Gonzalo Higuain was not offside on his second goal. Remember, the ball rebounded to Messi and he shot again. The ball was deflected to Higuain who was level with Messi and a Korean defender with the keeper close to the line. He was in an offside position on the first shot, but was not involved with play and the ball didn’t go near him.
Did Park Ji-Sung play today? Anyone see him?
Amidst the celebrations, Diego Maradona needs to worry about his defense. Martin Demichelis gifted South Korea a goal, Walter Samuel is injured, Gabriel Heinze is, well, slow and Jonas Gutierrez is out of the next game due to an accumulation of cards. While Gutierrez will be back and they won’t have much problem against Greece, if they face a team with some speedy attackers that doesn’t roll over and play dead in the midfield, they could be vulnerable.
I’m betting Ahn Jung-Hwan is South Korea’s answer to Martin Palermo. Anyone want to speculate on how many minutes, if any, either one will play?
Yes, Higuain got the hat trick , but he ought to treat Leo Messi to dinner as a thank you.
An ongoing criticism of African teams and one that I don’t buy is that they lack discipline. Unfortunately, Sani Kaita’s red card has done nothing but add fuel to that argument.
That notwithstanding, Nigeria could still go through: Right now South Korea and Greece have minus 1 goal differentials. Nigeria has minus 2. If Nigeria beats South Korea by 2 to 0 and Argentina beats Greece by any score, Nigeria goes through. Nigeria must win by at least two goals and Argentina must defeat Greece for Nigeria to go through.
One Oliver Kahn-in-the-2002-championship-game-moment should not negate the nine saves made by Vincent Enyeama in goal for Nigeria. He was named man of the match again and deserves attention from some bigger clubs.
The possession momentum really shifted after the red card for Nigeria. I believe that this may be the most damaging yellow card I’ve ever seen; far worse than Beckham’s against Argentina in 1998.
How bad is Raymond Domenech? He started two forwards (Sidney Govou and Nicolas Anelka) with a combined 24 goals in more than 100 combined appearances. Karim Benzema has 8 goals for France in 27 appearances.
Anelka continues to disappoint for Les Bleus. He has scored one goal in a major tournament for France: in the 2001 Confederations Cup against South Korea.
This is painful for me to write as an Arsenal fan, but Alex Ferguson must be really happy that he’s got Javier Hernandez.
Sidney Govou? Really? Mathieu Valbuena for Sidney Govou? Really?
How bad is Raymond Domenech? He’s losing the game 2-0 with 16 minutes to go, has one substitute remaining and doesn’t use it. Psst! Raymond, mon ami: Thierry
Henry et Djibril Cissé sont disponibles . . .
France could still go through by beating South Africa by at least three goals and hoping Uruguay beats Mexico by at least two. It almost would be worth it to see them face Argentina.
The only team from the Americas that has lost so far is Honduras and they lost to Chile.
Violet
I haven’t been following it closely enough to know, but is there still a way that South Africa can advance? I’d love to see them get out of the group stage. It stinks for the host country that they’re performing so poorly.
I’m glad Mexico did well. And I hope South Africa beats France.
Miss Kitka's Comrade Wayne
Oliver Kahn?
Acho que você andou bebendo.
Mas tudo bem. Não faz mal.
MKCW +3
Randinho
@Violet: If they beat France 3-0 and Uruguay beats Mexico 3-0.
Randinho
@Miss Kitka’s Comrade Wayne: Estou sobrio. Nao bebi nada.
I just remember Oliver Kahn spilling the ball into the waiting feet of Ronaldo in 2002.
Enyeama has been named man of the match in two games in which his team lost.
Morbo
So it wasn’t just me. It seemed like he had them playing for a 0-0 tie after Mexico was already ahead 1-0.
Cacti
CONMEBOL is kicking ass so far.
In recent years, the Argies usually shine in in Group Play and fizzle out in the elimination round.
Let’s see if they can buck the trend.
cmorenc
No, it would not be worth it to see France go through after two miserable performances, aggravated by their horrible manager Domenech. Justice would be horribly served if France somehow puts together one goal and Argentina suffers a Spain-like day and thoroughly outplays and outshoots France but still loses 1-0. Then Domenech might get off the hook with the French enough to not get lynched if he shows his face there, while Maradona and the Argentinian team would at least temporarily lose much face with their home public. Neither Domenech nor the French have come close to earning even the slight chance for such a scenario, and Maradona doesn’t deserve to suffer the risk of playing a bad French team on their lucky night.
It’s only by a miracle/momentary defensive lapse that France got the one goal about 80 minutes in needed to get a 1-1 draw against South Africa in the opener, or they’d be mathematically out of even their current very thin chance to go through as the second team from their group. Uruguay and Mexico have done vastly more to earn the right to go through to the knockout stage. Let the French go home and sulk.
Randinho
@cmorenc: France played Uruguay to 0-0 draw in the opener.
eric
@Randinho: your thoughts on Sanchez for Chile? I thought he was the most electric and explosive player I have seen in the games thus far.
cmorenc
@Randinho: You’re right. That was Mexico that South Africa played in the opener, and Mexico was indeed lucky to score at around the 80th minute. But France truly sucked against Uruguay, as much as the play-for-a-scoreless-draw style of Uruguay annoyed me. The one redeeming thing about the Uruguay team is their magnificent star Diego Forlan, who really is a joy to watch.
burnspbesq
If you’re superstitious, just ignore the fact that the clinching free throws in Game 7 of the NBA finals were scored by a Slovenian.
burnspbesq
Not sure why, but I feel like Donovan is going to go nuts tomorrow. I’m thinking a goal and two assists.
Mark S.
@Randinho:
It could happen.
How the hell is Domenech still the coach after Euro 08? I doubt it’s because he’s got compromising photos of anyone; who the hell in France cares if you’re cheating on your spouse? If he were coaching Brazil or Argentina, he would have already been fired three times.
James K Polk, Esq.
World Cup < NBA Finals
Randinho
@eric: I think Chile were very unlikely not to score several goals against Honduras. I think Sanchez was impressive.
Randinho
@Mark S.: Maybe the were cheating on them with somoen who didn’t have 23 pairs of chromosomes . . .
mextremist
@Randinho:
hey, as long as we’re hallucinating ways south africa could pass, what about mexico beats uruguay by 4-0 and south africa win 3-0 against france…
mathematically, all of the teams still have a chance to pass…
e gente, eu tem bebido suficente pra todos os rapaces aqui!!! quando a seleçao ganha no mexico, é a obrigaçao nacional ficar bebado na rua…
MikeJ
For those who confuse Slovenia and Slovakia, PRI’s The World had a story on them today.
Mark S.
@Randinho:
Pour l’amour des chèvres!
dadanarchist
I had the exact same impression. He did not make a substitution, nor did France’s (atrocious) play change after that goal.
Does anyone know why Arsène Wenger hasn’t been considered as French national coach? And why weren’t Benzema, Ben Arfa and Nasri asked to play for the national team? Or David Trezeguet? There are plenty of other players out on the pitch just as old as Trez.
This is almost as bad as 2002.
Konrad
What are your thoughts on Spain advancing? ESPN has them at a ~50% chance, but I think it’s much more than that. What about winning the group so they don’t have to face (presumably) Brazil?
On that subject, does anyone else find it funny that if Portugal, Ivory Coast, and Brazil all tie each other, then the winner is decided by goal differential against North Korea? I didn’t think that could happen, but Brazil didn’t look that impressive in their opener.
mcd410x
Nice open tag, uh, greater-than sign!
mcd410x
@dadanarchist: Why is Abou Diaby out there? Ever?
Edt: Or even less-than sign!
Jaim
Sad to see Korea lose to badly. But here’s hoping the US wins a solid game tonight.
handsmile
Just a couple of quick points as it’s been a long day yelling at the television, and Germany v. Serbia kicks off in less than seven hours….
The cover of Friday’s edition of L’Equipe, France’s national sports newspaper, denounces “Les Imposteurs!” Oh, there will be blood, indeed, in the salons of the French Football Federation.
Dadanarchist: Trezeguet has longed feuded with le grand fou Domenench, and he and other French footballers (Philippe Mexes, for one) have declared they would not play for the national team as long as he remained in charge. As for the others you mentioned, I suspect their astrological charts were not in harmony with the mad wizard’s planetary schemes. Also, you may be interested to know that Laurent Blanc, a hero of Les Bleus’ triumphant squads of 1998 and 2000, has valiantly agreed to serve as national coach at the conclusion of this year’s debacle.
Randinho: It was classy of you to credit the resolute performance of Nigeria’s keeper, Vincent Enyeama, in his team’s losing endeavor. But, after all, you did reveal yourself to be an Arsenal fan so I’m not surprised.
Finally, perhaps to remind us of the Bundesliga’s reputation for Teutonic grimness, Borussia Dortmund announced today that vuvuzelas would be banned from its stadium.
JeffH
Nigeria only needs to win and have Greece lose, the goal differential is irrelevant. If they win by 1, they’re at minus 1 and SK goes down to minus 2. Meanwhile by losing, Greece would be at least at minus 2.
Cacti
@James K Polk, Esq.:
On what planet?
Bill
@Konrad: assuming they all beat North Korea
Calouste
@Konrad:
William Hill (English bookies) give 1/3 on Spain advancing and 9/5 on Spain winning the group.
I tend to trust people who stand to lose money when they get their predictions wrong over pundits whose words are forgotten at the end of the day.
France btw is 7/1 to qualify, but only 14/1 to score 3 goals and 28/1 to score 4 or more goals. Methinks there is some free money to be had with the right combination of bets there.
hack network
what planet?
Thlayli
As Kuper & Szymanski pointed out in their book Soccernomics, in the entire 2006 World Cup not a single Western European country lost to anyone outside Western Europe in normal time (Ukraine beat Switzerland on penalties). Mexico just broke that streak.
pandera
any chances of adding links to video of some of the plays you talk about? It’s all very dry – and we’re not all watching every game…
Randinho
@pandera: With the rights issues, I don’t think so. Check the Soccernet page. Lots of video there.