Image via Wikipedia
Image via WikipediaI had to lose something(to explain would mean to dig my own grave, and take my bed out of my home) to see the Argentine and South Koreans play, and they didn't disappoint. A thrilling match was what they gave me. Argentina went on a scoring spree against Korea Republic with Gonzalo Higuain firing the first hat-trick of this FIFA World Cup to take a huge step towards the last 16, and that is booking a spot in final 16. They threatened in their last match, only to falter at the last second of the finish, but that was first match jitters. Now Higuain was all control and cool of star striker, and scored the first hat trick of this World Cup. Would he go on to be the Golden Boot winner? He has only Klose as his threat, as all other teams strikers are not that sure for goal. Maybe Pudolski, someone from Brazil(which is almost nil) will also be there alongside. Higuain started ahead of my favorite Milito and Aguirro, but he silenced me(in Facebook too :P) Korea didn’t expect to lose by such a large margin. Now everything will go down to the final group game. They didn’t play well and Argentina did. Now it is a run to the second place in the group(which it was right from the start of the world cup). Argentine fans are happy because they played a great game in every way: played good football(everyone made football of South Koreans pedestrain, while it was only the class of Argentine play that made it look so), created chances(Messi was superb in almost magical way) and were clinical in front of goal(Higuain's second goal being the ultimate example of steady nerves). We were deserved winners and we need to continue in this vein. We’re convinced that we’re capable of having a great World Cup. Now to quote the great man,
Diego Maradona, Argentina coach (and occasional Ball boy when it comes to regulation box).
I want to congratulate my players for having perfectly executed our game plan. We deserved a win like this because we’d already threatened this kind of result against Nigeria. Except from the [Martin] Demichelis error, we had all the play and did what we wanted with the ball. Korea [Republic] never managed to get behind us, they never had the ball and, aside from one counter-attack in the second period, I can hardly remember them having a shot on goal. Their goal was a shot in the arm for us and we went out and played with even more determination after the break. A headline to sum up today’s game? ‘Argentina were implacable.’
Argentina 4(Gonzalo Higuain, PARK Chu Young [o.g.]) - South Korea 1(LEE Chung Yong )
France, finalists in 2006, are on the verge of crashing out of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ after losing 2-0 to Mexico in Polokwane’s Peter Mokaba Stadium. Substitutes Javier Hernandez and Cuauhtemoc Blanco grabbed the goals as El Tri moved to within touching distance of the last 16 with a deserved win over Raymond Domenech’s lackluster Les Bleus. French never troubled the Mexican defense. They played poorly, uncharacteristically and deserved to lose against a better Mexico. Mexico was always showing a class, when they passed the ball, and when they began a move towards the French half. This delighted the fans of the game and they truly wished a French loss at this game. There was nothing worthy of saying from Ribery and rest of the Frenchies. At half time, the French would have felt fortunate to return to the dressing rooms with the scores level, but they emerged with renewed determination and forced a decent early save from Oscar Perez when Florent Malouda was given time and space to crack in a powerful right-foot shot. With Mexico struggling to replicate their first-half form, Javier Aguirre rang the changes, and it was one of his substitutes, Javier Hernandez, who provided the all-important breakthrough. Marquez again split the French defence with a simple through ball, and Hernandez, having sprung the offside trap, coolly side-stepped Lloris before side-footing into the open net. A resolute French response seemed inevitably, yet it never materialised. Instead, Mexico made sure of all three points when Blanco slotted a textbook penalty to the right of the helpless Lloris after Barrera’s thrilling run was halted by Eric Abidal’s sliding challenge. If this goes on France is sure to crash out, and my predictions are going to be true sooner than later. El Tri now march on to their final fixture against Uruguay knowing that a point will be enough to see them through to the last 16, while France face the hosts knowing that only an unlikely set of results will salvage their South Africa 2010 dreams.
Mexico 2(Javier HERNANDEZ, Cuauhtemoc BLANCO) – France 0
Greeks are back in news. This time, not for financial debacles, but for football. Yeah, this is the same nation that won Euro cup beating Portugal under Otto Rehgal. And there is not a single name that I can remember then and now too – Papapokanosis, Stebagafordis, Stedikes, and what else. Boy, still they played a beautiful game. Nigeria is not the force it was years ago, time and again I say this to guys who say they will do something in this world cup. However much I want them to do that, they are not doing it, so what can I do, replace Sven Goran Ericksenn!! Unfortunately, the game started just like the last one and Greece went a goal down. My team(only me and my good friend supported Greece against a whole Police squad during the eventful night of Euro cup triumph, in the Police Academy, and guys, don't over react) needed quite some time to recover. Now who will go through in this group, other than obvious Argentine team, is anybody's guess. Nigeria, if they win against Korea will make it on basis of goal difference, and if they lose will make way for South Korea, if they win against Greece, else Greece goes through again, again only on goal difference. What the dickens was that!! This group is just shaping out to be just like that sentence. Still, Nigeria did play with their heart on their shirts. A beautiful game it was.
Greece 2 (Dimitrios SALPINGIDIS, Vasileios TOROSIDIS) – Nigeria 1(Kalu UCHE)
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