2004 would be the last ever Toyota Cup clash, this annual European v South American clash, dating back to 1960 in various guises, about to be absorbed into the FIFA Club World Cup.The final match would be between 2 sides from countries outside of the traditional continental superpowers.
Once Caldas became only the second ever Colombian side to win the Copa Libertadores, and in both legs of the final fielded a starting 11 made up completely of Colombian players. Fielding an unusual 3-4-3 formation, the Colombian side relied on defending deep in numbers and hitting their opponents on the counter attack, a tactic that does not ensure a spectacular game of football, but proved effective.
The Colombians style of play saw off some of South Americas biggest names to win the Tournament, beating Santos, Sao Paulo and Boca Juniors along the way.
Their opponents, Porto, are hardly European minnows, and already had been Champions of Europe back in 1987, but with the increasing Financial gulf between the Spanish, Italian and English Leagues and the rest, it was becoming increasingly difficult for Clubs from countries like Portugal to lift Europe's biggest prize.
Porto had lifted the UEFA Cup the previous year, but were not among the favourites for the 2004 Champions League, but after a surprise win over Manchester United, the draw opened up for the Portuguese side as the Tournaments favourites on by one crashed out, leaving Porto, and another surprise package Monaco to contest the Final, which Porto won 3v0.
Porto's success had not gone unnoticed by the larger European Club sides and the Portuguese side was soon broken up by teams in richer European Leagues, and before the clash with Once Caldas, Porto Manager Jose Mourinho had left for Chelsea, taking 2 players with him, while Deco and Pedro Mendes had also left to play in richer leagues.
The departures affected Porto in the 2004/05 campaign , the holders only just managed to avoid an embarrassing exit in the Champions League Group Stage prior to the match in Tokyo.
It would take 120 minutes followed by a penalty shoot-out to separate the 2 sides in this clash, mainly due to Porto's inability to take their chances. It did not look that way as Benni McCarthy took just 7mins to put the ball into the net, only for his celebrations to be cut short by the offside flag.
Porto continued to create chances as Maniche drew a save from Once Keeper Henao, before Fabiano clipped a 17th minute effort past the Keeper, only to see the ball strike the bar.
The Colombian side somehow went in at half time still level after a goalmouth scramble, 5 mins before the interval the Colombian side survived another scare, ended with McCarthy lashing the ball over the bar.
The Colombians did show some attacking threat as they created the move of the match just before the break, which ended with a Viafara shot whistling wide.
Porto continued to dominate proceedings in the 2nd half, and thought they had broken the deadlock on the hour mark as McCarthy pounced on a loose ball to fire into the net, but again the linesman's flag came to the Colombian sides rescue.
It did not seem to be Porto, or Benni McCarthy's day, as he then rattled the bar from long distance, mid way through the second half.
Once Caldas thought they had won a penalty when De Nigris fell after a challenge from Porto Keeper Baia, but the Referee waved play on, although they continued to frustrate Porto at the other end as Henao kept out a late Ricardo Costa effort with a wonderful stop.
With the scores still level after 90mins, extra time was required, but the additional half hour of play was only notable for Porto Keeper Baia being replaced through injury as Once Caldas continued to frustrate the European Champions.
It required penalties to decide the destiny of the Trophy and there would be no shortage of drama in the shootout.After Diego converted Porto's first effort, he goaded the Once Caldas Keeper, for which the young Brazilian was red carded. There had been some history between the 2 players as Diego has been in the Santos team that had been eliminated by Once Caldas in the Copa Libertadores.
As the shootout progressed it looked like Diego would ultimately be on the losing side again as Once's Fabbro was presented with the chance to win the game, following Maniche's miss earlier in the shootout, but spurned the opportunity as his shot hit the post, sending the shoot out to sudden death.
7 more efforts were converted, until Garcia missed for Once, as Porto finally got the win they deserved, and in doing so became the last ever winners of the Toyota Cup.
