The first half ended with fouls between the two sides, and the score was still 0-0. Argentina failed to exert its technical advantages, and Paraguay failed to score through counterattacks.
After a 15-minute rest, the two sides changed sides and fought again in the second half. Under the intimidation of Velarde, and the fact that Carlos Tevez, Mascherano and others were not good at fighting each other and taught the opponent some lessons, Paraguay restrained its fighting in the second half.
After the game returned to normal, Argentina's strength began to gradually emerge. After all, Argentina's overall strength is indeed stronger than Paraguay, even if Messi did not miss this national team call-up due to injury.
And after being tied with Ecuador in the first round, everyone felt a little ashamed. This game must be won. Therefore, although the players from different factions don't talk much, they can still coordinate the basic passing and cutting, and they are not as independent as in the previous game.
In the 62nd minute, Di Maria passed through a full midfielder of the opponent and sent a good pass to Tevez. It's a pity that Tevez himself couldn't grasp it, and his shot missed the post and flew out of the baseline.
As time passed, Willard became a little impatient. Don’t really miss a goal and suffer another draw? Even if you are unlucky, Paraguay will score a goal in reverse and lose the game?
Seeing that his teammates in the frontcourt were still unable to open up the situation, Mascherano also stayed in the defensive midfield position and did not rush forward. Verard decisively assumed the responsibility of the central midfielder and began to advance forward to participate in the attack. .
In the 69th minute, Villard dribbled the ball past defensive midfielder Aranda and separated, then continued to rush into the penalty area. Left midfielder Lavezzi made a pass from the bottom. Villard fought for the top and grabbed the first point. Unfortunately, Under the interference of the opponent's center back Paul Da Silva, the ball failed to jump to the predetermined height. The ball was slightly higher and flew over the crossbar.
In the 75th minute, Velarde made a comeback. After getting the ball, he used his skills to continuously break through midfielder Delris Gonzalez and full midfielder Ortigosa, attracting midfielder Aranda and central defender on the right side of the frontcourt. After being surrounded by Paul Da Silva and full-back Bruno Valdez, he suddenly made a big move and sent the ball long into the large gap on the left rib of the penalty area.
Paraguay's defense has been severely skewed to the right due to several passes by Velarde and the movements of Di Maria, Pastore, Tevez and others, leaving no one on the left.
Originally, Velard just wanted to pass the ball to Lavezzi and get an offensive opportunity. As a result, the ball was passed a little too close to the goal. Lavezzi, who received the ball, did not stop the ball at all, but directly dived and headed the ball towards the goal.
The ball was less than ten meters away from the goal. Goalkeeper Anthony Silva pounced on the near corner, but Lavezzi hit the far corner. The ball flew past the goalkeeper without any suspense and into the goal.
Velard received an unexpected assist, helping left midfielder Lavezzi score a header. Argentina finally broke the deadlock in the away game and took a 1-0 lead.
The Argentine commentators finally breathed a sigh of relief:
"nice shot!"
"Finally a goal!"
"Villad sent a long-distance long pass assist, which helped Lavezzi directly dive and score the header, helping Argentina gain a 1-0 lead."
The Argentinian fans at the scene and in front of the TV also applauded happily.
Before the game started, everyone wanted to achieve a big victory like the semi-finals of the America's Cup and wipe away the haze of being tied with Ecuador in the first round. But now, what everyone thinks is that as long as they can win, that will be fine.
After the score balance was broken, Paraguay could not hold on. Anyway, losing one goal is a loss, and losing two goals is also a loss. Therefore, Paraguay began to counterattack heavily in the subsequent games, trying to score an equalizer.
However, Argentina immediately shrunk its formation and switched to defensive counterattack. With two major defensive midfielders, Velarde and Mascherano, it was difficult for the opponent to break through the Argentine defense without any luck.
In the 74th minute, Paraguay midfielder Delris Gonzalez almost sent a pass through Argentina's defense.
Mascherano has surrendered and failed to reach the ball. But Velarde was alert and moved a step ahead of Mascherano's side, then made a tackle, touched the ball halfway, and gave the ball to his teammate.
Otherwise, if the ball really passes, it is really possible to penetrate Argentina's defense and be caught by the opponent's center Barrios in the penalty area, posing a threat to the goal.
When Paraguay launched a massive counterattack, Argentina naturally did not forget to counterattack. If we can score another goal and seal the victory, it will be safer.
It's a pity that Argentina's scoring luck was a bit poor today.
In the 81st minute, Villard dribbled the ball forward, and after two consecutive hits with Pastore and Di Maria, he created a shooting opportunity. He hit the goal with a heavy shot about 23 meters away from the goal at the front of the penalty area. The angle was just right. , was saved by goalkeeper Anthony Silva.
In the 87th minute, Di Maria broke through from the right during a counterattack, then cut in and shot an arc shot into the far corner. It eventually hit the far post and flew out of the baseline.
Even in the final stages of injury time, Argentina still had a chance to score.
It's a pity that Otamendi fought for the landing point of his header during the corner kick attack. Under the interference of the opponent's defender, his header was slightly higher than the crossbar and failed to hit the goal frame. Otherwise, it will completely kill the suspense of the game.
Argentina missed the goal many times, but fortunately Paraguay failed to seize any opportunity. Until the end of the game, Paraguay failed to score even a goal.
In the end, Argentina narrowly defeated Paraguay 1-0 in an away game and won the second round of the World Cup preliminaries. Paraguay, after all, has limited strength and failed to avenge its 7-1 defeat to Argentina in the Copa America semi-finals.
In other World Cup preliminaries, Ecuador defeated Bolivia 2-0, Uruguay defeated Colombia 3-0, Brazil defeated Venezuela 3-1, and Peru and Chile tied 3-4 in a head-to-head battle.
After the second round, Uruguay and Chile became the only two teams with two consecutive wins and 6 points, ranking first and second in the South American World Cup preliminaries respectively. Argentina and Ecuador both have four points with one win and one draw, but Ecuador has one more goal difference than Argentina. Therefore, Ecuador ranked third and Argentina ranked fourth, barely entering the qualifying zone for the top four.
Brazil, Paraguay, and Colombia each have 3 points, ranking fifth, sixth, and seventh respectively. Peru, Venezuela, and Bolivia have suffered two consecutive losses and have 0 points, ranking at the bottom.
Of course, the 10 teams in the South American World Cup preliminaries will play a double round-robin, with 18 rounds of games. It is still early to talk about who will qualify and who will not. The games have to be fought one by one, and the points have to be won one by one. .
