The next game was easy to play. Although Iceland tried to use the advantage of being taller and larger to counterattack by adopting an aerial bombing strategy of passing crosses from the wing and fighting for the top of the penalty area, Velarde was versatile and could not only attack, but also All-around defense.
With a defensive ability of 97, coupled with speed, physique, grabbing points, jumping, and heading ability, Iceland's crosses from the wing were basically resolved by Velarde.
Even if he occasionally misses the ball due to his position, he can direct his teammates to defend, or goalkeeper Caballero can resolve it.
Iceland's offense never quite clicked.
As for Argentina, with Velarde at the back defensively, they have no worries and the front three have plenty of opportunities to attack. Even though it is difficult to score goals in sports matches due to their weak confrontation ability, the existence of Willard has created a free kick problem for Iceland.
As a result, in the 37th minute, Messi passed three people and then assisted Aguero to score. The reason why the three Icelandic defenders did not dare to foul Messi was because they were worried about Velarde's free kick. As a result, Messi passed the three players and sent a wonderful pass, assisting Aguero to score.
Argentina leads 2-0 and basically seals the victory.
Although Iceland stunned the world by defeating England in the European Cup two years ago, it is still difficult to upset Argentina, which has two great players, Velarde and Messi.
The first half ended with a score of 2-0, and there was little change in the second half. Although Iceland occasionally used crosses from the wing to create threats, they were ultimately unable to break through Argentina's goal.
Argentina, on the other hand, has Messi, Velarde, Di Maria and others controlling a large amount of the ball. Although the World Cup has just started and the state has not yet been established, and there are not many opportunities in sports battles, the set-piece effect is very good.
In the 68th minute of the second half, Di Maria's shot from the left resulted in a corner kick. Velarde stepped forward to fight for the top, leaping high in the penalty area filled with Icelandic experts, overwhelming Icelandic center backs Oudnarsson and Ragnar. He grabbed the first point and scored with a header, sending the ball into the Icelandic team's door again.
Velarde scored twice, helping Argentina expand the score to 3-0, completely killing the suspense of the game.
The remaining time became garbage time. Bauza began to make substitutions one after another, letting Messi, Di Maria and other weak or injury-prone players take a rest, and replaced them with substitute players to find the feeling of the game.
In the end, Argentina successfully won the first game of this World Cup with a score of 3-0 and got off to a good start.
After the game, as expected by Willard, a single goal in the World Cup is indeed worth 100 million experience points. From this, Willard received 100 million starting points + 200 million for 2 goals + 300 million winning prizes + A-level performance 500 million = 1.1 billion experience.
If you calculate it this way, the experience of the top scorer in the World Cup will be 2 billion, the best player 5 billion, and the champion 10 billion. If you can win the championship in the end, you will definitely be promoted.
For Willard, whose upgrade experience is now astronomical, he can only rely on the World Cup and Golden Globe Awards, World Footballer, and Lawrence World Sports Award to gain experience.
The club's regular competition experience has become minimal.
In another group match in the same group, Croatia defeated Nigeria 2-0 as expected and also won the first round of the group stage.
In the next few group matches, Switzerland drew with Brazil 1-1, defending champion Germany lost to Mexico 0-1, and Colombia lost to Japan 1-2, all of which were considered upsets.
In particular, the defending champion Germany lost 0-1 to Mexico, which made everyone fear that the curse of "the defending champion will have difficulty qualifying for the group stage" has arisen again.
Next, the second round of the group stage started. Russia in Group A defeated Egypt, where Salah was injured, 3-1 and qualified early. Uruguay defeated Saudi Arabia 1-0 and qualified with host Russia. The remaining Egypt and Saudi Arabia can only fight for honor in the third round of the group stage.
In the second round of Group B, Portugal and Spain both won as expected. Although the score was not big, taking all three points was the biggest victory.
In Group C, France won two consecutive games 1-0 against Peru and qualified ahead of schedule. The second place will not be determined until the third round.
On June 21, the strong dialogue between Argentina and Croatia in the second round of Group D officially began.
Before the game started, everyone thought that Argentina, which had the two kings of Messi and Velarde and defeated Iceland 3-0 in the first game, could easily win.
Unexpectedly, Croatia, led by their captain and core Modric, played a high-level defensive counterattack and scored two goals by taking advantage of the few offensive opportunities.
As for Argentina, Messi, Di Maria, Aguero and others were collectively lost. In the end, it was only through Velarde's personal ability, a solo breakthrough in Longtan, multiple goals in a row, and a free kick that the score was 2- 2 tied with Croatia, a big upset.
Although Velarde ranks first among the scorers with four goals in two games, Argentina will be tied by Croatia, which casts a shadow on the prospects of the favorites to win the championship.
After all, the national team is different from the club. The club plays together for a long time, while the national team is put together temporarily. Moreover, everyone has just finished playing last season and has come to participate in the World Cup. The stronger the team and the stronger the players, the easier it is for the club to fall into the final championship battle, which consumes a lot of physical fitness and energy.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand that Argentina collectively sleepwalked in this game. If Velarde hadn't helped Argentina score two goals with his super personal ability and prevented Croatia's other attacks, Argentina might have lost.
Football is indeed round. Argentina, with its two great kings, Velarde and Messi, seems not to be a sure winner in the World Cup!
In Group E, Brazil defeated Costa Rica 2-0 and finally returned to normal. In Group F, Mexico defeated South Korea 2-1 and qualified early with two consecutive wins. South Korea lost two consecutive games and was eliminated early. Germany 2-1 Sweden finally retained some hope of qualifying.
In Group G, Belgium 5-2 Tunisia and England 6-1 Panama had two hearty victories. Harry Kane even used his hat-trick in this game to beat Alan Wye with a 5-goal advantage. Ladd, ranked first in the scorer list.
Belgium and England also qualified together, while Tunisia and Panama had no choice but to fight for honor in the final round.
In Group H, Japan 2-2 Senegal, Colombia 3-0 Poland, except for Poland who lost two consecutive games and was eliminated early, no qualifying team has been born yet, it is a mess.
At the beginning of the final round of the group stage, Uruguay defeated Russia 3-0 and took first place in Group A, with the host region ranked second. Egypt, which lacked Salah, could not even beat Saudi Arabia and left the World Cup in Russia with a humiliating three-game losing streak.
At this time, if you want to say who Egyptian fans hate the most, it is undoubtedly Real Madrid center back Ramos, who fouled in the Champions League final and caused Salah to be injured and unable to participate in the World Cup.
In the third round of Group B, Portugal drew with Iran 1-1, and Spain drew with Morocco 2-2. Spain and Portugal qualified together, ranking first and second.
In Group C, France and Denmark qualified together with a 0-0 tacit understanding. Although Peru defeated Australia 2-0, it could only be ranked third and went home.
But Peru scored two goals and scored three points in its first trip to the World Cup, which was considered a great success. It was countless times better than the Chinese team in 2002, which also participated in the World Cup for the first time.
