After flying to Chile and joining his national team teammates, Velard felt the strange atmosphere in the team.
In fact, since October last year, the Football Association has no money to pay Gerardo Martino's salary. However, the Football Association made excuses and delayed it for several months. Everyone didn't take it too seriously. Why did the National Football Association think so? Will it drag down the head coach's salary?
It will be delayed by one or two months at most.
It ended up being really delayed.
Not only the head coach Gerardo Martino, but also the assistant coaches, team doctors and many other staff members have had their salaries delayed, or at most a little living expenses.
Martino hasn't received a penny of pay in five months.
It stands to reason that Argentina has just won the America's Cup, and peripheral products such as jerseys and sneakers are selling like hotcakes. There are also many sponsors, and they can get a part of the ticket revenue from every home game. The new champion of the America's Cup actually has no money to pay wages. Who dares to believe it?
But this really happened. The only explanation is that there were obstacles in the source, whereabouts, custody, etc. of the Football Association's internal funds. One is factionalism and the other is corruption.
This will naturally affect the country's competition. Medical conditions, equipment levels, travel, food and accommodation, etc., will all be greatly reduced.
For example, the food and accommodation conditions for this away game in Chile are obviously much lower than the last time they played in the America's Cup.
If it weren't for the national righteousness and the name of fighting for the country, many players in the team would probably give up.
When the players chatted privately, they kept complaining, but they couldn't tell the media or fans. They could only discuss it internally, but nothing could be changed.
Messi, Aguero, Velarde and others all have money, but they can’t use their own money to support the national team, right? Wouldn't that make him Shen Wansan?
Everyone can only do low-intensity recovery training listlessly to prepare for the World Cup preliminaries against the Chilean team.
At 20:30 in the evening on March 24, 2016, with the referee's whistle, the match between Chile and Argentina in the fifth round of the 2018 Russian World Cup South American Qualifiers officially started at the National Stadium of Chile.
In this game, Gerardo Martino sent out a 433 formation. Di Maria, Aguero, and Messi partnered with two forwards, and Velarde played in the middle of the midfield. But in fact, during the game, Gerardo Martino also gave Verard the status of a free agent throughout the game, and he could decide where to go and participate in offense and defense.
This kind of freedom has never been available to the national team before. But after Klopp's experiments, everyone has clearly seen Willard's strength. Whether it is his technology or physical fitness, he can support Willard as a free agent. It would be a waste if we don't do it this way.
As a result, no one expected it. Velarde gave the Chilean team a suffocating blow when he came up.
On the one hand, Willard was depressed because of the loss in the last round of the league. On the other hand, the bad things going on with the national team also made Willard a little frustrated. There is also the experience of high-stakes national team games, which also makes Velarde need wins to upgrade.
Therefore, Willard was quite active from the beginning of this game. As a result, in the 7th minute of the game, Velarde knocked the Chilean midfielder Matias Fernandez away while trying to grab the ball.
But Velarde was the one who got the ball first. Matias Fernandez was equivalent to hitting Velarde forcefully without being in a position to grab the ball. Therefore, although Matias was knocked down, Velarde was not called for a foul. The referee signaled Messi, who received Velarde's pass, to continue the game.
Messi was about to break through with the ball, but Matias Fernandez, who fell to the ground, was rolling on the ground in pain, clutching his thigh, and did not stand up to continue the game.
Seeing this, Messi kicked the ball out of the sideline, winning applause from some Chilean fans in the stands. The referee also immediately called the Chilean team doctor to come in and check. It turned out that Matias Fernandez was injured during the collision with Velarde, which shows how powerful Velarde is.
Only 7 minutes into the game, the Chilean team, playing at home, had to replace Matias Fernandez with No. 5 midfielder Francisco Silva.
I originally wanted to take advantage of the home field advantage and all the disharmony with the Argentine national team to win at home! Unexpectedly, he was hit hard at the beginning.
Velarde's movements didn't seem big, and he didn't mean to hurt anyone maliciously. I didn't expect Matias Fernandez to be so careless, and no one expected it.
It can also be seen from this that Velarde, who has increased his physique to 93 and passed the test of the Premier League, has greatly improved his physical confrontation ability after returning to South America.
The game restarted, and when the Chilean players and fans were still immersed in the depression of one player being injured and leaving the field in the first 7 minutes, Argentina had already launched wave after wave of powerful offensives.
Take advantage of his illness and kill him!
Although the Football Association is unreliable, it has already stood on the court and the players still have to go all out to win.
Wave after wave of offensive, the Chilean team finally failed to withstand.
In particular, the Chilean team had no way to defend against the breakthroughs of two dribbling masters, Velarde and Messi. If you guard against this, the ball will pass to the other foot; if you guard against that, the ball will pass to this foot. If they both defend together, Aguero and Di Maria will be left empty.
In the 21st minute, Verard dribbled the ball through the middle of the substitute midfielder Francisco Silva, attracting the joint interception of winger Beausejour and midfielder Marcelo Dias, and passed the ball. Into the gap on the right.
After Messi received the ball, Matthews passed through another defensive midfielder Felipe Gutierrez, and then cut in and shot, attracting full-back Eugenio Mena and center back Ha La and Medel jointly intercepted.
Another full-back, Israne, withdrew into the penalty area and followed center Aguero, leaving Di Maria empty on the other side.
Messi, who was pretending to shoot, made a fake shot and passed the ball. His foot dropped and knocked down the center back Medel in front of him, but he passed the ball across the penalty area line.
Di Maria met the ball in the left corner of the penalty area and fired furiously. He volleyed the ball without stopping and hit a heavy shot that went straight to the near corner of the goal.
Goalkeeper Bravo had been attracted to the right side of the goal by Messi's breakthrough and fake shot. Facing Di Maria's extremely fast and heavy long-range shot, he was helpless and could only watch the ball enter the net.
The Argentine commentators shouted excitedly:
"Goooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball went in!!!"
"Angel Di Maria's left-footed shot successfully opened the door for the Chilean team!"
"First, Velard broke through with the ball in the midfield, attracted three people to attack, and then passed the ball to Messi."
"Messi broke through with the ball, attracted the attention of three people and the goalkeeper, and then passed the ball to Di Maria, giving Di Maria an opportunity to shoot easily without being marked."
"Argentina leads Chile 1-0 away from home and has the upper hand."
