The next day, many sports media in Argentina and South America, as well as many major media around the world, reported the news that Atletico Hurricanes won the AFC Champions League three rounds in advance and returned to the capital overnight to celebrate all night long.
"Atletico Hurricanes won the A-League championship three rounds ahead of schedule and won the A-League and Copa Libertadores double crown!" 》
"The Argentine League champion was born three rounds ahead of schedule, and Atletico Hurricanes won the double crown!" 》
"Atletico Hurricanes defeated Newell's Old Boys 3-1 and won the Argentinian Serie A championship three rounds ahead of schedule!" 》
In addition to the news that the team won the double championship, among the players, the one who received the most attention was of course Alan Willard.
According to statistics, Willard played exactly 50 games for the club and the national team in 2015, contributing 30 goals and 17 assists, as well as averaging more than 3 steals per game, as well as other interceptions, disruptions, and aerial challenges. Wait for data.
Not to mention defense, just averaging close to 1 goal per game has already crushed many of the main forwards of the five major league teams. What's more, Velarde's position is still a defensive midfielder, and offense is not his main responsibility. He only occasionally goes forward to participate in the offense and produces such data.
Coupled with his defensive ability, Velarde is already the prototype of one of the world's top midfielders. As long as he passes the test of the five major leagues and the European war, he will be a world-class midfield superstar.
Coupled with Velarde's comprehensive abilities and excellence such as physique, speed, technology, awareness, etc., he is even more popular than Neymar back then. The liquidated damages of US$50 million are not a problem at all.
Many European giants already know that it is impossible to introduce Velarde for less than 50 million. They can only pay liquidated damages directly and then use personal conditions to introduce Velarde.
Although the winter transfer period has not yet arrived, many giants from the five major leagues have begun to leave the Hurricanes and contact Velarde's agent to discuss Velarde's personal conditions.
When the transfer fee is a direct payment of US$50 million in liquidated damages, which club Willard goes to is obviously related to the other party's annual salary, signing fee, image endorsement share, peripheral merchandise share, etc.
This is the key point for major European giants to introduce Velarde.
Having helped the club win the league and Copa Libertadores double, Willard can finally safely authorize Douglas Johnson and start negotiating terms with major wealthy clubs.
Now he is the double champion of Argentina and Copa Libertadores, plus the Copa America champion, and his statistics are also quite good, making him even more popular than Neymar back then.
Although Neymar is an offensive player and is more famous than him, his playing style is more samba-like, and he is more popular among fans, but in the eyes of professional scouts and coaches, a midfielder like Velarde who is versatile in both offense and defense is not good for the team. of greater help.
And 50 million U.S. dollars, although not low, but judging from the strength shown by Willard, 99% of it is a profit after buying it. Even if you only cultivate it for a year and sell it to others, you will definitely make a lot of money.
Therefore, the giants of the five major leagues, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Bayern, Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Milan and Juventus, etc., have almost all extended an olive branch to Velarde.
For a moment, Willard was also a little dazed. Fortunately, it is still early before the winter transfer period and the effective date of his liquidated damages, so you can choose slowly.
In addition, after the 27th round of the league, his teammates could take a break, but Willard only had two days of rest before he had to report to the national team. Because this holiday is a FIFA match day, the 2018 World Cup qualifiers will officially start on this FIFA match day.
When agent Douglas Johnson contacted scouts, managers, and sports directors from major European clubs to discuss Velarde's transfer, Velarde had already entered the Argentina national team and began preparing for the 2018 World Cup qualifiers.
The 2018 World Cup will be held in Russia. The South American qualifiers will be conducted directly by the 10 countries of the South American Football Confederation in a double round-robin group stage. The top four will directly qualify and advance to the Russian World Cup. The fifth place will play home and away with the first place in Oceania. In the play-offs, the winner advances to the World Cup in Russia.
In the first round of the group stage, Argentina was the last team to appear. In the first four games, Bolivia lost 0-2 to Uruguay, Colombia 2-0 Peru, and Venezuela 0-1 Paraguay. The biggest upset was undoubtedly Chile 2-0 Brazil. The Selecao had a bad start and unexpectedly lost to Chile, which also sounded a wake-up call to Argentina.
Especially when Messi tore his ligament in the league and missed this FIFA match day due to injury. Without Messi's leadership, it is really unknown how much combat effectiveness and state the Argentine national team can exert.
At 21:00 on the evening of October 8, 2015, with the referee's whistle, the first round of the Russian World Cup South American qualifying match between Argentina and Ecuador officially started at the Monument Stadium, the home of River Plate.
In this game, Argentina played a 4231 formation, with Mascherano and Biglia partnering as a double midfielder, Angel Correa, Pastore, and Di Maria as the offensive midfielder, and Aquino Luo plays as a lone striker.
Velarde, who had just finished playing in the league and had a party, was placed on the bench by head coach Gerardo Martino.
After the game started, it seemed that Argentina had the advantage in technology and ball possession, but it could not effectively convert the advantage into goals.
Argentina, without Messi, has a very strange atmosphere in the team. It is divided into several small groups. They do not talk to each other, do not cooperate, and fight on their own. They also lack Messi's breakthrough ability, and it is difficult to tear apart the iron barrel of Ecuador. Array.
When Messi is around, Messi's huge prestige can allow everyone to temporarily put aside their differences and work towards the same direction and goal. Everyone will hand the ball to Messi in unison, pass it through Messi, and then cooperate with each other to pass and cut. Opponent's defense.
But now, Argentina without Messi is like a classic car without lubricants. It looks famous and has a profound heritage, but it is faltering and just not scoring goals.
To make matters worse, after only 23 minutes of playing in the first half, Aguero was injured and fell to the ground during a fight. He was unable to continue the game and had to be substituted. The beast Tevez took over Aguero's position as a substitute. Single striker.
Tevez has a weird personality and doesn't get along with most of the players on the team. Argentina's offense is more fragmented and it is difficult to threaten Ecuador's goal.
It wasn't until the 32nd minute that Argentina, considered a world-class club, had Di Maria break through and cut in from the right, then arc outside the penalty area and shoot a threatening shot that hit the goal frame.
But Ecuador's goalkeeper Alexander Domingos was well prepared for Di Maria's move. He accurately predicted and shifted the position in advance, and then swooped in to deflect Di Maria's quality threatening shot. Saved the bottom line.
In the following game, Argentina was unable to score even the threatening shot just now under Ecuador's tight defense.
Until the end of the first half, Argentina failed to score Ecuador's goal.
During the halftime break, Gerardo Martino got angry and severely scolded the players for playing alone on the court, not passing the ball to each other, and forcing breakthroughs or shots even when their chances were not good.
However, all the team members were experienced players. No one refuted Martino, but no one paid attention to his reprimand.
There was no other way, so Martino had no choice but to make substitution adjustments, replacing No. 6 Biglia and replacing him with No. 8 Alan Velarde, allowing Velarde to move forward more to participate in assists and have the opportunity to directly take long shots. Use his long-range shooting skills to break the deadlock.
Velarde has been in the Argentine national team for a short time and has little experience. He has no obvious conflicts with any players, but he is also automatically classified as Messi, along with Di Maria, Aguero and Maschera. Nuo and others have a good relationship. Other players who have a bad relationship with Di Maria and others will naturally not accept Velarde.
Velarde cannot rely on his strength to become the captain and big brother and direct the backcourt superstars of the national team to fight like he did in the club. He can only rely on his personal ability to do his job well.
Fortunately, Ecuador itself has limited strength and poses less of a threat to Argentina's defense. The dual defensive midfielder configuration of Mascherano and Velarde is enough to shut out Ecuador's occasional counterattacks, and it is difficult to threaten the goal guarded by Sergio Romero.
On offense, Villard has Mascherano next to him, and Javier Pastore and Di Maria in the frontcourt, and they can also provide some good cooperation. Although Angel Correa and Tevez don't cooperate well, the outstanding skills of Velarde and Di Maria can already pose a considerable threat.
In the 64th minute, it was Di Maria who broke through on the right wing and then made a move to shoot, which attracted the blockage of many Ecuadorian players in the penalty area. However, Di Maria faked the shot and passed the ball, and the foot fell down. Instead of shooting, he passed the ball into the gap outside the top of the penalty area.
Velarde stepped in from the back row and shot with almost no one on guard. He hit a heavy shot that went straight to the upper left corner of the goal.
With a shooting power of 90% and his physique, Willard's shot successfully hit the goal frame.
Although the angle was not very tricky, it was extremely powerful. Although goalkeeper Alexander Domingos caught the ball, he failed to save it from the post. The ball changed its line slightly, and finally flew into the goal against the left post and hit the inside side net.
Argentina finally broke the deadlock in the 64th minute with the connection of Velarde and Di Maria, leading 1-0.
Velarde and Di Maria ran to the sidelines together and celebrated with the fans in the stands. Mascherano and Pastore chased after them, and Angel Correa also came up to fight with Velarde. A slap in the face, but Tevez and other players did not come up to celebrate together.
The player feud stems from the two major factions of River Plate and Boca, the dispute between the two championship captains Maradona and Passarella, the subsequent impact of the dual-core dispute between Riquelme and Messi, and the disputes between multiple Football Association vice-presidents for the highest position. Competition, grievances between European clubs, gangs, gambling, corruption, etc., this Argentine national team does have many problems.
Perhaps, if these people all grow old and retire from the national team, and Messi maintains good condition, those young talents who have watched Messi play and admired Messi since childhood will grow up and enter the national team. Only then can we unite under the guidance of Messi and strive for the same goal.
