Argentina smash S Korea; Higuain pulls hat trick

Johannesburg, Jun 18: Two-time World Cup champions, Argentina, smashed South Korea 4-1 in the second round of the Group B match at Soccer City here on Thursday, Jun 18.

Argentina was quickly put in the lead by South Korea's Park Chu-young's own goal. This was followed by Gonzalo Higuain scoring the second goal for Argentina.

In a bid to peg back Diego Maradona's men, Lee Chung-yong scored a goal for South Korea. But there was no stopping the Argentinians, who continued to attack aggressively.

Gonzalo Higuain took over the game yet again and score two more for his team. He tapped in one in the 76th minute and followed it with a header in the 80th minute.

With this electrifying performance, Higuain created history by pulling the first hat trick of the 19th FIFA World Cup 2010.

Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez, may not have scored a goal, but their role was no less in the Argentinian attack. While Tavez battled fiercely for the ball from the rival defenders, Messi was often surrounded by two to three Korean defenders, which showed that the Barcelona forward was percieved as the biggest threat.

With this victory, Argentina is almost in the last 16 from Group B. In the last Group B tie, Argentina will be face Greece, which clinched its first World Cup victory 2-1 against Nigeria.

"We want to go on playing this way, we are on the right path, but we don't want to think yet about the teams we could face in the next round," a bullish Argentine coach Diego Maradona is quoted as saying.

OneIndia News