Argentina defeats South Korea 4-1
Argentina defeated South Korea 4-1 and established a new national record of consecutive games without seeing a defeat during world cups. The Argentine national side holds an undefeated record of 8 consecutive games.
The record was started by Marcelo Bielsa in Korea-Japan 2002, when Argentine tied 1-1 with Sweden in the last match of the group stages. Jose Pekerman continued the record in Germany 2006; during the group stages Argentine defeated Coat d’ Ivore and Serbia & Montenegro and tied against Holland. In the Round of 16, Argentina defeated Mexico 2-1 with a fantastic goal by Maxi Rodriguez, who can forget that shot that left a whole Nation breathless. In the quarterfinals Argentina was eliminated after a 1-1 draw against Germany. Diego Maradona is now the coach, and victories over Nigeria and South Korea increased the number to 8.
The previous record, of 7 games, was established during the world cup of 1986, in Mexico; year that Argentina obtained their second world cup. Ironically Maradona was in that team as well, he was only 2 years older than Lionel Messi.
The side coached by Diego Maradona proved to be highly superior in every aspect of the game, that was reflected in the result. For this match, Diego made one substitution in regards to the squad that defeated Nigeria on Saturday. Veron, with a muscle strain was replaced by “La Fiera” Maxi Rodriguez.
Right from the start we could observe that it was not South Korea’s intention to attack Argentina. Head coach Huh Jung-Moo, who is remembered by the Argentina public for the brutal fouls against Maradona during the 1986 world cup, lined up the squad in a defensive formation, crowding the midfield in an attempt to control Lionel Messi, Obviously the attempts were in vane.
South Korea attempted to stop Messi in every possible way, even with rugby-like tackles
16 minuted was enough for Argentina to get ahead on the scoreboard. Once again the goal came through a set piece. Lionel Messi executed a free kick from the left side and Park Chu Young deflected the ball into his own net.
In the 24th minute of the match, Walter Samuel was forced to leave the match with what seemed to be a hamstring problem, We are still waiting to hear the official medical release from AFA. Nicolas Burdisso entered the match in his replacement.
The Albicelestes attacking trio (Messi, Tevez and Higuain) was a constant threat to the South Korean defense. Argentina increased the lead in the 33rd minute through Gonzalo Higuain. Once again, the goal came through a set piece, Lionel Messi played the ball short to Maxi Rodriguez, who dipped the ball into the box. Nicolas Burdisso flicked the ball into the far post to find the head of Gonzalo Higuain.
As the half was coming to an end, Demichelis took his eyes of the ball and gave Park Chu-Young the chance to put the match 1-2. Park was the same player who minutes earlier had scored a goal into his own net.After the match, Javier Mascherano defended his teammate saying “The noise inside the pitch is incredible, is almost impossible to communicate”. Demichelis attributed the mistake to the so controversial “vuvuzuelas”, and went a step further by saying “The goal was unfair, they did not deserve it”.
The second half started with no changes in either squad. Jonas Gutierrez was yellow carded short after the beginning of the half, and will miss out the next match against Greece.
Maradona once again received a stand up applause from the crowd, when he trapped a ball that escaped the field. The Dona showed he hasn’t lost his skills with the ball.
As the half progressed Maradona saw the need for a change, and replaced Carlos Tevez with Sergio Aguero, and we must agree the substitution paid its dividends. Aguero gave the team some fresh air, and played a very important role in the Argentine offense.
3o minutes into the second half, Lionel Messi did what he does best, dribble opponents using his speed. He entered the box and placed a shot that was deflected by the goalkeeper, the rebound fell short and Messi once again attempted on goal, but this time the post denied him a goal, the rebound fell right to the middle of the goal to give Gonzalo Higuain his second goal of the match.
Three minutes later, Argentina created one of the best collective plays in the match. Higuain received the ball near the edge of the box, he played it to Lionel Messi and quickly moved into space. Messi chipped the ball over the defense to find Sergio Aguero, who slightly dipped the ball over the goalkeeper to assist Gonzalo Higuain on his third goal of the match. The Real Madrid Striker was always in the right position, and became the third player in Argentine history to score a hat-trick in a world cup. The two other players to reach such mark were Guillermo Stabile (1930: Argentina 6 – 3 Mexico) and Gabriel Batistuta in two occasions (1994 – Argentina 4 – 0 Greece, 1998 – Argentina 5 – 0 Jamaica).
Argentina played well, was effective and created hopes in the Argentine Public. The atmosphere in Argentina is incredible, schools admitted students to arrive late, government buildings were closed for the day and highways were empty. The hope to bring the cup back increases as the games go by. We have the best player in the history of football in the bench, and his successor wearing the #10.
Argentina will face Greece on Tuesday. The rivals for the round of 16 are yet to be determined, but it could be Uruguay, Mexico or France. The Argentine public would rather not face Mexico in the round of 16, the first choice would be France, followed by our neighbors, Uruguay.
