Amid the cheers of the Argentines, the Brazilian players and fans seemed quite lonely.
This is the Olympics hosted by their country, this is the final, this is their chance to win the first Olympic gold medal for Brazilian football.
This is their home ground and their Maracanã shrine. As a result, they are now behind.
Fortunately, Neymar, as the team's number one star, stood up and encouraged his teammates loudly. After all, Brazil is only one goal behind, and Velarde isn't really omnipotent. At least, with so many Brazilian players chasing and intercepting him in open battles, it would be difficult for him to score goals in open battles.
Neymar told his teammates that the game should continue to play like this and not allow Velarde to easily get the ball and attack. The goal and the equalizer were left to him.
That's what he said, and that's what he did.
After the game restarted, Neymar began to frequently break through with the ball. And his skills are world-class in themselves. The breakthrough skills of Argentina's U23 players when facing Neymar are similar to those of Brazilian players facing Velarde. Neymar often connects two or three people, forming a situation. Danger.
Seeing this, Velarde had to frequently return to defense to participate in Neymar's defense.
With Velarde's interception, Neymar's breakthrough success rate dropped suddenly and he was no longer so sharp, but Velarde was also distracted and did not attack as many forwards. And Angel Correa and Calleri alone cannot break the Brazilian team's defense.
The two sides were in a stalemate until the end of the first half, with the score still 0-1, and the Argentine Olympic team temporarily took the lead.
Argentina is not worried about this score. After all, they are the leading side. If this score is still the same at the end, then they will win the final, win the championship and the gold medal.
If the Brazilian team does not panic, then it is not necessarily impossible to continue the game like this in the second half.
But it's impossible to think about it. The Brazilian Olympic team, which aims to win the first Olympic gold medal in team history, and is the host country, how can it be possible to accept losing in the final?
Therefore, after a 15-minute break and the game restarted in the second half, in view of Neymar being targeted by Velarde, other players in the Brazilian team began to strengthen the combination of teamwork and individual breakthroughs.
Brazil is a kingdom of football. Players who can be selected for the Olympic team, even if they are unknown, have good technical skills. The improvised Argentina Olympic team was somewhat unsatisfactory. Even with Willard reminding him from time to time, some teammates still failed to react in time and their opponents broke through the defense.
In the 57th minute of the second half, when Brazil's No. 11 left midfielder Jesus was about to break through midfielder Mauricio Martinez, Velarde noticed something bad and reminded forward Angel Correa who was returning to defense. Let him cover his position quickly to avoid Jesus breaking through Mauricio Martinez and driving straight in.
As a result, Correa was a little slow to react. By the time he heard Velarde's shout, reacted, and rushed behind Mauricio Martinez to fill the position, Jesus had already broken through Martinez and headed towards the big goal. He came over from the gap near the left corner of the penalty area.
Just when Velarde wanted to get rid of Neymar and go to intercept, Angel Correa may have felt that his reaction was a step too late, and he felt guilty, so he pulled Jesus down from behind in a hurry. .
"beep……"
Referee Fahani's whistle sounded, Angel Correa was shown a yellow card, and the Brazilian team was awarded a free kick in the frontcourt.
Velarde was a little disappointed, but he didn't feel that the free kick was too threatening, so he comforted Correa and then directed his teammates to form a wall.
The Brazilian team had several free kicks before, but they didn't score. Everyone thought they wouldn't score this time!
Unexpectedly, this free kick, taken by Neymar himself, really crossed the wall and flew into the dead center of the near-end goal.
Although goalkeeper Rulli made a save, the angle was too tight, almost a theoretical blind spot. He could do nothing but watch the ball go into the net with his own eyes.
In the 58th minute of the second half, the Brazilian team suppressed a free kick opportunity at the edge of the penalty area, and Neymar personally took the penalty and scored, leveling the score at 1-1.
The two sides are back on the same starting line.
Suddenly, all the Brazilians in the Maracana Stadium applauded and cheered enthusiastically, and even the whole of Rio de Janeiro was boiling. Velarde and others could even vaguely hear the cheers from outside the stadium and from all over Rio de Janeiro. Sounds, screams.
The Argentinians were obviously extremely disappointed. In particular, Angel Correa, who pulled down Jesus and gave his opponent a free kick, felt quite guilty. If he hadn't been impulsive, in fact, even if Jesus continued to move forward, he would have been intercepted by Velarde, making it difficult to really pose a threat.
As for passing?
The penalty area is densely packed with Argentine defenders. Even if Jesus passes to Neymar, Neymar's chances are not high.
Instead, this free kick took full advantage of Neymar's technical advantages, allowing him to directly arc the ball into Argentina's goal and equalize the score.
After the Brazilian team celebrated for more than 20 seconds, they returned to their own half, allowing Argentina to kick the ball in the circle and restart the game.
After all, they only equalized the score, not a reversal, so they couldn't celebrate too much and waste time.
After the game restarted, the Brazilian team, whose morale was boosted, once took advantage of the situation and suppressed Argentina.
However, this time the Brazilian team did not have such good luck, and no one in Argentina made any low-level mistakes. Coupled with Velarde's checking and command, the Brazilian team failed to score a goal and equalize the score for more than ten minutes.
At more than 70 minutes, the Brazilian team's offensive finally slowed down. After all, they are not iron men and cannot keep attacking.
The Argentine Olympic team, which had withstood the host's powerful offensive, breathed a sigh of relief and began to move forward with the ball, attacking at every level and focusing on positional warfare.
The attacking force in this area is of course Velarde, but the Brazilian team also knows this and strictly defends Velarde. Others, on the other hand, relaxed a little.
There was no other way. Velarde could only pass the ball to his teammates after taking the ball and attracting many players from the opponent's team to surround him.
As expected, the other Argentine players failed to seize the opportunity to score as the Brazilians expected.
In the 78th minute, Calleri had an excellent shot opportunity in the penalty area less than 10 meters away from the goal. However, he missed the shot with a volley. The ball rolled towards the goal and was directly grabbed and confiscated by the goalkeeper. .
Argentinian fans sighed neatly in the stands, and the Brazilians exclaimed that they had escaped. The commentators also felt sorry for Argentina.
Center forward Kaleri, who missed this opportunity, was also very upset and slapped himself hard on the forehead, but it didn't help. If you missed it, you missed it, and you can't do it again.
Argentina can only continue to pursue the next shooting opportunity.
