Today we hailed in a new age for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Today we saw three, yes three, very, very exciting games. Unbelieveable stuff. Not only were they exciting, but they were choc full of goals an all. Goodness me.
We started the day with a potential classic. The team with everything to prove; Argentina, against a reletivley good side; South Korea. Argentina started brightly, with that unknown character who seems to pop up everywhere Lionel Messi making the majority of the runs, chances and plays for the Argies. Korea managed to hold firm until the 16th minute, before an administrative error lead to Park Chu-Young scoring an own goal. And then Argentina decided to score goals. Real Madrid "star" Gonzalo Higuain knocked one in after 33 minutes, and then it looked over. It really did. South Korea made little chances, and little attempt to score. But they did. A shocking defensive error led to Lee Chung-Yong latched onto a diabolical pass back to the 'keeper, and forced it past said 'keeper instantly.
Yet Maradona remained upbeat going in at half time, and Argentina came out fighting, yet failed to make their dominance show, and remained at 2-1. And then it got interesting. South Korea fought back. Yeom Ki-Hun wasted the chance of the match, hoofing the ball wide with his weaker left foot. And thats when you realised that Argentina were going to win. Higuain dropped in again after 76 minutes, and finished the match as contest to make it 3-1. It was then put right to bed after that man Higuain slotted home 4 minutes later. Game over.
For long periods of the game, it was bloody exciting. But, for the first time in this tournament, we saw a real contender for the trophy. Apart from Germany, obviously.
The second match was the other Group B match, between the two losers of yesterweek; greece and Nigeria. It was really, really shit for about 16 minutes, before Nigeria broke through with a free kick that was just so poorly defended it was unbelieveable. Uche swung the ball in, and the Greek keeper dived completly the wrong way as it drifted into the net. And Nigeria really started to show dominance until Kaita got sent off, and began to leak some form of urine from his eyes on the way down the tunnel. Celtic "megastar" Samaras came on, and Greece began to attack for the first time since the 2004 European Championships. And they scored, by God. They did. Salpingidis had a shot, but it took a bigger deflection than the Forlan goal of yesterday. And like the momentum of the match, the ball swung in Greece's favour.
The second half brought end to end football, with Nigeria having several chances, as did Greece (hence end to end football). Greece had a shot that was so poorly defended it led to a counter attack chance for Nigeria. But they gave it to some moron who tried to direct it into an open goal with his studs. It didn't go in. After 72 minutes, Greece found a second goal out of nowhere. The Nigerian keeper did a Rob Green, and dropped the ball. Except this time it went to Torosidis, who scored a huge goal for the Greeks. After more chances for both sides, the match ended, and Greece notched up their very first world cup win ever. Happy days. Unfortunatly, it looks like Nigeria are on their way out, despite playing some good football over the last two games. But thats what you get when you can't score.
The final game of today was the last of Group A; France against Mexico. The match was a scrappy show in the first half, with very little chances to either team. But Mexico played some really nice attacking football, and at the end of the day, thats all that matters.
The second half was much better. Again, Mexico had the best chances, and were rewarded for their dominance, when new Manchester United forward Javier Hernandez ran from an onside position, took the ball round Hugo Lloris and slotted the ball into an empty net. France were visibly stunned, because they had all the excitment shocked out of them. Mexico had another attck, and they earned a penalty, which 58 year old forward Blanco smashed home, and ended the match, pretty much. And it did end, and Mexico were overjoyed.
The thing about this result was that when Uruguay face Mexico, a point will see both sides through. Which is a bit shit, bacause they'll both play for the draw. Which is a bit shit.
Anyway, BEST DAY IN AGES in terms of football. It was exciting stuff, and we all want to see is this stuff continue. Thursday Friday happy days? Lets hope so!
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