The 3-0 victory over Chile got off to a good start, making Argentina even more enthusiastic about winning the championship. Countless media and fans must be sure that the champion of this century's Copa America is Argentina.
Although the Argentine Football Association has problems of one kind or another, Argentina has too many geniuses, such as Messi, Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria, Velarde, etc., emerging in endlessly. Even if other teams go all out It can't be stopped, even if the Argentine Football Association drags its feet behind.
On June 10, in the second round of the group stage, the first match was Chile VS Bolivia. After losing to Argentina in the first round, the Chilean team defeated Bolivia 2-1 in this round, maintaining the hope of qualifying.
Then it was Argentina's turn.
At 21:30 pm local time, at Soldier Field in Chicago with a capacity of more than 60,000 people, Argentina faced the challenge of Panama in the second round of the group stage.
Panama is a little worse than Chile, but they won Bolivia 2-1 in the first round. Now the Chilean team also beat Bolivia by the same score, so Panama's primary goal when facing Argentina is to concede fewer goals. Even if they lose, they just need to lose fewer goals than the Chilean team, so that they can fight against the Chilean team in the final round. , as long as there is a tie, you can qualify.
Under the guidance of this idea, Panama put up the ultimate defensive formation of 451 against Argentina. Three defensive midfielders and two wing-backs who could move up or down tried to use a big bus and iron barrel formation to resist Argentina's attack. attack.
Unexpectedly, Panama's array of buses and iron barrels only resisted for 5 minutes before it failed.
This was a corner kick caused by Villard's cross pass from the front of the penalty area to his teammate Mascherano. Mascherano's powerful long shot from outside the penalty area caused defender Luis Enriquez to destroy the ball out of the baseline.
Then, Messi took a corner kick on the right. Velard jumped high among the crowd in the penalty area, overwhelmed the crowd, and made a powerful lion's head to head the ball into the goal.
"Goooooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball went in!!!"
"Villad, Velard's header!"
"Villad grabbed Messi's corner kick, jumped high in the penalty area, swung his head and headed the ball into the Panama goal."
"Argentina opened the scoring and led Panama 1-0!"
"The connection between Messi and Velarde gave Argentina a lightning goal in the first 5 minutes."
"There should be no problem in this game."
"Panama does not have the strength to reverse Argentina."
The next game went as everyone expected. Although Panama tried its best to resist and did not want to lose too much goal difference, it still could not stop the indiscriminate bombardment of the Pampas Eagles.
In the 19th minute, Messi broke through with the ball and was fouled by his opponent. He created a free kick and took the penalty himself, helping Argentina expand the score to 2-0.
At this score, Panama started to work hard, because they and Chile both defeated Bolivia 2-1, and Argentina beat Chile with a score of 3-0. They could not lose by the same score as the Chilean team, so they would lose on goal difference. There is no advantage anymore.
If they can maintain this score until the end of the game, they will have an advantage in the goal difference competition with Chile. By then, they will qualify as long as they draw with Chile.
Of course Argentina also knows this. Most of the players have begun to slow down their offensive pace and are ready to maintain the score until the end of the game.
But Velarde did not do this because he needed to gain experience in important competitions such as the America's Cup to upgrade. Messi didn't do this either, maybe because of professional ethics?
As a result, there were situations on the court where Willard or Messi still went all out to break through and shoot when they got the ball.
And Messi seems to be in much better shape than Velarde in this game. Messi, who is very capable in his own right, had a huge outburst in this game.
In addition to making a free kick in the 19th minute and taking the penalty himself, in the 28th minute Messi passed two people and reached the penalty area. He then hit the wall with Higuain who was in charge and then reached the small penalty area line. Scored a volley from a distance.
Goalkeeper Penedo couldn't react at all when faced with such a close shot. He could only make a futile save, but he didn't touch anything and just watched the ball fly into the goal.
Messi scored twice to help Argentina expand the score to 3-0.
This score is the same as Argentina's victory over Chile. If the two sides are tied in the last game, with the same points, the same goal difference, and the same number of goals, then I am afraid that the method of comparing the number of red and yellow cards will have to be used.
In this regard, Panama is far behind. They received a total of 6 yellow cards in their first 2-1 win over Bolivia. In this game, he had already received two yellow cards in order to resist Argentina's attack.
Therefore, this score has declared that Panama's plan to defend and lose less on goal difference has failed. Next, they can only choose to attack and see if they can score goals. While narrowing the point difference, they will be on goal difference with Chile. Compare the number of goals scored in the same situation.
So after the game restarted, Panama, who was determined to defend, finally had no choice but to attack. However, Argentina's defense includes Otamendi, Mascherano, Banega, and Velarde who spares no effort in back-and-forth defense. Panama's little offensive power can even scratch Argentina's itch. Less than.
Not only that, because the starting lineup sent by Panama itself is not used to attack, but to defend, so the offensive power is not enough, because of the empty backcourt problem caused by the forward pressure attack, it is still suffering from Argentina's counterattack. threaten.
But they have to attack, they can't even dare to try it, right?
They are losing anyway. For the sake of the final life-and-death battle, they can only attack. As for Argentina's counterattack, they can only pray that Argentina's own players are not accurate or that they are lucky.
But obviously, Panama did not have good luck in this game. Originally, other Argentine players did not have much motivation to compete, but Velarde and Messi were still pursuing goals.
In the 40th minute, Mascherano's pressing caused Panamanian wing-back Armando Cooper to make a passing error. The ball intended to be passed to forward Blas Perez was intercepted by center back Otamendi. Intercepted, and then without waiting for Perez to counterattack, Otamendi handed the ball to Velarde who was returning to defense.
Velarde caught the ball, turned around, and passed the ball in one go. He instantly passed the Panamanian midfielder Godoy who was counterattacking, and then dribbled the ball forward.
Pimentel, another Panamanian defensive midfielder, tried to intercept Velarde and even tried to make a flying tackle. However, Velarde predicted it in advance. He made a spin and gave way to Marseille, and then broke through again in an instant.
At this time, Velarde had already crossed the center line and faced Panama's back line.
