Sunday, June 13, 2010

Day 2 of the World Cup Part 1

Today's matches proved more and more interesting as the day went on, as of course the USA was playing!!!! Let's start off with my takes on the early games

South Korea vs Greece
Result: 2-0 Win (Lee Jung-Soo 6', Park Ji-Sung 51')
Thoughts:
South Korea looked very creative! Their movement off the ball was pure class, though it was made to appear exponentially better since Greece looked as stagnant as a still pond. After watching that game, I can safely say that Greece is the worst team in this tournament. South Korea opened the scoring early with a nice cross over the heads of three Greeks, into the oncoming path of goalscorer Lee Jung-Soo. Later in the match, Manchester United man and captain of the squad Park Ji-Sung put things to bed with a clinical finish past the goalkeeper. It's unclear right now how good South Korea is, mainly because Greece is so terrible, but they won't be afraid to go against any competition.

Argentina vs Nigeria
Result: 1-0 Win (Heinze 5')
Thoughts:
Once again Manchester United, a club of superb quality might I add, produces another goalscorer. This time it's former United center defender Gabriel Heinze, who runs unmarked into the box off a corner and lazers a header into the underside of the bar. Argentina would go on to dominate possession and produce a lot of chances off of quick little cheeky passes around the box. Messi had eight shots on goal, of which maybe 3 should have went in if not for superb saves by the Nigerian stopper. They looked pretty dangerous, though lacked the killer instinct needed to kill this game.

Thoughts on Group B:
-Argentina proved to be the most dominant team of the day, with South Korea lurking closeby. Both international teams were impressive in their wins, however I will be interested to see whether a Nigerian team can nick a win off of South Korea and advance. Greece will remain in the cellar for this tournament.

Predicted Finish After First Round of Games:
1) Argentina - 9 points
2) Nigeria - 6 points (going out on a limb)
3) South Korea - 3 points
4) Greece - 0 points

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