Chapter 51: The Frustrated
At the beginning of the second half, Dutch center forward Babel, who had the ball, broke through in the middle and fired a low right-footed shot straight into the Argentine goal from 20 meters in front of the goal.
After the break, Dutch coach Dehan took the lead in making substitution adjustments, replacing the in-condition Peters and then replacing Snow with Maduro, who performed well in the first half. Having played as a shadow striker in the youth team, he has been responsible for defending midfield at Ajax. At the end of the 04-05 season, he was named Ajax's Rookie of the Year and won the Basten Rookie Award, which also made the former captain of the national youth team selected for the Dutch national team under Basten at the age of 20.
Maduro has the reputation of "new Rijkaard" in Amsterdam, and his performance at the World Youth Championships in the Netherlands has attracted the attention of many experts, and in the 06-07 season, Maduro has been in the main position in the Ajax squad and selected for the Dutch national team, in the key game against the Czech Republic, wearing the number 6 to play the whole game, obviously, in Basten's eyes, Maduro has become the successor of Davies and Kocu.
In addition to the defensive midfield, Maduro can also play the role of a defender, but as a defensive midfielder, his attacking type is extremely strong, strong long-range shots in front of the penalty area, as well as accurate through passes and balls in counterattacks, coupled with his tall stature, which is a bit similar to Juventus' Vieira, and the development space is huge.
His presence was no doubt a sign that the Dutchman had fully blown the horn of attack, and Babbel's powerful long-range shot was just a dismount, an appetizer, and soon they launched round after round of attacks.
Faced with a solid Argentine defence, the Dutchman quickly changed tactics after breaking through and began to shoot from distance, and the threat was not small, and with Maduro's presence, they could easily get the ball on the edge of the box. First, De Guzmann's powerful right-footed volley from 27 yards in front of goal was lifted off the left post by Ustari. De Guzman then made a comeback and completed a long-range lob, but the discerning Ustari judged his intentions and took the ball firmly in his hands.
"Ustari! Ustari! You are the walls of Getafe, the gods of Argentina! Ustari! Ustari! You always let the enemy go back empty-handed, and no one can beat your ten fingers!! ”
Ustari, who made many wonderful saves in the second half, became the last guarantee for the Argentines before equalizing, and the fans did not hesitate to send him a special song, but this huge singing voice was like a mouthful of poisoned milk, and soon Argentina lost its starting goalkeeper. Ustari, who was in good shape, strained his left thigh during an attack and fell in pain in the penalty area, and the anxious players immediately surrounded him, and for a time Ustari's injury became the most worrying factor.
Sadly, despite a lengthy treatment on the sidelines, he was eventually taken off on a stretcher, with Sergio Romero coming off the bench. An ominous dark cloud condensed in the Argentine's sky, and whether Romero, who has not returned from injury, can be in good form is a factor of concern, and the delay in shooting up front is the key to the final result of the game.
What is Santhiago doing in such a situation?
"Bang !!"
Feeling the huge impact and sharp position from Maduro next to him, San Tiago staggered after taking the ball, and he could only barely control the ball at his feet, and he had no extra mind to observe the surrounding situation, and could only return the ball to Riquelme, who was more mature in technology, and resolved his precarious situation with the ball.
After several confrontations, Santhiago reluctantly found that he was not the opponent of Maduro, whether it was the choice of position or the technical advantage, he could not achieve an advantage, but was suppressed by Maduro everywhere, which made him very annoyed and fell into a predicament. The situation of Santilago also reflects the weakness of Argentina to a certain extent, the physical strength of the entire midfielder Mascherano is extremely depleted in defense, and Santi is seen to death again, and only Riquelme can still send a threatening ball.
However, his "slowness" is a headache in this situation, Messi, who can't hold the ball, is restless, Di Maria is not so comfortable even though he can hold the ball, and everything can only be organized when Riquelme is completely free from the threat next to him.
In the 57th minute, Di Maria burst into the penalty area at high speed and fell to the ground under the defense of Zoivelon and Jung Aping, and the referee did not interrupt the game. The Dutchman, who had completed the break, immediately counter-attacked, and Emmanuelsen's left-footed shot flew wide, but it caused the Argentines to let out a huge exclamation.
The continuous threats have made the Argentine goalkeeper a lot of noise, and seeing this situation, Riquelme and others will certainly not sit still, and they continue to plan counterattacks.
In the 61st minute, Riquelmese played Di Maria, and Di Maria was hit by the defender before he had time to start after receiving the ball. In the 63rd minute, Dutchman Rong Aping was injured and fell to the ground after defending Messi, and soon returned to the field. In the 71st minute, Garay's header was hit by Drenthe, and the two had a verbal altercation.
In the 75th minute, an anxious Messi stepped on Zouveron in the attack and was yellow carded, and then Di Maria crossed from the left, and Pareja headed high six meters from the goal.
Seeing that the time passed minute by minute, and the referee's continuous inaction made the Argentine players very annoyed, but a burst of quarrels and conflicts could not improve their situation at all, and San Thiago and others could only try to make a breakthrough in the game.
"What to do? What to do? "All the Argentine players are constantly asking themselves in their hearts, and even more so of Santhiago, who is constantly thinking about the way to attack and constantly trying, but he has never been able to get past the player called Maduro in front of him. He was like a steel plate in front of him, blocking his passing lanes and making it impossible for him to rush past him.
Looking at the 2:1 score on the big screen in confusion, and with less than ten minutes left in the game, Santhiago was almost deflated, and couldn't even take the first step, so what kind of passing? What about an equaliser? As soon as you catch the ball, you will be looked to death, do you want to pass it if you don't catch it?
That's right! Pass without catching the ball!! It's a good idea!!
In an instant, Saint-Tiago's eyes suddenly brightened, as if he had found an excellent solution, although he could not pass without receiving the ball, but a pass could still be done, of course, it was not easy to do so, it must be the kind of extremely hidden or unexpected way of passing, otherwise once his desperate mistake failed, it would undoubtedly give the Dutch a chance to attack.
In the 82nd minute, Argentina waited for a chance they were looking for, Zabaleta intercepted the Dutchman's throw-in and headed forward, the ball changed hands and then reached the feet of Santhiago, who showed their imagination in the face of Maduro's close defence.
At the moment of getting the ball, his mind was spinning rapidly, and he suddenly turned around and knocked the ball out with his heel, and at the same time, he himself bypassed Maduro from the other side, and the Argentine fans were pleasantly surprised to see this situation, and they all let out excited shouts. At this moment, Saint-Tiago saw the eager eyes of Aguero not far behind him when he saw the opportunity to start, and he also made up his mind, and once again attracted the opponent's defense and sent the ball to where Aguero was.
It's up to you! Aguero!
"Santiago's scalpel-like precision pass! The ball went straight to Sergio Aguero from midfield, and he burst into the right side of the box from an offside position!!! What a chance!! In the face of the attacking Dutch goalkeeper Vermmel, Aguero leaned on the defender's right foot from 15 meters in front of the goal to shoot!! ”
"Will Sergio Aguero be able to turn the tide and help Argentina equalise? Oops, it's a pity!! The ball goes wide of the far post! A good opportunity was wasted again!! ”
"Why did you miss the !?? again?"
Seeing Aguero squatting weakly near the bottom line after kicking the ball away, Santiago had nowhere to vent his anger, so he could only take a depressed breath and walk up to the Atletico Madrid genius and stretched out his right hand to him: "It's almost, brother, you did a good job!" ”
Aguero looked up wordlessly and said nothing, knowing that this time he had disappointed everyone.
I don't know why, the top scorer in Atletico Madrid and even in La Liga is a little short of scoring in this Olympic Games, just two minutes later, Messi split the ball in the middle, Di Maria picked up a pass from the left rib, and it was Aguero's header from nine meters in front of the goal close to the left post!
Seeing that he missed two good opportunities again, facing the eyes of his teammates, Aguero almost collapsed, and on several occasions coach Batista was no longer reluctant, and made the last substitution choice, Ravic replaced Aguero, and Banega replaced the physically exhausted Mascherano, and the final moment came.