In the following days, Willard continued to be cared for in the hospital. Desia took care of morning and lunch. After school in the afternoon, Alyssa and the three of them brought dinner to take care of Willard.
On November 1, in the 16th round of the second division, the Hurricanes faced Spedivo Belgrano at home. Velarde was injured and goalkeeper Diaz was suspended with a red card. The Hurricanes lost 0-3 at home. , suffered the biggest defeat of the season.
And this is home court.
Although Federico Bismara started instead of Velarde in this game, he appeared in the single midfielder position.
However, since he has not played for a long time, his condition is not good, and his cooperation with his teammates has also become a lot rusty. His physical fitness, speed, defensive ability, awareness, etc. are all lagging behind Velarde.
In the past, when there was no Willard, everyone didn't think there was anything wrong, but since Willard appeared, everyone's vision has improved a lot. Now that Velarde is injured, after Bismara started and played a full game, let alone professionals, even ordinary fans can feel the gap between Bismara and Velarde.
Velarde has indeed far exceeded the level of the second division league, and is far inferior to Bismara, the backbone of the defense who has long occupied the main midfielder position of the Hurricanes.
This made fans see the importance of Velarde. Many people put up pressure on the club by putting up slogans in the home stands supporting Velarde and asking the club to renew Velarde's contract quickly.
According to agent Douglas Johnson, after this game, the club did relax a little bit and the contract extension negotiations are close to completion.
As long as Willard returns from injury and performs as usual, he will basically be able to finalize the final contract extension.
The best news is that the Hurricanes' rival Santa Fe United has a bye in this game. Therefore, although the Hurricanes lost, and even after losing three goals, the goal difference was the same as Santa Fe United, they still ranked first in the standings with an advantage of 2 goals more than the opponent. .
On Monday, November 3, Willard spent another 8 skill points to increase his speed from 73 to 74, heading from 68 to 69, skill from 65 to 66, and shooting from 55 to 56. Skills There are 38 points left in the balance.
On this day, Velarde was successfully discharged from the hospital and returned to the team to start recovery training.
After losing 0-3 in the last game and even the goal difference dropped to the same as their competitors, both players and coaches welcomed Willard's comeback.
Coupled with the end of Marcos Diaz's red card suspension, the Hurricanes must defeat their opponents and take all three points in the next round.
On the first day of recovery training, Willard neither practiced additional training nor did he do too much training. Therefore, he only received the most basic D-level evaluation of 1,000 experience points on the first day of recovery training.
On November 4, because they had to prepare for an away game in Tucumán province the next day, the team did not train much. Villard still did not do any additional training. He only completed basic training with the team and only received a C. Level 2000 experience.
Early on the morning of November 5, the Hurricanes Atletico team took a flight to the province of Tucumán, more than 1,000 kilometers away in the north, to challenge the Atletico Tucumán team.
At 19:00 in the evening, the 17th round match of Atletico Hurricanes in Group B of Albania II officially started in an away game against Atletico Tucumán.
Velarde sat on the bench and did not start, disappointing some Hurricanes fans. However, everyone also understands that after all, he has just recovered from injury and it is most appropriate to adapt from the bench first.
Everyone is just worried that they won't win this game and will be taken away from the top spot in the standings by their competitors.
As a result, you will get what you worry about.
Just 54 seconds after the game started, the home team Atlético Tucumán made a team effort, and winger Imbert made a pass from the left. Forward Luis Rodriguez grabbed the first point in front of the penalty area and flicked his head. Attacked the goal and headed the ball close to the goal.
Atletico Tucumán scored a lightning goal in the first minute, leading Atletico Hurricanes 1-0.
The most depressing thing is that Federico Bismara, who was returning to defense, actually occupied the position first, but he didn't expect Luis Rodriguez to suddenly come out from behind and go around to fight for the top. From behind him, he circled in front of him and successfully jumped to the top. By the time Bismara reacted and reached out to push and disturb Bismara, it was already too late.
The home team Atletico Tucumán took a 1-0 lead, and tens of thousands of home team fans in the stands burst into warm applause and cheers.
This goal made the Hurricanes players and fans deeply depressed. At the same time, they were also a little disappointed with Federico Bismara's consciousness and ability.
Many people have had an idea in their minds. If the ball was played by Velarde, he would definitely move forward and jump for a clearance instead of standing still and waiting for the ball to fall. As a result, the opponent's forward went around and intercepted the ball. Scored a goal.
After the game restarted, Mario Binco could also see that, because Bismara's defensive ability was not as good as that of Velarde, Lucas Villaruel, Djimon Mandarino, Teammates on the forward line such as Toranso often had to drop back to participate in defense.
Although this prevented the home team Atlético Tucumán from scoring any more goals to expand the score, it also greatly weakened the Hurricanes' offensive capabilities and failed to equalize the score until the end of the first half.
At the end of the first half, the score between the two sides was still 1-0. Atletico Tucumán, who played at home, took the lead temporarily with a lightning goal in the first minute.
During the halftime break, Mario Binco struggled for a while and finally made the decision to make substitutions.
To equalize or even reverse the score in the second half, the Hurricanes must strengthen their offense. At the same time, they cannot let the Hurricanes' defensive capabilities decline and prevent their opponents from counterattacking.
Obviously, Bismara cannot do this.
Therefore, Mario Binco finally decided to replace Federico Bismara with Alan Velarde.
Although Bismara felt a little uncomfortable, he also knew Velard's strength and the current situation of the team. Replacing him with Velard was the most correct decision.
The only uncertain factor is that Willard suffered a head injury. He doesn't know whether he can return to his previous state after recovering from the injury.
After a 15-minute rest, the second half of the game officially began.
When the Hurricanes fans discovered that the Hurricanes had made a substitution at halftime and Willard returned from injury and came on as a substitute in the second half, they all applauded enthusiastically.
Obviously, everyone has high hopes for Willard.
He may not be able to score directly, but his presence can improve the Hurricanes' defense strength by one or two levels, allowing the offensive players in the midfield and frontcourt to devote more energy to the offense, which in disguise improves the Hurricanes' defense. offensive capabilities.
With Willard on the court, everyone can hope that the Hurricanes can stabilize their defense and at the same time have enough energy to counterattack, strive for an equalizer, and even win.
