On February 3, the Atletico Hurricanes flew to Peru for adaptive training in preparation for the first leg of the Libertadores qualifying round away to Lima League the next day.
Lima Union is a giant in the Peruvian Serie A. It was the runner-up of the Peruvian Serie A last season. As the newly promoted team of Atlético de Lima, this is not only their Copa Libertadores debut, but also the first game of the new season in 2015.
Regardless of whether we can win or not, we definitely can’t lose anyway.
Fortunately, the team has been practicing the 4231 defensive counterattack formation since the pre-season training of the new season, and Verard's personal ability and backcourt commanding ability have been greatly improved compared to last season. , Mario Binco is still very confident about getting a draw.
The first game of the new year is another away game. If we can escape unscathed, it will be considered a good result. Then we will return to the home court to decide the outcome.
Other players and fans, as well as the Argentine media, also think so.
After all, Hurricanes were still a second-division team last season. They only got the chance to play in the Copa Libertadores qualifying round as the Argentine Cup champions. It was their first Intercontinental Cup away game and they could get a draw and escape. Not bad.
But no one expected to what extent Willard’s strength has improved. Even teammates who get along day and night only feel that Willard’s strength has improved compared to last season, but what effect will it show in the official arena? No one knows either.
At 21:00 on the evening of February 4, 2015, with the referee's whistle, the first round of the 2015 Copa Libertadores qualifying match between Peruvian Lima Union and Argentina's Atletico Huracán officially began.
Generally speaking, before the start of the game, the commentator will get the 18-man roster and starting list announced by the two teams at the pre-match press conference, and announce it to the fans before the start of the game.
But the game is something that cannot be explained clearly. Sometimes players get injured while warming up before the game, and the head coach has to make temporary adjustments. Therefore, after the game officially starts, the commentators will announce the starting lineup that will actually appear.
"The referee blew the opening whistle and the game officially started."
"The home team Lima Union won the right to kick off and they were attacking from the left to the right of the screen with the ball."
"Although it was a home game, Lima League also played more cautiously in this game and sent out a 4231 defensive counterattack formation."
“The goalkeeper is No. 1 Frost, the defenders from left to right are No. 11 Trujillo, No. 5 Miels, No. 24 Miguel Araujo, and No. 17 Gisa Sola, and the double midfielders are No. 7 Alvarakin, No. 6 Meigues, left midfielder No. 18 Minbella, right midfielder No. 22 Basilio Costa, attacking midfielder No. 10 Sedeyu, and the lone forward is No. 19 Gevchochian. "
"The visiting team Hurricane Athletic Team is the same, sending out a 4231 defensive counterattack formation. After all, the Hurricane team is now playing in the Albanian League and the Libertadores Cup, which is different from the Albanian League B last season. Mario Binco He also pragmatically gave up his offensive formation and switched to defensive counterattack."
"There is no doubt that this is a very sensible approach. However, the actual effect of rashly changing the formation that the team is accustomed to depends on the test of today's game."
"The goalkeeper of the Hurricanes is still No. 1 Marcos Dias, the left back is the new player Balbi No. 15, the right back is No. 2 Mancinelli, No. 25 Eduardo Domingos and No. 19 Santiago Eche Beria partners with two central defenders. The two defensive midfielders are No. 4 Alan Velarde and No. 8 Lucas Villaruel, and the left midfielder is No. 10 new aid Alejandro Romero. The right midfielder is new player No. 11 Turaza, the attacking midfielder is No. 18 Toranso, and the lone forward is No. 9 Avila."
"The transfer departures of Thomson Milla, Gonzano Martinez, Jimán Mandarino, Espinoza and others have had a certain impact on the offensive strength of the Hurricanes Athletic Team. Maybe this is also One of the reasons why Mario Binco chose a counter-attacking formation with a single striker.”
"However, as long as the core Alan Willard does not leave, the strength of the Hurricanes Athletics team should not drop too much."
"Let's wait and see how the Hurricanes perform in the first game of the new season."
Judging from the cautious formation and starting lineup of the Hurricanes in the first game of the new season, as well as the reality of playing away games, everyone thought that this game would be difficult for the Hurricanes.
Unexpectedly, the home team Lima Union also put on a defensive counterattack, giving the Hurricanes time to adapt to the game, and immediately found an offensive opportunity after gradually entering the game state.
In just the 9th minute of the game, Alan Willard, who received a pass from his teammate near the center circle, saw that only one of the opponent's attacking midfielders, Sedyu, was in front of him to press him. Willard, who had already increased his skills to 79, made an immediate decision. Dribbling the ball close to Sedeyou, and then using a realistic fried meatball fake move, he easily broke through Sedeyou, who had poor defensive ability.
Although Sedyu reacted slowly, he immediately turned around and stuck to Velarde, trying to stretch his foot to steal the ball. However, Velarde's physical attributes of 84 stuck Sedyu behind him, let alone stealing the ball, and pushed him continuously. Pushing Willard has almost no impact on Willard.
This sudden breakthrough disrupted the Lima Alliance's defensive formation. Seeing that Sedeyou had nothing to do with Velarde, defensive midfielder Alvarakin could only shake off attacking midfielder Toranso and move sideways to intercept Velarde.
A football match can affect the entire body. Villard, who broke through Sedeyu, attracted Alvaracin's defense, so Lima Union center back Miels had to leave Avila and go to Mark Toranso.
In the end, only one central defender, Miguel Araujo, was left beside Avila.
But Avila is the attacker and has a natural advantage.
Seeing Miels leave, Avila changed direction and ran back, getting rid of Miguel Araujo, and moved sideways to create a gap on the line of the Lima Union penalty area.
Velarde, whose consciousness attribute is as high as 84, has clearly noticed the changes in the offensive and defensive systems of both frontcourts and Avila's running intentions.
Just before Alvarakin moved over to completely block Velarde's passing route, Velarde adjusted his pace after completing the breakthrough against Sedeyou. With the blessing of 79 skills and 68 passes, he A long pass passed directly to the feet of Avila in the frontcourt.
This long pass was quite exquisite. Not only did Alvarak in front of him fail to intercept because of his flying tackle, but the other two Lima League players at the front of the penalty area also failed to touch the ball, allowing the ball to be sent directly to Lima. In the gap on the line of the Union penalty area, Avila easily received it.
Avila, who received the through ball, turned around in the direction of the ball. Facing Miguel Araujo who was chasing him and making a flying tackle, Avila calmly smashed the ball and let Araujo pass from him. He slid in front of him and made a useless effort.
Then, without waiting for other Lima Union defenders behind him to come close to interfere, Avila immediately hit a volley with his left foot, which he is not actually good at.
The ball was not very powerful, but he was lucky. It hit an extremely tricky angle and went straight to the far corner.
Goalkeeper Frost fell to the ground and dived sideways, but missed the ball by a hair.
Full-back Gisa Sola returned to defense at high speed and tried to clear the ball at the goal line, but failed to touch the ball and finally fell into the goal.
The ball hit the inside of the far post and bounced into the goal.
"Goooooooooooooooooooooal..."
In the commentary box, the commentator from Argentina’s national television suddenly shouted excitedly:
"The ball is in!"
"In just the 9th minute of the game, the away team Hurricanes scored a lightning goal."
"The shot from Avila, he used his left foot, which he is not good at, to hit a volley from the penalty area line, and successfully sent the ball into the far corner."
"There was nothing goalkeeper Frost could do."
“But the biggest contributor to the goal was actually Alan Willard from the backcourt.”
"It was he who suddenly passed Lima Alliance's attacking midfielder Cedeyo with a fried ball, and then sent a precise long pass to assist Avila to score."
"It turns out that Willard can not only defend but also attack."
"Now, Hurricanes Athletics has two versatile offensive and defensive players in Velarde and Lucas on the back line. On the surface, they are playing 4231, but in fact their offensive strength has not dropped much."
"That's a little scary."
"let us wait and see."
The commentator's understanding is not wrong. Since the starting double midfielders Velarde and Lucas both have the ability to organize offense, the Hurricanes still have 6 players who can participate in the offense when attacking, leaving 4 defenders to guard against the opponent. Just fight back. In fact, compared with the previous 352 single midfielder's crazy attack formation, the offensive ability is not much weaker, but the defensive ability has been directly improved by more than one level.
This ability to switch offense and defense relies on Villard's physical fitness and ability to switch offense and defense.
Velarde, whose physique has increased to 84, skill to 79, and passing to 68, has adapted to this very quickly. With a month of pre-season training, Velarde and his teammates have basically improved. After adapting to this formation and the rhythm of offensive and defensive transitions, the result was a lightning goal in just 9 minutes of the opening, which shocked everyone.
On the field, Avila, who scored the team's first goal of the new year and the first goal of the Libertadores Cup, was also very excited. While running to the side of the field, he turned back and waved to his teammates to follow.
Toranso, Turaza, Romero, Velarde, Lucas and others naturally ran over and hugged Avila to celebrate warmly.
Avila also said loudly while hugging Villard: "Villad, this ball is passed really well, let's play a few more."
Willard smiled: "The opponent didn't expect me to have such extraordinary ability and passing ability, so I was caught off guard. I'm afraid it will be difficult to find such an opportunity next time. However, you should run." Just keep running, if there is a chance, even if I can't pass it, Lucas, Romero, Toranso and Turaza are all capable of passing the ball."
Tolan said: "Yes, everyone has not expected such a smooth start. However, we will face the opponent's counterattack next, so everyone should pay attention."
Everyone nodded to express their acceptance.
Then, after celebrating, the Hurricanes Athletics team returned to their own half, the home team kicked the ball out of the center circle, and the game restarted.
Sure enough, as Toranso said, the Lima Alliance, which was lagging behind, began to counterattack.
The qualifying round is a two-legged one. If you lose the first round at home, how can you expect to win away from home?
What's more, it also allowed Atletico Hurricanes to score an away goal, which also put Lima League in a passive position.
Therefore, the home team that was lagging behind had to start strengthening their offense.
They had just seen Velarde's passing skills and passing skills. At this time, the Lima League saw Velarde's defensive ability.
Willard not only has 85 defensive skills, 84 physique and speed, 81 heading, but also 84 awareness. Not only can he steal, destroy, intercept, and clear sieges by himself, he can also use his superb awareness attributes to discover the opponent's offensive intentions and his own defensive loopholes in advance, and remind his teammates to provide targeted assistance and make up for the loopholes.
After a season of adaptation and pre-season training, most players have developed a conditioned reflex response to Velarde's gestures. They don't even need to shout from Velarde, just look at Velarde's gestures. Just know what Willard means, and then make targeted moves and interceptions to block or delay the opponent's attack, waiting for Willard's defense.
After a holiday of improved attributes, Willard's strength has undergone earth-shaking changes. Coupled with the change in the team's formation, the Hurricanes' defensive ability has improved by more than one level compared to last season, and it can be called an iron wall.
Lima Union's offense, let alone scoring goals, it is difficult to even reach near the penalty area line and complete long-range shots.
