July 1, 2010
World Cup 2010 - Argentina defeats México 3-1
By Stephen Lars
Argentina defeated Mexico by 3-1 and sent the team south of the border back home as they keep on proving on of the strongest teams in the World Cup.
Argentina managed to move on the quarterfinals after on the most part inspired by the great performances they have showed so far into the World Cup as they have won each of their games.
From kickoff both team went on to play in a fast paced game at Soccer City Stadium. They kept an eye out for each other while figuring out the other team’s tactic. Right at the start it seemed as if Mexico was going to take the lead as one of the many potent shots by defender Carlos Salcido went on and smacked the goal post. Sergio Romero, the argentine keeper could only see how lucky he had been. To make things even more interesting, just a couple of minutes later it was Andrés Guardado, the Mexican midfielder, took another close shot on goal but he didn’t score.
The Mexicans insisted on moving their lines forward. The attacks were constant but a bit imprecise. Javier Hernandez then took another great shot from distances that keeper Romero managed to save swiftly.
Once they felt under fire, the Argentines began their attack. Lionel Messi recovered a ball from the midfield and swiftly made it into the Mexican area where he took a shot that hit the goal post.
This play was the catalyzer for everything good that came from Argentina later on the game. 26 minutes into the game, Messi send a nice pass to Carlos Tévez, who completed a nice header that surpassed Oscar Perez, the Mexican keeper.
But Tevez was offside. This made the call by the referee quite controversial. Many of the Mexican players went to him with claims, stating that there was a clear mistake, yet Roberto Rosetti did not change his mind and the goal stand.
The Mexican team lost most of its concentration after the error. The team just couldn’t seem to keep focus after the play. For instance, Ricardo Osorio missed a pass and left the ball to the Argentine striker Gonzalo Higuain, who completed the play by dribbling past keeper Perez and score an easy goal. 33 minutes of play and the Argentines were ahead by 2-0.
After the break, the Argentine team completely took control over the game. There was really not much left for the Mexicans, and even if they gave a good fight, Tevez once again came to close the game. After 52 minutes of play, Tevez made an impressive right footer and scored one of the sweetest goals so far in the tournament. This was enough for the 3-0.
Diego Maradona´s team felt quite comfortably with the score and relaxed a bit. Perhaps too much as Mexico was able to open up the South American defense and score a goal via Javier Hernández who gave the Mexicans one last goal in the tournament after 71 minutes of play.
Towards the end of the game, Mexico kept on pushing for another goal, but they did not manage to take over any of the other few chances they had. Now Argentina will face Germany in the quarterfinals.
About the Author
Stephen Lars has been a prominent writer on regular 2010 South Africa World Cup news, sports news and the sportsbetting industry for many exceptional sports web sites. You may reprint this article in its full content, please note no modifications to it are accepted.