The game continues.
After Lucas missed the shooting opportunity of this inverted triangle pass, in the 39th minute, Rosario Central also passed an inverted triangle pass from the left midfielder Barrientos. The ball was sent to the left side of the top of the penalty area.
Midfielder Pablo Becker caught the ball before Lucas Villaruel and volleyed a long shot that went straight to the upper left corner of the goal.
Fortunately, when Barrientos broke through and cut in from the left wing, goalkeeper Marcos Dias was already standing on the left side of the goal. There was no need to move now. He jumped up and reached out to make a side dive and successfully lifted the ball. up the crossbar.
In the 42nd minute, Rosario Central made a comeback. Right back Paulo Ferrari suddenly stepped in to assist, and after two consecutive hits with Pablo Becker and Encina, he broke through Lucas Bi. Liarruel and Santiago Echeberria intercepted and successfully passed the ball.
The ball flew into the air and flew into the penalty area of the Hurricanes Athletic Team. Center Nerka was in front of Federico Bismara and was about to take off to grab the first point. Velarde, who returned to defense, rushed forward. Returning to the penalty area, he used his running speed to jump hard, ahead of the opponent's center Nel, and headed the ball over the crossbar to clear the ball.
In fact, when Villard leaped high, grabbed the ball before heading inside, and saw the ball flying toward the goal, many Hurricanes fans felt their hearts skip a beat. Fortunately, the ball did not fly into the goal, but flew high over the crossbar, preventing Willard from scoring an own goal.
After landing, Willard himself was a little frightened. Fortunately, the clearance was completed well and it did not turn into an own goal.
In the next few minutes, the two sides exchanged offense and defense, but neither completed a threatening shot that hit the door frame.
After 1 minute of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the first half, and the two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 0-0.
"The first half is over, the score is still 0-0."
"It can be seen from the first half of the game that Rosario Central has a certain offensive advantage. Unfortunately, the offensive advantage failed to translate into a score advantage."
"Hurricane Athletics, led by Alan Velarde, successfully withstood Rosario Central's offense."
"Even the Hurricanes themselves created several good threatening counterattacks, but unfortunately they failed to score in the end."
"In general, Hurricanes played well, while Rosario Central failed to show their strength as they beat their opponents 5-0 in the previous round."
"It turns out that Rosario Central's 5-0 victory in the last round was an extraordinary performance. They themselves can't play in that state in this game."
"As long as the Hurricanes continue to play this way in the second half, it will still be difficult for Rosario Central to score, and the Hurricanes will still have the opportunity to score through counterattacks, a fatal blow."
"It depends on which of the two sides breaks the deadlock first."
During the halftime break, Mario Binco praised everyone's performance in the first half in the locker room, especially the defensive aspect, which withstood Rosario Central's attack and maintained the 0-0 score.
For the Hurricanes Athletic Team, which is weak overall, it is a good performance to be able to maintain a 0-0 score and remain undefeated.
"Let's continue in the second half."
"As a first-division team, Rosario Central is definitely not willing to play overtime or penalty shootouts because there are too many uncertainties."
"They will definitely be looking to resolve the fight within 90 minutes."
"Therefore, Rosario Central's offense will be strengthened in the second half. Everyone must keep their spirits up and not be careless."
"For a first-class team, sometimes an inadvertent mistake by us may become a loophole for the opponent to break the game."
"If you win this game, you will go directly to the top to claim the championship."
"So, no matter how tired you are, no matter how much pressure your opponent puts on you, everyone must hold on and hold on until the last second. Don't let up until the game is over."
"If there is a chance to counterattack, we must resolutely attack."
Having said this, Mario Binko looked at Velarde and Lucas and suddenly said: "Villade, I feel that your technical ability has improved very quickly and your speed is also good. Your offensive ability should be It's very sudden. If there is a chance in the second half, you will go forward and let Lucas defend."
Willard glanced at the head coach in surprise, nodded, and agreed.
The eyes of others also lit up. Everyone thought this was a good idea and would definitely catch their opponents off guard.
Everyone can see the speed of Velarde's progress. Almost every week we can see his skills improving and his speed getting faster and faster. We don't know what's going on with him.
Could it be that practicing more every day really has such a good effect?
Everyone only knows that Willard is a good defensive player, and his ability is comparable to the top defensive midfielders in the First Division. But technically, I'm afraid the outside world doesn't know how far Velard has progressed. Only their teammates and coaches who get along with Velard every day know.
Having never played like that before, Willard suddenly stepped in to participate in the attack in this crucial final, leaving Lucas behind who was playing as a central midfielder. He was sure to catch the opponent off guard.
It is entirely possible that it will become the key point to break the game.
Everyone is already thinking about how to move if there is a chance in the second half, how to cooperate with Velarde, and let Velarde complete the surprise attack.
Soon, the halftime break was over, everyone left the locker room and came to the stadium again, and the second half of the game continued.
In the second half, Rosario Central really stepped up its offensive efforts again. After all, they are a first-division team and they really don’t want to play a penalty shootout with Hurricanes Athletics, not even overtime. If the battle can be resolved within 90 minutes, it would be the best.
In the 53rd minute, Pablo Becker received a pass from teammate Encina from outside the penalty area, adjusted it, and then shot angrily, hitting a long-range shot of good quality to the world.
The moment the ball left his feet, Pablo Becker felt that the ball could hit the goal frame and go straight to the upper right corner of the goal. He had great hope of scoring.
As a result, Villard's figure appeared in front of him. Villard came from the side, flew to block the hole of the gun, and successfully blocked the ball with his calf.
The ball hit Willard's calf, bounced upward, crossed a high parabola, and fell into the small penalty area.
Although Rosario Central's two centers, Ner and Jose Valencia, rushed towards the ball landing point at the same time, trying to compete for a header, but that area was within the goalkeeper's range. In addition, the goalkeeper can use his hands, so the two of them naturally have no chance.
Marcos Dias raised his arms and easily took the ball over Jose Valencia's head, resolving the crisis.
Of course, the most important thing is that Willard flew to destroy it, otherwise the goal would be really difficult to say.
Willard made a key defensive play.
More than ten minutes later, in the 66th minute, Velarde once again successfully challenged for the top. When competing with Jose Valencia at the front of the penalty area, he jumped a little higher and successfully passed the ball to his teammate, winning the ball. Got the ball.
At the same time, Jose Valencia injured his ankle when he landed and had to be replaced by another striker Abreu.
Although this has nothing to do with Willard, there is still something wrong with the way many people look at Willard.
After all, Valencia was injured while competing with Velarde for a header, and they always felt that fighting with Velarde would not do anything good. This made the Rosario Central players more determined to stay away from Velarde. determination.
The Hurricanes' waist is too strong to bear, and it's too easy to get injured.
As a result, it was the opponent's attitude that gave Willard a chance.
In the 77th minute, Rosario Central had the ball. In order to avoid Velarde, their attack advanced from the left wing, only to be intercepted by Lucas Villaruel and Elam Spe.
After getting the ball, Lucas saw that there was no one near Velarde in the middle and immediately passed the ball over.
Rosario Central's defenders immediately returned to defense and went to keep close tabs on Giman Mandarino, Gonzano Martinez, Toranso, Thomson Mira and others, but no one thought of it. To grab the ball at Willard's feet.
On the one hand, everyone deliberately avoided the open area created by Willard when they attacked. On the other hand, everyone subconsciously felt that Willard was a defensive player. Even if he got the ball, he would pass it out quickly. They did not expect that Willard would lead The ball advances.
As a result, Willard saw that there was still such an opportunity, how could he be polite? Immediately he drove forward with the ball, and soon he dribbled the ball through the center circle and into the central half of Rosario.
Only then did the opponent realize that something was wrong. Musto, the defensive midfielder who was following Gonzano Martinez, immediately shook off Gonzano and stood in the path of Velarde, preparing to intercept him. At the same time, Pablo Becker, who was returning to defense, was approaching behind Velarde, and was about to form a pincer attack with Musto.
But Velarde did not give them a chance to steal the ball. When he was still a few meters away from Musto, he saw Gonzano Martinez, who had thrown Musto away, moved a few meters to the right and pulled away. He closed the distance with Musto and opened up a passing gap.
Velarde immediately passed the ball to Gonzano Martinez.
"After all, I still have to pass the ball. I thought you were going to pass me with the ball!" With this complaint in his heart, Musto turned around to grab Gonzano Martinez who was about to receive the ball, but forgot to intercept Allen. Willard.
After completing the pass, Velard immediately accelerated, rushed from the other side, and ran behind Musto.
Then, Gonzano Martinez, who received the pass from Velarde, didn't stop the ball at all. He kicked the ball directly and passed the ball behind Musto.
Musto was shocked. He turned around and looked back, and what he saw was Alan Willard. When he turned around again to chase Willard, it was already too late.
After completing a one-two with Gonzano Martinez, Velard took two steps with the ball and reached the top of the penalty area. Thomson Milla, who was standing in the penalty area, had already done so. Okay, let's prepare the wall for him again.
Rosario Central's defenders were all nervous at this time. Some came to intercept Velarde, some went to closely mark Thomson Milla, and some went to mark Toranso, but no one paid attention to the diagonal pass from the wing. Djimon Mandalino in the penalty area.
Because this itself was a counterattack after stealing the ball, Rosario's central defense was short of numbers. After noticing Villard, Toranso, and Mira, Mandarino's side was empty.
Perhaps, it's not that no one noticed Mandarino, it's just that they were too busy to keep an eye on him.
Before the defender in front of him blocked the passing route, Willard made a decisive diagonal pass and sent the ball to the rib area on the left side of the penalty area.
Djimon Mandarino inserted into the ribs of the penalty area from the left wing and raised his foot to hit the goal.
The defenders and goalkeepers of Rosario Central looked at it and thought that Giman Mandarino would definitely shoot the ball. Therefore, not only did the goalkeeper pounce on the left side of the goal, but the defender who was returning to defend also threw himself out decisively, trying to fly to block the hole of the gun.
Unexpectedly, when Djimaine Mandalino dropped his foot, he did not shoot. Instead, he passed the ball over defender Paulo Ferrari, who was lying on the ground after flying to intercept the shot hole. The pick passed to the small penalty area line in the middle facing the goal.
