Chapter 94

The ninth round of the championship saw São Paulo travel to face São Caetano, just three days after the eighth round.

So Rongguang had only practiced long shots for one day before being thrown into the game.

This time, he was still in the starting lineup.

When Grayson, sitting in the media stand, saw Rongguang in the starting lineup again, he spread his hands and shook his head, saying, "Oswaldo is truly stubborn to the extreme!"

In his view, Oswaldo was clearly going against the media—when the media said it was wrong, he insisted on doing it.

What a lack of appreciation!

Grayson huffed inwardly.

If he keeps being so stubborn, he'll lose his job sooner or later!

Originally, winning the Rio-São Paulo Championship had solidified Oswaldo's position at São Paulo. But if Oswaldo keeps acting this way, he will eventually be fired.

Brazilian football clubs have little patience.

This is evident from São Paulo and Oswaldo himself.

Since the most glorious period of the 1990s, when the Brazilian football art master Santana left, São Paulo has been through a total of fifteen coaches from 1996 to 2002, with fourteen coaches taking the helm, including Mursy Ramalho, who served as São Paulo's head coach twice.

Such frequent changes in head coaches meant that some coaches were replaced after leading just one match.

Oswaldo de Oliveira made his debut at Corinthians in 1999, winning the São Paulo State First Division Championship in his first season.

In the same year, he also won the Brazilian National First Division Championship.

The following year, in the first FIFA Club World Cup in 2000, he led Corinthians to the championship, becoming world champions.

Despite these outstanding achievements, he was forced to leave Corinthians due to a conflict with the most influential Corinthians fan organization, "Eagles of Loyalty." In 2000, he joined another major club, Vasco da Gama from Rio de Janeiro, and in his first year, he won the Mercosur Cup (a large-scale South American football event held in the second half of the year, funded by a consortium in 1998, held annually, and composed of twenty traditional powerhouses from Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Paraguay, also known as the Copa Mercosur. The tournament was short-lived, ceasing in 2001 due to the withdrawal of Brazilian clubs and replaced by the Copa Sudamericana in 2002, as noted by the author).

In the second half of the same year, he also led Vasco da Gama to the semi-finals of the Brazilian National Championship.

However, after falling out with Vasco da Gama's club owner, Eulic Miranda, he moved to another Rio de Janeiro powerhouse, Fluminense, helping them reach the semi-finals of the Brazilian National First Division Championship in 2001. The reason for his falling out with Eulic Miranda was truly unbelievable: after the first leg of the semi-finals of the Brazilian National Championship, where Vasco da Gama drew 2-2 with Cruzeiro at home, Oswaldo, out of gentlemanly courtesy, embraced Cruzeiro's then-head coach, Scolari. This act infuriated Miranda, who had originally intended to invite Scolari to coach Vasco da Gama at the start of the season but was rejected by Scolari. Scolari's rejection left Miranda seething, and seeing Oswaldo extend a friendly gesture to Scolari, he believed Oswaldo was trying to embarrass him. As a result, Oswaldo was fired by Vasco da Gama after that match. The national championship that Vasco da Gama eventually won had nothing to do with him...

In less than three and a half years, he had changed clubs four times, which was quite frequent.

This might be related to the Brazilian national character.

This is a nation that enjoys pleasure, naturally optimistic, and thus lacks long-term planning. For them, living in the moment is the way to go.

This is also reflected in football. From the national football association to ordinary teams, there is a lack of long-term planning. If the Brazilian Football Confederation had a long-term plan, the domestic football scene wouldn't be in such a poor state... and their head coaches are typically signed on a year-by-year basis. This season, they hire a coach, and if they win the championship, they celebrate; if not, the coach is fired. Who thinks about what will happen in two seasons?

Even a club like São Paulo, a major powerhouse, has a president with a term of only two years!

What can you do in two years in football?

Even they themselves think two years is too short. The president of São Paulo FC believes a three-year term would be better... but is three years really that long?

For Brazilians, three years is quite long.

※※※

No one was optimistic about Rongguang's performance in this match.

He had not shown any significant performance in the last three consecutive matches.

This match might be like the previous three, where he would just highlight how brilliant and powerful Kaká is.

São Paulo's performance also did not seem to warrant much expectation.

In the first half, São Paulo was trailing São Caetano 0-1.

In the first half of the Rio-São Paulo Championship, São Paulo had already lost to São Caetano.

This team could be considered a rising force in Brazilian football in recent years.

They rose to prominence in the particularly chaotic 2000 Avellaneda Cup. This São Paulo team, founded in 1989, was very young, but ten years after its founding, they reached the final of the national championship. They were the biggest dark horse in the 2000 national championship, although they ultimately lost to Vasco da Gama in the final, they continued to rise from then on.

In the 2001 national championship, they reached the final again, but this time they lost to Athletico Paranaense.

Although they had not won a significant championship, their consecutive finals appearances made them a force to be reckoned with.

Leading São Paulo in the first half at home was not surprising.

Rongguang did not have any standout performances in the first half, and naturally, he did not score.

During the halftime break, he thought about what the little god had told him.

Long shot!

Rongguang did not take a single long shot in the first half because he felt he hadn't mastered it yet.

But looking at the situation, he would have to try it even if he hadn't mastered it...

He lowered his head and began to imagine how he would take a long shot in the second half.

Should I take a shot after I shake off one defender?

I'm better with my right foot, so I need to get the opponent to my left...

What if the opponent comes to interfere?

Fabiano saw Rongguang with his head down and thought he was upset about his performance in the first half. He patted his shoulder to comfort him, signaling that he shouldn't put too much pressure on himself. It was already impressive to go from a complete novice to a first-team regular in seven months.

At the same time, at the other end of the locker room, Kaká was also with his head down.

It wasn't just Rongguang who had a lackluster first half; Kaká was also closely marked by the opponents—after four consecutive outstanding performances, if the São Caetano players didn't defend him tightly, they should be dead.

Under the opponents' defense, Kaká had no room to maneuver today.

Kaká was very frustrated; he wanted to pull away from Rongguang with a strong performance.

Now it seemed that maintaining the current gap was the best he could do...

Kaká felt this wasn't safe enough. Even though he had scored in four consecutive matches and Rongguang was in a three-match goal drought, he still felt it wasn't safe.

It seemed that the one chasing him from behind was not an ordinary rookie but a fierce lion.

※※※

"The second half begins... Oswaldo has made no changes to the lineup. It seems he is very confident in his starting eleven..." Caffrey said, looking at the São Paulo players coming onto the field.

He saw Rongguang among them.

The rookie was not substituted at halftime.

Oswaldo is really... stubborn.

This was what Caffrey didn't say out loud.

※※※

From the start of the second half, Rongguang's mind was filled with "long shot."

He observed the opponents' defenders during the game and noticed that when he had the ball, as long as he didn't make a vertical breakthrough, the São Caetano defenders wouldn't pay much attention to him.

Their focus was more on Kaká.

This was his opportunity. If he didn't try to break through with the ball but took a long shot instead... it would be unexpected!

With this thought, Rongguang raised his hand to ask for the ball.

If possible, the São Paulo players would prefer to pass the ball to Kaká and Fabiano, as these two were more reliable in the attacking trio. Rongguang was unpredictable; who knew when he would score a world-class goal? But most of the time, he was ineffective. He was a mystery to both the opponents and his teammates.

Passing the ball to Rongguang meant increased risk.

But now, it seemed there was no better option than to pass the ball to Rongguang.

Fabiano was at the front, surrounded by São Caetano defenders.

Kaká was even more deeply surrounded by São Caetano.

The defense around Rongguang was slightly looser.

So Ricardinho passed the ball to Rongguang.

Before receiving the ball, Rongguang adjusted his position. When the ball rolled to him, he was already facing São Caetano's goal.

Estimating the distance to the goal to be about thirty meters, Rongguang did not hesitate and took a long shot!

Bang!

Unsurprisingly, the ball landed on the stands behind the goal.

"This idiot!" Renaldo couldn't help but curse from the bench.

"Rong unexpectedly chose a long shot! Of course, the quality of this long shot is predictable... São Paulo's attack ended with Rong's high shot..." Caffrey was relatively polite.

"The rookie is acting recklessly again. While Rong occasionally has brilliant moments, he mostly acts recklessly... no one knows what this rookie is thinking. São Paulo's attack opportunity was wasted by him, completely meaningless..." Bueno was more sarcastic. "Perhaps he's giving up? Seeing that he hasn't had any standout performances in three matches, he's getting impatient... but impatience solves nothing."

When Sun Fengyang saw this long shot on TV, he straightened up and focused even more on Rongguang on the screen.

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