As Velard defeated Zuniga in the front post and succeeded in the header, he headed the ball into the near corner of the Colombian goal. Countless Argentine fans at the scene and in front of the TV suddenly jumped to their feet and applauded excitedly. Cheers and screams, celebrating wildly for Willard's header.
The Argentinian commentators in the commentary box, as well as the commentators from other countries who supported Argentina, also shouted:
"Goooooooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball went in!!!"
"Header from Alan Willard!"
"Villad took Di Maria's corner kick, shook off the defenders around him, pressed Colombian defender Zuniga in front of the small penalty area, and headed the ball into the goal."
"Villade opened the scoring and helped Argentina change the score to 1-0."
"At the end of the first half, Argentina broke the deadlock and took the lead."
This was also Velarde's second goal in this America's Cup, so he himself was very excited. After landing, he avoided Zuniga who fell to the ground, opened his arms and ran wildly to celebrate, followed by his teammates who were equally excited to catch up. them.
Zuniga quickly stood up and complained to the referee, claiming that Villard had just committed a foul and pushed him down before hitting the ball. This goal should not be counted as a goal, and Villard would be awarded a foul.
But referee Garcia shook his head and said that Velard did not foul. Then, the whistle was blown directly to confirm that the goal was valid.
Although the Zuniga and Colombian players were very dissatisfied, they had no choice but to watch the Argentine players and fans in frustration as they celebrated the goal.
However, Colombia's head coach Pekerman also saw some problems based on the referee's enforcement standards and the penalty on the ball in the first half, and planned to make targeted arrangements during the halftime break.
After the game restarted, it didn't take long for the first half to end. The two sides entered the halftime break with a score of 1-0, and Argentina temporarily led by one goal.
In view of the threat that Colombia's high-flying tactics posed to Argentina in the first half, Gerardo Martino made substitution adjustments at halftime and replaced him with the more experienced veteran and central defender Demichelis. Offensive midfielder Javier Pastore was replaced by five defenders to strengthen aerial defense in the penalty area.
After losing the midfielder, Velarde has to take on the heavy responsibility of backcourt organization. Not only must he retreat to the penalty area to participate in defense, but he must also press forward significantly during counterattacks and participate in the offense as a central midfielder.
The time has come for him to truly demonstrate his versatile midfield role.
In the locker room on the other side, Pekerman, an Argentinian who once coached the Argentine national team and put Messi on the bench during the quarter-finals of the 2006 World Cup between Argentina and Germany, made a statement. After being criticized verbally and verbally by the Argentine media, he decided to issue a "kill Messi" tactic to his Colombian disciples.
He believes that Willard has been attracted by his center cluster tactics and was forced to retreat to the penalty area to participate in defense. He does not pose a great offensive threat. Even if Willard scored a header in the first half, it was a corner kick caused by Messi's breakthrough and shot.
Among the front three in this game, Di Maria and Aguero were in average condition and did not pose any decent threats. Most of Argentina's threatening attacks came from Messi's shots or assists after breaking through.
Therefore, he believes that as long as Messi can be restricted or even knocked down, Argentina will not be much of a threat and they will have a chance to reverse the situation.
As for the issue that Argentina is his homeland and Messi is his compatriot, he has no worries. At this time, he just wants to do everything possible to let Colombia win. In his mind, this is the "professional ethics" of a head coach.
Soon, the 15-minute intermission time passed by in a flash, and the two sides changed sides in the second half of the game. Seeing Argentina replace Pastore with Demichelis at the beginning of the second half, Colombia's head coach Pekerman to player Falcao and others felt a little heavy.
Originally trailing by the score, Argentina also sent experienced veteran Demichelis to start playing five defenders. Coupled with Alan Willard and Mascherano's sweep and retreat defense at the front of the penalty area, it may be difficult for Colombia to score even if there are as many as three or four centers.
But at this time, Colombia was also in a difficult situation. They were behind in the score. It was impossible for them to remove the center instead. They could only continue like this, first defeating Messi and destroying Argentina's offense, and then relying on aerial attacks to try their luck.
Mexican referee Garcia Orozco's loose penalty standards in the first half gave Pekerman's halftime "kill Messi" tactic a possibility of success.
However, he obviously ignored that Willard had the habit of standing up for his teammates when he was in the Hurricanes Athletic Team, and eventually became the team captain and big brother.
When he was a fan in China, Velarde was a fan of Messi. Although he has now become a professional player and entered the national team, Messi is no longer a mystery in his eyes. But Velard, who has a system plug-in, is still unable to compare with Messi in terms of skills, awareness, shooting and passing abilities, which fully illustrates Messi's talent.
If such a talented idol was violated under his nose, would Willard, a Messi fan, remain indifferent?
When the time came to the 58th minute, when Messi broke through with the ball for the second time in the second half, he was tackled to the ground by Colombian midfielder No. 15 Mejia. Before being warned by referee Garcia, Villa De was immediately angry.
Willard rushed to the scene of the incident, pushed Falcao who was blocking Mejia and cursed him angrily.
Mejía did not reply, but pretended to be pushed hard by Velarde, fell backwards, and tried to get the referee to punish Velarde.
Subsequently, players from both sides rushed to the scene of the incident and separated Velarde and Mejia. Referee Garcia also immediately intervened.
Maybe it was because of the reason why Messi was tackled by Mejía, or maybe because he discovered Mejía’s intention of asking him to give Velarde a card, or more likely because he has a soft personality, the referee Garcia did not ask Wu. Velarde, who was in impressive form, only warned Velarde to control his emotions and not escalate the incident, but did not give any warning to Mejía, the person who caused the incident.
Seeing this, Willard had already sentenced Mexia to death in his heart. Since the referee is so soft and does not punish Mejía within the rules, he will retaliate in his own way.
Just three minutes later, Willard got his chance for revenge.
Argentina stole the ball in the backcourt and launched a counterattack. Velarde quickly moved forward in the middle and consciously headed towards the position of the opponent's midfielder Mejía.
When full-back Zabaleta was dribbling the ball from the wing, he encountered an interception and passed the ball to Velarde in the middle of the midfield. The person closest to him and blocking him was the opponent who had been facing him so far in the game. Messi committed many fouls but did not receive a single yellow card for midfielder Mejía.
Although Mejía has been tasked with marking Messi closely and "cutting down" Messi, now that Velarde takes the ball from the center and attacks, he has to pass through his defense zone. He can no longer follow the ball and move to the wing. Messi, and allowed Willard to dribble the ball from the center and approach the penalty area.
You know, Willard's shooting ability is not low. Allowing Velarde to get closer to the penalty area will undoubtedly give Velarde a chance to shoot.
Therefore, Mejía had no choice but to give up Messi and blocked Velarde's path.
Although he knew about Velarde's information before the game, Mejia was not afraid. Mejia, who had violated Messi many times and won praise from the head coach, teammates and fans, was even slightly excited in his heart: If Being able to take down Velarde, the backbone of Argentina's defense, is no less valuable than injuring Messi.
In this thought, when he saw that Velarde did not pass the ball out, but approached him with the ball, Mejía spotted Velarde while retreating and blocking the position. He suddenly had a big "opportunity" and made a decisive tackle, flying towards the ball.
At the same time, he also made a preset in his mind. If Villard did not dodge in time, he would not close his feet and would shovel on Villard's feet. As for whether Willard will be injured, he has no control over it.
It would be better to get injured and leave Argentina with one less general in the backcourt, which would give them greater hope of a comeback.
However, what he thought was the opportunity was actually set aside intentionally by Villard to attract him to put in the tackle.
As soon as Mejia moved, Velarde's comprehensive ability brought by his strong consciousness, physique, and speed allowed him to successfully grab the ball before Mejia. Jumping over Mejia who was on the ground and making a flying shovel.
But when he took off, Velard deliberately did not use any force and jumped not high enough. As a result, as soon as his foot left the ground, he was shoveled by Mejia's sole that did not touch the ball. He lost his center of gravity and fell forward.
From the perspective of the referee, players and fans from both sides, it was Verard who approached Mejia with the ball. Mejia fell to the ground and made a tackle, and Verard picked the ball away from Mejia first. In the past, when I tried to jump up and jump over Mejia, my jump was slow and short. Mejia's foot did not tackle the ball, and then he lost his center of gravity in the air and fell down.
As for when Willard fell down, he "panicked" and "unconsciously" pressed Mejia's forehead with one hand, pushing him to the ground. Then Willard kicked him in the knee. The lower body was hit by Velarde's entire 86kg weight on the chest, twisting the whole body into a painful twist. After Velarde fell to the ground and rolled to the side, Mejia suddenly curled up into a ball and wailed, with a face on his face. Twisted and painful.
"beep……"
The referee's whistle sounded, but instead of calling Velarde for a foul, he gave Mejía a yellow card as he huddled up in a ball.
Because in the opinion of the referee, the ball was under the control of Velarde. Mejía did not tackle the ball and did not stop his feet. He tackled Velarde. In addition, Messi had been knocked down several times before. This aroused the public indignation of the Argentines, so this time he decisively showed a yellow card to Mejía who "uprooted" Velarde.
As for the injury he suffered when Velarde fell down, it was caused by his own misjudgment and random tackles. Garcia could not have played a card against Velarde because of this.
What's more, didn't you see that Velard also fell to the side, covering the foot that was shoveled by Mejia, and writhing in pain?
Garcia believes his call was accurate.
The previous penalty may have been a bit soft, but this time, he was absolutely fair and impartial, and the Argentinian should not have any emotions.
Indeed, how could the Argentines be satisfied?
Because of Velarde's acting skills, even Argentina's own teammates were deceived. He curled up on the ground, holding his feet and rolling in pain, which made Messi, Di Maria, Aguero, Mascherano and others... Thinking that his foot was really injured by Mejia, he tried to find Mejia to reason with him, but he was separated by the referee and the Colombian players.
