After the third round of the group stage, Willard's total experience increased to level 35, 172.89 million/90 million, and was automatically upgraded to level 36, 82.89 million/100 million. He also received an upgrade reward of 40 skill points, and the balance of skill points increased to 104.
If you upgrade to another level, the additional experience required for each upgrade will start to count in the hundreds of millions. To increase skill attributes from 90 to 99, each time you add 10 points, increasing from 99 to 100 requires 50 skill points. In the later stage, a large number of skill points are needed to improve skills.
It is becoming more and more difficult to level up, but more and more skill points are needed to upgrade skills. Therefore, it is still necessary to perform well in the America's Cup, where you have more experience, to earn more skill points and save them for upgrading skills in the five major leagues.
On June 22, Willard spent 11 skill points to increase his shooting/passing from 85 to 86, and his reverse foot from 58 to 59, leaving 93 skill points remaining.
Next, Argentina will step up training to prepare for the first round of knockout matches while paying attention to the games of other teams.
On June 24, the first quarter-finals began, with Chile, the first in Group A, facing Uruguay, the third in Group C.
With the winning goal in the 81st minute, Chile defeated Uruguay 1-0 and advanced to the semi-finals with the enthusiastic cheering of the home fans.
On June 25, in the second quarter-final, Bolivia VS Peru, Peru’s Guerrero scored three goals in the 20th, 23rd, and 74th minutes respectively, performing the first hat trick of this America’s Cup. Help Peru lead 3-0.
It was not until the end of the game that Bolivia saved some face with a penalty kick, but in the end Bolivia lost to Peru 1-3 and went home, while Peru advanced to the semi-finals.
On June 26, it was Argentina’s turn.
Before the game was about to start, the players were warming up in the stadium. The players who were about to return to the locker room were a little surprised when they saw the fans in the stands that were so densely packed that they couldn't even sit down.
The stadium where this game was played was called Sausalito Stadium. It originally had only 18,037 seats. However, security measures were not in place for this game, and more than 21,500 fans poured in.
Thousands of people had no seats and could only stand in the aisles and corridors to watch the game. The entire stand was packed to the brim, and there were no aisles or gaps. It was frightening to watch, for fear that the stand would be crushed or someone would be pushed off the stand. , or even some extreme fans rushed into the stadium to cause trouble.
Of course, most of these fans are Argentinians or supporters of the Argentine team.
Messi's appeal and status as the favorite to win the championship have made the Argentine team, in addition to its own domestic fans from afar, many local Chilean fans also become supporters of Argentina and Messi.
Of course, this happened when Argentina's opponent in this game was not Chile.
Regardless, the fans were overloaded for this game, which is extremely rare when the game is played without the host nation. Although there are risks, the atmosphere is also full, especially for Argentina. With so many supporters, everyone naturally has to perform well.
As Willard said in the locker room before the game, so many fans without tickets broke through the security barriers and rushed into the stadium. They must not let their supporters down. They must defeat Colombia, advance to the semi-finals, and He went all the way to the final and won Argentina's first international championship since 1993.
At 19:30 in the evening, the third game of the 2015 Copa America quarter-finals between Argentina, the first in Group B, and Colombia, the third in Group C, officially started.
Argentina naturally still has a 4231 formation. The goalkeeper is No. 1 Sergio Romero (Sampdoria). The defenders from left to right are No. 16 Marcos Rojo (Manchester United) and No. 17 Nicolas Otamendi. (Valencia), No. 2 Ezequiel Garay (Zenit St. Petersburg), No. 4 Pablo Zabaleta (Manchester City), double midfielder No. 14 Javier Mascherano (Barcelona), No. 8 Alan Velarde (Atletico Hurricanes), No. 7 left midfielder Angel Di Maria (Manchester United), No. 21 Javier Pastore (Paris Saint-Germain), midfielder, Right midfielder No. 10 Leo Messi (Barcelona), lone forward No. 11 Sergio Aguero (Manchester City).
Colombia has deployed an astonishing 4123 single defensive midfielder, dual attacking midfielder, and three center formations. James Rodriguez, the double attacking midfielder, was the top scorer in the 2014 Brazil World Cup. The other attacking midfielder boasted Delado is also tall and powerful, and can enter the penalty area and play center.
Colombia's intention is very obvious, which is to use James Rodriguez's scoring ability and the aerial offensive ability of the four centers to break through Argentina's defense with crazy offense and aerial advantage to break through Argentina's goal and win. Goal.
After the game started, Colombia frequently lobbed high balls into Argentina's penalty area after getting the ball, allowing four big centers to fight for the top, while Ronaldo grabbed the second spot from the outside for ball control or long-range shooting.
This high-flying tactic restrained Argentina's ground skills, forcing both Velarde and Mascherano to frequently retreat to the penalty area to help defend. Even midfielder Pastore was forced to withdraw to the front of the penalty area. Come and mark Ronaldo.
Without Velarde, it's really hard to say whether Argentina's penalty area can withstand the competition of Colombia's four centers.
Fortunately, Villard not only has a strong physique, height, and bounce, but also has good headers, awareness, and speed. He can often see the landing point immediately, then rush over and use his physique to squeeze away the opponent, leaping high. Grab the first point and clear the ball.
In addition, the success rate of this kind of aerial attack is very low, and Colombia is not very lucky. Therefore, although it frequently takes the ball from the air and lobs it into the Argentine penalty area, the number of successful aerial attacks is not many. At this time, it can pose a threat to attack the goal. There are even fewer.
As for Argentina, although Velarde was distracted by several big centers on the other side, Di Maria, Messi, and Aguero alone can form a good offensive power. Messi's skills, Di Maria's speed, Aguero's ability to grab points, and the tacit relationship between the three of them for many years make Argentina's offensive threat equally significant.
In the 14th minute, Messi passed two people on the right and then sent a wonderful pass, passing the ball across the penalty area near the penalty spot.
Unfortunately, Aguero's shot missed the target due to the pressing interference of the opponent's center back Murillo and flew out of the baseline.
In the 22nd minute, Di Maria held the ball on the left and faced Colombian full-back Zuniga. He used his speed to eat the opponent alive and then passed down the bottom.
Aguero seized the spot, but he was not tall enough. Zapata, the opponent's centre-back, jumped up high behind him and got the ball over his head to clear the ball.
In the 25th minute, Messi got the ball from the wing and cut in laterally, then arced his left foot outside the penalty area and shot into the far corner. Unfortunately, he didn't hit the ball with much force and angle, and goalkeeper Ospina confiscated the ball directly.
Colombia also made a threatening shot in the 28th minute. The full-back Arias passed the ball into the penalty area with a long pass. Center Ivarvo got stuck and grabbed the first header from Ligue 1 Monaco. No. 9 Tiger Falcao fired a volley from the right rib of the penalty area and hit a heavy shot with considerable threat.
However, Falcao himself was unlucky. This volley shot did not hit the angle. The ball went straight to the position of goalkeeper Romero. Romero subconsciously stretched out his hand to block the ball. He first blocked the ball and then hit it on the other side of the opponent. The center forward immediately dived and held the ball under his body before trying to take a follow-up shot.
The two sides used their respective advantages to continuously attack, and the ball changed hands very quickly. However, both sides were unlucky. Coupled with the outstanding performance of the two goalkeepers, neither side had scored until the end of the first half.
Just when everyone thought the two sides were going to end the first half with a score of 0-0, Messi took the ball in the frontcourt and broke through the opponent's full-back Arias and then hit a threatening shot.
This shot is very powerful, has a good arc, and has a tricky angle.
Unfortunately, goalkeeper Ospina reacted quickly. He took a step sideways and then made a flying dive. He successfully saved the ball from the post and flew out of the baseline.
"Messi..."
"Shoot!!!"
"Oh, what a pity..."
"The ball was deflected out of the post by Ospina and it didn't go in."
"Ospina and Romero both performed well today."
"It's just a pity that the fans can't see the goal."
"It has now entered the injury time of the first half, and now Argentina has won a corner kick. Maybe this is the last attack of the two teams."
"Alan Velarde, Otamendi, Aguero and others entered Colombia's penalty area, preparing for a corner kick."
"Colombia is also well prepared. In addition to its own defenders, several centers have also withdrawn from the penalty area to participate in the defense."
"Especially for Velarde, who has great height and jumping ability, Colombia did not dare to neglect him at all. There were three players around him to defend him closely."
Indeed, in this kind of corner kick, Alan Velarde is undoubtedly Argentina's biggest threat, so Colombia has three players specifically marking him.
Anyway, there are not many people in Argentina who can enter to fight for the corner kick, so Colombia is not afraid of wasting troops by having several people target one person.
Velarde kept colliding, pushing, and pulling with opponents around him to seize advantageous positions, and was even warned by the referee on both sides, but it did not have much effect.
Therefore, the referee Garcia was too lazy to take care of it in the end, and directly blew the whistle for a free throw, signaling Di Maria to take a free throw.
Di Maria looked at the situation in the penalty area after the corner kick, stretched out the four fingers that represented his starting point, and then took the corner kick with two steps.
When Di Maria stretched out four fingers, Villard, who was on the line of the small penalty area in the middle, immediately moved out towards the penalty spot, making a posture of fighting for the top in the penalty area, attracting the three defenders who were closely marking him. Players also moved out.
Aguero, Otamendi, Garay and others also moved to the outside or behind to deceive the opponent's defenders and goalkeepers.
As a result, the moment Di Maria kicked the ball out, Velarde immediately squeezed away the Colombian center back Zapata and rushed diagonally toward the front corner of the small penalty area.
Di Maria made no mistake, and the ball indeed landed in front of the small penalty area.
Although there is already a Colombian full-back Zuniga in front of the small penalty area, his height and jumping are not as strong as Velard?
Velarde, who suddenly changed direction and moved away, threw away the defenders around him, rushed behind Suniga and jumped up high. When he collided with Suniga, who took off at the same time, he grabbed the landing point above Suniga's head. He shook his head and headed the ball towards the near corner of the goal.
Zuniga, who barely took off, was not only suppressed by Velarde and failed to grab the ball, he was also hit by Velarde in the air, causing him to lose his center of gravity and fall.
But at this time, he didn't care whether he would fall. Instead, he turned around to see if the ball hit by Willard would fly into the goal.
The result left him desperate.
Although goalkeeper Ospina saw that the ball landed at the front point, he had already moved to the front point in time to block the near corner. However, Willard's header was too tricky, and it was very powerful and fast.
Ospina subconsciously stretched out his hand to save but failed to touch the ball. The ball passed over Ospina's wrist and flew into the near corner of the goal.
