At 21:00 on the evening of June 26, in order to avoid match-fixing, the two group matches of the third round of Group D started at the same time, Iceland VS Croatia, Nigeria VS Argentina.
Nigeria defeated Iceland 2-0 in the second round and has 3 points, so there is still hope of qualifying. However, they must win, and Argentina already has 4 points in the first two rounds. As long as they tie in this round, they will be able to qualify.
Therefore, in the poor overall state of Argentina in this World Cup, Bauza chose a defensive counterattack in this game, allowing everyone to retreat significantly. Aguero, Di Maria, and Messi also joined the defense. , even if you can't steal the ball, it's okay to interfere a little. Then use the opponent's mentality that they must attack and win to counterattack from behind.
The passing ability of Messi and Velarde, and the quick counterattack ability of Di Maria and Aguero were fully demonstrated in this game.
Even if Nigeria knew what Argentina was planning, there was nothing they could do. They had to win to have any chance of advancing. Therefore, they can only take the initiative to attack at the risk of being counterattacked by Argentina.
Although they all tried their best to defend after losing the ball, due to the dribbling breakthroughs of Velarde and Messi, the rapid breakthrough of Di Maria and Aguero, and the versatility of Velarde, Nigeria failed to defend Argentina in the end. counterattack.
In the 18th minute, Willard got the ball in the backcourt and suddenly made a long pass through Nigeria's defense. Aguero rushed between defenders Omero and Ekon, and Ekon even wanted to reach out. He pulled Aguero down, but he was not decisive because he was afraid of giving Willard a free kick.
Therefore, Aguero broke free from Ekong's pull and smoothly rushed to the front of the penalty area to receive Velarde's pass, forming an anti-offside single shot.
The next thing is simple. As the Premier League's top scorer and Manchester City's leading striker, Aguero did not waste Velard's wonderful pass and volleyed against the attacking goalkeeper Us on the line of the penalty area. He drew the ball from the left side of Us's body and into the lower right corner of the goal.
Ouse pounced but failed to touch the ball and could only look back in despair as the ball hit the net.
Argentina opened the scoring and led 1-0.
The game after that was easy to play. With Villard sitting in the backcourt of Argentina, it was difficult for Nigeria to score. In the frontcourt, with the trident of Messi, Aguero and Di Maria plus the organization and delivery of midfielder Velarde, as well as Velarde's free kick threat, Nigeria was forced to attack again. The situation was not favorable. Argentina is in a good position.
Sure enough, before the first half was over, in the 41st minute, Messi passed two people on the right, hit a wall with Aguero, and then entered the penalty area and pushed the shot into the far corner.
Argentina extended the score to 2-0.
In the 60th minute of the second half, Di Maria dribbled through and was pulled down, winning a well-positioned free kick for Argentina. Willard once again used his free kick as a penalty kick and successfully sent the ball into the goal.
Argentina led 3-0 and completely sealed the victory. Then head coach Bauza began to make substitutions and let the main players take a rest.
But even so, in the 79th minute, Willard still took advantage of the opportunity to counterattack. With his superhuman breakthrough skills and speed, he ran all the way past three people and then entered the penalty area and lobbed a shot from behind.
4-0, Velarde helped Argentina completely kill the suspense of the game.
Velarde scored twice in three consecutive World Cup group matches, taking his total to 6 goals in the group stage. You know, many times, the top scorer in the World Cup does not have more than 6 goals in total.
Just depending on how England's Harry Kane performs later, there is a slight possibility of competing with Willard for the top scorer.
In the end, Argentina won the game 4-0 and qualified with 7 points from two wins and one draw. Croatia defeated Iceland 2-1 and qualified with 7 points from two wins and a draw.
However, their goal difference is not as high as Argentina's, so Argentina ranks first in the group and will advance to the knockout round against Denmark, the second place in Group C. Croatia, on the other hand, needs to face the powerful French team, the first in Group C.
Therefore, sometimes goal difference also plays a big role.
In the final round of Group E, Brazil defeated Serbia 2-0 to qualify first in the group, Switzerland drew with Costa Rica and qualified second in the group, and Serbia and Costa Rica went home.
In Group F, the defending champion German team, which was facing a life-and-death battle, was defeated 2-0 by the South Korean team, which had already been eliminated early. It was shocking.
Sweden defeated Mexico, which had already qualified early, 3-0 to qualify first in the group, while Mexico ranked second in the group.
In Group G, England 0-1 Belgium, both sides qualified hand in hand, Panama and Tunisia went home hand in hand. Harry Kane failed to score again, and Willard topped the scorer list with 6 goals, beating Kane's 5 goals.
An interesting situation occurred in the last Group H. Colombia had two wins and one loss and scored 6 points to qualify first in the group. However, Japan in second place and Senegal in third place both had 4 points and a goal difference. The same, the same number of goals, the results of the two sides ended in a draw.
In the end, Japan defeated Senegal in the group stage with 4 yellow cards less than Senegal's 6 fair play points, which added an interesting topic to the group stage of this World Cup and made many fans gain knowledge.
The World Cup group stage is all over, and the qualified teams will continue to compete in the knockout rounds, while those who did not qualify will have no choice but to go home. But even when we go home, everyone's mood is different.
Some teams, such as defending champion Germany, were eliminated in disgrace. And a team like Peru, which won points and scored goals in its first World Cup, will obviously be treated like a hero when it returns.
On June 30, the first 1/8 finals began, with France VS Croatia. Croatia played very well and once forced France to 3-3. Unfortunately, French rookie Kylian Mbappé scored a stoppage-time winner and sent Croatia and Modric home 4-3.
France became the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of this World Cup.
Subsequently, the second game was Uruguay VS Portugal. Cristiano Ronaldo failed to perform the miracle of carrying Portugal forward. Portugal was eliminated by Uruguayan striker Cavani’s two goals. Uruguay became the second team to advance to the quarterfinals. .
The third game is Russia VS Spain.
So football is round. Germany was defeated by South Korea. In this game, Spain was defeated by Russia in a penalty kick. The host nation eliminated Spain, performed a miracle, and entered the quarterfinals of this World Cup.
The fourth game is Argentina VS Denmark. The winner of this game will face the host Russia.
