During the halftime break, Gerardo Martino corrected his careless attitude in time and changed the team back to the 4231 formation, allowing Velarde and Mascherano to retreat deeper, while Messi and Lavezzi Also return to defense to participate in defense.
It is not necessary for Messi, Lavezzi, and Pastore to retreat too deep. They only need to participate in the frontcourt pressing and occasionally interfere with the passing and cutting cooperation of Chile's midfield and backcourt.
After a 15-minute break, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half. There was no change in the Chilean team. They still relied on their home field advantage and strong fighting spirit to stick to their aggressive tactics and try to resolve the battle within 90 minutes.
In the 52nd minute, the Chilean team played a good team game, and finally forward Sanchez volleyed from about 12 meters away from the goal in the penalty area.
Sanchez played this ball well, with both power and angles. If the ball really flew towards the goal, goalkeeper Romero might not be able to save it.
The moment he kicked the ball out, Sanchez even thought it was already there and was about to raise his hands in celebration.
As a result, a figure suddenly rushed out in front of him, made a flying tackle, and successfully blocked the ball from the baseline with his shoe.
Sanchez took a closer look and saw Argentina's No. 8 Alan Velarde again.
He felt helpless.
This Velarde has become a stumbling block for the Chilean team's offense, blocking many of their attacks. Even if the shot is finally completed, it will be interfered or destroyed by Velarde, so he has not been able to score a goal so far.
Fortunately, Argentina is in average shape and has not scored a goal yet. Everyone is still on the same starting line and there is still a chance.
As time went on, Chile's offense began to slow down in the second half, and Argentina began to step up its attack.
In the 60th minute, Messi took the ball out of the double-team of three Chilean players at the front of the penalty area, and then made a subtle pass to the space on the left side of the penalty area.
After Di María was injured and left the field, Ezequiel Lavezzi, who came on as a substitute, received Messi's pass without anyone marking him. Countless Argentine fans at the scene and in front of the TV watched with excitement. However, he kicked the ball over the crossbar.
"Messi, great pass into the penalty area!"
"Lavich..."
"Shoot!!!"
"ah???"
"The ball actually flew away?"
"Ezequiel Lavezzi knocked away Messi's ball from the crowd."
"This was originally a very good opportunity. Messi, Aguero, and Pastore have attracted most of the Chilean team's defensive attention. No one is marking Lavezzi at all. He is unguarded. Get a chance to shoot."
"In the end, it was all blown away by him."
"It's so disappointing."
"Di Maria's injury left the field, which had a great impact on Argentina's frontcourt offense."
"There is no way Lavezzi can replace Di Maria."
"Are we going to lose like last year's World Cup final because of Di Maria's absence?"
"Never let this happen again."
Amid the complaints that the commentator did not understand, many Argentinian fans at the scene and in front of the TV also cursed and threw things, feeling very aggrieved.
Messi took the ball out of the double-teams of several people and passed it into the unguarded gap. He has almost achieved the ultimate goal.
Let's not talk about scoring goals. You have to at least hit the ball within the goal frame, right?
It's still understandable if he hits the door frame and is thrown out by the goalkeeper. As a result, you hit the ball directly without any interference, without even threatening the opponent's goal. How can this not make people angry? Especially when Argentina has been without a championship for 22 years and everyone is extremely eager to win this America's Cup, how can you not get scolded for wasting such an opportunity?
Ezequiel Lavezzi himself also knew how big a mistake he had made. After completing the shot and watching the ball fly off the crossbar, he himself knelt down in the penalty area and covered his face with his hands, feeling that he could not see anyone. .
Aguero and Pastore were both disappointed and ignored Lavezzi.
Only Messi, although with a disappointed expression on his face, still walked over, pulled Lavezzi up, comforted him, and continued the game.
Messi is the captain and he wants to win this title more than anyone else. Therefore, even though Lavezzi made a mistake, he still had to encourage the opponent to continue playing and not to mess up, leaving Argentina with one less person to fight in disguise.
Encouraged by Messi, Lavezzi stood up again and continued playing, sprinting back and forth desperately to participate in defense and offense.
But he also knows that he is not in good condition today and will never stick to the ball. When he gets the ball, he will only make a pivot and response at most, and will never try to use the ball to break through the opponent.
This just helps the team.
In the 68th minute, defender Pablo Zabaleta successfully intercepted the ball and passed it to the feet of Velarde in the backcourt. At the moment of receiving the ball, Velarde passed the ball with his back and successfully broke through. Behind the pressure of Chilean midfielder Jorge Valdivia, he bypassed the opponent, received the ball behind the opponent, and dribbled the ball forward.
Pastore in front moved laterally to make room, and Lavezzi on the side threw away the opponent's players and rushed forward at high speed along the wing.
Messi on the right was closely guarded by two opposing players and had no chance for the time being.
Therefore, when encountering an interception by Chilean midfielder Marcelo Diaz, Velarde did not pass the ball to Messi, but passed it to Lavezzi, who was temporarily unguarded on the left wing, and then he was unable to pass the ball. The ball ran past Marcelo Dias.
Without the ball, Velard's speed is among the top in football, so neither Marcelo Dias nor Jorge Valdivia, who was chasing after him, could keep up with Velard. Was rushed into the frontcourt gap by Willard.
When Lavezzi was intercepted by the opponent's full-back after receiving the ball and taking two steps forward, he did not try to break through the opponent, but decisively passed the ball to Javier Pastore.
Pastore stopped the ball and took an adjustment step. After attracting the pressing of midfielder Charles Aranguiz, he passed the ball to Velarde who had already run to the top of the penalty area.
Velarde's superb awareness and speed allowed him to run into a gap at the front of the penalty area. When he caught the ball, he was only about 24 meters away from the goal.
This distance has completely entered the long-range shooting range of Velarde, and Velarde did raise his right foot to shoot.
Therefore, the center back Medel in the penalty area and the midfielder Vidal on the right, who was originally marking Messi closely, were frightened and rushed towards Velarde, trying to interfere with and block his shot.
Vidal even made a flying shovel in advance, trying to block the hole of the gun and destroy Willard's shot.
As a result, Villard's foot was not a shot. Instead, he moved the ball to the right, first getting rid of Vidal who flew in front of him, and then Marcelo Dias, who was chasing behind him, did not wait. , Jorge Valdivia, and Medel in front of him formed a circle, and they passed the ball diagonally into the gap on the right rib of the penalty area.
With Aguero's movement in the penalty area already attracting the attention of another central defender, Messi is left with only full-back Beausejour.
But Beausejour didn't expect that Velard would pass the ball instead of shooting, and as a result, he started a step slower than Messi.
When Messi rushed past him, went straight into the ribs of the penalty area, and went to receive Velarde's pass, Beausejour started to chase Messi again, but it was already too late.
Messi successfully got rid of Beausejour, rushed into the right rib of the penalty area diagonally, and volleyed without stopping the ball before center back Francisco Silva got rid of Aguero and tried to steal the ball. , kicked the ball towards the far corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper Bravo had already pounced on the right side of the goal when Willard passed the ball. However, Messi hit a far corner, which was opposite to the direction he was moving. By the time he discovered that Messi's shot was from the far corner, he turned around and tried to push the ball out of the baseline, it was already too late.
The ball passed diagonally below Bravo's palm and flew into the lower left corner of the Chilean team's goal against the turf.
"Goooooooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball went in!!!"
"Messi! Messi!!! Messi!!!!!!"
"Lio Messi..."
"Argentina scored, and it was Messi who scored the goal!"
"Messi scored in the Copa America final to help Argentina break the deadlock and take a 1-0 lead."
"It was Alan Willard who assisted Messi!"
"If this goal ends up being the only goal in the final, there is no doubt that Velarde will be Messi's biggest contributor to winning this Copa America."
"Gerardo Martino's decision to recruit Velarde into the national team and give him a starting position is undoubtedly the right one."
"Not only did Velarde score 5 goals himself, currently ranking first among the scorers in the Copa America, he also provided an assist for Messi in the final, helping Messi score in such an important final."
"If Argentina wins this time, no one will question Messi's ability."
"Messi who scored the winning goal in the final will silence all those who doubted Messi."
"The person who helped Messi the most was undoubtedly Velarde."
"Not only did he complete his defensive tasks perfectly, he also frequently moved forward to participate in the offense. Whether he scored goals or provided assists, his performance was perfect."
"With Velarde, Argentina, which is leading, is likely to keep Chile clean and truly win the America's Cup."
"I can't wait any longer."
Although this goal is very crucial and may be related to the ownership of the championship, Messi did not lose his mind with excitement after the goal. Instead, he first turned around and ran towards Alan Willard, on the line of the penalty area. He hugged Velarde and thanked Velarde for his assist.
Then, the two ran to the sidelines together to celebrate the goal with their teammates and fans.
The Argentine fans in the stands and in front of the TV were screaming and cheering excitedly to celebrate Messi's opening goal.
If this goal can become the winning goal in the final, it will undoubtedly be a perfect thing, both for Argentina and Messi fans.
Therefore, not only Argentines, but also countless fans around the world watching the live broadcast, most of them applauded and celebrated Messi's goal from the perspective of Messi and Argentine fans.
