Chapter 152 The quarterfinals
"The first half is over. It turns out that if Colombia didn't score first, it wouldn't have encountered such a crushing defeat. However, their first record in the opening ten minutes of the game completely angered the Blue and White Army. The Eagles of Pampas let them know what a star is."
"Let's watch in silence for Colombia, and hope that Argentina can hold back in the second half and not cause another massacre."
"The last Cup of America champion was the last time, and this time he was going to go home after the group stage. I have to admit that only Brazil and Argentina are always strong in South America."
Although the commentators outside were praising Argentina, Basil was not in a good mood. Crespo's injury examination report came out, and he could not participate in the remaining games. This made him, a gentle man, want to curse. Although Argentina does not lack strikers, he can only be considered the world's top player.
Messi will surpass him in the future, but not now, Tevez can only be considered first-class. Although Milito has strength, he does not have the deterrent power of Crespo, and the reputation of making defensive players scared by just standing in front of the goal. At this time, Brazilian would rather be Messi be injured. If Xiaotiao knew what his head coach was thinking, he might be crying.
"The second half slowed down and I don't want to see anyone hurt anymore."
Basil can only say this: Crespo’s injury cannot be blamed on anyone. He is speechless when he pulls himself up. Now Basil can only hope that no one will be injured again.
So, after the second half of the game began, something that left all the fans speechless. Argentina kept passing in the midfield, but did not shoot for a long time. Colombia seemed to not want to equalize the score and continued to guard its own three-point area.
In this way, in the last twenty minutes, Colombia finally couldn't help it. If they lost in this game, they would have to go back to their hometown. Even if the opponent was the ultimate goal of this Copa America
oss, they can only do their best to kill the Great Devil.
Colombia finally understood the simple "life-and-death" problem, and there was not much time left for them. However, even if they made up their minds to attack, they found that they had hit a wall. The Argentine defense line, which was waiting for, was more than enough to deal with a weak brigade like them.
Taking advantage of their heavy pressure, Gago and Messi began to keep firing. They have not scored a goal in this game yet, and this would be a detriment to the reputation of their supernova. So, the two of them who no longer held back attacked the goal of Colombia.
Gago has moved to the right and kept receiving the ball and cutting inside the goal. This is also a good opportunity to exercise his left foot. He doesn't have so much time to deal with a powerful opponent. But this is not a data flow after all, as long as he thinks about adding skill points in his heart, it will be against the will of heaven.
The accuracy of the left foot is always not as accurate as the right foot. If you push and shoot, Gago can still grasp the direction. However, this is also the best way to defend the goalkeeper. After all, the angle of the push and shoot is easy to judge, unless it is too close. The distance between Gago's shot on the penalty area line has enough time for the goalkeeper to judge.
Instead, if he shot with his instep, the arc is there, the difficulty of judging has also increased, but the corresponding control has also decreased. Gago has no less than five shots with his instep in the second half, but none of them hit the goal frame. In the eyes of fans, this is a total waste of opportunity, it is too scam.
However, in the eyes of professional levels such as Redondo, Gago's proficiency in his left foot is constantly increasing. At least the ball is getting closer and closer to the goal post, so this kick hit the goal post.
"Oh!"
Gago sighed regretfully. This was his best chance, and there was not much time left. It seems that God doesn't want him to score in this game, but fortunately, Messi didn't score either.
Thinking of this, Gago looked at the same depressed little goofy. Messi dribbled through three people in a row and hit the diagonal corner against the goalkeeper. But this time, Colombia's goalkeeper drove the ball out with great courage. Anyway, Messi hit the goal frame several times, but there will always be defenders, goalkeepers, and posts to block the ball he shot out.
Messi's performance in the national team is a disease and it is not easy to treat.
Instead, Riquelme, who looked calm, scored again at the last moment, completing the feat of scoring twice. He received a back knock from Milito outside the penalty area, and directly shot coldly, and the ball rushed into the lower right corner of the goal. Colombia goalkeeper Callero picked up the ball in his goal for the fourth time, and he kicked it up with a depressed kick.
"In stoppage time, Riquelme scored his fourth goal in this game. What a reliable midfielder, if he is there, you don't have to worry about scoring. It can assist and shoot."
Just as the commentator sighed, Barcile made a substitution adjustment and wiped out the last time. First, he replaced the goal-winning hero Riquelme with Porto midfielder Gonzalez, and then replaced Messi with Tevez. After two substitutions, the three minutes of stoppage time were basically exhausted. The referee was not pretentious and directly blew the whistle to the end of the game.
"Congratulations to Argentina, they became the third team on the scoring line, and let us bid farewell to Colombia with applause. Although they were eliminated, they still thank them for their participation."
Thousands of Colombian fans on the stadium beat tens of thousands of Argentina fans for the first time. Although the team was eliminated, they still gave their own applause.
After the game, Colombia's midfielder Ferrera came over to exchange jerseys with Gago, but Gago did not refuse and agreed with a smile.
Finally, under the leadership of captain Ayala, all the players expressed their gratitude to the fans in the stands. The sharp-eyed Gago suddenly saw his family. A large group of people gathered in a better position, holding a pattern on it, which was the moment when Gago shot, and there were a few lines of text on the top, which meant "You are the best!"
But in an instant, Gago's brow frowned slightly because he saw the troubled woman Koko sitting behind his family with a large number of people. When Gago saw her looking over, she clapped her hands happily.
"Feer, go back and celebrate with champagne."
Messi came over and pulled Gago back to the court from his imagination.
"Yeah, here it's here."
In the locker room, Riquelme, who received champagne, was not stingy at all, and he sprinkled a full bottle. It was indeed a matter of happiness to qualify in the group, but Basilé at the press conference had a headache for the reporters. Unexpectedly, they all focused on Crespo, but these were not related to the players' affairs.
However, this incident made Basile, who was naturally stable, decide to replace a full substitute in the last group stage. Anyway, they have ensured to qualify. Their goal is to win the championship, and it is the same for everyone to meet. After all, only others have always avoided the big devil, so how can the big devil hide from others? Besides, Paraguay's main lineup may not be able to beat Argentina's substitute lineup.
In the next three days, Argentine players began to prepare for the knockout round after the group stage. After all, the group stage is just a warm-up for Argentina, and only the knockout round is considered to be the muscles of the activity.
On the first day, after the last round of Group A, everyone was shocked.
Bolivia, who was in a desperate battle, was unfortunately led Peru twice and had one more man, and was unfortunately tied by the opponent's top striker Pizarro scored two goals in a row, thus losing the right to qualify in the group.
If Peru draws Bolivia 2:2, it is understandable that Uruguay, the number one seed in Group A, was actually tied 0:0 by the host Venezuela, which made all fans unacceptable. Recoba, who went out with an injury, was unable to save Uruguay in the end, and the team ranked third in the group with four points with one win, one loss and one draw.
The host Venezuela, who ranked first in Group A, was actually the host Venezuela. Venezuela, which has not won in nearly 40 years in the Copa America, also scored four points with one win, one loss and one draw, but ranked first with two goals.
The second place is Peru and four points with one win, one loss and one draw. His goal difference is the same as Uruguay, but he scored the right to qualify for the second place with five total goals. Poor Uruguay, the same score is only third, but fortunately they can participate in the third place with the best third place, and the difference is the best third, or the second best third. However, they can only see if Mexico and Brazil in Group B are not good, because Colombia and the United States in Group C are both 0 points, and even the last victory cannot shake them.
But if possible, they still hope to participate in the best third-party competition, at least to be more beautiful.
The Bolivian players have already taken the plane that night to go home.
In the last two games of Group B at the start of the second day, Uruguay players collectively cursed after seeing Mexico's lineup. Is it true that all substitutes? Mexico, which had already advanced early, was all substitutes except goalkeeper Okoya.
"Nnd, agreeing that Mexico has a 'wild card' to participate in the competition was our biggest mistake."
The final result made them look as if they were dead. The 0:0 score made Chile likely to be the third in the group with the best results, and Uruguay, the winner of the 15-time Copa America championship, shamefully participated in the knockout round with the worst.
The result of Brazil's defeat in Elguado, who lost both games, was no longer surprising. Samba's army withstood the pressure well and successfully advanced to second place with a small win.
Including Argentina and Paraguay, which have already advanced to Group C, the top 8 of this Cup will be generated in advance, including Venezuela, Peru, Uruguay, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Paraguay in Group C. The matchup situation in the round of 8 will also be drawn after the group stage.
The last two games of the Group C group stage were completely useless, but the fans' enthusiasm was still very high. Of course, they did not want to see the two bottom players of the United States and Colombia, but the match between Argentina and Paraguay, which have won all the battles so far. After all, only these two teams have maintained all the victory so far. In the match between all the victory and all the victory, there will always be a team that will win the title of all the victory, or all the victory.
ps: I want to save the manuscript, I must save the manuscript. I can't survive without saving the manuscript. I almost couldn't come back today...
Chapter completed!