The cinderella South Koreans of the last world cup opened their scoring account just seven minutes in and continued to pressure Greece for the rest of the match.
The good news is that match fixing seems to be a thing of the past for South Korea, as a blatant penalty shout was turned down for the South Koreans in the 15th minute.
But the South Koreans showed they are no pushovers and dominated the Greeks throughout the match, adding a second goal from Manchester United midfielder Ji Sung Park. However, it could have easily been five or six goals from the crafty Koreans as they weaved in and out of a mostly static Greek defence.
Man Of The Match: Ji Sung Park.
Argentina 1 – 0 Nigeria
On paper Argentina should have walked out with a much larger margin of victory and Diego Maradona will not be pleased that his team wasted so many opportunities. Playing in a 4-3-3, Diego’s boys played attractive attacking football and looked dangerous for the entire 90 minutes.
Gabriel Heinze broke the deadlock with a diving header to the top corner and both Carlos Tevez and Lionel Messi will be disappointed to not have added goals.
Man Of The Match: Vincent Enyeama
England 1 – 1 USA
When this game was announced back at the 2009 fixture draw it was circled and underlined by fans on both sides of the pond. The USA were looking to upset the big dogs and England were looking to show the World they had become much more than an underperforming nation on the World stage.
The Three Lions kicked things off in style with newly appointed captain Steven Gerrard scoring just 4 minutes into the game after a deft pass from none other than Emile Heskey. Unfortunately for England that was the only contribution from the striker and he failed to make an impact on the game, missing a few golden opportunities.
The turning point in the match came just before halftime when Clint Dempsey took a weak shot from outside the box and Robert Green turned the ball into his own net instead of around the post. It was a howler that crushed the English spirit and seemed to shake the team to its core.
Although they dominated down the stretch, England just couldn’t find a goal to take the lead and the USA seemed content with playing to a draw.
Man Of The Match: Steven Gerrard
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Daily Roundup
– Unfortunately for the beautiful football style of the Argentinean side, it was Diego Maradona, who stole the spotlight. The crazy manager was shown over 30 times throughout the match, a tad bit of overkill no?
– England will look to find some replacements in the back four with Ledley King going off injured at halftime and Jamie Carragher looking slow and exposed throughout the rest of the second half.
– It appears that South Korea put the rest of the teams at the World Cup on notice with a dominant performance over Greece and showed that they have the skill and fitness to go deep in this tournament
Live blog of the buildup to and game between England vs Algeria on Friday, but keep your eyes open for more daily roundups!
Henry Whitfield is an avid sports fan who covers everything and anything in the sports world, while focusing on hockey and football. Follow him on twitter @HenryWhitfield.
