The second half of the tournament was the match between Argentina and Belgium, the "Red Devils" of Europe.

Before the game, both sides were confident of winning, and Messi even said "Argentina deserves the championship!" Such a bold statement.

At one o'clock in the afternoon of the same day, the match between Argentina and Belgium began at the National Stadium in Brasilia.

Argentina had reached the quarterfinals in their previous two World Cups.

If penalties are not counted, the last time Argentina won the quarter-finals was in 1986, when they beat England 2-1, in a game in which Maradona was a god and sent the ball into the net past six of England's players.

It was a World Cup for Maradona, and Argentina won the championship.

It was with this World Cup that Maradona became the second star to hold the title of "King of the Ball" after Pele.

In this game, Messi will tie Maradona with 91 appearances and tie for sixth in Argentine history.

Messi has found the back of the net against Thibaut Courtois six times, including a hat-trick in a 5-0 win over Atletico Madrid on 24 September 2011 by Barcelona in La Liga, but has failed to find the back of the net in the last seven meetings with Courtois.

Belgium had won seven in a row in all competitions, equalling their own record of 1979-80.

Belgium have lost three of the four meetings between the two teams, which is one of the reasons Argentina think they can qualify.

"Drop! ……”

With the referee's whistle, the match between Argentina and Belgium officially began.

Soon after the start of the game, Argentina opened the attack with Angel Di Maria.

In the fourth minute of the first half, Di Maria cut inside on the right and shot, and the football was blocked by Courtois!

No one expected Argentina to score on the second attack.

In the eighth minute of the first half, Mascherano broke the ball in the middle circle, Messi turned around and knocked to the right side, Di Maria's pass touched Vertonghen's toe line, and Yin Guain volleyed into the bottom left corner in front of the goal!

1 to 0!

Yoon Guain also tied Messi with five World Cup goals!

After the restart, Belgium launched a frantic counterattack.

In the thirteenth minute, Hazard counter-attacked and passed, and De Bruyne's left-footed volley from outside the box went wide of the near post!

In the eighteenth minute, De Bruyne took a corner kick from the left, and Kompany went wide in front of the point!

In the 26th minute, Witsel crossed, De Bruyne volleyed hard from outside the box to cause Romero to get out of his hands, and Origi followed up with the follow-up shot without touching the ball!

After withstanding Belgium's frantic attack, Argentina began to fight back.

In the 28th minute, Messi's midfield was behind the defense line with long-distance precision, and Di Maria burst into the penalty area and his left-footed shot was blocked by Kompany!

In the 31st minute, Di Maria took a position due to injury.

For the rest of the second half, both sides were looking to create good scoring chances.

Argentina went into the second half with a score of 1-0.

At the start of the second half, Belgium continued to attack Argentina fiercely.

In the eleventh minute of the second half, Yin Guain almost scored twice, Hazard was cut off at the back, Perez launched a counterattack on the right, Yin Guain wore the crotch past Kompany, burst into the penalty area and volleyed into the crossbar!

"Coax! ……”

The Brasilia Stadium resounded with loud cries of regret and rejoicing.

In the following period, Argentina focused on defense, and Belgium's attack threatened Argentina's goal again and again, but was never able to find the back of the net.

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The clock went into stoppage time, and Messi almost scored to kill the game early.

In the fourth minute of stoppage time, Gago made a direct pass from the left side to instigate a counterattack, and Messi counterattacked and burst into the penalty area with a single knife and stabbed with his left foot and was blocked by Courtois!

Belgium then had another chance to equalize, Lukaku's pass from a tight angle on the left side of the box was blocked by Garay, and Mertens shot high from outside the box!

Argentina kept the score of 1-0 until the end of the game and advanced to the semi-finals!

After the game, Belgium head coach Wilmots spoke to the media on the sidelines.

After conceding the goal in the opening game, and then even if Argentina made passive substitutions due to injury, his team was still unable to catch up with the score, and Wilmots's face was full of disappointment:

'Yes, we've played the game, no matter what, our players kept playing the whole game and we can see that Argentina really want to win, they played very hard in this game and our players gave it their all.

"The big names of the Belgian team were expected to be high, but they failed to pull off a miracle of their own."

A reporter asked that the Belgian team did not perform well today, and Wilmots did not deny this, "Yes, but this is the game, either Argentina wins or Belgium wins."

We had a couple of good chances, but when we were behind, we had to keep catching up and we should be rational to see the result. ”

Argentina coach Savilla said in an interview after the game that he was very happy with the victory. "Thank you to everyone who supported me, and thank you to my family for the support I have given."

Savilla believes that Argentina played their best game so far in this World Cup, with a balanced attack and defence, and he is satisfied.

Argentina's goal-scorer Guain Yoon said in an interview: "I'm very happy, but I feel calm now and we deserve this win as a team. It's a very important moment for us as a team and we can't rest on our laurels. ”

After nearly a year of goal drought in the national team, Yin Guain did not doubt himself because of this, and the head coach did not lose patience with him because of this.

With tears in his eyes, he said: "I know my goal will come sooner or later, we haven't been through the semi-finals for many years, we will definitely continue to work hard. I want to thank my family and all those who supported us. ”

Yin Guain believes that Argentina will reach the final: "We are not satisfied yet, we have to try to reach the final. ”

Eden Hazard, Belgium's biggest player, said in an interview: "We were in such a hurry that we fell into the offside trap of Argentina many times. ”

A reporter asked him if he was satisfied with his game.

Hazard shook his head and said: "I'm not happy with my performance! ”

Hazard didn't get a single shot on goal in such an important game and he knew he would be the target of media attacks, so he ended the media interview in a hurry.

A Belgian journalist was very dissatisfied with Hazard's performance and said indignantly: "It is not difficult to see from Hazard's performance in the past season that his character and style show that he is not a leader level player!

Whether it's at Chelsea or in the Belgian national team, too much pressure and responsibility will have a big impact on his performance.

Only when he is treated as part of a regular weapon and tactical combination can we see him play more freely.

Compared with his predecessors Shifo, Wilmots and others, the biggest difference between Hazard and them is that they play a strong strategic role in the team, while Hazard is only at the level of tactical role! ”

Some people think that Hazard is only twenty-three years old and cannot give him too much pressure and expectations.

The reporter said emotionally: "Twenty-three? Lee is only twenty years old, but how many goals have he already scored in the knockout round? ”