In the European Championship, England, Germany, Portugal, and Romania are in the same group.
If both England and Germany are eliminated in the group stage, then Portugal and Romania will advance?
This would be the golden generation tearing down the traditional powers.
Portugal's golden generation, led by Figo and Rui Costa.
Romania's golden generation, led by the midfield maestro Hagi.
The former are in their prime, while the latter still have some fire left.
Making such a bold prediction is honestly a bit ruthless.
…
May 29th.
Portugal National Stadium.
The Portuguese Cup final is about to begin.
This stadium is a regular venue for the Portuguese Cup final and has 37,000 seats.
But because the fans were so damn enthusiastic, at least 50,000 people poured into the stadium today—still within a safe range.
Among these fans, there were probably more than 3,000 Moreirense supporters.
This small Portuguese team has absolutely exploded in popularity this year. In the past, fewer than 1,500 fans attended their home games. Now, 3,000 people have traveled to Lisbon to watch them. It has to be said—the Portuguese championship has ignited countless football dreams.
There were probably more than 35,000 fans supporting Sporting Lisbon!
Ridiculous!
That number is insane.
This isn't Moreirense's match—this is practically a Sporting Lisbon home game.
And in recent years, even Sporting Lisbon themselves haven't had this kind of pull.
The copy has outshined the original—the second team is more popular than the first team.
Most Sporting Lisbon fans haven't seen a championship in at least three to five years.
Now that your youth product is competing for the Portuguese Cup, who the hell wouldn't support them?
As for Porto, only around 10,000 fans showed up—which is honestly understandable.
From a Porto fan's perspective, it makes sense.
Before this season, they were the absolute overlords, winning three consecutive Portuguese Super League titles!
During that period, they were practically racking up domestic doubles.
They were used to playing Champions League football, not scrapping in lesser competitions.
They've seen it all.
And then this season?
After losing Jardel, their goal-scoring machine, Porto fell behind Boavista in the league, letting a "commoner" wreck their decade-long domination plan.
Fans still want to watch games—but come on.
Even if you win a mere Portuguese Cup, it just doesn't hit the same.
So Porto fans aren't exactly thrilled.
This effectively gave Moreirense a home advantage.
Moreirense stuck with their usual lineup.
Porto, seeing it was the final, also fielded their strongest eleven.
On the wings, one player worth mentioning is their right winger—Capucho.
By Portuguese naming habits, that's obviously not his full name, but whatever.
What matters isn't his name—it's his identity.
He's one of the members of Portugal's golden generation.
The moment Kai saw him, his heart started pounding.
The glory of Portugal's golden generation?
Brother… you better show up today. You'd better explode!
The three midfielders are all distinctive.
Attacking midfielder Deco.
Defensive midfielder Emilio Peixe.
And the versatile Ricardo Sousa—his father António Sousa is one of the top ten legends in Porto's history. A proper second-generation footballer.
The back line consists of Rubens Júnior, Jorge Costa, and Carlos Alberto.
Goalkeeper: Vítor Baía.
The "Championship Trophy Missed by Cristiano Ronaldo" attribute that Kai rolled today gives a weak shooting bonus.
Unlucky!
It's not that the effect is bad—it's the damn name that's cursed!
Cristiano Ronaldo: "Fuck… used and insulted at the same time?"
Whistle!
The match officially begins.
Although not many media outlets showed up, the fans were absolutely electric.
Both teams came out fully committed.
After the first three minutes of probing, Porto clearly took control of possession.
They began building attacks under Deco's orchestration.
In the 4th, 7th, 11th, and 18th minutes, Porto launched several genuinely dangerous attacks.
But Moreirense held their nerve today—the players defended like their lives depended on it.
For a moment, Porto didn't know what the hell to do.
A team's offense, midfield, and defense are all interconnected.
Put simply, if your forwards perform well, they push the opponent back, making it easier for the midfield to organize, and reducing pressure on the defense. Everything flows.
But today, Porto's forwards clearly failed their job.
Their attacking quality was poor. The midfield was strong, but the forwards couldn't convert chances.
Several one-on-one attempts from the wings failed miserably.
To be honest, Moreirense's full-backs were defending so badly they were about to cough up blood.
If you still can't beat that, how the hell are you going to score?
Alex: "wtf?"
Serafim: "mmp!"
Since Porto lacked a high-quality attack, Kai and the midfield immediately came alive.
They began expanding their defensive range aggressively.
Originally, Porto had compressed Moreirense's three lines into barely one and a half, with less than fifteen meters between the forwards and center-backs.
But now, with the midfield pushing up, that distance stretched to nearly thirty meters.
A wider formation means more defensive layers—and more passing options.
And with that came an increase in possession.
Kai began distributing the ball constantly.
The match shifted from Porto dominating possession to a balanced back-and-forth battle.
If you really count it, Moreirense had fewer attacks.
But… almost every single attack they made reached the final third and ended with a shot.
As for Porto, many of their attacks died during passing sequences between the wings and the front line.
Both sides could be dangerous when successful—but the difference when they failed was huge.
Moreirense's attacks, if unsuccessful, usually ended with the goalkeeper restarting play—no immediate danger.
But Porto?
Lose the ball, and boom—instant counterattack. Their defense could get caught completely off guard.
With equal possession and equal chances, the side with more efficient attacks naturally gains the advantage.
Moreirense began to dominate possession in Porto's half.
At this point, although Porto still had some possession, it had shifted from effective, attack-driven control to passive possession just to avoid pressure.
If you use League of Legends terms—the economic gap had already started to widen.
The psychological blow from losing the league title was starting to show in Porto's players.
It's not that they wanted to play badly—they just couldn't find the energy.
If you can't be with the person you love most, some people just settle for whoever's around.
They're not bad people—but yeah, that behavior is kind of shitty.
As Porto's midfield core, Deco sensed this immediately.
He began to accelerate the tempo, trying to drag the team back into the game through sheer individual brilliance.
He had the potential to become a superstar.
And he was already proving it.
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