Yan Min’s active performance was merely a microcosm of the entire Chinese team’s efforts. Besides Yan Min, all the other Chinese players were also very hardworking and proactive.

The Chinese team’s counterattacks made Brazil wary of launching a full-fledged attack.

So, even though the Brazilian fans in the stands were furious about Yan Min's flashy moves, regarding them as a “provocation,” and constantly shouted to encourage the team to attack,

in reality, the Brazilian team’s performance wasn't as brave as the Brazilian fans had hoped.

They didn't swarm forward to overwhelm the Chinese team with unparalleled momentum.

Because they were very worried about the Chinese team's counterattacks.

Both Yan Min and He Ying possessed outstanding individual combat capabilities.

This was well demonstrated both in the previous European leagues and in the current match.

The Brazilian team didn't dare to take that risk.

As Lippi said before the match, this was their home field, and the enthusiasm of the home fans gave them almost endless motivation, but also brought them tremendous pressure.

Everyone was probably afraid to imagine what the consequences would be if they lost the game on their own turf...

The lesson of losing the World Cup final at the Maracanã Stadium was still vivid. Although sixty-four years had passed, the impact remained. For the Brazilian national team players who lost that final, the shadow of that failure still loomed over them, and the titles of "losers" and "disgraces" accompanied them.

Barbosa, the Brazilian goalkeeper who conceded the goal at the time, had already passed away in 2000, but he was never able to get rid of the shadow of that final defeat. Once, a woman pointed at him and told her son: "Look, this is the man who made all of Brazil cry."

The tragedy of this black goalkeeper even caused racial discrimination against blacks to rear its head again in Brazil at that time. The Brazilian national team did not use a black goalkeeper for decades after resigning, until Dida's appearance...

When Barbosa passed away in 2000, not a penny could be found on him. The former Brazilian national goalkeeper left the world in poverty.

The loss of the 1950 World Cup final is still a topic studied by many Brazilian experts and scholars, covering a very wide range and having a very large impact.

Some even commented on the loss of that final: "Every country has a history that they don't want to look back on, such as the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. Our disaster, our Hiroshima, was the loss to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup final."

In 1970, the Brazilian team won the World Cup for the third time. They were unstoppable, and their perfect performance convinced their losing opponents. And the final, even if not in world football history, should at least be regarded as the most glorious moment in Brazilian football history. That World Cup Brazilian team is recognized worldwide as the most powerful and perfect national team in World Cup history. But in 2000, no one would think of commemorating or celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of this golden moment.

On the contrary, the failure of 1950 was always remembered. The *Brazilian Daily*, published on July 16, 2000, ran a headline on the front page: "Half a Century of Nightmares: Zizinho believes that Uruguay adopted the tactics once used by the São Gonçalo Carioca team in the 1950 final..."

The newspaper used three pages to recall the game fifty years ago. People who had participated in the game still couldn't let it go. Zizinho was a star in that Brazilian team at the time and was incredulous at the tactics used by Uruguay, because they were the same as those used by Carioca, a small suburban team he played for when he was young.

The Maracanã tragedy haunted the Brazilian people, so much so that there was a special term: maracanazo. In Brazil, to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the Maracanã tragedy, countless books describing, analyzing, and commenting on that match were published.

In stark contrast, the only book about Brazil's 1970 World Cup was published in the UK, and only in English. It is not yet available in Brazil...

Robert DaMatta, a famous Brazilian anthropologist, believes that the 1950 final defeat "may be the biggest tragedy in Brazilian history, because the tragedy happened in front of hundreds of thousands of unprepared spectators, because it happened during a period when Brazil was beginning to think of itself as a great power. The result of the game plunged us into the abyss, into an endless search for excuses and self-blame for this shameful failure."

…

The members of this Brazilian national team could not possibly not know or understand the impact of that match's failure on this country, its people, and the entire society.

No one wants to live in the shadow and shame of a loser for the rest of their lives.

No one wants to be like Barbosa, who could only find relief in death, or perhaps not even in death.

When they were young, they probably all had a dream—that one day, they would be able to score a goal for the Brazilian team in the World Cup final held at the Maracanã, help Brazil win the World Cup, and at the same time create new history and erase the trauma that the old history had brought to the entire country.

This meant that they had to keep winning, reach the final, return to the Maracanã Stadium, and then win there and lift the trophy.

Until then, they couldn't lose, they couldn't relax for a moment.

They were not yet shrouded in the clouds of "losers," but they were already under tremendous pressure.

In fact, after the World Cup opening match, in response to the Brazilian team's poor performance, the Brazilian national team's psychologist produced a report of more than 100 pages on the players' anxiety, and then submitted it to coach Scolari. After reading the report, Scolari also specifically asked the psychologist to provide psychological counseling to the players on the "Maracanã tragedy," hoping that they would not be affected by history. But in fact, Scolari himself felt the same way. He once admitted to the Brazilian media that he still had sleepless nights whenever he thought of the Maracanã failure.

The immense pressure on both coaches and players often makes them hesitant and indecisive when faced with difficulties. They must bear heavy pressure when thinking about every problem and every thing.

And this pressure in turn affects every judgment they make.

With only a few minutes left in the first half, the Brazilian team chose to be conservative, afraid of losing the ball.

So the Brazilian team, which has always been famous for its offensive football, played a bit ugly at home...

The Brazilian fans in the stands were even more dissatisfied when they saw their team performing so unpromisingly.

For a time, boos against the Brazilian team appeared sporadically—these were definitely not made by Chinese fans. Compared with the number of Chinese fans and Brazilian fans, Chinese fans could hardly make any noise. Only when the Brazilian fans are silent can their voices be heard, but the problem is that to silence the Brazilian fans, you have to score a goal against them...

※※※

The Brazilian team chose a conservative strategy and successfully defended until the end of the first half.

When the referee Webb blew the whistle to end the first half, the score was 1:1, and the two sides drew.

Commentators from various countries commented on the first half.

He Ping was very satisfied with the national team's performance: "...After an unexpected goal conceded, we quickly regrouped and equalized the score after thirteen minutes. Then we even gained the upper hand on the field, making the Brazilian team dare not attack and had to shrink back and defend. This is not easy for the Brazilian team playing at home..."

The commentator for the Brazilian TV station was dissatisfied with the team's performance in the first half, or more precisely, dissatisfied with the performance after conceding the goal: "After we took the lead, our players seemed to be a little too contemptuous of the enemy. And when we were equalized, we were too cowardly! If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would hardly believe that this is the Brazilian national team!"

Marcel Reif, as a neutral commentator, was relatively objective: "The Brazilian team and the Chinese team each played well for a while. After the game started, the Brazilian team's offense was obviously more threatening. That goal seemed to be Yan Min's own goal, but in fact, even without Yan Min's leg, David Luiz could score. However, after the Brazilian team scored, they seemed to suddenly not know how to play. The Chinese team seized the opportunity and played their rhythm. Zhou Yi's goal was an opportunity that Yan Min grabbed in the frontcourt... After equalizing the score, the Chinese team's counterattack became more and more handy, but the Brazilian team didn't know how to play anymore. We can even hear boos against the Brazilian team on the field... To be honest, the Brazilian team's performance was okay before the goal, but it was not good afterwards..."

※※※

When the last Chinese player walked into the locker room, Lippi walked in and closed the door behind him.

He had a faint smile on his face: "How is it? After playing against them for forty-five minutes, what do you feel? Is five-star Brazil very strong?"

The Chinese players looked at each other, and Yan Min raised his hand: "They're about the same as us..."

Lippi smiled: "They are still a little stronger than us, but the strength is limited. What I am most satisfied with in the first half is the change after you conceded the goal, both in terms of tactical execution and mental outlook. A team cannot always avoid problems, so the key is not to avoid setbacks, but what to do after encountering setbacks. From the first game of the World Cup, only the third group match was the one where we scored first, including today's game. In three games, we conceded the first goal, but so far, we have not lost, what does this mean? It means that we already have the ability to get out of trouble. I am very happy, this is a sign of whether a team is mature..."

Lippi was praising his players, while Scolari was furiously criticizing his team.

"What were you doing in the first half? After scoring a goal, you didn't know how to play? Huh? Look at your performance! Did you hear the boos in the stands? They weren't for the Chinese team, they were for you! You must change this situation in the second half, and you must not let them do whatever they want on our territory!"