As time went by, the independent team's mental state finally became unstable. Even though they were only behind by one goal, with less and less time left, the Independence team was finally forced to press forward significantly and strengthen their attack.
But as a result, their backcourt exposed more gaps.
In the 83rd minute, Independiente midfielder Jesus Mendes was about to pass the ball to forward Lucero, but Velarde saw through the intention. He immediately rushed forward and collided with Lucero, but successfully grabbed it. Got the ball.
Lucero was knocked to the ground and reached out to the referee to indicate a foul on Velarde. But the referee ignored it and signaled Willard, who was holding the ball, to continue playing.
Velarde didn't hear the referee's whistle, so he naturally didn't care about Lucero who was knocked down by him. After grabbing the ball, Villard first passed the ball to Federico Bismara, then bypassed another forward Alvertengo who was counterattacking, and advanced at high speed.
Alejandro Romero, Toranso, and Avila in front also turned around and sprinted. In addition, the independent team was suddenly intercepted and counterattacked after a strong attack. The backcourt was not well prepared and was beaten by Villa. The four German players used quick counterattacks, passes, cuts and runs to tear apart the defense.
In the end, Velarde sent the ball into the penalty area with a through ball from outside the penalty area. Avila succeeded in countering offside, rushed diagonally behind defender Cuesta, grabbed the spot and volleyed successfully, sending the ball into the goal. The lower left corner of Independiente's goal.
Hurricane Athletics expanded the score to 2-0. Avila scored the goal and Velard provided the assist. Willard helped the Hurricanes secure a 2-0 victory with a pass and a shot.
There was not much time left, so the Hurricane Athletics naturally began to make substitutions one after another to strengthen the defense and delay time.
The Independiente team pressed hard and finally scored a lucky goal in the 91st minute of injury time. Wing midfielder Martin Benitez's heavy shot from outside the penalty area hit substitute midfielder Lucas Villaruel, who flew to block the hole of the gun. There was a deflection and just bypassed goalkeeper Marcos. Diaz's save flew into the goal.
Independiente tied the score at 1-2, but that was all.
After 3 minutes of stoppage time, the referee blew the whistle to end the game. Atletico Hurricanes defeated Independiente Argentina 2-1 at home, winning the 23rd round of the league and continuing to top the standings.
What makes the Hurricane Athletic team even more delighted is that in this round, the second-placed Boca Juniors and the third-placed San Lorenzo were fighting each other. As a result, Boca Juniors lost 0-1 at home to San Lorenzo and stayed at 49 points.
San Lorenzo defeated Boca Juniors and rose to 50 points, surpassing Boca Juniors and ranking second in the standings. But as the second-placed San Lorenzo, the points gap between the first-placed Hurricanes Athletic Team has widened to 10 points.
With only 7 rounds left in the league, such a big lead has basically left little suspense about the A-League championship this season.
Just look at the next round, which is the 24th round, when San Lorenzo directly challenges the Hurricanes Athletics. Whether they can defeat the Hurricanes Athletics and narrow the point difference.
If this direct conversation is won by the Hurricanes, there will really be no suspense left in the championship.
After the game, some media commented:
"Atletico Hurricanes defeated Argentina's Independiente 2-1, and Boca Juniors lost 0-1 to San Lorenzo. As a result, the points gap between Atletico Hurricanes, the top team, ahead of San Lorenzo, the second place in the standings, has reached double digits. That’s 10 points.”
"With such a big points gap, there is basically no suspense about the A-League championship this season."
"Unless the Hurricane Athletics completely collapses and suffers a losing streak, it will be a matter of time before the Hurricanes win the championship."
"The only thing that might slow down Atletico Hurricanes' pace of winning the championship and retain a little suspense is the next round of Atletico Hurricanes VS San Lorenzo."
"San Lorenzo and Hurricanes are rivals in the derby, and this game is also an additional derby added by the Football Association."
"If San Lorenzo can defeat the Hurricanes and reduce the points gap between the two sides to 7 points, and damage the morale and winning streak of the Hurricanes, then the suspense of the A-League championship can be maintained for a few more rounds."
"Once the winner is the Hurricane Athletic Team, the points gap between the Hurricane Athletic Team and the second place will continue to widen, and there will be no strong opponents behind the Hurricane Athletic Team, so the championship will be even less suspenseful."
"In the first derby of the first half of the season, San Lorenzo lost 2-3 at home to Hurricanes Athletic."
"In the second round of the derby in the second half of the season, it depends on whether San Lorenzo can seize the opportunity, complete the revenge, and delay the time for the Hurricanes to win the championship."
Amid heated discussions among Argentine media and fans, on Monday, September 7, Velarde spent another 2 skill points to increase his "inverse foot" from 69 to 70, leaving 296 skill points remaining.
On the afternoon of September 12th, the Hurricanes Athletic Team is at home and is about to face its archrival San Lorenzo.
In this game, fans from both sides began to clash before the game.
Because as long as the Hurricanes win against San Lorenzo, the league championship this season is basically guaranteed. Therefore, many Hurricanes fans naturally flaunted their status as a Copa Libertadores champion and the soon-to-be-winned league champion when facing away fans San Lorenzo.
Although the away fans of San Lorenzo were at a numerical disadvantage, they did not back down at all and continued to curse and even fight with the Hurricanes. If the capital police had not been prepared in advance, it might have turned into a bloody incident.
Once inside the stadium, the confrontation between the two sides turned into a competition of slogans, flags, slogans, and banners. The Hurricanes Athletic Team, which occupies a favorable home location, naturally has more supporters. But the thousands of fans in San Lorenzo were not to be outdone and risked losing their voices. When singing the team song and shouting slogans, they were not much weaker than the Hurricanes Athletics.
The players from both sides who are warming up before the game in the stadium are also in high spirits and are ready to start the game and defeat the opponent at any time.
At 18:00 in the evening, with the referee's whistle, the derby match between Atletico Hurricanes and San Lorenzo in the 24th round of the 2015 A-League officially started at the Thomas Duke Stadium.
San Lorenzo is a full ten points behind Atletico Hurricanes, so their goal is not to maintain a tie but to win. They must win and narrow the point difference to have the theoretical possibility of overturning their mortal enemy and winning the championship.
Therefore, starting from the first minute of the game, San Lorenzo took advantage of the right to take the first kick and launched a fierce attack directly into the hinterland of the Hurricanes Athletics without any trial. They tried to open the game with a rush to see if they could take advantage of the hurricane's opening moments. The team scored a goal through a careless gap.
But it turns out that San Lorenzo thought too much. The entire Hurricane Athletic team was very focused and was not disrupted by San Lorenzo's opening attack. Under the leadership of Velarde, he steadily defended his goal. The defense did not allow San Lorenzo to easily threaten its goal.
