football field now was that the Tang Guo team was leading by two goals, and after coming from behind, they had extended their lead!!
Who could have predicted this situation!?
As the match continued, after discussing with his coaching staff, Li Gang decided to slow down the attacking tempo. No matter what, this was a semi-final, and they needed to play it safe!
After making two substitutions, the Tang Guo team's formation directly shifted to a more stable defensive 4-5-1 formation. Cao Baming, as the core of the five midfielders, still simultaneously served as both an attacking midfielder and a defensive midfielder.
When the Samba Legion was at their worst, Kaka, who came on as a substitute, created an opportunity with his midfield dribbling.
A Tang Guo player committed a foul, and the Samba Legion gained possession.
By this time, it was seventy-five minutes into the game. Cao Baming began to count silently in his heart, thinking that as long as they could maintain the 4-2 scoreline by the 80th minute, it would be fine.
It was almost impossible for the opponent to come back in the last ten minutes.
Moreover, they had only one substitution remaining, and the players' current form was unlikely to change. Tite was pushed into a desperate situation.
But just as he was thinking, he suddenly noticed that at the Samba Legion's midfield free-kick, Carlos was standing behind the ball!
Instantly, the hearts of all the Tang Guo players skipped a beat.
The distance of this set-piece from the goal was estimated to be about fifty meters, but the direction was very direct!
Everyone would never forget that stunning long-range shot, which was his masterpiece, and the position was strikingly similar!
At this moment, unable to bear the humiliation, he volunteered to take the free-kick himself, wanting to show Cao Baming what a true long-range shot was.