Group B: Argentina vs South Korea, 17 June 2010
By Jonross Swaby
Gonzalo Higuaín finally found his scoring boots
Despite the win, Argentina undoubtedly had a frustrating start to the World Cup against Nigeria. Argentina went into this game looking to prove their right to be called one of the favourites.
Argentina went for a 4-3-3 formation again, but with perhaps a slightly more attacking slant, replacing Juan Sebastian Verón for Maxi Rodriguez.
South Korea, on the other hand, went defensive. They packed their defence right from the start, and it looked like Huh Jung-Moo’s side were to make damage limitation their number one priority.
Possession was solely in the hands of Argentina in the first part of the match. In fact it took no less than nine minutes for the South Koreans to have the ball in their possession while in the Argentina half. They improved shortly after, starting to pressure Argentina down their right side – where left-back Gutierrez was once again playing out of position.
South Korea even opened the scoring on 16 minutes – too bad it was in Argentina’s favour. Messi’s well-delivered free kick deflected off the shin of Park Chu Young.
Argentina found the net for themselves after 32 minutes, when Gonzalo Higuaín, who was left wanting in the previous game against Nigeria, headed in from a Maxi cross and subsequent Burdisso flick-on.
From this point, South Korea lacked any sort of cohesion up front; but at the other end of the pitch, goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryong made a fantastic save. A rebound landed squarely at the feet of Argentinian midfielder Di Maria, but Jung did well to propel himself into the air and get a hand onto Di Maria’s top corner rocket.
Argentina’s work rate was remarkable, with the effort being led by none other than Carlos Tevez, of course. The South Korean defence looked scared of Man City striker, but absolutely terrified of the World Cup’s most hyped player Lionel Messi. Surprisingly, Messi wasn’t being man-marked for a large part of the game, and was allowed space to twist, turn and get a few shots in himself.
Goalkeeper Jung Sung-Ryong can only watch as an own goal off the shin of Park Chu-Young slips past him
Then, out of nowhere, a schoolboy error from Argentina full-back Demichellis puts the Koreans back in the game. He hesitates on a pass from goalkeeper Romero, allowing Lee Chung-Yong to steal the ball and cooly slip it past the keeper before the half time break.
The Koreans went into the second half believing they could cause an upset. Both teams looked fluid going forward, but South Korea had the first good attempt on goal following the restart, when Lee Young-Chung broke away to lay the ball into the path of Yeom Ki-Hyun. It was a near miss, however, as Yeom slapped the ball into the side netting.
Despite this second wind from South Korea, they could not stop Argentina extending the lead, when a Messi rebound fell to Higuaín for a simple tap in. That’s two for Higuaín and three for Argentina.
Higuaín didn’t need much longer to complete his hat-trick – three minutes, in fact. Kún Aguëro had come on a substitute for Tevez, and it proved to be a good move by coach Maradona; after a few inspired moves, Aguëro then provided the assist for Higuaín’s third, chipping a ball for the Real Madrid striker to head in while on a run. The replays showed that Higuaín was offside, but it wasn’t spotted by the officials and the goal was allowed to stand.
South Korea knew they had been beaten, and looked a spent force towards the end of the match. Only fitting, then, that the last kick of the game was almost another for Argentina – and what a beautiful goal it would have been. Sending the Korean full-back every which way with some silky close control, Aguëro curled a ball toward the top corner of the far post. Unfortunately it sailed just wide of the mark.
After a generally dull round round of matches and few goals for us to talk about (bar the Germany-Australia match), it looked as if this tournament had finally come alive.
Final score: Argentina 4 - 1 South Korea
Tags: aguero, Argentina, burdisso, demichellis, gutierrez, higuain, Huh Jung Moo, lee chung yong, lee young chung, maradona, maxi, messi, Park Chu Young, south, tevez, vero, World Cup, yeom ki hyun
