DAY 12 REVIEW

As we entered the second half of this tournament, things really started to get interesting. Teams started needing to win, goal difference came in to play – in essence, the fear factor had gone! And none more so than in Group A, where both South Africa and France knew they had to win to have any chance of qualifying for the knockout stage of the tournament. France, who were in absolute disarray, ended their World Cup with yet another defeat. For awhile, it looked like South Africa might pull off a magnificent escape, but in the end, the hosts had left themselves with too much to do. In doing so, they became the first host nation in history to fail to progress past the group phase. France’s tournament however, continued in shambolic fashion. Although a player boycott did not materialise, the fallout from the weekend’s events saw captain Patrice Evra dropped. It always seemed likely both these sides would be eliminated, but at half-time, South Africa had given themselves a real chance of making the impossible happen. After 20 minutes they took the lead, when the highly rated Lyon keeper Hugo Lloris completely missed a corner Siphiwe Tshabalala, and Bongani Khumalo bundled it into the net off his shoulder. Things got worse five minutes later, as French midfielder Yoann Gorcuff was harshly sent off for raising his arm in an aerial challenge with Macbeth Sibaya. Just as it looked like France were getting to grips with the man deficit, the hosts doubled their lead, as Katlego Mphela bundled in Tsepo Masilela’s cross, despite the best efforts of Gael Clichy. The French were offering little, and were heading out of the tournament in limp fashion. And there was real hope for South Africa when Uruguay took the lead against Mexico, but they still needed more goals in both games, or at least one of the games. The Bafana Bafana really pressed in the second half, and Mphela hit the outside of the post with a first time shot, and the striker brought the best out of Lloris with a long range shot. But the inexperienced hosts were tiring, and France exploited the space left as they poured forward. The ineffectual Franck Ribery set up Florent Malouda to tap home from Clichy’s through ball, effectively ensuring the hosts would be exiting the World Cup with the 1998 World Champions. To their credit, South Africa continued to pour forward, and one of their stars of the tournament, Tshabalala, brought the best out of Lloris in injury time, but it was a forlorn cause. South Africa have some great memories from the first African World Cup they hosted – France, on the other hand, will hope to wake up tomorrow and find out the last couple of weeks have been a bad dream. Unfortunately for the departing Raymond Domenech and his players, they have not. As if to further add to the sense of farce surrounding France's World Cup campaing, Domenech refused to shake the hand of Carlos Alberto Parreira, after the Brazilian apparently said France did not deserve to be at the World Cup, presumably referring to Thierry Henry's infamous handball against Republic of Ireland in the play-off. I think I am not alone in wishing Laurent Blanc the best of luck. He will probably need it.

In the simultaneous game in Rustenberg between Mexico and Uruguay, there was no hint of carve-up – both of these teams wanted to win the game, to avoid the dubious honour of a second round tie against the supreme Lionel Messi and co. The impressive Uruguay started brightly, and Luis Suarez missed a good chance early on when one-on-one with Mexican keeper Oscar Perez. But Mexico clearly wanted to avoid a repeat of their 2006 encounter with Argentina, and winger Andres Guardado hit the underside of the bar with an awesome strike from fully 30 yards, with Fernando Muslera well beaten. But the South Americans took the lead on the stroke of half-time, to give brief hope to the whole of Africa. The impressive Diego Forlan picked up the ball on the halfway line, and fed winger Edison Caveni on the right. His delightful cross was headed in at the back post by Suarez, who finally brought his club form onto the biggest stage of all. Mexico started the second half in positive fashion, and Muslera was tested by 37-yead-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco from a free-kick. But Uruguay looked dangerous on the break, and Forlan again provided an excellent chance, as Perez made a brilliant save from Diego Lugano’s header from Forlan’s free-kick. Mexico did most of the pressing from there on in, but news of France’s goal in Bloemfontein settled nerves. Both teams were able to celebrate at the final whistle, although Uruguay will happy about avoiding Argentina, and have a second round tie against either Greece, Nigeria, or South Korea to look forward to. But as the Argentines found out in 2006, Mexico are no mugs.


In the final round of games in Group B, Argentina won comfortably again against a dour Greece side, despite making seven changes from the side who had won their opening two games. Otto Rehhagel was clearly intent on sending his side out for a draw, and hoping Nigeria did them a favour in their corresponding game with South Korea – in the event, neither of these happened. Sotirios Papastathopoulos almost marked the great Lionel Messis, skippering the side in the absence of Javier Mascherano, out of the game. But it is one thing do it for 80 minutes, and a whole not harder doing it for 90 plus minutes. Greece set their stall out with the tireless Georgios Samaras up front on his own with very little support, and to his credit, the Celtic striker made the best of a bad hand. Argentina, with Messi’s subdued by his close attention, struggled to break down the massed Greek defence, although coach Diego Maradona’s son-in-law, Sergio Aguero went close with a fine run and shot after 18 minutes. He was looking as likely as anyone to break the deadlock. Messi and Juan Sebastisan Veron, who was becoming increasingly influential at the ripe age of 35, tested keeper Alexandros Tzorvas from range, but Maxi Rodriguez had the best chance of the half – the Liverpool midfielder brought a good save out of Tzorvas after a cross from namesake Clemente found him unmarked ten yards from goal. Greece had barely registered a shot, although Argentina defender Martin Demichelis looked uncomfortable against the long ball, and Samaras was causing him problems. Early in the second half, the Celtic striker got the glorious chance he had craved. A long ball from Kostantinos Katsouranis saw him again get the better of Demichelis, and while his first shot hit the legs of Nicolas Burdisso, when the ball rebounded back to him, he fired wide from a presentable position. After that, the match reverted to type, even though the result in the other game meant Greece had to win to progress. Messi was still struggling to get into the game, but Greece fell away after Argentina opened the scoring with 13 minutes remaining. And for all their attacking talent, it was from a ricochet from a corner that the breakthrough came. The initial header from Demichelis rebounded into striker Diego Milito, and from the rebound, the Bayern Munich defender smashed the ball into the roof of the net. As Greece had to go for it, the shackles on Messi were released, and he looked a relieved man. Almost immediately, he went on a dazzling run up the left touchline, which culminated in him smashing the ball against the post. And he had a hand in the second goal which clinched the win in the last minute. Receiving the ball on the right this time, he moved inside on a jinking run, played a quick one-two with substitute Angel di Maria, and his rasping shot from the edge of the area was only parried into the path of another substitute, Martin Palermo, who coolly sidefooted into the bottom corner. This probably brought the biggest cheer of the night, especially from Maradona, and Greece got exactly what they deserved for their lack of ambition – an early flight home.

The corresponding fixture in Group B, however, was pulsating right up until the final whistle – and the identity of the country who would be joining Argentina in the last 16 wasn’t confirmed until the final whistle. That country will be South Korea, but not without a few scares from Nigeria. After South Korea missed a presentable early chance, Nigeria took the lead out of nothing after 12 minutes. Right back Chidi Odiah got much further than he should have done down the touchline, and his low cross was turned in by Kalu Uche, who had meandered past the daydreaming right back Cha Du-Ri. Nigeria kept on creating the chances, as Chinesu Obasi fired wide while Uche drilled a shot against he post from 25 yards. However, as the Asians started to come back into the game, it was yet more defensive frailty that cost the Africans. Ki Sung-Yeong’s free-kick found Lee Jung-Soo unmarked at the back post, behind a deep Nigerian defence, and he bundled the ball in after appearing unsure whether to use his foot or head. And five minutes after half-time, Nigeria gave themselves a mountain to climb. Another free-kick on the left caused the damage, but this time Park Chu-Young’s effort flew straight in – the keeper, Vincent Enyeama, appeared to be at fault. As Nigeria started to look tired, they somehow found a second wind to drag themselves back into the contest. But Yakubu Aiyegbeni had a head in hands moment, as he wasted the chance to get his team back into the game. Uche fed Yussuf Ayila on the overlap, and his cross across the face of goal found the Everton striker unmarked, four yards out, with an open goal. He somehow contrived to put the ball the wrong side of the post. But he had partial redemption just two minutes later. Korean substitute Kim Nam-Il failed to deal with a long ball, allowing Obasi to nick the ball away from him, and the Korean brought him home clumsily. Yakubu showed great courage in stepping forward, and coolly wrong-footed the keeper Jung Sung-Ryong. This was his last action of the game, as he was replaced by Victor Obinna, but fellow substitute Obafemi Martins was to have his own horror moment minutes later. Uche played him in, but, one-on-one with the goalkeeper, he got the height but not the accuracy in his attempted chip. After two close long range attempts from Obinna were as close as Nigeria came after that, and it was a case of what have been from them and their Swedish coach Lars Lagerback. For South Korea, they qualified from the group stage for the first time away from home – a magnificent achievement.



PLAYER OF THE DAY – Luis Suarez.

The Ajax striker finally showed the world what everyone was talking about, and what brought him almost 50 goals last season. He led the frontline brilliantly, ably helped by the excellent Diego Forlan and Edison Caveni, in a menacing front three, and capped off his performance with a brilliant header. You would expect him to score from that range given the opportunity, but the goal was made by his superb movement as the cross came in from Caveni, completely flummoxing his marker. The rest of the world has been warned.

GOAL OF THE DAY – Martin Palermo.

It was by no means the most important goal of this World Cup. And it certainly wasn’t the best. But you could see by the reaction of the bench (and Diego Maradona especially) how much it meant to them. The 36-yead-old striker, who scored a crucial goal in Argentina’s almost disastrous qualifying campaign having been recalled after an absence of almost ten years, sidefooted into the bottom corner after Lionel Messi’s rasping shot was parried to him. A quite remarkable story.

GAFFE OF THE DAY – Yakubu Aiyegbeni.

This was probably miss of the tournament as well. With the goal gaping following a cross from Yussuf Ayila, the Everton striker somehow proceeded to let the ball hit his heel and bobble wide, when any kind of proper contact would have resulted in a goal. Although he did score a penalty two minutes later, Nigeria still fell one goal short of qualifying for the second round.

FANTASY TEAM

My fantasy team put in a half decent performance yesterday. Well the one player who played did anyway, as Luis Suarez scored his first goal of the tournament to give himself eight points.