Chapter 410: A Trip to Japan (5)
Robert Carlos was racing on the pitch with excitement after the goal, and it was always a joy to score a goal anyway, especially since it was his first time scoring in the Toyota Cup.
Thinking of this, Carlos couldn't help but thank his head coach Capello in his heart, if he didn't play under him, but still stayed under the tent of Hodgson at Inter Milan, he would definitely not have such a lot of attacking freedom, and he should have burned incense if he wasn't tied to his own half by that Englishman.
Therefore, Carlos ran from the River Plate penalty area to Capello in a daze, regardless of the height difference of more than ten centimeters between Capello and him (Capello's height is 1.80 meters, while Carlos is only 1.68 meters), he hugged his head coach, and then let the gold medal coach leave the ground with a little effort of his arms.
"Hey! Robert! What do you kid want to do! Don't put me down yet! Even Capello, who had always seemed cold to outsiders, panicked when he was picked up by a man who was much shorter than himself, and it would be a great deal of fun if he missed and threw himself to the ground......
"Ha, haha, boss, don't get excited, it was just an accident...... just now" Hearing Capello's shout, Carlos remembered that his own manager is not a good stubble, although he did express his gratitude to Capello with a grateful attitude just now.
So, the Brazilian left-back didn't wait for Capelodo to say anything, and after saying "I was just too excited", he ran back to Fiorentina's half, watching the jiashi look like a poisonous snake chasing him behind his ass.
"This bastard boy ......" Capello, who knew the meaning of Carlos' words, shook his head helplessly, and then looked at his suit distressedly, wanting to cry without tears, "This is specially made for today's game, and it was crumpled by this guy......"
The comedy on the sidelines made many Fiorentina fans smile, and the Fiorentina players in the stadium were even more amused by Carlos's expression as if fleeing for his life.
However, this was only a small episode in the game, and by the time the referee put the ball back in the centre of the pitch, the players from both sides had already returned to their respective positions
After the restart, Fiorentina continued to stick to their previous fast-break tactics, and River Plate, who had little way to organize an offensive like the Purple Lily, had to use fouls to interrupt the opponent's attack.
In the 47th minute, Effenberg passed through the middle, Ronaldo received the ball at the top of the penalty area and buckled past Berizzo, who was directly put to the ground by the latter, and the referee immediately showed a yellow card to the River Plate central defender and awarded Fiorentina a free kick in front, but the set-piece taken by the alien himself was high above the crossbar;
In the 53rd minute, Effenberg was knocked down by Astrada with a hidden elbow in the attack, and the angry tiger was about to make a move after getting up from the turf, but fortunately, Di Biagio and Redondo, who were standing next to him, stopped Effenberg's violence in time, so that there was no more chaos.
However, the referee, who had already noticed the anomaly, gave Effenberg a warning, and in his opinion, the player wearing the number 10 shirt did have a tendency to hit people, so even though Eeffenberg was a victim, he still had to be given a verbal warning.
As for Astrada, who used to play tricks, when the referee saw the instant replay on the big screen of the stadium, he did not hesitate to give him a yellow card, and warned that if there were any more such actions, he would definitely be expelled from the game.
After extinguishing the signs of chaos, the referee strengthened the penalty scale for fouls, especially the River Plate players who have been fouling continuously after the score is behind, and have become the focus of the referee's attention.
In this situation where even a slightly bigger foul will be punished, the players on the River Plate side have no way to effectively counter the Fiorentina attack, and their backline is really a little weak compared to the flashy attacking line in the frontcourt; Fiorentina, on the other hand, became more and more courageous, tearing through River Plate's fragile defence with plenty of off-ball runs and quick passes.
As soon as a player starts to run anymore, Capello will immediately choose to make a substitution, first replacing Davies, who had run most of the game in the 68th minute (mainly because Francisco Elli has already left the game early due to physical exhaustion), and then replacing Ronaldo with Inzaghi in the 71st minute, and Zuihou replacing Effenberg, who is also starting to decline in fitness, with Rui Costa in the 82nd minute......
Capello's substitutions allowed Fiorentina to firmly control the rhythm of the whole game in their own hands, and did not give River Plate any chance to launch a counter-attack.
Therefore, the morale of the River Plate team, which was suppressed by the dead, became more and more sluggish, and when there were only a few minutes left in the game, they did not pay attention to the coach Dias who was jumping on the sidelines, but planned to mix until the end of the game with a passable mentality.
At this moment, Fiorentina launched another wave of offensive, and in the 89th minute, Carlos's powerful free kick 30 meters from the goal made another goal, expanding the score to 2-0 and completely sealing the victory!
Seeing this, Dias, who had planned to give Zuihou a try, lowered his head in frustration, while Capello raised his hands and celebrated the first Toyota Cup championship in his coaching career in advance!
Capello has led AC Milan to the Toyota Cup twice before (replacing Marseille in '93 and winning the Champions League in '94), but unfortunately the invincible king division in Europe has lost twice in a row in this stadium, leaving Capello with a lot of regrets.
This time, he can finally make up for his regrets!
After Fiorentina extended the score, River Plate's players still did not have the slightest intention of fighting back, and it seemed that they were just planning to dismiss Zuihou after a few minutes of confusion and accompany their families or girlfriends to spend a beautiful Christmas holiday.
The referee was also very interesting, he had already seen that the game had entered garbage time, and he only gave a symbolic minute of stoppage time, and he blew the whistle in his mouth just half a minute after stoppage time!
When the referee blew the whistle for the end of the match, the entire Tokyo National Stadium was boiling and all the fans supporting Fiorentina celebrated that the European giants had won the first Toyota Cup in the club's history! Became the first team in the history of football to win the championship!