"Mark will take this free kick again..."
"The German Team didn't arrange a second player nearby as a decoy; it's clear this free kick will be a direct shot on goal by Mark..."
"From his previous attempt, he was very close. What will the result be this time?"
"Let's wait and see!"
~~~
As the whistle blew, Mark's eyes narrowed, and he immediately charged straight towards the ball.
Swing, shoot!
With a 'thump,' Mark's calf muscles tensed suddenly. The moment the inside of his foot connected with the middle of the ball, there was an upward follow-through motion.
The moment the ball was struck, it transformed into a black blur, soaring over the Maracanã Stadium.
After clearing the wall at an extremely high Speed, the completely spin-less ball plummeted rapidly through the air, instantly flying towards the top right corner of the goal.
This time, the moment Mark shot, Romero made the decision to move towards the wall.
In his opinion, Mark's free kick would definitely clear the wall and then drop sharply.
He guessed correctly!
However, what he didn't expect was that Mark's knuckleball had a very tricky angle.
Even if he moved early and dove with all his might, he couldn't touch the rapidly falling ball.
To his shock, the ball flew directly into the net from the top right corner of the goal!
With a'swish,' the ball hit the net, creating layers of white ripples!
The next second, the entire Maracanã Stadium erupted in astonishing cheers, and the stands boiled over!
Even the usually quiet Esther Hitsch, like the other Germany fans, excitedly jumped up!
It's worth mentioning that, besides the Germany fans, eighty percent of the local Brazil fans also let out deafening cheers.
Brazilians, who have a long-standing rivalry with Argentina, wanted Germany to win the championship more than their arch-rival Argentina!
Therefore, apart from the Argentinians wearing masks of pain, the entire stadium erupted in deafening cheers for this super free kick.
"Goal!!!"
"Unbelievable! Amazing! A super~~~ free kick!"
"Mark Lane! He broke the deadlock on the field for the German Team with a direct free kick, and opened the door to victory!"
"The entire Maracanã Stadium cheered! This eighteen-year-old might become Germany's hero!"
"The score on the field is now one to zero!"
Mark, who scored the goal, immediately ran to the corner flag, then leaped up, pumping his fist and roaring:
"I said it would go in, and it went in!!!"
After completing his celebration, he turned around and was swarmed by his teammates.
Müller grabbed Mark's shoulders, shaking him and shouting excitedly:
"I knew it! I knew it!!"
Schweinsteiger, meanwhile, ruffled Mark's black hair and laughed:
"Well done! That was a brilliant goal!"
Compared to the incredibly excited German players, the Argentina players on the field looked at each other in dismay.
If it had been a beautiful team play from open play, or an error, they could have blamed a specific player or a certain part of the process.
However, this kind of free-kick world-beater, which was impossible to save or defend against, was the most frustrating.
They had held on for over seventy minutes, only for the opponent to score first.
It's important to remember that in a final, whoever scores first is practically halfway to victory!
As the team captain, Messi stood with his hands on his hips, his brow furrowed, watching the opponents celebrate wildly.
His gaze was fixed solely on that black-haired youth.
He never imagined that this young man named Mark could unleash such a stunning free kick!
Just as the Argentina players were affected by the conceded goal and their morale was low, Mascherano, as the team's leader, suddenly shouted loudly:
"Heads up!"
"The match isn't over yet!"
As the true leader of the team spoke, the Argentina players immediately perked up.
It's worth noting that in his previous match against Netherlands, he suffered an anal tear due to defending.
In this match, he was also enduring the pain, constantly running and defending.
If he became dejected because of one conceded goal, then what would all of Mascherano's contributions and sacrifices for the team amount to?!
"Guys, we're only one goal down!"
"We still have time!"
With "Little Masche's" shouts, the Argentina players also rallied their spirits and re-entered the match.
And at this moment, there were less than ten minutes remaining until the end of the match...
After the kickoff, the Argentinians began to push forward on the attack, while the German Team very pragmatically tightened their defense, with all players retreating to their own half.
After all, they were leading; now, it should be the Argentinians who were anxious!
As they pushed forward, the Argentinians realized that the German Team's defense was utterly insane!
Everyone seemed to be pumped up, fighting with all their might to press and pressure for every ball!
And under the German Team's physical advantage, the smaller, quicker Argentinians were being knocked over.
This was also the German Team's defensive strategy.
To break Argentina's attacking rhythm with fouls, and also to make the opponents understand that they would not let go of any opportunity to win back possession!
Nor would they give up an inch of ground!
As their attack was thwarted, the Argentinians became increasingly anxious, and Argentina's coach Sabella on the sideline constantly waved, signaling his players to push forward and attack.
But the more anxious they became, the less effectively they could organize their attacking plays.
Gradually, whenever any Argentinian player got the ball, they would only look at the man wearing the number ten jersey and pass the ball to him to handle.
However, the Germans were already prepared and heavily defended the right flank where Messi was, causing him to face two to three German players whenever he received the ball.
Furthermore, after retreating to their own half, the entire space was compressed very flat, so even Messi didn't have much room to organize attacks or break through.
In the eighty-sixth minute, Löw used his second and third substitutions of the match:
He brought on Mertesacker for Özil!
He brought on Götze for Klose!
Subsequently, Mertesacker moved to the center-back position, while Hummels moved to the defensive midfield position. The German Team then changed their formation from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3!
Hummels dropped slightly deeper, forming an inverted triangle with Schweinsteiger and Kroos.
Besides the like-for-like substitution of Götze for Klose, replacing an attacking midfielder with a center-back made Löw's intentions clear to everyone:
He intended to defend to the death!
To hold onto the current score until the end of the match!
As Argentina's attacks, one after another, were met with no success against the iron-blooded defense built by the Germans' physicality, time also ticked away.
Soon, as the regular ninety minutes of play ended, the fourth official on the sideline also held up the board:
Four minutes of added time!
...
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