Under Lehmann’s direction, Germany quickly formed a defensive wall.
Ronaldinho had scored plenty of direct free kicks before, so nobody was taking any chances.
Strangely, the tall Ballack didn’t join the wall.
Instead, he stayed right beside Kaka, following him closely, his left arm occasionally nudging against Kaka’s waist.
“Hey, Ricardo, you all right?”
Kaka gave him a strange look.
Ballack had the kind of stern German face that looked as though it had been made for a military uniform.
If he’d been born sixty years earlier, he probably could have frightened crying children into silence just by staring at them.
Who would’ve thought he was actually polite enough to check on someone after nearly hacking them down?
“I’m fine.”
Kaka answered casually, never taking his eyes off Ronaldinho.
His body was already tense, ready to burst forward for a rebound at any moment.
“Hey, kid, I’m not letting you get through that easily.
Just stay right here.”
Ballack noticed the shift in Kaka’s posture and immediately stepped across to block his path.
Naturally, his mouth kept running too.
“You were lucky that challenge didn’t hurt you.
But that’s football.
If you don’t want to leave the pitch on a stretcher, you’d better stay where you belong in midfield…”
Beep!
Before Ballack could finish, Kaka suddenly shoved off him and exploded forward.
Ronaldinho took a short run-up and struck the ball cleanly.
It curled over the jumping wall, swerving through the air toward the top corner.
“Ronaldinho goes directly for goal!”
“Oh!
Off the crossbar!”
“The woodwork denies him again!
Germany’s crossbar has already saved them several times today…”
“Wait…”
“Kaka!”
The free kick smashed against the bar and bounced back into play.
Chaos erupted inside the penalty area.
Lehmann scrambled up from the turf, only to look on in horror as the rebound dropped into a dangerous area.
Because he’d started moving early, Kaka reached it first.
thump!
He lifted the ball delicately with his left foot.
It sailed over Arne Friedrich, who had rushed in to challenge.
Kaka turned smoothly beneath it.
Then, as the ball dropped, he raised his right leg and smashed a full volley toward goal.
Bang!
“Wooohoooo!
KAKA!!!”
“GOOOOOOAL!!!”
“What a finish!”
“First the delicate chip to beat Friedrich, then a thunderous volley that gives Lehmann absolutely no chance!”
“One-nil!”
“In the 21st minute, it’s Kaka once again who opens the scoring for Brazil!”
The instant the ball hit the net, Kaka sprinted toward the corner flag.
Then he dropped onto both knees.
A long knee slide.
Both hands pointing toward the sky.
His familiar celebration.
The Brazilian supporters erupted.
His teammates rushed over and immediately knocked him onto the grass.
One rubbed his hair.
Another slapped him on the backside.
Someone squeezed his face.
Someone else hammered him on the chest.
Hands everywhere.
Absolute chaos.
But Kaka was in too good a mood to care.
Laughing, he eventually got back to his feet and walked toward midfield with an arm around Ronaldinho.
As they passed Ballack, Kaka glanced over.
The German captain looked grim.
Kaka grinned brightly at him.
Ballack’s expression somehow became even darker.
Germany restarted.
Kurányi tapped the ball to Ballack.
Ballack dropped it back to Frings, who then found Deisler.
Germany began strengthening their control of midfield.
A goal behind, they didn’t panic.
Under Ballack’s direction, they slowed the tempo and patiently searched for weaknesses in Brazil’s shape.
They found one much sooner than expected.
Perhaps because they’d just scored, Brazil’s back line relaxed slightly.
Germany noticed immediately.
And punished them.
Frings played into Ballack, then continued forward alongside Deisler, one moving left and the other right.
Ballack switched play with a long diagonal toward Deisler on the right.
Deisler carried the ball quickly down the flank.
At this stage of his career, Maicon was still a little raw.
His pressure wasn’t aggressive enough, and that gave Deisler the space he needed.
He drove toward the byline.
Then whipped a cross into the six-yard box.
Germany’s forwards attacked the delivery instantly.
Lúcio slid in, trying to clear.
He missed by inches.
Worse, the attempted clearance distracted Dida.
By the time everyone realised the ball had slipped through, Podolski was already there.
“Ballack switches it wide!”
“Deisler on the right!”
“Maicon isn’t closing him down quickly enough!”
“Deisler keeps going…”
“Cross into the middle!”
“Brazil fail to clear!”
“PODOLSKI!!!”
“Sliding finish!”
“GOAAAAL!”
“One-one!”
“Germany equalise almost immediately!”
“Less than two minutes after Kaka gave Brazil the lead, the hosts have hit back!”
“We’re level again!”
“Young Lukas Podolski, currently with 1.
FC Köln, has once again shown why he’s regarded as one of Germany’s most dangerous young forwards.”
“With Miroslav Klose unavailable through injury, Podolski has stepped up at the crucial moment.”
“And against Brazil, in a match of this magnitude, he’s just dragged Germany right back into it.”
“Some people have criticised Germany for relying too heavily on young players, and those concerns did show during the group stage.
But youth also means energy, aggression, and fearlessness, and right now Podolski is showing exactly that!”
After scoring, Podolski celebrated wildly.
He dropped into a knee slide, pumped his fists, and roared toward the stands.
As captain, Ballack sprinted over as well and enthusiastically ruffled his younger teammate’s hair.
Kaka watched them without expression.
Especially the affectionate interaction between the two.
Thinking about the absurd stories that would happen between them in the future, the corner of his mouth slowly curled upward.
“Oh!
What do I see?”
The commentator had been excitedly describing Germany’s equaliser when the broadcast suddenly cut to the Brazilian players.
His eyes immediately lit up.
“Kaka!”
“I didn’t see that wrong, did I?
Kaka is smiling!”
“Germany have just equalised, and Kaka is actually smiling!”
“Hahaha!
Ladies and gentlemen, I think I understand his mentality!”
“He breezed through the group stage without facing much resistance, but now Germany have finally managed to excite him!”
“Podolski’s goal has awakened Kaka’s competitive spirit!”
“He looks delighted to have finally found a real opponent!”
“Perhaps that’s the mentality of a true superstar!”
The commentator continued enthusiastically, while the camera remained fixed on the faint, almost cocky smile at the corner of Kaka’s mouth.
That expression immediately sent the crowd and viewers at home into a frenzy.
Meanwhile, Kaka himself had absolutely no idea what was happening.
He had simply remembered a ridiculous future incident involving the two Germans and couldn’t help smiling.
Somehow, the commentator had turned it into the awakening of a football god.
Germany eventually finished celebrating.
Brazil didn’t rush them.
Only Lúcio and Dida could be heard shouting at the defensive line, reminding everyone to stay focused.
The match restarted.
Robinho tapped the ball to Kaka.
Kaka immediately passed back to Zé Roberto, who returned it deeper to Lúcio.
Now that the score was level, the tempo suddenly dropped.
Or rather, after the frantic opening exchanges, both teams had realised that blindly throwing punches wasn’t going to knock the other side out.
So they became more cautious.
And whenever the game entered this kind of phase, it was time for Brazil’s specialist weapon to make an appearance.
The step-over merchant.
The ball eventually returned to Kaka.
He first played it toward Ronaldinho, who found no opening on the left.
When the ball came back, Kaka used a quick La Croqueta and flick to nutmeg Ballack, then immediately switched play toward Robinho on the right.
Robinho received it and accelerated.
Brazil’s right-sided attacker went straight at Arne Friedrich.
Then came the step-overs.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Friedrich’s centre of gravity was completely thrown off.
Robinho immediately cut inside toward the penalty area and unleashed a fierce shot.
There was plenty of power behind it.
Unfortunately, the trajectory was far too straight.
Lehmann comfortably parried it away.
Huth followed up with a huge clearance, sending the ball all the way back toward midfield.
Brazil recovered possession.
Emerson played short to Zé Roberto, who lifted the ball toward Ronaldinho.
Ronaldinho tried to create something on the left, but Germany held firm.
So he turned and sent another diagonal pass toward Kaka.
The pass lacked pace.
Frings, sitting deeper, immediately saw an opportunity to intercept and stepped forward aggressively.
Kaka hurried toward the ball and controlled it first with his left foot.
Then he dragged it backward and flicked it across his body.
A simple V-drag.
Frings stretched out a right foot.
Missed.
Kaka pushed the ball behind him and accelerated forward.
“Kaka escapes Frings!”
“He’s driving forward alone!”
“Deisler comes across from the side…”
“Oh!
Beautiful!”
“A chipped nutmeg!”
“But Deisler recovers!”
“Another flick!”
“Kaka lifts it over him again!”
“The youngster’s frustrated now, that’s a strong challenge…”
“Kaka rolls through it!”
“Deisler goes down!”
“The referee says play on!”
“Kaka’s still going!”
“He’s reaching the edge of the penalty area!”
“Dummy!”
“Beautiful!”
“Huth is beaten!”
“Can Adriano make the run?”
Adriano couldn’t find enough space.
So Kaka kept going himself.
After entering the penalty area, he shifted the ball repeatedly toward his right, trying to get around Mertesacker.
His right leg was already coming back for the shot.
Then Schneider came flying across.
With Lahm unavailable, Schneider had temporarily been filling in on the left side of defence.
And the moment he arrived, he launched straight into a sliding challenge.
Kaka had no time to react.
He only managed to shift some of his weight away from his left leg before Schneider’s boot came down on the top of his left foot.
Then it knocked the ball away.
“Ah!”
Sharp pain exploded across the top of Kaka’s foot.
He screamed.
The impact lifted him off the ground, and he crashed heavily onto the turf.
Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
Beep!
The Brazilian players completely lost their composure.
Zé Roberto and Adriano, who were closest, immediately charged over and shoved Schneider as he tried to get back to his feet.
The referee rushed in, blowing his whistle repeatedly and forcing the players apart.
Kaka remained on the ground, clutching his left foot.
It burned.
Fortunately, his newly strengthened body was ridiculously durable.
Schneider had caught the top of his foot rather than the ankle itself.
After the medical staff sprayed it with cooling spray and checked the joint, they confirmed there didn’t appear to be any serious damage.
With Ronaldinho’s help, Kaka slowly got back to his feet.
By then, the referee had already separated both teams.
Perhaps feeling the challenge was careless rather than malicious, he showed Schneider only a yellow card.
But the decision itself was much more important.
Penalty to Brazil.