Final Score - WC2010 Final, Netherlands vs Japan

Sunday 11th July 2010 - Soccer City, Johannesburg - Att. 84,490
Referee: Howard Webb (England)

LINEUPS:
Netherlands (451): Stekelenberg, van der Wiel, van Bronckhorst (Ooijer 80'), Heitinga, Mathijsen, de Jong, Afellay, van Bommel (van der Vaart 68'), van Persie, Babel, Robben (Braafheid 84')
Japan (433): Kawashima, Komano, Nagatomo, Nakazawa, Tanaka, Abe, Endo (K Nakamura 68'), Hasebe (Yano 85'), Honda, Okubo (S Nakamura 70'), Matsui

Match Report

Netherlands 2 - 1 Japan
Goalscorers:
NED van Persie 10'
JPN Okubo 53' (2)
NED van Persie 74'

Discipline:
JPN Nagatomo 45'
JPN Tanaka 54'
JPN Tanaka 69' (off)

Man of the Match:
NED Robin van Persie

Final Score - WC2010 FINAL Match Report, Netherlands vs Japan

	NETHERLANDS		JAPAN
1	Maarten STEKELENBERG (GK)		Eiji KAWASHIMA (GK)	21
2	Gregory VAN DER WIEL		Yuichi KOMANO	3
5	Giovanni VAN BRONCKHORST (C)		Yuto NAGATOMO	5
3	John HEITINGA		Yuji NAKAZAWA	22
4	Joris MATHIJSEN		Marcus Tuli TANAKA	4
8	Nigel DE JONG		Yuki ABE	2
20	Ibrahim AFELLAY		Yasuhito ENDO	7
6	Mark VAN BOMMEL		Makoto HASEBE (C)	17
9	Robin VAN PERSIE		Keisuke HONDA	18
19	Ryan BABEL		Yoshito OKUBO	16
11	Arjen ROBBEN		Daisuke MATSUI	8
	COACH: Bert VAN MARWIJK (NED)		COACH: Takeshi OKADA (JPN)

The only change to either team before the match was the inclusion of Ibrahim Afellay who starts in place of the injured Wesley Sniejder.

2' A loose ball is picked up by Japan's Okubo who sends it down the wing for Matsui. His deep cross into a crowded goalmouth was met by Keisuke Honda but well saved by Stekelenberg.

10' Holland start out on the counter attack when Heitinga tackled Okubo, collecting the ball and running with it. His ball was inch perfect and Robin van Persie neatly placed it into the bottom corner
NED 1 - 0 JPN

16' Okubo was tackled again, this time by van der Wiel who sent it crossfield to Ibrahim Afellay. The next pass was delayed too long, catching Babel in an offside position.

27' Mathijsen wins an aerial encounter with Yasuhito Endo and runs into the box. Ryan Babel chipped the ball up into the air where Nathijsen miscued his shot for an easy Kawashima save.

33' Holland have a free kick out wide but the delivery towards de Jong is cleared.

35' Japan are first to another loose ball allowing Honda the space to run down the wing, but his pass to the supporting Endo was poor.

45' On the stroke of halftime Yuto Nagatomo was booked.

HALFTIME SCORE
Netherlands 1 - 0 Japan

53' A sluggish start to the second half was soon forgotten when Japan equalised on the counter attack. Abe was able to get the better of Mathijsen in the air, flicking the ball on for Matsui to run onto. His low, hard ball was met in the area by Yoshito Okubo who slammed his second World Cup goal just inside the post.
NED 1 - 1 JPN

54' Tanaka was booked for removing his shirt in celebration.

67' Another lull in proceedings was interrupted by a pair of substitutions. For Holland van der Vaart, available again after his suspension, replaced a quiet van Bommel. For Japan Kengo Nakamura came on for Endo.

69' Marcus Tulio Tanaka looked very sheepish after he received a second yellow card, Mr Webb showing him the red card to leave Japan with ten men for the remainder of the match. Japan quickly changed the look of the team by taken off the goalscorer Okubo and replacing him with midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura.

74' It took just five minutes for the Netherlands to take advantage of their extra man. Kengo Nakamura had only been on the field for seven minutes but his contribution would be remembered for the ball he gave straight to Mathiejsen. He then found Afellay who saw Rafael van der Vaart streaking through for a one-on-one chance with Kawashima. The Japanese keeper hurried the Dutchmen into a quick shot that was saved before Robin van Persie followed up to score his eighth goal of the tournament andput Holland fuly in pole position.
NED 2 - 1 JPN

80' Japan continue to get onto loose balls with Nakazawa sending it out wide to Shunsuke Nakamura who was able to evade one tackle but sent his cross into the side of the goal. Andre Ooijer then entered the game, coming on for van Bronckhorst in defence.

84' Holland were very much in a defensive posture but they were free to counter attack if the opportunity was on. In this case Heitinga put his foot in on Matsui and sent a long ball towards van Persie. The Golden Boot winner laid it off for Ooijer who was unable to get enough bend on his thirty yard shot that sailed a little wide.

84' The final substitutions. Edson Braafheid on for Arjen Robben; Kisho Yano for Makoto Hasebe.

90' After two minutes of stoppage time Howard Webb blows the final whistle. Holland win the World Cup!

Final Score - WC2010 Quarterfinal, Argentina vs Germany

Friday 2nd July 2010 - Soccer City, Johannesburg - Att. 84,017
Referee: Olegário Benquerença (Portugal)

LINEUPS:
Argentina (442): Romero, Otamendi, Heinze, Demichelis (Gutierrez 60'), Burdisso, Mascherano, Rodriguez, di Maria, Higuain, Tevez (Aguero 101'), Messi (Milito 74')
Germany (451): Neuer, Lahm, Boateng, Friedrich, Mertesacker, Schweinsteiger (Trochowski 118'), Oezil, Khedria (Jansen 67'), Klose, Podolski, Mueller (Gomez 86')

Sergio Romero was the hero in the first half for Argentina, limiting the Germans to a one-goal lead at halftime, and his great performance would extend throughout the match. The Argentine team had little to build on after forty-five minutes with their opponents enjoying a large slice of the possession generating chances for Klose and Mueller who were both denied by Romero and Podolski sliced his late shot wide.

The breakthrough came early though when in the 14th minute Friedrich intercepted a pass and started the Germans on a break. Khedira ran with purpose down the touchline and his far post cross was met by Miroslav Klose to head home a rocket for his fourth goal of the tournament.

After the interval Argentina quickly sorted themselves out and soon made a real game of it when just after the hour mark Otamendi roofed home a defence splitting pass from Mascherano. Minutes before Gonzalo Higuin was denied by Neuer at his post but things developed into a stalemate after the equalising goal.

The next big chance fell to Germany, sub Michael Jansen's improvised bicycle kick clipping the top of the bar after Mueller had put a cross behind his teammate. Mueller then had the chance to be a hero in stoppage time when Friedrich's corner kick was met by the forward at the near post only for his header to go over the crossbar.

So Argentina take another game to extra time where they had to rely on Romero to stop Jansen, Schweinsteiger and Podolski as the German team continued to pass the ball smartly. Argentina's game-winning chance came in the second half of extra time when Burdisso ran past two opposing players and fed Aguero to put him clear on goal, but the substitutes shot was very poor and proved easy pickings for Neuer.

The penalty shootout was a demonstration on how to take spot kicks with twelve of the thirteen penalties finding the back of the net. The tension increased exponentially after each goal and it may have proved to much for Nicolas Burdisso who slammed his high shot against the crossbar, moving the pressure over to Phillipp Lahm who dispatched his kick past Romero to put Germany through to the semifinals where they will face the Netherlands.

Argentina 1 (aet) 1 Germany, Germany win 7-6 on penalties
Goalscorers:
GER Klose 14'
ARG Otamendi 61'

Penalty Shootout:
ARG Heinze, Higuain, Aguero, Rodriguez, Otamendi, Milito, Burdisso
GER Klose, Podolski, Jansen, Boateng, Oezil, Gomez, Lahm

Discipline:
GER Schweinstiger 109'

Man of the Match:
ARG Sergio Romero

Final Score - WC2010 Second Round, South Korea vs Mexico

Sunday 27th June 2010 - Soccer City, Johannesburg - Att. 30,597
Referee: Roberto Rosetti (Italy)

LINEUPS:
South Korea (451): Ryong, Ri, Pyo, Hyung (Jin 73'), LJ Soo, Yueng (KN Il 88'), Woo, Hun, Young, PJ Sung, Yong (Hwan 63')
Mexico (442): Perez, Aguilar, Salcido, Rodriguez, Moreno (Torres 45'), Marquez, Juarez, Torrado, Franco (Bautista 84'), Dos Santos, Guardado (Vela 63')

After an opening seventeen minutes that would be put to better use by watching paint dry, Korea suddenly sprang to life with Lee Jung Soo receiving a crossfield ball from Woo before cutting inside and thundering his angled shot past Oscar Perez. Pyo and Young then had efforts saved before halftime while Mexico continued to try and find their way into the game.

A halftime substitution for Mexico, with a lackluster Moreno making way for Torres, helped bring them into it a little more with Efrain Juarez coming closest. He ran onto a smart ball from Salcido but his shot was just too high. Korea were happy with to play out their third consecutive 1-0 victory and they march on through the next round without conceding a goal in all four matches.

South Korea 1 - 0 Mexico
Goalscorers:
KOR LJ Soo 17'

Discipline:
MEX Marquez 63'
MEX Juarez 69'
MEX Franco 84'

Man of the Match:
KOR Lee Jung Soo

Final Score - WC2010 Group D, Ghana vs Germany

Wednesday 23rd June 2010 - Soccer City, Johannesburg - Att. 83,391
Referee: Carlos Simon (Brazil)

LINEUPS:
Ghana (451): Kingson, Pantsil, Sarpei (Vorsah 73'), John Mensah, Johnathon Mensah, Annan (D Boateng 83'), Asamoah, Tagoe, Gyan, Prince-Boateng, Ayew (Amoah 57')
Germany (451): Neuer, Lahm, J Boateng, Freidrich, Mertesacher, Schweinsteiger (Marin 79'), Oezil (Jansen 45'), Khedira, Klose, Podolski (Cacau 68'), Mueller

This battle between the top two sides in Group D had it's moments but both teams were more than content to play out the draw and look ahead to the second round. Podolski and Sarpei had their first of several close encounters early on with the German picking up a yellow card after a rough tackle and Ghana wasting their free kick opportunity. They came together in the 23rd minute, this time Podolski got the better of Sarpei in one of many faltering attacks.

The rest of the first half passed without incident prompting Germany to make a substitution at halftime. This, and a slight shift in tactics, led to Germany taking a firmer hand in the game but were still not quite at the races with a lot of attacks breaking up. They had one great chance in the 82nd minute when Jerome Boateng flicked on a free kick for Klose outside of the Ghanian box, but Kingson was equal to it in his goal. A final chance in the dying seconds, again off the foot of Miroslav Klose, deflected and was saved.

Ghana 0 - 0 Germany
Goalscorers:
None

Discipline:
GER Podolski 2'
GER Friedrich 2'
GHA Annan 17'
GER Schweinsteiger 66' (sus)

Man of the Match:
GHA Prince Tagoe
 

GROUP D
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Ghana	3	2	1	0	3	0	+3	7
Germany	3	1	2	0	6	2	+4	5
Serbia	2	0	1	1	2	4	-2	1
Australia	2	0	0	2	0	5	-5	0

Final Score - WC2010 Group G, Brazil vs Cote d'Ivoire

Sunday 20th June 2010 - Soccer City, Johannesburg - Att. 84,455
Referee: Stéphane Lannoy (France)

LINEUPS:
Brazil (451): Cesar, Maicon, Bastos, Lucio (Luisao 70'), Juan, G. Silva, Melo, Alves, Fabiano, Kaka, Robinho (Ramires 70')
Cote d'Ivoire (433): Barry, Demel, Tiene, K. Toure, Zokora, Y. Toure, Eboue (Kone 76'), Tiote, Drogba (Doumbia 61'), Gervinho, Dindane

The tenth day of competition ended with this exciting contest that could have ended any which way. The Ivory Coast had their first chance cleared in the goalmouth, Gervinho unable to chip the ball in after Tiote put him through one-on-one, and Kaka shot his early effort into the side netting. Fabiano ripped one an inch over the bar with Barry rooted to the ground, and Tiote had his own chance alone against Cesar thanks to an inspired through ball by Emmanuel Eboue but his effort was saved by the legs of the Brazilian keeper.

The teams continued to exchange chances with Gervinho having chance either side of half time. His initial effort deflected for the first in a series of Cote d'Ivoire corners and his second missed by a mile. At the other end Fabiano wasted his shot when he had some space in the area, but he made up for it by putting the perfect ball into the box for Kaka to run onto and side foot under the goalie. After that Brazil bossed the game and refused to concede possession, effectively killing the game.

Brazil 1 - 0 Cote d'Ivoire
Goalscorers:
BRA Kaka 64'

Discipline:
CIV Tiene 9'
CIV Y. Toure 48'

Man of the Match:
BRA Maicon

GROUP G
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	2	2	0	0	3	0	+3	4
Portugal	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
Cote d'Ivoire	2	0	1	1	0	1	-1	1
North Korea	1	0	0	1	0	2	-2	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 - WC2101 Group E, Netherlands vs Denmark

Monday June 14th - Soccer City, Johannesburg. Att: 83,465
Referee: Stéphane Lannoy (France)

LINEUPS:
Netherlands (451): Stekelenburg, van der Weil, van Bronckhorst, Heitinga, Mathijsen, de Jong, Sneijder (Afellay 84') van Bommel (van der Vaart 74'), van Persie, Kuyt (Babel 62'), Robben
Denmark (451): Sorensen, Jacobsen (Kroldrup 45'), Poulsen, Agger, Kjaer, Pouslen, Jorgensen, Tomasson, Bendtner (Beckmann 84'), Khalenberg (Larsen 45'), Rommendahl

This match was all one way traffic as only Jon Dahl Tomasson looked credible for the Danes, but even he was unable to hold back the orange tide becoming one of four Danish players to be booked as the Dutch trickery fooled them time and again. The Netherlands should have had the lead in the nineteenth minute when, after he was brought down in the box, Robin van Persie sent his spot kick wide. Only four minutes later though a corner was helped on by a defensive header only to fine Arjen Robben on the far side to score on a high shot from a narrow angle.

Another van Persie chance was blocked on the line but the Arsenal striker was quickest to react to the rebound and it was a 2-0 lead at half time. Denmark made a double substitution during the break but just five minutes after the restart the Dutch had extended their lead; Dirk Kuyt able to steer home a low corner kick. van Persie had two more clear chances to throw away by hitting the post and heading wide. The final goal came from Nigel de Jong as he ran the length of the pitch to get on the end of a van der Wiel cross before a final flurry led to both Babel and Robben hitting the woodwork.

Netherlands 4 - 0 Denmark
Goalscorers:
NED Robben 23'
NED van Persie 34'
NED Kuyt 50'
NED de Jong 83'

Discipline:
DEN Jorgensen 6'
DEN Jacobsen 20'
DEN Tomasson 20'
DEN Poulsen 59'
NED Heitinga 79'

Man of the Match:
NED Dirk Kuyt

GROUP E
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	1	1	0	0	4	0	+4	3
Japan	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Cameroon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Denmark	1	0	0	1	0	4	-4	0

Final Score - WC2010 Group A, South Africa vs Mexico

Friday 11th June 2010 - Soccer City, Johannesburg, Att: 84,490
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan)

Lineups:
South Africa (451): Khune, Gaxa, Masiela, Khumalo, Mokoena (Sibaya 45'), Letsbotnyane, Pienaar, Dikgacol, Mphela (Parker 64'), Tshabalala (Nomvethe, 87'), Modise
Mexico (442): Perez, Osorlo, Salcido, Rodriguez, Moreno, Marquez, Juarez, Torrado (Torres 86'), Franco, Dos Santos, Guardado (Hernandez 67')

The nineteenth FIFA World Cup began with the host nation suffering from a lot of nerves and unable to get a grip in a game that Mexico controlled. The early exchanges of too-long through balls and head tennis came to an abrupt end in the seventh minute when, in the first real attack of the match, Rafael Marquez started a fine goalscoring move. After the midfielder's run and pass to Andres Guardado, the striker then laid the ball off to Torrado in space who found Guillermo Franco a foot away from his marker to slot it home.

The match settled again and South Africa manufactured their first assault of the day when Teko Modise hustled after the ball forcing Francisco Rodriquez into a poor pass. Kagisho Dikgocol had made a long run from his own half and had a good scoring chance when he climbed up to get on the end of Letsholonyane's cross, but headed the ball straight at the keeper.

And just two minutes later that miss almost proved costly when Franco out muscled Bongani Khumalo and found Marquez joining the attack where his dribbling skills were put on display before he shot high over the bar. Mexico continued to look the better side and in the forty-first minute finally earned their reward with a second goal. Guardado was involved again when his deep cross was sent goalwards by Dos Santos. That effort was blocked but the rebound fell kindly to Carlos Salcido who had remained up field after a corner who had a half open net to shot at.

The South Africans changed it up at half time through a substitution; Aaron Mokoena's poor performance mercifully cut short by his manager. The feel of the match was unchanged however and six minutes after the restart the result was beyond doubt when Man of the Match winner Rafael Marquez capped off his hard days work with a goal. Dos Santos again failed to get his shot home and Marquez was there, following up his pass, to volley in a third for Mexico.

After that there would be more chances for Mexico while Letsholonyane had a late chance to give the home crowd something to cheer about, sending his shot over the bar.


South Africa 0 - 3 Mexico
Goalscorers: 
MEX Franco 7'
MEX Salcido 41'
MEX Marquez 51'

Discipline:
No Cards

Man of the Match:
MEX Rafael Marquez

GROUP A
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Mexico	1	1	0	0	3	0	+3	3
France	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Uruguay	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
South Africa	1	0	0	1	0	3	-3	0