Final Score - WC2010 Group B, Greece vs Argentina

Tuesday 22nd June 2010 - Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane - Att. 38,891
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

LINEUPS:
Greece (442): Tzorvas, Vyntra, Torosidis, Papadopolous, Kygriakos, Papastathopoulos, Tziolis (Prittas 63'), Katsouranis, Gekas, Samaras (Salpigidis 63'), Karagounis
Argentina (442): Romero, Otamendi, Heinze, Demichalis (Samuel 82'), Burdisso (Pastore 9'), Mascherano, Rodriguez, Di Maria, Higuain, Tevez, Messi (Milito 70')

Argentina held their nerve in a rather uneventful match but Greece were not completely non-threatening when they manafactured a pair of good chances. The first came in the 8th minute when Karagounis climbed highest in a crowded penalty area to head the ball at Romero, and the second great Greek opportunity came late in the game when they were 2-0 down. Katsouranis wasted no time after receiving a pass from Prittas in crossing the ball for Gekas to shoot wide.

For their part Argentina did enough to secure victory and a place in the second round, but it was not until after a very dull first half that they truly threatened the Greek goal. A quick rush began when Pastore provided a great flick behind the defence for Gabriel Heinze to run onto. His shot was saved but the rebound went straight to Carlos Tevez for an easy finish five minutes into the second half. The insurance goal came twelve minutes from time, Tevez turning provider for Gonzalo Higuain to become the fifth different Argentine to score in the group stage.

Greece 0 - 2 Argentina
Goalscorers:
ARG Tevez 50'
ARG Higuain 78'

Discipline:
ARG Demichalis 55'

Man of the Match:
ARG Carlos Tevez
 

GROUP B
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	3	3	0	0	4	0	+4	9
Argentina	3	2	0	1	5	1	+4	6
Greece	3	1	0	2	1	4	-3	3
Nigeria	3	0	0	3	0	5	-5	0

Final Score - WC2010 Group B, Nigeria vs South Korea

Tuesday 22nd June 2010 - Durban Stadium, Durban - Att. 61,874
Referee: Olegário Benquerença (Portugal)

LINEUPS:
Nigeria (451): Enyeama, Odiah, Taiwo, Yobo (Afolabi 74'), Shittu, Etuhu, Haruna, Kalta (Ayila 39'), Ayegbeni, Uche (Ejide 53'), Obasi
South Korea (451): Ryong, Ri, Pyo (KM Soo 77'), Hyung, LJ Soo, Yueng, Woo, Hun (Kyung 63'), Young, PJ Sung (Yeoul 86'), Yong

Park Ji Sung scored his second from the penalty spot in as many games to lock up Group B for the South Koreans as they march on into the second round. The big incident occurred five minutes after the restart when Woo put in Lee Chung Yong only for him to be brought down by the keeper. Vincent Enyeama was quickly given the red card before Sung dispatched his kick past the substitute Austin Ejide.

The first half was quite even with both teams threatening the goal without really testing the goalies. Nigeria clipped the crossbar through Kalta in the 6th minute and South Korea's best chance came off the head of Yong who got under the ball and sent it high. After the penalty the game petered out a little and South Korea could not finish off their opponents. Ejide did his part for Nigeria in stopping both Young with his shoulder and Yong with fingertips, but the shorthanded team in front of him could not generate much interest around the Korean box.

Nigeria 0 - 1 South Korea
Goalscorers:
KOR PJ Sung 51'

Discipline:
NGA Enyeama 50' (Off)

Man of the Match:
NGA Taye Taiwo

GROUP B
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	3	3	0	0	4	0	+4	9
Argentina	2	1	0	1	3	1	+2	3
Greece	2	1	0	1	1	2	-1	3
Nigeria	3	0	0	3	0	5	-5	0

Final Score - WC2010, Group B, Argentina vs South Korea

Thursday 17th June 2010 - Soccer City, Johannesburg - Att: 82,174
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)

LINEUPS
Argentina (442): Romero, Otamendi, Heinze, Demichelis, Burdisso, Mascherano, M Rodriguez, di Marla (Bolatti 64'), Higuain, Tevez (Palermo 74'), Messi (Aguero 79')
South Korea (451): Ryong, Ri, Pyo, Hyung, LJ Soo, Yueng (Seok 77'), Woo (KN Il 66'), Hun, Young, PJ Sung (KJ Sung 66'), Yong

Korean goalkeeper Jung Sung Ryong was an easy choice for man of the match, stopping Argentina on multiple occasions and riding his luck on others. The opening thirty minutes was eventful if wasteful for Argentina with Mascherano, Demichelis, and Otamendi all failing to take their chances before Gonzalo Higuain hit the post. Between these Argentine attempts Pyo should have scored but his shot was a complete miscue as he raced onto the end of a hard and low cross from Young.

With ten minutes remaining in the first half a series of events involving Park Ji Sung gave South Korea a golden opportunity to score from the spot. A huge kick from Ryong found PJ Sung's run and as he headed towards the box was fouled for a free kick. The end result was multiple deflections and a handball in the area. Up stepped Sung who calmly dispatched the penalty and that effectively killed off the half as the teams played out the remaining time.

Korea came close to making it 2-0 with Woo shooting from thirty yards, testing Romero in his goal. Argentina then returned to dominating the game and Ryong displaying some excellent goalkeeping, stopping both Burdisso and Maxi Rodriguez. The game ended on one final chance for the South American side with Sergio Aguerro, fresh off the bench, forcing another save from Ryong as he barely tipped a hard shot onto the post.

Argentina 0 - 1 South Korea
Goalscorers:
KOR PJ Sung 36'


Discipline:
KOR Yeung 14'
ARG Messi 35'

Man of the Match:
KOR Jung Sung Ryong

GROUP B
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	2	2	0	0	1	0	+3	6
Argentina	2	1	0	1	3	1	+2	3
Greece	2	1	0	1	1	2	-1	3
Nigeria	2	0	0	2	0	4	-4	0

Final Score - WC2010, Group B, Greece vs Nigeria

Thursday 17th June 2010, Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein - Att. 31,593
Referee: Óscar Ruiz (Colombia)

LINEUPS:
Greece (442): Tzorvas, Vyntra, Torosidis, Papadopoulos, Kygriakos, Papastathopoulos, Tziolis, Katsouranis (Ninis 62'), Gekas (Moras 80'), Samaras (Salpigidis 59'), Karagounis
Nigeria (451): Enyeama, Odiah, Taiwo, Yobo, Shittu, Etuhu, Haruna, Kalta (Obinna 45'), Ayegbeni (Utaka 77'), Uche, Obasi (Martins 84')

A Loukas Vyntra goal was all that Greece needed to win their first match of the World Cup and stay in the hunt for a place in the second round. The only goal of this one-sided match occurred when Enyeama dropped a simple cross, leaving Vyntra with a very easy finish just fourteen minutes in. Before that Greece created a good chance on the counter that Samaras could not finish.

After a long period of little activity Nigeria tested the Greek keeper when Kalu Uche had his own free kick rebound straight back to him and his second effort was well saved. In the second half Vincent Enyeama was busy making up for his mistake by stopping shots from Karagounis and Papasthathopoulos. The Greeks did get another ball past him but Gekas watched his effort ricochet back off the post.

Greece 1 - 0 Nigeria
Goalscorers:
GRE Vyntra 14'

Discipline:
NGA Yobo 51'


Man of the Match:
GRE Loukas Vyntra

GROUP B
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	3
South Korea	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	3
Greece	2	1	0	1	1	2	-1	3
Nigeria	2	0	0	2	0	4	-4	0

Final Score - WC2010 Group B, Argentina vs Nigeria

Saturday 12th June 2010 - Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg. Att: 55,686
Referee: Wolfgang Stark (Germany)

LINEUPS:
Argentina (442): Romero, Otamendi, Heinze, Demichelis, Burdisso, Mascherano, M Rodriguez, di Maria (Veron 66'), Higuain, Tevez (Aguero 80'), Messi
Nigeria (451): Enyeama, Odiah, Taiwo (Adeleye 58'), Yobo, Shittu, Etuhu, Haruna, Kaita (Kanu 58'), Ayegbeni, Uche, Obasi (Martins 80')

Argentina began their tournament with a dominating 3-0 victory over an outclassed Nigerian side that never looked like scoring. The skills of Messi, Tevez and Maxi Rodriguez turned the African defenders inside out on several occasions leading a 2-0 advantage at the break. A poor punch from keeper Enyeama on a Heinze cross allowed Lionel Messi to clean up with a neat volley, and Maxi Rodriguez doubled the lead when a corner kick ended on his foot and he rattled it home off the bar. It could have been worse with Higuin, di Marla and Heinze all misfiring.

Nigeria improved in the second half with more alert defending and a couple of good stops from Enyeama, but the blue and white tide eventually proved too much again when Nicolas Burdisso had a top-in after Veron's shot came back off the post.

Argentina 3 - 0 Nigeria
Goalscorers:
ARG Messi 13'
ARG M Rodriguez 40'
ARG Burdisso 78'

Discipline:
NGA Kalta 27'

Man of the Match:
ARG Lionel Messi

GROUP B
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	3
South Korea	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	3
Greece	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2	0
Nigeria	1	0	0	1	0	3	-3	0

Final Score - WC2010 Group B, South Korea vs Greece

Saturday 12th June - Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth. Att: 31,513
Referee: Michael Hester (New Zealand)

LINEUPS:
South Korea (451): Ryong, Ri, Pyo, Hyung, LJ Soo, Woo (KJ Sung 69'), Hun, Young, PJ Sung (Hwan 75'), Yong
Greece (442): Tzorvas, Vyntra, Torosidis (Kapetanos 82'), Papadopoulos, Kygriakos (Patsatzoglou 69'), Papastathopoulos, Tziolis (Ninis 61'), Katsouranis, Gekas, Samaras, Karagounis

South Korea began this match off-key and Greece enjoyed much of the ball in the opening twenty minutes. Katsouranis was put clean through by Georgias Samaras but his finish was very weak leading to an easy save. Shooter then turned provider as his headed flick on led to another one-on-one situation; Korea again escaping, this time when the offside flag went up against Karagounis.

After those scares one Park Chu Young forced himself upon the game with three scoring chances before the halftime whistle. Two of them came from crosses that he sent over the goal, but his first opportunity to score came on the counter attack when Pyo found the striker ahead of his marker and he neatly passed the ball past the keeper. Between acts of The Young Show, Papastathopoulos watched his shot hit the underside of the bar and bounce back down to the goaline. Despite vehement protests from the Greek players the officials ruled that the ball did not cross the line and play continued.

Samaras and the Greeks had another early chance in the second half but, as before, the shot lacked any real power and the Koreans breathed another sigh of relief. Young continued to be the catalyst of any attack from his team, even trying the spectacular with a bicycle kick that sailed wide. He then turned provider, Hun running onto the cross to score after his own good play got the ball to Young. Greece would test Ryong in his goal again, this time on a thirty yarder off the boot of Katsouranis, but they would go away thinking of their missed chances earlier in the game.

South Korea 2 - 0 Greece
Goalscorers:
KOR Young 18'
KOR Hun 60'

Discipline:
No Cards

Man of the Match:
KOR Park Chu Young

GROUP B
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
South Korea	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2	3
Argentina	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Nigeria	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Greece	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2	0