From the man behind the football king to the football king.

Chapter 628 Bruno and the Portuguese Dilemma
After freezing Bruno, the French team wasted no time and launched a tidal attack on the Portuguese goal, one wave after another, each higher than the last.

Finally, in the 26th minute of the game, taking advantage of the opportunity to steal the ball from Bruno, the French team launched a quick counterattack and caught Portugal off guard.

At that time, Bruno took the ball and was about to launch an attack, but in a foul interception by French player Pogba, he fell to the ground and lost the ball.

William Carvalho was only concerned with raising his hand to protest the interception to the referee, but did not step forward to block it in time, allowing Pogba to rush past with the ball.

The mistake made by the defensive midfielder put the defense in a passive position. Moutinho and Joao Mario rushed up to defend Pogba almost at the same time, and Pogba seized the opportunity and passed the ball.

He passed the ball to Giroud, who attracted the Portuguese defender's attention and passed the ball back. The two played a one-two!

Pogba received the ball again and shot from the top of the penalty area, and the ball went into the net.

France equalized the score!

The French fans in the stands gave a deafening cheer.

After scoring the goal, Pogba excitedly ran to the corner flag area and greeted the French fans there.

The Portuguese players surrounded the referee, believing that Pogba's interception before the goal was a foul.

"This should be a foul first, such a goal is invalid!" Ronaldo said angrily.

Bruno, on the other hand, did not defend himself or make excuses. He just stood outside the crowd with his head down.

Regardless of whether Pogba's interception was a foul, at least his performance before losing the ball was not good. He never found a solution, but lost the ball at his feet, allowing the opponent to launch a successful counterattack.

………………

The TV camera gave a six-second close-up of Bruno with his head down.

The commentator commented on this: "At the beginning of the game, Bruno's goal made the Portuguese fans ecstatic, but then Bruno was closely guarded by the French team and could not play at his normal level. The goal was caused by him being intercepted in the backcourt... Bruno is usually the core of Portugal's midfield. More than half of Portugal's goals are directly or indirectly related to him. In other words, once he cannot play at his normal level, Portugal will not be able to play at its normal level. The Portuguese media gave Bruno a nickname - 'The Heart of Portugal', which vividly illustrates Bruno's importance to Portugal. If there is a problem with this heart, the Portuguese team will be unable to breathe, or even die..."

In Portugal, many fans cursed the referee for being a black whistle: "F**K! It was clearly a foul, okay? Such an obvious foul was not called, damn Argentines!"

There were also many Portuguese fans who denounced the Argentine referee Pitana as a black whistle, but no matter how angry the public was, it could not change the reality that Portugal lost the ball.

………………

After the game restarted, Bruno still had no way to solve the dilemma he faced. He could only make some short-distance passes, and there were almost no threatening passes forward.

Because the French team has tasted success in defending him, they are now more motivated.

Bruno didn't pass the ball in a hurry after getting it. Instead, he pushed Kante with one hand and signaled to the people in front with the other hand to come back a little.

The distance was too far, and coupled with the physical confrontation with the French defensive players, he was unable to ensure the accuracy of the pass in this situation.

While he was distracted, Kante stepped forward to steal the ball.

Bruno flicked the ball and Kante kicked him on the ankle. Bruno felt pain in his foot and fell to the ground.

At this time, Kante no longer regarded Bruno as a brother. When he saw Bruno fall to the ground, he ignored him and jumped out to grab the ball.

This time the referee finally blew the whistle and called a foul on Kante.

Ronaldo refused to give in and signaled to the referee that Kante should be given a yellow card for the foul. Of course, if the referee wanted to give a red card, that was also fine.

The referee Pitana didn't listen to him and just gave Kante a verbal warning.

Kante opened his arms, shrugged, and ran away.

Bruno rubbed his ankle and got up from the ground. Kante's toes kicked his ankle, making him grimace in pain.

He moved his ankle and breathed a sigh of relief when he found nothing wrong.

It would be terrible if you get kicked.

Later in the game, Bruno found that the defensive tricks similar to Kante's were common on him, which seemed to be a targeted tactic specially arranged by the French team. Thigh-butting, ankle-kicking, sweeping legs... Compared with these, pulling the jersey and arm was simply child's play.

In short, we tried every possible way to prevent him from getting the ball comfortably.

In order to achieve this goal, any means can be used.

………………The French players had a good grasp of this aspect. Although they committed fouls, they did not receive any cards. At most, they were booed by Portuguese fans for a while, which was not a big loss. The real benefit was that they disrupted Portugal's attack.

Throughout the first half, except for that goal, Bruno played awkwardly. He had a hard time holding the ball and could only pass it as quickly as possible. The French defenders cut off his connection with his teammates. Occasionally, there was a chance for success, but his teammates didn't seize it...

When the game reached the 35th minute, Kante, who was responsible for defending him in the midfield, was careless and allowed Bruno to shake off with a feint.

This is a rare opportunity!
Kante was so anxious that he slipped and it was too late for him to catch up. But it doesn't matter, there is another defensive midfielder Pogba...

Pogba was five or six meters away from Bruno, which was enough space for Bruno to pass the ball.

He made a straight pass to Bernardo Silva.

After Bernardo Silva got the ball, he cut inside into the penalty area and suddenly shot!
This attack was so sudden that the French defenders barely reacted, but Bernardo Silva's shot went too high...

Bernardo Silva, whose shot was too high, held his head in his hands, looking very regretful.

Bruno also felt the same regret as him. This was a great opportunity...

But he couldn't complain that Bernardo Silva wasted his chances, because he himself didn't create many decent chances in the first place.

If you haven't done well yourself, you have no right to blame others.

………………

"Bernardo Silva broke through! The shot was - too high! What a pity... What a pity! For Portugal, this might have been their best offensive opportunity in the first half. Bernardo Silva's shot was decisive, but he didn't control his footwork well." The Portuguese commentator also felt sorry.

"Bruno finally got rid of the French team's defense and completed an organized attack, but it was a pity that Bernardo didn't seize the opportunity..."

……

Bernardo Silva turned around and gave Bruno a thumbs up, indicating that he had just made a great pass.

The French commentator said happily: "From Bruno's pass, it is more and more proved that Deschamps' tactics are correct. Look, Bruno was only given this one chance, and he completed a penetrating pass. If he was left alone, the score would definitely not be 1:1 now!"

If Bruno heard the French commentator's praise, he would only smile bitterly.

This attack failed and also took away Portugal's good luck.

Before the end of the first half, the French team seized another opportunity, launched an attack, and scored another goal to overtake the score!
In the 45th minute, taking advantage of the fact that the Portuguese players were slightly relaxed before the end of the first half, Hernandez broke through on the left and made a cross. Mbappe suddenly shot from the top of the arc and the ball went into the lower left corner of the goal. France led Portugal 2:1.

This goal had nothing to do with Bruno, but he was still very disappointed on the field. They had a great start, but they didn't have an equally great follow-up. In the first 45 minutes of the first half, they were helpless due to the opponent's highly targeted tactics.

As a team commander, this shows his failure.

………………

"The first half is over! After falling behind, the French team fought back and scored two goals to overtake the score! What a wonderful first half!"

Portuguese fans didn't think so. When the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, their expressions were dull and some even shook their heads, expressing dissatisfaction with their team's performance.

Bruno walked off the field with his head down. He heard some boos. He didn't know who was booing them, but he always felt that they were booing at himself because he was not used to the French team's ubiquitous close pressing in the first half and was at a loss what to do.

The team's decline from leading to falling behind in the first half was directly related to his poor performance.

Perhaps because this was the World Cup final, the opponent's momentum was beyond his imagination and was several times more difficult than in the league or even the Champions League.

He admitted that he was ill-prepared for this.

But what should he do? The opponent's close pressing was everywhere, which made him very uncomfortable. He couldn't even control the ball, let alone organize the offense and control the team's rhythm.

Bruno kept his head down as he walked into the corridor and then into the locker room.

When he stood in front of his own locker and took off the dirty jersey that had fallen on the ground, he was still thinking about the first half of the game.

Although this is the World Cup final, it should not be the last final in my career. Am I powerless every time? Or should I stay where I am from now on and never pursue those high-level games and opponents?
That's not right. Playing football is fun only when you play against strong opponents.

Being a professional player only makes sense if you play at a higher level.

A World Cup final should not be my Waterloo!
(End of this chapter)