At 9:15 p.m. local time on July 1, Argentina, the Municipal Stadium de La Plata was brightly lit after the successful opening ceremony, and when the Argentine team appeared on the field, the stands erupted in cheers. In the stadium, which can accommodate more than 60,000 people, enthusiastic Argentine fans occupy most of the stands. The Bolivian fans are smaller in number, but they are not lighter, and Bolivian President Evo Morales was present at this time.

As a substitute, while the starters led the caddies on the pitch, Rafael followed the others to the bench. On the way, Carriso motioned to him: "Look at your popularity, it's terrible. ”

Rafael followed his line of sight and realized that there were fans on the sidelines holding his portraits. Above, he is dressed in blue and white, with his hands outstretched, as if he is running, which should be taken from the game against the United States. There was a warmth in his heart, although he had little status in the national team, there were always fans who remembered him.

Sensing his gaze, the stands were boiling, because they were close, and in the midst of the uproar, he could clearly hear them shouting his name.

Others asked expectantly: "Raphael, will you play?"

Someone confessed: "I love you, Raphael!

Someone was upset for him: "God bless you, if Che Qiao is smart enough, at least give you an angel time!"

Raphael was a little moved, but he couldn't say anything, so he could only bow solemnly to them and thank them for their support.

At the beginning of July, it was still winter in Argentina, and even if the stadium was roofed, it still couldn't stop the cold. Rafael, wearing a warm jacket, stood with his teammates as the Argentine national anthem was played. With his eyes set on the middle of the pitch amid the solemn and melodious sound of the national anthem, he could not feel too much of a sense of belonging to the country, but he still longed to be in the centre of the pitch in this shirt.

Not only did he not want to disappoint the fans who supported him, but it also stemmed from his competitive spirit.

With the pre-routine over, the game is about to begin, with the assistant referee on the pitch checking the match ball and goal net, and the players doing their final warm-ups.

Commentators from TV stations and online platforms around the world who broadcast the game began to give a quick introduction to the starters of both sides.

"Argentina lined up their long-trained 433 attacking formation. No. 10 Messi, No. 21 Ravic and No. 11 Tevez make up the front trident. In midfield, No. 14 Mascherano, No. 5 Cambiasso and No. 19 Banega lined up. At the back, No. 4 Burdisso and No. 6 Gabriel Milito partnered in central defence, No. 17 Rojo and No. 8 Zanetti were one left and one right, and the goalkeeper was No. 23 Romero. ”

Bolivia, on the other hand, opted for a conservative 451 formation. The single arrow in the front line is Marcelo Martins, the midfield five are No. 6 Flores, No. 15 Robles, No. 21 Campos, No. 10 Joselito Vaca and No. 7 Rojas, and in the backline, No. 4 Alvarez and No. 16 Lardes - this is also their captain on the field, No. 5 Rivero, No. 3 Gutiérrez, and the goalkeeper is No. 1 Arias. ”

Huaxia's official sports channel also broadcast the opening match at the same time, and the commentator was Fang Shen and guest Zhang Yaozhang.

After introducing the starters of both sides as usual, Fang Shen spoke: "Argentina occupies the right time and place in this game, even the official ball is blue and white, and the organizer is also well-intentioned. This Copa America is the eighth Copa America held in Argentina, except for the runner-up in the first session, the other six are champions, so Argentina, from players to fans, is determined to win. ”

Zhang Yao: "Yes, Argentina's thirst for honor has reached its peak, not to mention others, just Messi, hehe, this Copa America is very important to him, whether he can break the doubts of his hometown fathers and elders about him, it is a matter of one move." ”

"I remember the last time he scored for Argentina in a continental tournament for the senior national team, back to the last Copa America semi-final against Mexico, and I don't know how he played today. However, I was looking forward to him and Yunyi teaming up again, but unfortunately Batista has his own tactical arrangements. Fang Shen was a little disappointed, he was originally a fan of Argentina, and in recent years, only that friendly match was the most enjoyable for him to explain, not to mention that Yunyi is still Chinese, he loves Yunyi a lot.

"Yunyi's qualifications in the national team are too poor, and age is also a problem, so it's normal not to be arranged. Zhang Yao said, he was more calm, he didn't want his partner to talk too far away, "This time the Copa America Argentina was divided into Group A, in addition to the opponent Bolivia, there are Colombia and Costa Rica. The strength is not very strong, and the qualifying situation is relatively optimistic. ”

"Well, especially like Bolivia, which is at the bottom of the entire South American football world, their advantage lies in the plateau home, and it turns out that Argentina has suffered a big loss. But overall, Bolivia's performance was not convincing enough. Argentina and Bolivia have met 30 times in history, with Argentina winning 22, drawing 6 and losing 2, scoring 78 goals and conceding only 29 goals. But football matches, these are just a reference, it's hard to say what the result will be today, and it depends on the next performance of both sides. Fang Shen also took great pains to make himself look like a bowl of water.

However, the fans are unscrupulous, and they have predicted on the Internet how many goals Argentina can score today, and it is conservatively estimated that it will score more than 2 goals, right?

When the commentators from all over the world previewed the event, the time finally came to 9:45, everything was ready, Uruguayan referee Hirbella counted the seconds and blew the first whistle of this Copa America on time, Argentina vs. Bolivia, officially began!

Bolivia, who got the right to kick off, had a very clear purpose at the beginning, Martins who kicked off the ball directly to the feet of his teammates behind him, and after a few passes, Bolivia's formation quickly swung away, and the densely populated defensive line seemed to show their strategy today, they will definitely not play against Argentina, they just want to defend!

Tevez and Ravic only tentatively came up and pressed, the game had just started, and it was still the stage of testing each other's situation.

Soon, however, Argentina was tempted to end and began to blow the horn of attack - after all, the strength of both sides was there.

In the face of Argentina's super luxurious lineup, even if the Bolivian players have done a good job of psychological construction for themselves, they were still a little scramble at the beginning, only in the third minute, in order to block Rojo's pass to the middle, Campos was fouled for handball, and Argentina got a free kick opportunity in front.

Messi was standing at the penalty spot, and when the whistle blew, he hit the ball with the inside of his left foot, which went over the wall and into the middle of the penalty area, where Tevez quickly followed up with a header.

This excellent cooperation made most of the commentators excited, Fang Shen had already shouted "good ball", but unfortunately the tsundere ball went out of the door and did not give Argentina a dream start.

The Argentine TV commentator was very sorry: "The timing of the beast is very good, he is not offside, but it is a pity that it is a little bit worse." But it doesn't matter, this is just the beginning, with the super firepower of Messi, Tevez and Lavic, Bolivia's defense will be vulnerable. ”

Maybe everyone thinks so, even Bolivia is terrified, and no one takes this defeat to heart.

In the following time, Argentina did take the initiative, and in the 7th minute, Zanetti broke through with the ball on the side and was destroyed by the eager Bolivia.

Argentina won a corner, the corner didn't go far, Banega shot directly from a tight angle on the side, but it was blocked, and another corner was awarded, this time the ball fell directly into the penalty area, and Gabi Milito's header was cleared. Argentina pressed in full at this time, the Bolivian half was crowded, full of people, their clearance was not very successful, and the ball finally fell under Argentina's control, but given the dense defense, Cambiaso chose to pass back and the ball fell to the feet of Milito.

Milito instructed his teammates not to mess up the formation, and after passing with both feet, Messi received a pass near the center circle. In the face of interceptions and blockings by Bolivian players, Messi chose to break through with the ball himself.

When he dribbled the ball at his feet, a red alert lit up and down Bolivia, and for a while, all five nearby defenders chose to come over to intercept and block. But if the ball at Messi's feet is so easy to break, he won't be Messi.

Messi went from the side to the middle, Bolivia had no way to take him, and there were even players in the middle who couldn't keep up with his rhythm, the more they chased him, the more panicked they became, and they fell on the ground. All the way to the big penalty zone, Messi did not stick to the ball, and when most of the defensive force was involved, he chose to pass diagonally.

It's just that as soon as he passes the ball out, he regrets it.

Ravitch's shot was saved by the goalkeeper, but that wasn't the point, the point was that the moment he received the ball, the linesman raised the flag and was offside!

Messi is a little uncomfortable, he has been carrying the ball for so long, is it so difficult to make an anti-offside?

In fact, not only Lavic, but even Tevez on the right was offside at that time.

Such a good opportunity was squandered, not only Messi was sad, but even Rafael on the sidelines jumped angrily, but fortunately the little reason he had didn't make him shout: "Pigs, do you know that if you waste an opportunity, you will be struck by lightning!"

Don't blame him for being so angry, he knows how much the fans want a hearty win, and how much Leao wants to prove himself in the big tournament. Although Rafael also had dark and selfish thoughts in his heart, such as letting Argentina go to a desperate situation, would he be able to become a savior and establish his position in the national team in one fell swoop? But these thoughts were just a flash, and he clearly knew that Batista was not the Capa at that time, he was not short of people, and he could not be the savior.

He is not a cold-blooded animal either, Leao has a deep affection for his friendship, although he can't say it, but he also takes it to heart, so, in the national team, he never thought of stepping on the corpse of the other party. He sincerely hopes that his friends can get their wish and lead this national team to the top step by step.

Therefore, even in training, although he has some doubts about the performance of the main team, he also believes that everything will be better on the battlefield...... But in just ten minutes he realized that the situation had not changed in any way, and that it was much worse.

Perhaps Messi also had this worry and seemed a little anxious, when Argentina won the third corner, the ball fell to the back point, and he rushed up to grab a little big, and was whistled for a foul by the referee.

Messi did not argue with the referee, but ran to the sideline with a frown, asking for a change of shoes, the grass was a little slippery today, and the shoes he was wearing now made him feel bad.