Velarde was also happy to see Messi score and open the scoring for Argentina in the final. He has a plug-in in hand, and it is only a matter of time before he becomes king. In this World Cup, if Argentina can win the championship, Messi can also perform to a certain extent, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the results, he can silence most fans.
After all, Messi should have won the title 4 years ago, but unfortunately he was blocked by the German team.
There should be no doubt this time.
After losing the ball and falling behind, the French team became anxious.
They know that with Velarde as the pinnacle, it will be difficult for the French team to score against Argentina. At least, if they continue to play defensive counterattack, it will be difficult to achieve success. Argentina wishes that the French team would stay in their own half, and they can win the championship with a score of 1-0.
Of course, this was not possible for the French team. They stepped up their attack in the following time and tried to equalize the score before the end of the first half.
After all, Willard is only one person, and sometimes he is unable to do anything at the same time.
In the 41st minute, after Griezmann held the ball and attracted Velard to his side, he suddenly made a big foot transfer and moved the ball to the other side where Mbappe was.
Although Velarde immediately loudly reminded his teammates to pay attention, Mbappe still used his super personal ability to break through and overtake from the wing, directly broke through Biglia's defense, and then met with full-back Talli Yafiko's entanglement made a pass from the bottom, and finally Giroud grabbed the first point in the penalty area and completed the header.
The threat of this ball was not small, and it hit the goal frame. Fortunately, Caballero concentrated and made a save immediately, successfully pushing the ball over the crossbar. Otherwise, the French team might really equalize the score.
However, after increasing the attack, the French team's defense will naturally expose more gaps.
Before the end of the first half, Velarde passed a very penetrating long pass from the backcourt, accurately passed the ball through the gap, and found Aguero.
Unfortunately, Aguero's semi-single shot was interfered by defender Umtiti and missed the angle. Goalkeeper Lloris made a slight pounce to change the line, and finally missed the post.
At the end of the first half, the two sides entered the intermission with a score of 1-0. Argentina temporarily took the lead by one goal with Messi's supplementary goal in the 31st minute.
However, this lead was not big, so head coach Bauza was still very nervous during the halftime break. He kept telling everyone to be careful of the French team's counterattack in the second half, especially Mbappe's speed and Griezmann's breakthrough. , and Pogba's pass.
Of course, Argentina's cards are not bad either. Bauza asked Di Maria, Messi, and Aguero to step up their running in the second half.
Whether they can run into gaps is their business, and whether they can pass the ball is Villard's business. As long as they can get out of the gap, with Villard's awareness and passing ability, there is a high success rate in getting the ball to their feet.
It's the last final anyway, don't be afraid of wasting your energy, you can fight until you get cramps, as long as you can win.
Everyone nodded firmly, and when they finally left the locker room, they held hands and encouraged each other.
Soon, the second half of the game began.
The French team continued to strengthen their offense and no longer played their defensive counterattack. Giroud, Mbappe, Pogba, and Griezmann began to take turns attacking Argentina's defense.
Aguero wanted to come back to join the defense, but Velarde loudly refused and told him to go to the front and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.
Indeed, it was Messi, Aguero, and Di Maria who ran in the frontcourt and did not retreat, which caused the French team's full-backs to not dare to press too much to participate in the attack. On the contrary, it relieved Argentina's defense. pressure.
Coupled with the intimidation of Willard in the middle, Kante and Matuidi did not dare to rush into the frontcourt. As a result, the French team only had four frontcourt players who rotated and cooperated to attack.
This makes Argentina's defense much easier. Even if they deliberately avoid Velarde, Velarde can use his voice to direct his teammates to defend and fill positions. Even if there are occasional fish that slip through the net, goalkeeper Caballero also performs well. , did not allow the French team to score.
The movement of Messi and others in the frontcourt also had an effect.
In the 64th minute, Otamendi successfully intercepted Pogba's attempt to pass the ball to Giroud. Velard immediately threw away Mbappe beside him and ran out of the gap. Otamendi passed the ball in time.
Willard glanced up at the frontcourt before he could catch the ball. Then, before Mbappe could get close to counterattack, he stopped the ball and made a long pass, driving the ball into the frontcourt.
His powerful strength and precise footwork successfully passed the ball to Messi on the right.
Although full-back Lucas rushed over to interfere, Messi's strong technical ability still smoothly unloaded the ball, and then hit the wall with the supporting Aguero before cutting inside towards the French team's goal restricted area.
At the same time, Aguero was in the middle and Di Maria quickly followed up on the left. The French team's defense was in chaos.
Messi used small skills to dodge Lucas, who was desperately fighting back, while dribbling the ball into the penalty area. At this moment. Lucas didn't even dare to commit a foul, so he could only keep pulling in the hope of stretching out his feet to intercept the ball. The players in the middle did not dare to leave their posts without permission, fearing that Messi would pass the ball over.
In the midst of the entanglement, Messi's dribbling was forced to the right rib of the penalty area near the baseline, and the angle was already very small. At this time, Messi volleyed from a small angle, causing full-back Lucas and center back Umtiti to fall to the ground to block the hole of the shot. Goalkeeper Lloris also stood at the near corner and stretched out his hand nervously, trying to save.
As a result, Messi's dropped foot did not shoot. Instead, he passed an inverted triangle and sent the ball back outside the penalty area.
Everyone looked in the direction of Messi's pass and saw that Velarde, who had been passing the ball in his own half just now, had used his unparalleled speed to surpass Pogba, Kante and others and rushed into the penalty area. Outside the top of the arc, facing Messi's inverted triangle pass, he shot the ball without stopping, creating a super world wave that later reached a speed of 167 kilometers per hour.
The ball flew past the head of French defender Varane in the penalty area like a phantom. Varane risked his life and tried to header the ball but failed to touch the ball. Then, it hit the left pillar, making a loud "bang" sound that shook the door frame, and then bounced into the net.
As for goalkeeper Lloris, he was guarding Messi's shot from a small angle at the right post just now. When he discovered Messi's fake shot and passed the ball, he turned around and pounced to the left, but he couldn't reach it. In the end, he didn't even make a save. Just watched helplessly as the ball flew into the goal with an afterimage behind it.
"Goooooooooooooooooooal..."
"The ball went in!!!"
"Villad's super world wave came from Messi's assist."
"Messi passed and shot, his performance was perfect."
"Villade sealed the victory for Argentina."
"With the two-goal gap, it's not easy for the French team to come back."
Indeed, this is already the second half, and the gap of two goals is enough to suffocate in the final. So Argentina did have reason to celebrate wildly.
And Willard has already raised his goals in this World Cup to 15 goals, once again setting a new record for goals in a single World Cup, and is only one short of Klose's total World Cup goal record of 16 goals. .
Unfortunately, the French team counterattacked wildly later, and Willard had to stay behind to guard against the French team's attack, so there were not as many opportunities to participate in the attack as in the previous games.
Until the end of the game, the French team had a perfect pass and cut between Mbappe, Pogba, and Griezmann to tear apart Argentina's defense. Finally, Mbappe scored and got a goal back.
Unfortunately, before that, Messi had once again assisted Di Maria to score a goal.
In the end, Argentina defeated France 3-1 and won the 2018 World Cup in Russia. With 15 goals in 7 games, Velarde was undoubtedly elected as the top scorer (Golden Boot Award) and best player (Golden Boot Award). ball award).
Messi scored two passes and one shot in the final and was elected as the final MVP. He also won the World Cup championship trophy convincingly, becoming the third football champion after Pele and Maradona.
As for Velarde, although he has fewer personal honors than Messi and has less seniority, everyone can see that with his strength, if he leads Argentina to win the next World Cup, he will undoubtedly become the fourth. The ball king.
By then, Argentina will have three football champions and will replace Brazil and become a true football kingdom.
