When the game reached the semi-finals, it became intense. After all, there are only 4 teams left. Each semi-final will produce a team that will participate in the finals, and the attention has suddenly increased.
In particular, the match between the host country, the United States, and the favorite, Argentina, was highly hyped by the American media and attracted the attention of countless fans.
As a North American country, it will undoubtedly be a great honor to be invited to participate in and host the Copa America in South America. If the United States can defeat Argentina, advance to the finals and eventually win the championship, it will be a great honor.
Given U.S. Soccer's status in the world, if this achievement can really be accomplished, it would indeed be an honor.
Even if Argentina cannot be defeated, with the attractiveness of the host country, Argentina's favorite to win the championship, and the attraction of superstars such as Messi and Velarde, this semi-final has attracted unprecedented attention in the United States.
At 21:00 on the evening of June 21, the NRG Stadium in Houston, which can accommodate more than 70,000 people, was packed. With the whistle of referee Caceres, the semi-finals of the 2016 Centenary America's Cup USA vs. Argentina officially began.
As the host nation, the US team had more than 50,000 home fans at the game. Although more than 20,000 people from Argentina came, some people did not buy tickets at all. There were only more than 10,000 people in the stands.
But this does not prevent Argentina from defeating the United States.
As a world hegemon, the Americas have always been regarded as the back garden of the United States. As a major South American country, Argentina naturally does not want to become a vassal of the United States. In addition, Argentina has fallen from a developed country to a developing country in recent years, and there is no lack of American financial colonization behind it. Many Argentines are also dissatisfied with the United States.
Of course, the United States supported the United Kingdom in the Falklands War, which also caused humiliation to Argentina. Although they did not say much about it, Argentinians remembered it in their hearts.
Since they met the United States in this semi-final, as the football team representing Argentina, they naturally had to go all out to teach the Americans a lesson. Even if you don't take into account the historical grievances between the two sides, it is quite satisfying to rub the team of the world hegemon and the host country on the ground.
As for Alan Willard, there is no need to mention it. As a Chinese, he naturally regards the United States as his number one enemy. He is naturally very motivated when he encounters such things that undermine his opponent's face.
Argentina is currently ranked first in the world, and the United States is ranked 31st. This difference in strength is too big. Even if the American team is the host and waits for work, the schedule has created many obstacles for Argentina and allowed Argentina to fly a lot more. In the city, there were more than 50,000 home fans cheering, but they still couldn't withstand Argentina's indiscriminate bombardment.
The organization and breakthrough abilities of Velarde and Messi, the running and finishing abilities of Aguero and Higuain, the defense and assists of other players, etc., allowed the US team to perform even in the cheers of tens of thousands of home fans. It’s also overwhelming.
Relying on the price of a defender's yellow card, the American defense held on for more than ten minutes, but eventually the defense failed in the 18th minute.
Velarde, who was very enthusiastic about playing against the Yankees, got the ball from the left side of the midfield in the 18th minute. He first knocked down the wing-back Susi with his bicycle, then used the ball to break through the full-back Yedlin, and then made a move from the bottom. The cross was passed and knocked down the center back Joff Camron who stepped forward to cover the defense.
Villard then spiked the ball and cut inside, dribbling the ball along the baseline into the penalty area, causing chaos in the U.S. penalty area. Coupled with Higuain and Aguero's movements in the penalty area, the US team's defense has been completely disrupted. No one even paid attention to Messi outside the penalty area.
After attracting the main attention of the goalkeeper and defenders, Willard made another inverted triangle pass and sent the ball to the penalty area in the penalty area.
Messi, who quietly cut inside and inserted into the penalty area, appeared in the passing route just in time. He volleyed the ball with his left foot without stopping the ball and easily kicked the ball into the lower right corner of the goal.
The goalkeeper Guzan was attracted by Velarde to the left area of the goal. He couldn't reach the ball at all. The distance was too far and he couldn't even make a save. He just watched the ball go into the goal.
"Goooooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball went in!!!"
"Villad made a one-stop breakthrough on the left, cut inside and passed the ball in an inverted triangle, assisting Messi to volley into the far corner and score."
"The connection between Velarde and Messi has increasingly become Argentina's most important scoring method."
"The two of them are very high in terms of personal skills and football intelligence. One person is enough to give the opponent a headache. As a result, Argentina now has two such people, and there are also the movements of Aguero, Higuain and others. How can they stop this?" live?"
"Argentina is already leading 1-0, and the host country doesn't look like it can come back."
After scoring the goal, Messi did not run to the sidelines alone, but ran towards Velarde, hugged Velarde, and made a one-stop breakthrough and inverted triangle pass to Velarde. The ball expresses praise.
Willard was happy too.
Although he may have surpassed Messi with the help of plug-ins, his respect for Messi has not diminished at all.
Velarde is very happy to be praised by Messi.
The game continues.
Trailing by only one goal, the Yankees will naturally not give up hope of a comeback, and as the host and world hegemon, they will also receive some care from the referee and make aggressive moves in an attempt to scare Argentina.
Unfortunately, the technical strength of the two sides is very different. Argentina rarely collides directly with the opponent and usually passes the ball out early when the opponent comes to grab the ball.
The only exception is Willard. He is eager for the other party to collide with him so that he can use his own strengths and teach the other party a lesson.
In the end, he really encountered it.
In the 26th minute, when Willard received a pass from his teammate and controlled the ball, the American team's midfielder Michael Bradley, who rushed to grab the ball, not only did not give up his intention to grab the ball, but also He fell to the ground and shoveled towards Velarde's feet with his spikes on.
This is a plan to destroy Velarde even if he can't grab the ball!
How could Villard indulge him? First of all, with a consciousness as high as 96, Villard judged Michael Bradley's intentions at an extremely fast speed, and then reacted quickly to push the ball away to avoid the opponent. After touching the ball, he jumped upwards, making the appearance of jumping to avoid the opponent's flying tackle.
But Velarde didn't jump high enough. As soon as Michael Bradley's flying tackle reached Velarde, Velarde's body fell down and stepped on Michael Bradley's calf. On the road, the spikes directly broke the skin of Bradley's calf, causing blood to flow out.
Michael Bradley hugged his calf and screamed. Willard also lost his center of gravity and fell down because he stepped on the opponent's flesh. He also pretended that the fall was serious and rolled on the ground a few times before groaning. Hengji got up with the help of his teammates.
On the surface, this incident was just an injury caused by Velarde accidentally stepping on the ground after jumping to avoid Michael Bradley's flying tackle. Therefore, although the referee Caceres was a little biased towards the home team, he did not show a yellow card in the end. It was just a foul called on Willard.
Velarde did not defend himself, because Michael Bradley was helped down after the team doctor stopped the bleeding.
He bled the opponent and caused one of the main players to end the game early. Velarde was already satisfied. As for the referee calling him a foul, he didn't care. Since he was in the midfield, there was no possibility of a direct free kick and there was no threat.
