Gerardo Martino's declaration of winning the championship did not cause any waves in Argentina, because Argentina itself is a strong team in the world and is one of the favorites to win every world series.
But since 1993, Argentina has failed to win another championship in either the Copa America or the World Cup in the past two decades.
They have the best player in the world, Maradona's successor Leo Messi, as well as Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria and many other talented stars, but they have never been able to win the championship.
In last year's World Cup in Brazil, they finally reached the final, but they still fell short. Their dream of winning the championship was shattered by an overtime winner from Germany's Mario Gotze.
Everyone is tired of the Argentine national team's rhetoric before the game. Only when they actually win the championship can everyone dare to believe it and celebrate properly.
Failure to win the championship, even runner-up, is a failure.
As for fans in other South American countries, they naturally ridicule Argentina. Everyone is also amused that Argentina is the favorite to win every major competition, but fails to win the championship in every major competition. At the same time, mocking Argentina is also a way to suppress the Pampas Eagles and boost the morale of their own team.
Subsequently, some members of the national team who had finished the European League began to gather and then headed to Chile to prepare for the Copa America. But Velarde still has assignments in the A-League, and Messi, Mascherano and others also have assignments in the Champions League, so they will have to report later.
On Monday, June 1st, Willard spent another 11 skill points, increasing his shooting/passing from 82 to 83, and his backfoot from 55 to 56, leaving 6 skill points remaining.
This day is also the match day of the 14th round of the A-League, with Hurricanes playing against La Ferna at home.
Rafaelna met with Hurricanes in the Argentine Cup semi-finals last season and was beaten 2-0 by Hurricanes.
This season, Rafael's performance is even worse. It is currently ranked third from the bottom among the 30 teams and may be relegated at the end of the season.
Therefore, facing La Ferna at home, Atletico Hurricanes made a certain degree of rotation. After all, in the last Copa Libertadores match against River Plate, it wasn't until the last minute that Velarde shot an overhead kick to kill the opponent. Everyone suffered a lot of mental and physical losses.
Although several players were rotated, after the lesson of almost being reversed by River Plate in the last game, the Hurricanes concentrated and went all out from the beginning of the game, and did not underestimate the opponent because their opponent was ranked bottom. .
The result was that Rafael had almost no achievements on offense, but was constantly being bombarded by the Hurricanes on defense.
Especially for Velarde, after being praised by the national team coach Jinkou, Mario Binko also followed suit and gave him more offensive permissions to strengthen his offense.
Willard is naturally eager to do so. With his physical strength, size, speed, skills, etc., it is indeed a waste to just stay behind and play as a defensive midfielder. He must fully participate in the offense.
However, as a result, Lucas Villaruel will have to bear more defensive responsibilities and will not be able to participate in the offense. But there is nothing you can do about it. In a football match, some people have to take on offensive tasks, while others have to take on defensive tasks.
Even attacking midfielder Toranso has to cover and respond to Velarde when Velarde intervenes too much and his position is reversed. He cannot move more toward Velarde just because Velarde intervenes. Push forward and push all the way into the penalty area.
Velarde, who changed his style of play, quickly opened up the situation for the Hurricanes.
In the 24th minute, after receiving the ball from Fabianesi in the midfield, Velarde used a Ronaldinho-like ox-tail flick to suddenly shake off the counter-attacking Lafayette. Erna took forward midfielder Marino, and then after observing the movement of his teammates in front, he made a long pass, directly hoisting the ball over the heads of all the players in the midfield, and sent the ball to the bottom line area on the right side of the penalty area.
Wing midfielder Tulasa crossed the baseline diagonally, stopped and buckled ahead of full-back Eluchance who was trying to clear the ball, and knocked Eluchance out of the baseline as he flew to block the hole of the gun, and then made a pass. However, this ball was a ground ball, not a high ball.
It was this ground ball that was passed outside the penalty area that made goalkeeper Conde feel extremely uncomfortable and did not dare to attack. As a result, Hurricanes center Avila grabbed the ball before center back Lille and successfully converted the ball. Scooped into the goal.
The Hurricanes led 1-0, and the stands were filled with warm applause and cheers from the Hurricanes fans.
Although this goal was not a shot or an assist from Velarde, it was a long pass from him that directly penetrated Rafael's entire defense line, allowing Tulasa to receive the ball near the baseline and form a ground ball pass. Vera scored with a shovel.
Willard is the initiator of the attack.
And this is exactly the role of a top midfielder. They may not be the direct scorers or assisters, but they are the initiators of the offense. Through their keen awareness and vision, they can discover the loopholes in the opponent's defense, and then use superb skills to send the ball to the feet of their teammates, directly breaking the situation.
Velarde's goal just now well reflects this awareness, vision, overall view, and technology, allowing the Hurricanes to get a shooting opportunity and successfully score, leading 1-0.
Therefore, Avila, who scored the goal, did not run to the sidelines to celebrate. Instead, he ran back towards Velarde and hugged him. Then other teammates gathered around him and greeted Velarde. The long pass just now expressed admiration.
Velarde's defensive ability is now not only outstanding, but his offensive ability has almost reached the top level in the team.
Mario Binco on the sidelines also applauded and discussed with his assistant Andres Yalin. He was very satisfied with Velarde's goal just now and was also very proud of the tactical changes he arranged.
If Willard can really become a top midfielder with both offense and defense, it will obviously be of great benefit to both the Hurricanes themselves and the Argentinian national team.
In front of the TV, Argentina national team coach Gerardo Martino, who was watching the live broadcast and checking Velarde's status, was also very happy.
Not only is he happy that Velard is in good condition, but he is also happy that Mario Binco understood what he meant, gave Velard more authority to attack forward, released Velard's offensive talent, and in this ball Willard's offensive strength is perfectly reflected.
This kind of Velarde is becoming more and more important to the Argentine national team.
Although Argentina is very strong on paper, the most common image in international competitions in the past two decades is that the whole team is full of stars, but they are unable to display their strength in the club. Both offense and defense are weak, unable to defend and unable to advance offensively. And Velarde, an all-around offensive and defensive midfielder, can not only improve Argentina's offensive and defensive hardness, but may also improve its strength to a higher level.
It is really possible for Argentina to break through the embarrassing history of not having a major championship in twenty years. Martino is not bragging.
