Tomahawk Shot, Chinese team 2-2 Argentina!

Lin Feng's goal seemed to have completely enraged the Argentinians. In the time that followed, they launched a ferocious counterattack against the Chinese team.

In the 28th minute of the first half, the Chinese team won the ball in their own half but hesitated in moving it forward, allowing the Argentina team to press and win it back.

In the ensuing scramble, Messi alertly poked the ball with his foot, sending it to a teammate.

After receiving the ball, Rodríguez quickly played it out to the right. Higuain took it in stride and charged into the penalty area. Facing Wang Dalei's rush off his line, his low shot from a tight angle went just wide.

Argentina's counterattack gave the Chinese team quite a scare. After winning the ball in their own half, the Chinese team had already begun pushing their formation forward, hoping to replicate their earlier scoring move.

Yet they had not expected to be struck head-on by their opponents. Messi's aggressive pressing in particular came as a surprise to many.

Wasn't Messi supposed to be poor at defending?

That impression was not entirely wrong. Messi's stamina was limited, and in order to let him devote all of that limited energy to attacking, Barcelona's tactics generally did not require him to participate in defense, at most having him harass the opposition in the attacking third.

But that was at club level. The situation with the Argentina national team was completely different.

Although Maradona valued Messi greatly, he did not grant him the privilege of being exempt from defending.

Moreover, Messi's sense of responsibility would not allow him to stand aside and dump the entire burden of defense onto his teammates.

Although the ball had not gone in, Messi's active pressing still earned him plenty of applause from the fans